# Finding DCFCs When No Superchargers Nearby



## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

On the Big Island, there are no superchargers. I use Plugshare to find and navigate to the nearest DCFC. It is hazardous to run Plugshare to look for the nearest DCFC when driving. Is there a safe way to link to one of these charger sites while driving?


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

I don't know if this will find DCFC for you, but you can try it.

In Tesla's navigation, tap anywhere on the map to bring up a quick menu along the right-hand side.

Clicking on the "lightning bolt" symbol will show charger stations on the map along with a list.

At the top of that list are three filters - one, two, and three lightning bolts. It's not clear what these correspond to, but 3 gives you superchargers, and I believe 1 gives you destination charger. Make sure all of those are set to "on", and it should display everything in the area that Tesla knows about. See if any DCFC stations are included in the list.

Once you do that though, how are you going to charge at a DCFC station?


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> On the Big Island, there are no superchargers. I use Plugshare to find and navigate to the nearest DCFC. It is hazardous to run Plugshare to look for the nearest DCFC when driving. Is there a safe way to link to one of these charger sites while driving?


If there is no Superchargers, then what type of DCFC are you going to? Or are you maybe referring to L2 AC chargers? 
In any case, as @garsh indicates, the car will show you a lot of chargers by selecting the lightning bolts when you have the chargers showing. 
You can always pull over and find a charger and then just route to it.

By the way, you mention "Big Island" not sure which Big Island you are referring to, your location indicates July1951, so I'm not really sure where you are.

In the US, the only DCFC that a Tesla will charge from are the Superchargers and CHAdeMO chargers (with the expensive CHAdeMO adapter). Everything else will be significantly slower. 
Don't forget that if you have some L2 locations that aren't listed, you can always set them as a favorite location to recall easily.


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## TrevP (Oct 20, 2015)

Tesla has started to input third-party non-Tesla chargers into the onboard map but it's not widespread yet. I think it's mostly Europe and California right now


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

Ed Woodrick said:


> By the way, you mention "Big Island" not sure which Big Island you are referring to, your location indicates July1951, so I'm not really sure where you are.


There is only one Big Island in the US! I'd give you a hint, but I don't want to lei it out for you.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

JasonF said:


> There is only one Big Island in the US! I'd give you a hint, but I don't want to lei it out for you.


Puerto Rico?
But most importantly, it is a relative statement. Long Island is the big island to some folks. I assumed that it was Hawaii, but since it ain't that big, looking for a charger shouldn't be a huge deal. And how many times can you circle the island before you need a charge?

I also learned a long time ago that what is obvious for some folks and me, isn't necessarily the right answer, hence why I added "By the way". A simple correction to what I believe is a messed up profile would remove the ambiguity.


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## Long Ranger (Jun 1, 2018)

Ed Woodrick said:


> Long Island is the big island to some folks.


Is that Long Island, Bahamas or Long Island, WA? 



Ed Woodrick said:


> And how many times can you circle the island before you need a charge?


Looks like about 250 miles to circle it, plus another 50-80 miles if you explore the easternmost point, so I don't think you'll be getting in too many laps.


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Ed Woodrick said:


> Puerto Rico?
> But most importantly, it is a relative statement. Long Island is the big island to some folks. I assumed that it was Hawaii, but since it ain't that big, looking for a charger shouldn't be a huge deal. And how many times can you circle the island before you need a charge?
> 
> I also learned a long time ago that what is obvious for some folks and me, isn't necessarily the right answer, hence why I added "By the way". A simple correction to what I believe is a messed up profile would remove the ambiguity.


I threw up in my mouth reading this, as if you could have LonGisland in the same thought as Hawaii!

I'm surprised there aren't superchargers in Kona and Hilo by now. I guess they are reserved for heavy investors only.

But yes, PlugShare is ALWAYS the best answer. Just pull over if you have to. Or turn on autopilot.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

JWardell said:


> I threw up in my mouth reading this, as if you could have LonGisland in the same thought as Hawaii!
> 
> I'm surprised there aren't superchargers in Kona and Hilo by now. I guess they are reserved for heavy investors only.
> 
> But yes, PlugShare is ALWAYS the best answer. Just pull over if you have to. Or turn on autopilot.


