supercharge.info has been averaging about 3,000 unique visitors per day with occasional spikes to 4k or 5k. Looks like the google maps cost was just under $60/day when I shut it down.
While you are trying to fix the map issue, perhaps you could make a link for each supercharger site discussion from that site’s line on the Data page. Sounds like a lot of work, but perhaps it would give most visitors the information they most enjoy.
I have been checking in for the last few months and really like reading about the progress of new sites and the discussions that your readers share.
Keith,
I’m with Gene on willingness to pay a fee for use. This, along with the Tesla site for destination chargers, are exactly what’s needed to make trip planning work easily.
Would Tesla be interested in supporting your site?
Rick
I have made a few changes and am experimenting with some approaches to reduce cost. May disable an additional google maps feature (street view, satellite view, nearby, search location, routing, etc) each day over the next few days and observe the impact on cost.
Since Google has added EV chargers to Maps perhaps they would be supportive of your work. Maybe more so if links could be made to Google Maps directly for features they consider commercial? Just a thought, since I am addicted to supercharger.info
Glad the map function is back! I noticed that the search box doesn’t seem to work. Is there a workaround aside from going to Google Maps or Plugshare to find the location?
Can you share anything about the (early) results of this testing? Are you feeling confident that you can find a formula that works, or do you think you’ll still have to pursue an alternative to Google Maps?
Google maps API usage for the first half of November fell within the free tier. Starting November 13 I passed that threshold and am now seeing some high usage peeks (holiday planning in the US I guess). I placed a strict quota on the API usage and the map will now stop working after about $20 used in a single day.
It will definitely take a while to get all supercharge.info features working on openstreetmap. And even then, there is the question of cost. The above map was generated using mapbox as the “tile provider”. Their pricing (https://www.mapbox.com/pricing/) is significantly less than googles (maybe 10% or so) at my current usage level. But if supercharge.info becomes more popular (which we want) I could eventually grow to where the mapbox costs approach current costs at google. Maybe there are still cheaper options out there with the necessary features. I’ll keep looking as time permits.
In the mean time I think I need to try this patreon idea, to keep the site running. Really stepping out of my comfort zone, but here it is. I’ll post it just for the limited audience in this forum first and see if anyone has thoughts to share:
I guess that link would go in a banner at the top of supercharge.info, visible to each user one time only.
Hi Keith - got your own Tesla yet? I think posting your referral code will give you some benefit back for all the hard work and the great effort you have made for electric mobility by creating supercharge.info.
Or make it even more tempting to be a patreon by randomly selecting one of the patreons every day and displaying that persons referral code that day?
