Holiday travel availability / congestion at CA Superchargers; possible solutions, complaints, comments, discussion

[Big Dog]

Holiday Supercharger lines often caused by Herd Mentality.

Travelers start out at their homes with 100% charge. Typically drive at highway speeds for around 4 hours, run their batteries low than pull into a supercharger to have bio break/lunch. Most all converge around the same time.

This caused an expected bulge in the snake, where previously empty Superchargers suddenly tend to all fill up around the same time.

Smart drives can often plan around these busy chargers by scheduling their stops at off-peak times.Stop before empty, get an extra 150 miles or so, and bypass the busy charging stations.

Disagree. Once they get busy they stay busy all day. For example, two years ago we left at o-dark-thirty from SF on the way to LA on 101. Got the last open charge spot at Madonna Inn about 9:45 am. Went in for breakfast, came out 30+ minutes later and the line had formed. There was a line for the rest of the day until late that night, i.e., way off peak time.

If you want to avoid lines, leave really early --- and drive on an off day, such as not Wednesday before Thanksgiving and not Sunday after.

 

[Dave EV]

Apparently there was a line at Kettleman City early this afternoon, despite Firebaugh opening up. Kettleman City needs to upgrade all the V2 stalls to V3 and probably add a few more stalls as well.
https://twitter.com/CodingMark/status/1330263989025206274

 

[Janus]

Apparently there was a line at Kettleman City early this afternoon, despite Firebaugh opening up. Kettleman City needs to upgrade all the V2 stalls to V3 and probably add a few more stalls as well.
https://twitter.com/CodingMark/status/1330263989025206274

I'd imagine in Jan/Feb (after the holiday rush) they take care of the upgrade. No sense shutting down any amount of stalls during the holiday rush.

 

[aesculus]

I don't use this function, and I have been on at least a dozen trips of >1,500 miles. I further assume that perhaps the software will change course midstream if a planned stop is in heavy use while one that is 50 miles away is more vacant than not, or if the car can utilize the 250kW Superchargers or are limited to 120 or less.

I don't think Tesla is currently doing this but don't know for sure.

It certainly is something they could and should do though.

 

[Big Dog]

I don't think Tesla is currently doing this but don't know for sure.

It certainly is something they could and should do though.

Tesla already has something like this. While on the road, you can hover over the Superchargers on your map and it will tell you how many chargers are available.

 

[1100MCM]

Some of these V2 locations on busier travel routes are basically becoming urban superchargers during the afternoon and sometimes well into the night. During these times if you arrive you are basically guaranteed to split power.

 

[bxr140]

Is the split still minimum 30kw for the second person like the 120 cabinets?

 

[ucmndd]

Is the split still minimum 30kw for the second person like the 120 cabinets?

No, behavior has changed in the last year or so and cars now split available power 50/50.

 

[attathomeguy]

Currently at Walnut Creek urban charger and maybe 6 cars here. I'll report as I drive to Modesto and back today

 

[attathomeguy]

Charging at the Modesto charger and only 3 spaces available. No line though

 

[napabill]

they So where are the reports on traffic activity at the Cali SC's? Seems like that subject is being curated to somewhere else.

 

[CalBlue 85D]

Back in August 2017 we were on the final stretch of a 14-day, 3300 mile road trip when we arrived at the Supercharger in Mt. Shasta, CA in the early afternoon. Prior to this, I'd been lucky and never waited more than 5-10 minutes to connect at any Supercharger.... There were 15 cars waiting for 4 Superchargers (the original setup in Mt. Shasta) and the charge rate was not optimal for anyone. To make things worse, several people were apparently staying connected to get to a 100% charge. Here's the Tesla moment....our fellow owners had already created slips of paper with numbers to keep track of who was next. No one complained. No one jumped the line. We shared the duty of tracking numbers so people could go eat etc. We met new people and shared stories beyond our cars. We bought ice cream and shared it with the others while we waited in the hot weather. By the time we left, we had just handed out #25 to the latest car and it appeared that things were not slowing down anytime soon.

What could have been a bad way to end a road trip actually ended up being one of the enjoyable parts of the trip. No rush, no hurry, we will get there when we get there. I love road trips in this car!

 

[ucmndd]

Back in August 2017 we were on the final stretch of a 14-day, 3300 mile road trip when we arrived at the Supercharger in Mt. Shasta, CA in the early afternoon. Prior to this, I'd been lucky and never waited more than 5-10 minutes to connect at any Supercharger.... There were 15 cars waiting for 4 Superchargers (the original setup in Mt. Shasta) and the charge rate was not optimal for anyone. To make things worse, several people were apparently staying connected to get to a 100% charge. Here's the Tesla moment....our fellow owners had already created slips of paper with numbers to keep track of who was next. No one complained. No one jumped the line. We shared the duty of tracking numbers so people could go eat etc. We met new people and shared stories beyond our cars. We bought ice cream and shared it with the others while we waited in the hot weather. By the time we left, we had just handed out #25 to the latest car and it appeared that things were not slowing down anytime soon.