Can you not understand that there was absolutely no indication from the original poster that they were from Hawaii. I was expecting it to be, but wasn't sure and simply suggested a clarification and a fix of a profile.

It's similar to saying you are from the tri-cities, there are multiple clusters around the country.

I also found it hard to believe that what looks to 9 DCFC on the island couldn't easily get memorized or at least plugged in as favorites. Don't you effectively have the location of the Superchargers within 50 miles memorized? You've probably visited them all, even if you didn't charge there.


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## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

I tried touching the Navigation screen then the lightening bolt. I only lists 2 Tesla charging locations on the Big Island (destination charges with access limited to hotel guests) and several other on Maui and Oahu but you can't drive to the other islands. This feature also list previous locations where I had charged my car, which had never been at a DCFC until last week. Giving the street name and the city is not very helpful for those of us who are not native to Hawaii. I have to map most city names to see what island they are on and then what part of the island. The closest DCFC to my home is in Waimea but there are 7 other cities in the State of Hawaii, named Waimea! I am sure that there are other parts of the US without superchargers or destination chargers nearby and it would be nice if Tesla was able to integrated filtered (i.e., DCFC) charging locations from an app like Plugshare onto a list with closest first or better yet plot their location on the Navigation screen and allow you to reroute to one. I operated my phone with one hand while driving my car with the other, which wasn't the safest way to visualize the closest DCFC ahead of me then I had the phone direct me to that location, as well.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> I tried touching the Navigation screen then the lightening bolt. I only lists 2 Tesla charging locations


Bummer. I thought it was worth a shot.

From the plugshare app, if you click on the address of the station, you should be able to choose an app to open the address with. If you choose the "Tesla" app, then the address will be sent to your car, and the car will automatically begin navigating to it.

At least this works on Android. I assume it works similarly on iOS
If it doesn't give you an option to choose which app to open it with, then you had picked the "Always" option when opening an address some time in the past, rather than clicking on "Just once". This article explains how to reset that.


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## iChris93 (Feb 3, 2017)

garsh said:


> I assume it works similarly on iOS


Correct. You "share" it with the Tesla app.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> I tried touching the Navigation screen then the lightening bolt. I only lists 2 Tesla charging locations on the Big Island (destination charges with access limited to hotel guests) and several other on Maui and Oahu but you can't drive to the other islands. This feature also list previous locations where I had charged my car, which had never been at a DCFC until last week. Giving the street name and the city is not very helpful for those of us who are not native to Hawaii. I have to map most city names to see what island they are on and then what part of the island. The closest DCFC to my home is in Waimea but there are 7 other cities in the State of Hawaii, named Waimea! I am sure that there are other parts of the US without superchargers or destination chargers nearby and it would be nice if Tesla was able to integrated filtered (i.e., DCFC) charging locations from an app like Plugshare onto a list with closest first or better yet plot their location on the Navigation screen and allow you to reroute to one. I operated my phone with one hand while driving my car with the other, which wasn't the safest way to visualize the closest DCFC ahead of me then I had the phone direct me to that location, as well.


I'm way too confused as to what you mean by a DCFC. I'm assuming that you are referring to CHAdeMO chargers. There seems to be about 10 on the island, just plug their addresses in and set them as favorites. You can always just look at PlugShare, find the address, hit the button on the wheel and say "Navigate to 
Kea'au Shopping Center" or "Navigate to 16-586 Old Volcano Rd"

You mention "filtered" that's not what a DCFC is. You don't filter AC to get DC, you rectify it. And I'm going to guess that the DC coming off the rectifiers definitely isn't filtered, as the amount of capacitance to do so would be enormous, as well as not needed.

You can also just get PlugShare to route you to the charger, not need to hold the phone.


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## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

Filtering chargers on Plugsgare is how you view only certain types of chargers on their map. I would use the filter feature to only view DCFCs.

DCFC is an abbreviation for direct current fast charger, which on this island are all limited to 50 KW. DCFC is a commonly used abbreviation for high speed EV chargers.

EV is an abbreviation for electric vehicle.

