High Amp Chargers in CA?

[Gizmotoy]

Hello Everyone,

I'm new to the area and have an order in for a Model S 85. I'm interested in exploring the state, and am wondering if I should have the dual chargers installed. I can't use the HPWC at all as I have free ChargePoints in my apartment building, but high amp on-the-road charging might be worthwhile.

It's hard to find how prevalent these are in CA. I see maybe 3-4 at Robobanks, and then at Tesla showrooms and service centers. So it seems like there aren't too many places where it'd be useful. Washington and Canada seem to be covered, but I have no plans for trips up that far.

What's frustrating is that no charging sites I look at allow you to filter by high amp locations, short of clicking every single charger to look at its details. The Tesla Highway Google map mixes them with people's homes, so even that's somewhat difficult to filter. It looks like maybe 12 public stations in the whole state, in total?

Any idea if it'd be worthwhile?

 

[Lloyd]

All of the service centers and Showrooms have HPWC's. As HPWC's become more common, dual chargers will be very useful. There are (4) 70 amp plus charging stations publically available in San Luis Obispo. I would recommend it as the cost after delivery is much higher.

 

[dhrivnak]

I have yet to see a charger in the wild above 30 amps. I would push Tesla for a CHAdeMO adapter. I have foud them but can't use them.

 

[ecarfan]

I think the dual onboard chargers are worth having, think long term...

 

[Gizmotoy]

San Luis Obispo is 15 miles from a Supercharger. Not a terribly useful location unless you happen to live there :wink:. Indeed many of the CA SCs have nearby Superchargers.

Even long term may be a tough sell: Are there any providers interested in installing >30A Level 2s in CA? I can't find any news suggesting they are. Leafs are very common here, so all the new high amp installations are L3 CHAdeMOs. If the Bay Area is a leading indicator, high amp L2s are going to get skipped.

 

[Puyallup Bill]

I think the dual onboard chargers are worth having, think long term...

No question in my mind. Superchargers are great, and a CHAdeMO adapter will be great if we ever get it, but I believe we will see more 72 Amp Clipper Creek EVSEs showing up.

Also, it appears that Tesla will work with a person to unbundle the dual chargers from the HPWC. Message from Tesla ownership when I complained about the bundling:

Hi William,

I received your note this morning regarding our new option to bundle the High Power Wall Connector and Twin Charger feature.

We made this decision in clarify for customers the benefit Twin Charger feature offers, and what it requires. Fortunately, under the circumstance that a customer cannot install the Wall Connector, we will accept a return of the device. This is the only work around we have currently, but I’ll investigate if we can add the Twin Charger into the configuration manually, without addition of the Wall Connector.

Thanks for sending us the suggestion. If you have any other questions, feel free to contact me.

Best Regards,
William Masterson | Ownership Experience Advocate
3500 Deer Creek Rd. | Palo Alto, CA 94304