Tesla Model S

How to use a Tesla Supercharger and what to expect

Published

11 years ago

May 3, 2014

Rob M.

Today I had to drop off my mother-in-law at Providence airport and I used it as an excuse to make my first Tesla Supercharger visit at the East Greenwich, RI Supercharger. This is currently the northern-most Supercharger on the east coast in the US and located 10 minutes south of Providence Airport (PVD).

I decided not to charge up the night before and left my Model S with 127 miles of range on it. With that amount of range I would have enough to get to the airport, drive to the Supercharger and still drive home if for some reason the Supercharger didn’t work.

Connecting to the Tesla Supercharger

Superchargers appear to have different layouts depending on the location, some you back into while others require you to pull forward – this one is the former. You’ll want to be pretty close to the Supercharger since the cable is relatively short. The charger will always need to be to the left side of the car since that’s where the charge port door is. The rear view camera helps a ton and combined with the parking sensors really allow you to get close without being too close. I love how the parking sensor displays your proximity measurements (in inches for the US).

Once parked and situated you’ll want to pop open the charge port and insert the thick Supercharger cable. I had some difficulties with this at first and encountered a red ring indicating that there was a bad connection.

I pushed the handle in with a bit more force and noticed the red indicator light started to pulsate in green. The center touchscreen read “Preparing for charge” and so I waited. To my surprise the next message popped up and said “unable to charge” so I got out of the car, unplugged the cable and firmly reseated it once more. I waited through the same preparation phase until the car finally began to start charging.

I’ve heard from other owners that Tesla Supercharger connections can be a bit finicky at times so if you don’t succeed at first, try again before moving onto another charging bay.

Supercharger Charging Sequence

Once you’ve successfully made it past the charge preparation sequence, the car will indicate that it’s starting to charge and display the voltage and amperage in which you’re charging at. It takes a few seconds before it ramps up to its peak charge rate which for me read 346 miles/hour at 262A/374V. The peak rate of charge will vary depending on whether its the older 90kW or newer 120kW Superchargers.

Supercharging

I explored the shopping center where the Supercharger station was located. In fact the Supercharger bays at this location was simply eight additional parking spots slotted next to a Walgreens. There’s also an Outback, Ruby Tuesdays, Panera and McDonalds in the area all within walking distance. I decided to go into Panera for a warm drink. It was 40 degrees and approaching May – welcome to New England.
Another thing I noticed at the location is that 5 slots are marked for “Tesla Electric Vehicle” whereas the other 3 are marked for general parking 30 minutes. While I was sitting there waiting for my charge, a Walgreens customer took advantage of the 30 minute parking rule for a brief moment, but otherwise the slots were all open for Tesla owners. New England still ranks pretty low in terms of Tesla ownership per capita.

My charge finished at exactly 50 minutes taking me from 67 miles of rated range to 242 miles of rated range at a 90% state of charge. This equated to 175 miles of charge in 50 minutes. My understanding of the rate of charge can go even higher when you start your charge from near-zero but i’d have a serious case of range anxiety if I did that.

All the displays on the car through the process were great. The one thing I wish they did was give you an estimated time to charge complete. The calculation isn’t simple since they’re varying charge over time, it depends on the state of the Supercharger, if the bay next to you is empty, etc. If it would pop up and say “You’ve got about 45 minutes to do something else” it would have been more helpful. I’m sure some smart people at Tesla can figure out how to do that.

In the end, I got 175 miles of range for free and the experience was great. Now all I need is an excuse to take an extended Supercharger road trip!

Related Topics:New Owner Tesla Supercharger

Rob M.

"Rob's passion is technology and gadgets. An engineer by profession and an executive and founder at several high tech startups Rob has a unique view on technology and some strong opinions. When he's not writing about Tesla

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Elon Musk

President Donald Trump buys a Tesla at the White House – Here’s which model he chose

Published

2 weeks ago

March 11, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: cb_doge | X

U.S. President Donald Trump was greeted by a convoy of Tesla electric vehicles today at the White House after he said last evening he would be buying one of the company’s cars in support of Elon Musk.

A variety of Tesla EVs, including the Model S, Cybertruck, and Model Y, all arrived in Washington on Tuesday around lunch time where the President sat in, examined, and mulled over which car he would choose. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters today that President Trump would be paying “full market price” for the vehicle.

CEO Elon Musk was alongside Trump to help make his decision:

Which Tesla did President Trump Choose?

After mulling the decision for several minutes, President Trump seemed to have gravitated toward the Tesla Model S Plaid in Deep Red, the company’s quickest and most luxurious offering, suitable for the leader of the U.S.

Trump said:

“The one I like is that one (Model S). And I want that same color. I’m going to give [Tesla] a check. I don’t want a discount.”

According to images shared from Washington, it seems Musk brought two Model S vehicles — one in Deep Red and another in Deep Blue Metallic — knowing that the President would probably choose that vehicle, but was unsure about the color.

