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California Supercharger Usage

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The forum has become very quiet regarding members recent Supercharger experiences. I'm doing the Barstow/Tejon/Harris Ranch circuit on Friday and am curious how impacted the facilities are. Assume no news is good news in terms of having to wait in line.

My wife and I did that exact circuit last Thursday on the way to Vegas and then back again this Sunday (I'll post a more detailed account when I get a chance). On Thursday we were the only car at Harris Ranch, Tejon ranch, and Barstow (we got to Harris Ranch at 11:25 am, we got to Tejon at 1:47 pm and we got to Barstow at 5:17 pm).

On Sunday at 12:26 pm, we were the second car at the Barstow charger (located behind the Chilis) and two more cars pulled up shortly after we hooked up to the charger (every other charge bay at Barstow shares a stack of chargers so I parked next to the charging car and got a very nice 263 mi/hr charge rate). We walked across the bridge to the outlet mall and my wife did some shopping while the car was charging. Several tour buses had just dropped off a horde of foreign shoppers and the place was completely packed. By the time we got back to the car, all four cars were still charging and another was waiting. The white Model S that was waiting grabbed our spot the instant we left. Tejon ranch has six charging bays and there we only saw one other car the whole time we charged on Sunday (which wasn't long at all since we got a very healthy charge at Barstow and Harris Ranch isn't all that far away). At Harris Ranch, once again we only saw one other Model S charging while we were there. There are a total of seven charge bays (six new ones near the Harris Ranch Restaurant and the old one next to the gas station).

Anyway, the short answer is that I doubt there will be much of a wait at either Harris Ranch or Tejon. But you might have a short wait at Barstow if you hit it at a popular time.

Harris ranch is pretty compact so everything is only a short walk from the chargers. But many of the restaurants at Tejon ranch and the shopping outlets at Barstow are a bit of a walk from the chargers so if you're traveling with other people and don't want to just sit in the car while its charging, you might want to drop the others off at the restaurant or mall prior to plugging in the car.
 
I have charged 1/2 dozen times at Hawthorne and Tejon without waiting. I have read here about an occasional wait at Barstow. I suspect that Fridays/Sundays are the worst. Harris should be ok with the new ones on line now.
 
My wife and I did that exact circuit last Thursday on the way to Vegas and then back again this Sunday (I'll post a more detailed account when I get a chance). On Thursday we were the only car at Harris Ranch, Tejon ranch, and Barstow (we got to Harris Ranch at 11:25 am, we got to Tejon at 1:47 pm and we got to Barstow at 5:17 pm).

On Sunday at 12:26 pm, we were the second car at the Barstow charger (located behind the Chilis) and two more cars pulled up shortly after we hooked up to the charger (every other charge bay at Barstow shares a stack of chargers so I parked next to the charging car and got a very nice 263 mi/hr charge rate). We walked across the bridge to the outlet mall and my wife did some shopping while the car was charging. Several tour buses had just dropped off a horde of foreign shoppers and the place was completely packed. By the time we got back to the car, all four cars were still charging and another was waiting. The white Model S that was waiting grabbed our spot the instant we left. Tejon ranch has six charging bays and there we only saw one other car the whole time we charged on Sunday (which wasn't long at all since we got a very healthy charge at Barstow and Harris Ranch isn't all that far away). At Harris Ranch, once again we only saw one other Model S charging while we were there. There are a total of seven charge bays (six new ones near the Harris Ranch Restaurant and the old one next to the gas station).

Anyway, the short answer is that I doubt there will be much of a wait at either Harris Ranch or Tejon. But you might have a short wait at Barstow if you hit it at a popular time.

Harris ranch is pretty compact so everything is only a short walk from the chargers. But many of the restaurants at Tejon ranch and the shopping outlets at Barstow are a bit of a walk from the chargers so if you're traveling with other people and don't want to just sit in the car while its charging, you might want to drop the others off at the restaurant or mall prior to plugging in the car.

Thanks for the response. I'll be coming through Barstow on Friday at about 10:00AM so am hopeful that that is before the LA/Vegas weekend crowd.

- - - Updated - - -

The upcoming Memorial Day long weekend is surely going to be crazy at the Superchargers, I'd think.

But, of course, we have been PROMISED an announcement of additional SC's last/this/next week.:confused:
 
Good to know that all 4 at Barstow are now online, wraithnot

Here's a photo I snapped while my car (on the far left in bay 1A) was charging. I parked next to the black car in 2A and got full power. The two cars on the right (in 1B and 2B) arrived later and presumably charged more slowly. You can see the outlet mall in the background, but it's separated from the chargers by a wide storm drain so unless you brought your hiking boots you have to walk across the bridge in the very left of the photo. But there is a Chilis, a gas station / convenience store, and some other stuff closer to the chargers

Barstow.JPG
 
Nice photo wraithnot! Thanks for the Barstow SC update. Last time I was there, only 2 chargers were up and running and the one on the right was much slower than one on the left(1A). This will be a VERY popular stop for Vegas-LA crowd in both directions, wish it were planned out like Tejon or Harris Ranch as they are built for more capacity.
 
Nice photo wraithnot! Thanks for the Barstow SC update. Last time I was there, only 2 chargers were up and running and the one on the right was much slower than one on the left(1A). This will be a VERY popular stop for Vegas-LA crowd in both directions, wish it were planned out like Tejon or Harris Ranch as they are built for more capacity.

When I stopped by in April, there were also only two -- the ones labeled 1a and 1b. There's no difference between the 1a and 1b. What does make a difference is whether someone else is charging while you're charging at the ones that share a power source (1a and 1b or 2a and 2b).

While I was there on the first time, I was by myself and was able to get maximum charge rate (peaked out at 200 rated miles per hour) from 1A. On the return trip, there was someone already there (at 1a) when I arrived and so my initial charging rate was about 70 rated miles per hour. As soon as the other car left, I plugged and unplugged (still at 1b) and the charge jumped to 205 rated miles per hour. You would think that they could design the system to automatically reconfigure itself when the other person automatically leaves. Perhaps this has been corrected but it hadn't.

Similar experience at Hawthorne, although for some reason, at Hawthorne we could charge at up to 285 rated miles per hour. I'm sure somewhere in the forums, there are better explanations as to why this occurs. If you have a choice, pick the charger that isn't sharing a source.