California Superchargers- how busy are they?

[Petra]

Only wait I've ever had was at the Tejon supercharger--twice, both weekend evenings.

 

[ken830]

You won't have to worry too much. Just make sure to avoid the Bay Area Superchargers during morning and afternoon commute hours. You will definitely have to wait.

 

[ecarfan]

Only wait I've ever had was at the Tejon supercharger--twice, both weekend evenings.

And now that the Buttonwillow SC is online the chance of waiting at Tejon should be much less likely.

 

[Khatsalano]

San Mateo SC used to have a healthy amount of availability. Lately, it's gotten so bad they had to post a Tesla attendant there for a while. If you go around lunch time or after work, there is a wait 3-5 cars deep.

- K

 

[Gregsbeach]

Yesterday in Oxnard...every stall was taken!

 

[bmah]

Data point from this weekend: Coming home late Saturday afternoon after the NorCal-Reno club poker run event, I arrived at Folsom to see one other car charging, but then two other cars arrived (thus filling up the four stalls), and then three more arrivals while we were charging. I don't believe any of the other cars were involved in the event, but just a random burst of unrelated arrivals. My only time charging at Folsom, so I'm not sure if that's typical.

Bruce.

 

[aesculus]

My only time charging at Folsom, so I'm not sure if that's typical.

Sometimes Saturday night is the biggest. They really need to double the stalls as there are often people waiting there.

 

[BrokerDon]

I don't use them much but have only had to wait three times. Once in 2012 when there was only 1 supercharger stall at the gas station at Harris Ranch. That's because I picked up the car at Fremont and drove it home and there were a several others who did the exact same thing and we were all headed back to LA/OC.

The other two were at SjC. The parking layout sucks and I only needed 10 miles of charge to make it home. Seemed like everyone there was waiting to range charge. The other time at SjC, I said forget this and made it home with 3 miles left.

I guess I technically didn't wait but it was full with several others already parked waiting for a spot.

I've stopped at SjC twice at different times on a weekend coming back from an San Diego County road trip with low SoC and all the stalls were full + more Tesla's waiting. The parking layout near the SCs is awful... No other nearby places to park to queue for the next available open SC. I'd avoid it during morning & evening commuting hours + weekends. Instead we've hit the SC at the Qualcomm Office Park in North San Diego... and will hit the newly opened SC in Temecula for our inland San Diego County trips so we avoid the SjC SC.

We've also seen the Fountain Valley ("FV") SC full with Teslas waiting... but Tesla has a parking valet service there during their busy hours to minimize wait times. Hopefully the SC under construction at the Main Place Mall in Santa Ana will relieve both the FV and SjC congestion.

 

[cpa]

I arrived at Mt. Shasta City Supercharger on Tuesday the 10th around 12:30 PM. Three of the four stalls were in use, so I made it a full house. Shortly after I plugged in, one owner left and another arrived! I needed a range charge as I was heading to Lakeview OR. When I departed at 1:35, I was the last one there.

Perhaps congestion is starting to appear intermittently at locations during select times of day (weekday lunch in my example).

It would be good to see if there are similar situations during the coming summer at other spots, particularly if there are good places to eat or spend 30-40 minutes while charging.

 

[smilepak]

Burbank is fairly busy. Usually three or four cars wait each time I had passed by

Fountain Valley is also fairly busy. Similar to Burbank.

Rancho Cucamunga is ok. I usually get a spot or one car wait

Redondo Beach is ok

Oxnard is ok as well

 

[mikeg561]

Any chance of a super charger being built in our local mountains?

(This post was originally made in a new thread titled "Big Bear or Lake Arrowhead" and was merged into this existing thread by the moderator)

 

[ecarfan]

I would say, for the foreseeable future, no chance at all. The reason is that Superchargers are built near freeways and highways that are used for long distance travel on the way to somewhere else. The locations you mention are destinations. Almost no one passes through those locations on the way to somewhere else.

 

[abasile]

There are SuperChargers en route to the San Bernardino Mountains, namely in Rancho Cucamonga, Cabazon, Temecula, and other locations depending on where you're coming from. And if you have a CHAdeMO adaptor, there are places to charge at 40-50 kW even closer to the base of the mountains if one of the SuperChargers is too far out of your way.

Further, if you do visit up here, you'll likely get back a good amount of energy via regenerative braking on your way back down. A great many SoCal Tesla owners should be able to visit the mountains on a single charge from home, without stopping anywhere else to charge.

That said, it's always helpful to have destination charging, which some establishments like the Lake Arrowhead Resort offer. Even if your destination doesn't offer EV charging, they might be able to give you an outlet if you ask politely. As EV owners, we need to let business owners know that they have an opportunity to provide a valuable service to us.

Finally, if you're up here and need a boost, look me up in PlugShare. I'm just off the main route to Big Bear, near hiking trails and a restaurant, and can share a 7 kW J-1772 EVSE.

 

[Doug Martoccia]

At least Lake Arrowhead has something, Big Bear and Idyllwild are not very practical to drive to now.

 

[Doug Martoccia]

This will be an interesting Memorial Day. I'll be driving up the 101 and am bracing myself for a few delays.

 

[David99]

The problem is that once a Supercharger gets full, they slow down as two cars share one charger. So as they get busy the problem gets amplified.

California has almost half of all Teslas in the entire US. There are aprox 300 Supercharger stations in the US (including constructions and known permits), 50 of them in California.

 

[abasile]

At least Lake Arrowhead has something, Big Bear and Idyllwild are not very practical to drive to now.

From Hermosa Beach, on your way to Big Bear, a single stop at the Rancho Cucamonga SuperCharger should do it. Or if you're a bit more brave, wait until you're on your way back home to add charge, as this would minimize your charging time (since your battery would be less full). That would be pushing it in a "60", though.

 

[dhcp]

Data point from this weekend: Coming home late Saturday afternoon after the NorCal-Reno club poker run event, I arrived at Folsom to see one other car charging, but then two other cars arrived (thus filling up the four stalls), and then three more arrivals while we were charging. I don't believe any of the other cars were involved in the event, but just a random burst of unrelated arrivals. My only time charging at Folsom, so I'm not sure if that's typical.

Folsom is the last stop before going up to or coming back from South Lake Tahoe. There isn't anything else in SLT (yet!?) for SC and you definitely need to charge at Folsom if you are coming from the Bay Area, that drive up into the mountains will drain you.

On the map it looks like there are two stations in Folsom? Is that correct?

 

[aesculus]

On the map it looks like there are two stations in Folsom? Is that correct?

Yes. Same road. Just a few miles and exits off US 50 from each other.

 

[WARP 10]

The San Diego SC at Qualcomm seems to be rapidly reaching capacity. I've been by there 4 separate times, once on Sunday (9 of 12 in use), once on Saturday (full with 3 waiting), and twice during the week around 10am (8 to 10 in use).