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

President Trump’s Comments on Tesla and Elon Musk

President Trump has truly gained a meaningful working relationship with Musk, who he has called “a genius” and “brilliant” on several occasions. Regarding Tesla, the President said:

“Tesla’s a great company; They’re American cars, it’s American made. He employs thousands of people. He has the most modern plants in the world.”

In regards to the Tesla lineup, President Trump said:

“I know people that have these cars; It blows them away. They love them.”

When talking about the polarizing design of the Cybertruck, he said:

“In terms of imagination, and I think I have a pretty great imagination, who else but this guy would design this and everybody on the road is looking at it. As soon as I saw it, I said, ‘That’s the coolest design.’ You gotta give him (Elon) credit.”

News

Tesla makes a decision on the future of its flagship Model S and Model X

Published

4 weeks ago

February 24, 2025

Joey Klender

Tesla has made a decision regarding the future of its flagship vehicles, the Model S and Model X, which both have been sticking around for “sentimental reasons” and have no true alignment with the company’s future goals of growth.

The Model S and Model X were Tesla’s first two vehicles to be offered to the public.

They were essentially fundraisers for future, mass-market, affordable models, according to Elon Musk’s “Tesla Master Plan,” but their ability to still attract some buyers thanks to the performance of the Model S or the space of the Model X keeps them lingering.

But speculation regarding the vehicles’ true place in the expanding Tesla lineup has been persistent. With the vehicles, which have been grouped in with the Cybertruck in its quarterly delivery releases, only amounting to 23,000 deliveries in Q4, there are questions as to whether it is still worth keeping them around.

Tesla’s VP of Vehicle Engineering, Lars Moravy, said on the Ride the Lightning podcast yesterday that there are currently no plans to eliminate the Model S and Model X from the lineup.

When asked about whether there were plans for the Model S and Model X moving forward, Moravy replied:

“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there. The upgrade a couple of years ago was bigger than most people thought in terms of architecture and structure of the car got a lot better, too. But, we’ll give it some love later this year and make sure it gets a little bit…you know, with the stuff we’ve been putting in 3 and Y. Obviously, with 3 and Y, the higher volume stuff, you’ve gotta focus there.”

He confirmed that the two vehicles were not going anywhere “anytime soon.”

? When @DMC_Ryan asked Lars Moravy if Model S and Model X have some updates coming, the Tesla VP of Vehicle Engineering said:
“Just give it a minute. We’ll get there.”
Sounds like another refresh is coming, and the flagships aren’t going anywhere. pic.twitter.com/Y6MPp47MJC
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— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) February 23, 2025

Moravy said the Model S and Model X are great consider when you consider autonomy and the robotaxi use: the Model S due to its overall quality and the Model X because of its interior space.

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.

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Tesla is offering a crazy Supercharging incentive on its two ‘sentimental’ vehicles

Published

2 months ago

February 8, 2025

Joey Klender

Credit: Tesla

Tesla is offering a crazy Supercharging incentive for those who choose to buy two vehicles that CEO Elon Musk said the company is keeping around for “sentimental reasons” a few years ago.

Tesla Supercharging incentives are pretty hard to come by, and it is hard to tell when the company is going to offer them. Usually, they are used to move vehicles and nudge consumers toward purchasing one model over another.

However, Tesla sometimes offers Supercharging incentives at random times for no real reason other than luck of the draw.

However, Tesla is using the Supercharging incentive to help move two of the cars that are low-volume sellers, but are kept around for what Musk called “sentimental reasons” in 2019.

Tesla is offering free Supercharging for those who choose to purchase or lease a new Model S or Model X.

The offer is good for the life of your ownership or lease. Tesla talks more about the terms on its website:

“Customers who purchase or lease a new Model X (or Model S) are eligible for free Supercharging during your ownership of the vehicle. Offer is tied to your Tesla Account and cannot be transferred to another vehicle, person or order, even in the case of ownership transfer. Used vehicles, business orders and vehicles used for commercial purposes (like taxi, rideshare and delivery services) are excluded from this promotion. You are still responsible for Supercharger fees, like idle and congestion fees, when applicable.”

This is a great promotion to attempt and move some of Tesla’s vehicles, especially two that the company only keeps around because they are two of the company’s foundational, flagship cars.

Musk said in 2019:

“I mean, they’re very expensive, made in low volume. To be totally frank, we’re continuing to make them more for sentimental reasons than anything else. They’re really of minor importance to the future.”

Tesla has not released a major update to the Model S or Model X in a few years. In 2022, it launched the Plaid configuration, but it has not received any true modifications since then, leading some to believe they could be sunsetted in the future.

For now, it seems they will be sticking around, but Tesla is still adjusting the prices and incentives of the two vehicles. Earlier this week, Tesla pushed the Model X’s price in the U.S. up by $5,000.

Need accessories for your Tesla? Check out the Teslarati Marketplace:

Please email me with questions and comments at joey@teslarati.com. I’d love to chat! You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.