Tesla Owners Wait In Half-Mile-Long Line To Charge Their Cars On Black Friday

Dozens of tree-hugging Californians who have convinced themselves that they are single-handedly saving the planet wound up spending a good portion of their Black Friday waiting on an extensive line to have their cars charged.

The Kettleman City Supercharger station, which boasts 40 charging stalls, was “overrun” on Black Friday, according to video and photos posted by the Daily Mail. 

Shanon Stellini was traveling through the area on November 30 and found a backlog of “around 50” Teslas waiting to charge at the station which is off Interstate 5.

The scene has become more common at Superchargers around the U.S. as the cash-strapped company, which feels like it is in a perpetual state of slashing its capex, fails to keep up its infrastructure to handle the number of cars they have been selling.  

“Bet they wish they had gas,” Stellini’s partner says in the video. 

The icing on the cake is the fact that when more cars are trying to recharge at once, it slows down the process of recharging for everybody else. 

It was unclear exactly how long drivers were forced to wait to have their cars fully charged, but one person Tweeted that they had been waiting on line for 40 minutes and was only “halfway” to the charger. 

@Tesla I think you can do better with charging situation. This is at Kettleman location. Been sitting here in line for 40 mins and looks like half way there. pic.twitter.com/vb6V5FA872

— Sunny Walia (@crazytoon) December 1, 2019

There are now around 400,000 Teslas on the roads of the U.S. and the company’s commitment to hoarding its cash by any means necessary, including not paying bills and not investing in its Supercharger network, could finally be coming back to bite its owners in pronounced fashion.

The day before Black Friday, another video was posted online showing 15 Teslas waiting at a Supercharger station in San Luis Obispo at about 4:45pm on the Thanksgiving holiday. Owners can reach a 100% charge in 75 minutes according to the article. 

The video shows a line of cars wrapped around the Madonna Inn, with many owners waiting outside their vehicles, waiting for their chance to charge their cars.

[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a1uFudf37JU]

“Supercharger stations are conveniently located near desirable amenities like restaurants, shops and WiFi hotspots. Each station contains multiple Superchargers to get you back on the road quickly,” Tesla says. 

Tesla says its Superchargers are the “world’s fastest charging network”, but we’re not sure that counts the hours you have to sit and wait in line first, before even getting to a charger.