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Hurricane Florence Info Page for Tesla Owners
Hurricane Florence may cause historic rainfall and flooding along with extensive coastal damage from winds and storm surge. This page will contain frequently updated information applicable to Tesla owners evacuating the storm.
Shortcut to get here: florence.triangletesla.org
For owners in evacuation areas, Tesla is enabling supercharging in older Teslas that did not have the supercharing option enabled at purchase (some original Model S60), and enabling use of extended battery capacity in Teslas with software locked battery capacity (some newer Model S60 and S70). Those capabilities will remain enabled through some time in October. If you have a Tesla capable of either of these features, you should see a message on the screen informing you of the temporary change.
If you run into any issues, need assistance with your Tesla, or have important questions regarding charging or Supercharger status, you may call Tesla Roadside Assistance for owners:
Tesla Roadside Assistance:
Supercharger Utilization and Operational Status
This section will contain any reports of operational issues or utilization congestion of superchargers along the east coast that are impacted by the storm. Any supercharger issues will be noted here as soon as they are reported. If you are aware of any operation issue or congestion with a supercharger in the region of the east coast being impacted by the storm send an email to info@triangletesla.org, text 919-404-9330, and/or post at the bottom of this page immediately.
Key Supercharger status
The following table shows likely Supercharger status. This is based on status delivered through the in-car map, monitoring of outage maps from Duke Energy, and any reported observations from the ground. This information is Best Effort and not official unless specified as official in the Notes column. If you have a critical need for a supercharger in the area impacted by the storm, contact Tesla Roadside Assistance at the number above for the most up to date and accurate information. Do not rely on this information to be accurate.
How to check Utilization and Operational Status yourself
To view real-time Utilization and Operational Status yourself, access the in-car map and touch the lighting bolt icon.
All regional Superchargers will then display real-time utilization on the screen with the indicators above the sites indicating number of cars charging (red) and open chargers (light grey) . Any non-operational superchargers should be indicated on that screen as well, but may not be updated immediately. If the utilization indicator above the supercharger is not show, it may mean several things.
- You may be out of region for this data to be displayed (if you're too far away from the supercharger, the utilization status is not shown)
- The supercharger may have lost network connectivity but still be working
- The supercharger may have lost power
We will be monitoring various channels and any info regarding operational problems, power loss, or congestion (wait lines) will be posted here.
I'm evacuating with a Tesla, what should I know about planning?
Charging
Charge to 100% before you leaveStating the obvious, charge to 100% just before leaving. Charge to 90% the night before leaving and increase it to 100% shortly before leaving so that the charge reaches 100% about the time you are ready to leave.
Charging while evacuating (Supercharging)Use of the supercharger network during evacuations should not be an issue. With the recently added locations and capacity to the east coast this year there should be adequate capacity to cover evacuations. Give yourself a little extra juice at the supercharger to make sure you have some bonus miles at your destination, especially if going to a hotel with chargers as there may be other EVs/Teslas charging already. Check back on this page in the Supercharger Utilization section for status periodically.
Charging at your destinationIf you are evacuating, the best tool to identify destination charging resources is PlugShare. com There are two general evacuation plans and each has a recommended filter configuration to help with planning. The below instructions are for viewing plugshare.com on a desktop browser. The filter configuration may be accessed by clicking the menu icon to the left of the search bar.
Evacuating to a Hotel
Adjust the filter settings as shown below. Be sure to select "Lodging" under Amenities and nothing else in that section. Setting this will show charging options onsite or very near hotel properties.
Evacuating to Friends or Family
The same filter settings are recommended but do not select "Lodging" to show more options.
| Evacuating to a Hotel | Evacuating to Friends/Family |
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What about returning from evacuation?
What else should I know?
- Slow Down - If you aren't going slow already due to traffic and are cruising along at 73 mph, take it down a notch to 65 and you'll save a ton of power. Want to save more? Slow down some more. Seriously, speed is more important than any other factor in extending range on the road. If needed, going as slow as 50 mph will show significant savings.
- Turn on Range Mode if driving a Model S or X (Model 3 does not have this mode). Go to Controls -> Driving -> Range Mode -> On. While this will help a slight bit, it won't help nearly as much as slowing down.
Discussion
Below is a temporary public Google group for any questions/discussions/comments regarding Hurricane Florence. If you have information you feel may be useful, please post it below or send it to info@triangletesla.org.