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Harris Ranch is getting first battery swap station

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Probably NDA's

Last I checked their isn't anything preventing people from discussing the fact that they signed an NDA. We knew who the beta testers were in the early days, they just couldn't discuss the features they were testing. More recently, islandbayy informed us of the NDA he signed, but could not go further than that. At least some response from someone saying, "Well, I signed an NDA..." will do.
 
Last I checked their isn't anything preventing people from discussing the fact that they signed an NDA. We knew who the beta testers were in the early days, they just couldn't discuss the features they were testing. More recently, islandbayy informed us of the NDA he signed, but could not go further than that. At least some response from someone saying, "Well, I signed an NDA..." will do.

Maybe there's an non-disclosure clause regarding the NDA in the NDA? Stranger things have happened ;)
 
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Ah... the car wash was not that bad. It was probably just not used much. Right there is a gas station and a little convenience store along with a pleasant restroom, which is not often found at gas stations. So I would consider it more that it was a building whose original use wasn't profitable.

Great pic! Very cool to see how Tesla brings these old, worn out buildings back to life, whether it's when they take over a dealership that has seen better days and turn it into a stor or a tired, broken down car wash such as this.
 
Knowing nothing about the design of the battery swap, the building itself looks like there could be enough room for a lot of batteries (depending on how efficient the storage is). When I go to Hawthorne for SC the status screen showing the top ten or when it loops through individual locations, I don't recall ever seeing one with over 100 charges. I go late (about 10 PM) and I remember Hawthorne was at 73. I have noticed that people seem to go to charge about the same times, so it might give the appearance that a lot of people use super chargers, but when I have gone to super chargers, I have never seen more than one or two.

In the past week, I have been to Oxnard (afternoon) and Hawthorne (10PM) and I was the only one at Oxnard and only two others at Hawthorne. Based on that, it could be years before they are doing more than a hundred swaps. How will most people use them. Single day business trip? Weekend? it will be interesting.
I have been to Oxnard several times, and I agree 1 or 2 Teslas charging at a time seems typical. San Juan Capistrano, however, is a different story. In each of 4 visits, 6 or 7 stalls were always occupied, with cars arriving or departing every few minutes, but I might have been hitting peak times. Now that Rancho Cucamonga is open with 12 stalls, typical usage may build beyond 7 or 8 cars charging at once.

I would think Battery Swap would appeal mostly to folks who need close to a full charge, since they would be looking at the longest times to charge vs swap. I suspect many folks charging in urban areas such as Hawthorne or Rancho Cucamonga are only doing a partial charge, 150 miles or less.
 
I would think Battery Swap would appeal mostly to folks who need close to a full charge, since they would be looking at the longest times to charge vs swap. I suspect many folks charging in urban areas such as Hawthorne or Rancho Cucamonga are only doing a partial charge, 150 miles or less.

Battery swapping opens up a market to those who don't have charging capabilities where they home their EV. Quite a huge market of condo, apartment, non-home owners. Nissan, BMW, etc can't compete since they're not designed for swaps.
 
I'm not surprised that there are not any pics with the doors open.

To use the station, you need to get on the Beta program and make an appointment. I don't routinely go down I-5, so I didn't have any real interest in the near future. But when I do take a trip, I rarely know exactly what time I'll be at a supercharger, so "making an appt" did not appeal at all. I could potentially decide I'd be there within a 2-4 hour window, but not any narrower.

Yeah, I would love to hear from someone. Apparently it's all tied up in NDAs at this point. Still think it's odd no one has posted pics of other cars heading into the swapper station.
 
Station looks great from outside!

Visited Tuesday 1/13 evening and from the outside the site looks complete and ready to roll, don't know about the state of the swapping apparatus inside as it was all closed up. Here are some pictures:
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Sign at entrance.
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View from the highway.
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Tesla vehicle exits this door.
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Restrooms, Tire-Water fill up and a picnic table.
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Waiting for a charge...
 
A look inside the Battery Swap Station

I visited the Battery Swap Station on Sat 1/17/2015 and found progress:
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New see-through roll-up doors enabling me to photograph the inner sanctum of battery swapdom:

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View into the facility from auto exit door (above).

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View into the facility from auto entry door (above).

And here's the spacious AND CLEAN attached mens room, making this both a convenient and comfortable stop!
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I look forward to photos/news of further progress.