If I took the time to type in the addresses of the 10 DCFCs into the Tesla app, they wouldn't be stored as charger locations unless I actually charged there.


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## garsh (Apr 4, 2016)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> DCFC is an abbreviation for direct current fast charger, which on this island are all limited to 50 KW.


I think Ed is asking if you know what plug & protocol these other chargers are using. Teslas as delivered can only use Tesla Superchargers. There's a CHAdeMO adapter that will allow Teslas to use CHAdeMO stations. There are some third-party adapters that allow Teslas to use CCS2 chargers, . Do you own one of these adapters?

I took a quick look at Hawaii in plugshare. There appear to be 9 stations total. One has a single CCS2 plug. The other eight are CCS2/CHAdeMO combos.


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## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

My MY came with a J1172 adapter for level 2 charging. I purchased a NEMA 14-50 adapter for the Tesla supplied portable EVSE. I also ordered tha CHAdeMO adapter that Tesla was selling online. With the NEMA 14-50 adapter, I plug into NEMA 14-50 outlets that I had installed in my garages on 50 amp circuits. I can charge in one garage using my free 40 amp Juicebox (~38 mph). I plug the Tesla portable EVSE into my 14-50 outler at the other garage at 32 amps (~30 mph). Mainly, I try to use my surplus solar only EV charger on my SE 7.6 KW inverter to maximize my self consumption. I prefer to 'drive on sunshine' when possible.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> My MY came with a J1172 adapter for level 2 charging. I purchased a NEMA 14-50 adapter for the Tesla supplied portable EVSE. I also ordered tha CHAdeMO adapter that Tesla was selling online. With the NEMA 14-50 adapter, I plug into NEMA 14-50 outlets that I had installed in my garages on 50 amp circuits. I can charge in one garage using my free 40 amp Juicebox (~38 mph). I plug the Tesla portable EVSE into my 14-50 outler at the other garage at 32 amps (~30 mph). Mainly, I try to use my surplus solar only EV charger on my SE 7.6 KW inverter to maximize my self consumption. I prefer to 'drive on sunshine' when possible.


Well wait, you live on an island with no way to drive to the next island (unless there's a ferry?), and that island isn't very large - a quick stop at Google says it's 125 miles all the way around it. There is no standard range Model Y, so you have about 325 miles of range - or 292 miles at 90%. So your best solution is just plug in every night at home and charge up to 90%, and you have enough juice to drive entirely around the island every single day!

Or if you travel around the island overnight a lot, you only need to find places with Level 2 charging (14-50, J-1772, etc) to top up overnight. But with that much range, even staying overnight in a another city might not require charging until you return home.


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## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

When the solar boost mode can kick in, the integrated EV charger on my inverter can charge up to 40 amps with surplus solar, else it charges at 32 amps when not using only surplus solar. 86% self consumption was on my best day since I figured out how to use that charger for both of my EVs (1 at a time). When I don't self-consume, I get $0.10/kWh for exported energy but pay $0.36. for imported energy. Therefore, maximum self-consumption is my goal.


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## BI_EV_Solar_Advocate (Mar 19, 2021)

Theoretical estimated milage does not equal actual milage. I can not get from my home to Volcano National Park and back on a full charge. My neighbor tried in her MY and hit zero (0) miles at the crest on Saddle Road but managed to make it home using regenerated power from downhill driving. Yes, I told her to try to never get below 10% and to buy a CHAdeMO adapter. She was very lucky. She would have been SOL on that road with no cell service, late at night and no available taxis or Ubers! Fortunately, Tesla saves a little reserve for those who get down to zero miles!


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

Ed Woodrick said:


> Can you not understand that there was absolutely no indication from the original poster that they were from Hawaii. I was expecting it to be, but wasn't sure and simply suggested a clarification and a fix of a profile.
> 
> It's similar to saying you are from the tri-cities, there are multiple clusters around the country.
> 
> I also found it hard to believe that what looks to 9 DCFC on the island couldn't easily get memorized or at least plugged in as favorites. Don't you effectively have the location of the Superchargers within 50 miles memorized? You've probably visited them all, even if you didn't charge there.


My apologies for being...knowledgeable?

