Drivers lining up for gas in New Jersey block access to free Tesla Superchargers

FOUR SUPERCHARGES, NO WAITING: No other Tesla owners were charging their Model S hatchbacks on Sunday afternoon at the Joyce Kilmer Service Area of the New Jersey Turnpike, but drivers of conventional cars were waiting on long gas lines that blocked the entrance to the parking lot, below.

There were more than a half-dozen long lines of cars, SUVs and pickups at the pumps, above, and more arriving by the minute, below.

By VICTOR E. SASSON
EDITOR

I was that "crazy guy in a red car" who was driving through the packed parking lot against traffic on Sunday to reach a free Tesla Supercharger.

Drivers of conventional cars gave me no choice as they backed up at New Jersey Turnpike gas pumps right onto the entrance ramps, blocking the right turn into the parking lot where the four Superchargers are lined up.

I had to drive my Model S clockwise around the gas station plaza, then against traffic past the entrance to the building with the food court and bathrooms.

I had visited the Joyce Kilmer Service Area in East Brunswick once before, but that was on a weekday, when it was far less crowded.

Inside the building on Sunday, the wait at Starbucks Coffee was brief, and I found a dozen empty urinals in the bathroom.

Cheap gas, lead feet

The continuing availability of cheap gas has only aggravated speeding and other aggressive driving on the turnpike, Garden State Parkway and other highways.

I made most of Sunday's round-trip to Willow Grove, Pa., in the middle lane with my cruise control set at 75 mph.

Other vehicles routinely passed on both sides, and I watched in amusement as drivers raced, tailgated and cut each other off or weaved in and out of traffic.

An enormously boxy Chevy Suburban raced past in the fast lane pursued by a Toyota Sequoia, another gas-guzzling SUV.

I didn't see a single state trooper on the New Jersey or Pennsylvania turnpikes.

More than three dozen drivers lined up at the Costco Wholesale gas station in Wayne, N.J., where a gallon of regular was going for $2.09.9 last week. I saw the same price for regular at stations on Essex Street in Lodi, N.J.

SAY 'FRUNK': We took advantage of the storage space in the 'frunk" (truck in front) and in the traditional trunk to move our son to his off-campus college housing in Pennsylvania on Sunday. One man said, "Where's the engine?" Another commented, "I love that."