Superchargers Prompt Parking Redesigns
With the changes in charging technology over the last couple of years, it’s understandable that Tesla would need to do some experimentation with how their charging stations should be laid out.
In a January 5th post on their Tesla Charging twitter page, the EV company shows off one of the newer configurations in Denmark that’s hoping to add a little efficiency to their charge stations.
In an overhead drone shot, we see a small parking area that’s obviously been readied for testing. No parking lines or signage has been posted yet, but we can see a number of Supercharger stations arrayed in a new plan.
Normally, electric vehicle charging stations are added to older parking lots, or are arranged in an out-of-the way location. We can see that same design strategy with the Superchargers that are on the top, left and right of the image here.
These stations would require a driver to nose or back up to the curb, and it’s what we usually see with charging stations. We even see it with Tesla stations that were built to purpose, like this one in North Bergen, New Jersey.
There’s nothing really wrong with this sort of configuration - especially since it’s very easy to add to an existing parking lot - something every designer considers.
But if you look back to the shot from Denmark, you can start to see the new philosophy for charger placement.
The Supercharger can be used on both sides, so the team in Denmark have arranged the stations so that they line up with where the parking lot lines will eventually be. This allows for one station to service two users at once - halving the amount of chargers needed.
But that’s not all, because following this idea, Tesla has also placed chargers in the center of the lot, utilising pull-through parking spaces to do the same thing - and maximising the available manoeuvring space for vehicles.
Pull-through parking spaces are used when the design doesn’t call for a blocker - like when a central curb supports a lighting system, or if the lot owners need to cut down on slow-speed accidents in their lot caused by pull-through users.
But in terms of charging, the use-case changes. No one is really going to be speeding through the central spaces here, as they’re for charging, so that’s not a huge concern.
Parking lot design is an exercise in using the area you have to make a plan that flows well. This new design seems to check all the boxes for a location where people are going to be pulling in for a 15-20 minute charge, and pulling through to the exit. And it uses half the charge stations that other configurations have in the past.
And Denmark isn’t the only location using this new design, there’s a shot here from Exeter in the UK,
and another from a parking garage in Roma, Italy that utilises this very efficient layout.
There aren’t a whole lot of ways to configure a parking lot, so we’re likely going to see more of this design going forward.