Request: New Markers to Specify 72 kW (Urban), 150 kW (V2), or 250 kW (V3) Superchargers

HPWCs aren’t Superchargers. HPWCs go from 6 to 18 kW, Superchargers go from 72 to 250 kw

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With those numbers, 15 HPWCs combined will probably never exceed 250kW draw, so they can be safely ignored so far as power load calculations go.

Just commenting to second this suggestion.

I came into the forum to suggest exactly this, only to find great minds think alike!

This is SUPERCHARGE.info, so I don’t know whether destination chargers need to appear. But I would LOVE if we had three distinct colors (or shapes if easier) for:

  1. Urban (or any oddballs around that kW)
  2. V2 (120-150 kW)
  3. V3 (250 kW)

That would add an instant layer of meaning to the map, without having to drill down on each location.

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You could use this app, which has different color features,
Purple is 250kW
Red is 120-150kW
Poo-brown is 72kW

Superchargers For Tesla

That helps in the meantime! :slight_smile:

I hacked this together today, though I am not a graphic artist, and I don’t know how accepting the community is to contributions… so let me know what makes sense.

Since bright green already is used to represent something, I chose to not change the existing red dot icon for an open/active Supercharger site.

Instead I added a newer red halo for V3 (250+ kW) sites, a gray halo border for Urban chargers, and kept the current red icon for the standard set. A white outline represents a site without curated data on the power level on this site.

Let me know what you think!

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Thanks for the work. However, i dont think borders is very efficient for sorting out the different types of chargers. I was thinking of:

Dark red/Burgundy: V3-250
Red (existing pin): V2-150 (120)
Dark yellow: V2 Urban-72

And a pin for expansions, as well as one for half-half locations (with V2 and V3)

If you can share specific color codes you would prefer for those I’m happy to update the graphics.

How’s the raw data represented for half-and-half locations today?

image image image

There is no half half marker, but this is the closest thing i can find: the limited hours pin

Yellow: urban
Burgundy: 250
Existing red: 120

Would it be reasonable to use different sized dots? (I guess that could also be used to indicate number of stalls - if that is something we would want to show graphically)

Another brain dump I just had - perhaps have “simple” and “detailed” view options? Then those who want to see power levels, expansions, whatever else etc. can do so, without confusing everyone else?

Yeah! I was also thinking of that in my last post, but forgot to mention:p

Here are some samples with the changes. I’m also working on a few other changes…

  • New permit icons since the location isn’t actually a supercharger yet. Please voice if you’re against a new permit icon or if you have any suggestions
  • Higher resolution icons to scale well on high-definition displays. I’ve converted all the remaining 50/50 dots to SVG and will see if I can do it for the construction cone

Yellow - Urban, Pink - V3 (also a smaller cone)


Brown - Urban, Burgundy - V3

Personally I feel that any brown and any dark color doesn’t have enough color which is useful for telling the dots apart, so I prefer the first image for the dots. I also prefer the stamp icon over the clipboard for permits since it matches the color scheme and stands out more. Let me know what your opinions are.

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@Pluto I like the yellow/pink varieties, and also the clipboard better. The permit icon looks nice but I prefer the icons that are circular/square-ish, as it helps prevent the map from looking too crowded when there are a lot in a small area. Good call on shrinking the cone icon too.

I agree with @chuq that I’d be happy to see this on supercharge.info as long as there is a way to toggle the various colors on and off. It’s useful to be able to differentiate the capabilities, but it can get a bit busy to the eyes. And, when planning road trips I don’t usually care too much about the Supercharger’s capability, as long as there is a dot that isn’t blue then I’m happy. :slight_smile:

Great work @Pluto!

I agree with the change to the permit icon. It makes sense that if colours are to be used to denote different speeds, that permit and construction be marked with symbols that are not just coloured dots - they should vary by something else.

I agree with @corywright that maybe something more abstract. Maybe the construction cone as well. Make it something simple like a triangle with orange/white stripes, and then have the permit be a greyscale version of the same. (or perhaps - a plain white triangle for permit, then add the orange stripes when it becomes construction?)

Something like this, except don’t use my particular images because I’m not a graphic designer and they look bad, but I’m sure someone with the talent can take this ideal and make it 1000% better by changing the triangle shape, or angle or thickness of the stripes, etc.

Notably Plugshare and OpenChargeMap both use the same colour scheme, which includes orange for DC fast chargers which are mostly 50 kW, so maybe orange could be used for the 72 kW urban chargers. I’ve suggested to both that they use a differing colour for ultra-rapid (175-350 kW) stations so maybe if they ever do that then supercharge.info could agree to align colours in some way? Noting of course that they steps are different (50 / 175 / 350 for most public ones vs 72 / 120-150 / 250 for superchargers).

[Edit: Missed the obvious flaw here that orange for the urban SCs may be confused with the orange for the construction cones]

I like this line of thinking, it’s simple and consistent. Maybe just a simple orange triangle for construction, and a simple blue square for permit?

Nice work @Pluto. Of the two I also prefer the yellow-red-pink scheme and agree with @corywright that if this is implemented it should be done as an option the user can select.

Also, as a minor adjustment, how would people feel about changing the title of the “permit” category to “in development” or just “development”. A lot of the time, sites are discovered from planning/zoning applications (or other sources knowledgeable about them), and these are technically happening before the project reaches the stage where it has or is applying for permits. Sometimes long before. It’s not a very big deal, but when discussing sites with people who aren’t familiar with the development process the fact that SC.info uses “permit” for known sites that are in any stage of development, regardless of whether they actually have permits or not, occasionally causes some confusion.

The only thing that makes me prefer a triangle is just for simplicity. Once there are squares, triangles, circles, it’s not entirely clear to a newcomer to the site. I only suggest triangle because of the visual link to the current construction cone icon. A permit is kinda like a pre-construction site?

Then it’s simple:

  • Triangle - not built (colour indicates stage)
  • Dot - built (colour indicates speed).