I know The Big Island refers to Hawaii Island in the state of Hawaii. Just like I know the tri-state area specifically means NY/NJ/CT.

I also know that despite it being the biggest island, where you can really put on some milage, there are no superchargers. Because I watch supercharge.info and browse the map often, and look at areas of interest like beautiful Hawaii.

The arguments that the island is "small" and "just plug in at home" are not valid... just as you say, you are probably aware of all the superchargers within 50-100mi of your home, but this argument basically says you would never use them. But you DO, because some days you drive far, and you need a charge when you need a charge, and can't afford to go nowhere for 8 hours on a slow charger. I can see on Teslafi, my top two superchargers are only 30-40 minutes from home.

When I visited the big island, with no more than 100mi drives, I put on 1000mi in one week (in the rental Wrangler, of course), and the hotels and airB&Bs I was at certainly did not have the luxury of level 2 chargers. Superchargers in Kona and Hilo would make a lot of sense. Of course I was sightseeing, but if you live on the Island, you will also be doing a lot of driving into the cities to run errands etc. And we all know single-head 50KW CCS chargers we often do find at malls are useless, as well as 3-stall electrify americas that are usually 2/3 broken.

The more FAST charging locations, with many stalls, we place in many locations both near and far from cities, the easier it will be for everyone to electrify their cars. I think Norway is probably the only place in the world is where the rest of us need to be.

PS...your rated range also doesn't account for the significant changes in elevation you can experience on the big Island...there's not many other places where you can drive from 0 to 14,000 ft!


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

JWardell said:


> PS...your rated range also doesn't account for the significant changes in elevation you can experience on the big Island...there's not many other places where you can drive from 0 to 14,000 ft!


I like to mess with people occasionally by asking which state in the U.S. doesn't regularly have snow. Most people respond Hawaii - but they're wrong!


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## JWardell (May 9, 2016)

JasonF said:


> I like to mess with people occasionally by asking which state in the U.S. doesn't regularly have snow. Most people respond Hawaii - but they're wrong!


I brought a chunk of ice down and placed it in the ocean on the beach...no need for a cooler. Paradise to skiing in an hour!
It's such a mind blowing place.


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## JasonF (Oct 26, 2018)

JWardell said:


> I brought a chunk of ice down and placed it in the ocean on the beach...no need for a cooler. Paradise to skiing in an hour!
> It's such a mind blowing place.


There was this guy on youtube who was doing a day-by-day update on the volcanic eruption in Leilani Estates, and he worked as a tour guide. While he was filming the lava, he told stories about his job. One of them was that he constantly had to argue with tour groups because before the tour (up the mountain) would start, he would tell them they _have_ to bring jackets, and they were confused because it was 85 degrees at sea level.


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## Ed Woodrick (May 26, 2018)

BI_EV_Solar_Advocate said:


> Filtering chargers on Plugsgare is how you view only certain types of chargers on their map. I would use the filter feature to only view DCFCs.
> 
> DCFC is an abbreviation for direct current fast charger, which on this island are all limited to 50 KW. DCFC is a commonly used abbreviation for high speed EV chargers.
> 
> ...


Finally. 
There are multiple DCFC protocols, that's why I was asking. You are specifically talking about CHAdeMO chargers. Most people would say they turn the CHAdeMO plug on or off.

When you say DCFC,

I don't think that you'll ever see Tesla add CHAdeMO chargers to the car. After all, there is only a handful of users that have the CHAdeMO adapter. And with the standard declining, you'd be more likely to get the CCS locations, IF they ever introduce the adapter.

Don't forget that you can load PlugShare on the car web browser. So you don't have to hold your phone.

While having the CHAdeMO locations in your car doesn't give you the ability to find the closest, I wouldn't expect that it would take a lot of location awareness to know which one is near the path that you are headed. And this would give you the ability to route to it, maybe after consulting PlugShare on the car browser. And yes, this doesn't allow the battery to precondition itself, but again, the use of the CHAdeMO adapter is more an exception for most Tesla owners than in your case.


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## Madmolecule (Oct 8, 2018)

Tesla "Gas Can" spotted dropping off a car at the Mcdough Supercharger last night.


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