What could have been a bad way to end a road trip actually ended up being one of the enjoyable parts of the trip. No rush, no hurry, we will get there when we get there. I love road trips in this car!

The Great Solar Eclipse Supercharger SugarShow of 2017 was no joke.

 

[jasonh4451]

Drove from LA to San Francisco via I-5 yesterday. Traffic was heavier than I expected but still much lighter than a typical Saturday after Thanksgiving. We left our relatives in LA with only a 50% charge so had to stop twice instead of the usual single stop. We stopped in Buttonwillow and the new Firebaugh and both were less than half full. No issues.

We used to always stop in Kettleman City but have found that during holiday weekends there are traffic jams around the food options particularly In N Out Burger. Firebaugh may be our new favorite as its really easy to get to off the highway and we found Wayback burger to be good enough and really fast. 250KW chargers are awesome. We arrived with 8% and the car was ready to continue the trip to SF well before we were done eating / stretching our legs/ using the bathroom etc.

 

[Electroman]

Apparently there was a line at Kettleman City early this afternoon, despite Firebaugh opening up. Kettleman City needs to upgrade all the V2 stalls to V3 and probably add a few more stalls as well.
https://twitter.com/CodingMark/status/1330263989025206274

What am I see here at 00:20? is that a closed gas station, or are they expanding the SC stalls over there? I can't figure out what those red things are. Here is a screen shot.

 

[Big Earl]

What am I see here at 00:20? is that a closed gas station, or are they expanding the SC stalls over there? I can't figure out what those red things are. Here is a screen shot.

Those are red fuel pumps and red bollards. Looks like a Tesla factory over there with all of that red.

 

[bmah]

Just for kicks and because I’m bored, I went out to my car and checked the stall usage for the SF<->LA Superchargers on the Nav. Local time was 1:26PM. These are the free/total stall counts, and out-of-service if any. Remember this is just a snapshot, and the situation could have changed 10 minutes later for all I know.

CA-99 route:
Manteca (Spreckels) 10/12 free
Manteca (Perimeter) 15/20 free
Modesto (Sisk) 7/12 free
Fresno 6/9 free
Fresno (N. Riverside, the new one with V3 chargers) 7/12 free, 1 out of service
Traver 11/16 free, 1 out of service

I-5 route:
Stockton 12/12
Patterson 6/8
Gustine 4/12
Firebaugh 43/56
Harris Ranch 6/18
Kettleman City 10/40
Buttonwillow 0/10 - 1
Bakersfield 0/10
Tejon Ranch 11/24
Santa Clarita ? (too far away to show occupancy)

US-101 route:
Morgan Hill 10/14
Gilroy 4/15 - 2
Gilroy (Camino Arroyo) 7/12
Hollister 20/20
Salinas 6/14 - 1
Palo Robles 18/28 - 1
Atascadero 5/8
SLO 13/18
Pismo Beach 7/12
Buellton 6/10
Goleta 2/12
Oxnard ? (too far away to show occupancy)

Bruce.

 

[Big Earl]

Just for kicks and because I’m bored, I went out to my car and checked the stall usage for the SF<->LA Superchargers on the Nav. Local time was 1:26PM. These are the free/total stall counts, and out-of-service if any. Remember this is just a snapshot, and the situation could have changed 10 minutes later for all I know.

CA-99 route:
Manteca (Spreckels) 10/12 free
Manteca (Perimeter) 15/20 free
Modesto (Sisk) 7/12 free
Fresno 6/9 free
Fresno (N. Riverside, the new one with V3 chargers) 7/12 free, 1 out of service
Traver 11/16 free, 1 out of service

I-5 route:
Stockton 12/12
Patterson 6/8
Gustine 4/12
Firebaugh 43/56
Harris Ranch 6/18
Kettleman City 10/20
Buttonwillow 0/10 - 1
Bakersfield 0/10
Tejon Ranch 11/24
Santa Clarita ? (too far away to show occupancy)

US-101 route:
Morgan Hill 10/14
Gilroy 4/15 - 2
Gilroy (Camino Arroyo) 7/12
Hollister 20/20
Salinas 6/14 - 1
Palo Robles 18/28 - 1
Atascadero 5/8
SLO 13/18
Pismo Beach 7/12
Buellton 6/10
Goleta 2/12
Oxnard ? (too far away to show occupancy)

Bruce.

I just checked Salem, Oregon to Vancouver, BC and none of the stations are full. Pretty quiet out there.

 

[Zorg]

Good to see that Tesla investments are paying off. We won't see the headlines tomorrow morning of cars lining around the block to charge.

 

[Dave EV]

I-5 route:
...
Firebaugh 43/56
Harris Ranch 6/18
Kettleman City 10/20
Buttonwillow 0/10 - 1
Bakersfield 0/10
...

You must mean 10/40 free/total for KC?

Firebaugh may be the place to try to get to if you want the fastest charge. I really wish they had a Tesla Lounge there as that's the best feature of Kettleman City. I make it a point to stop there for the coffee and clean restrooms even if not strictly needed. Also seems like it's time to beef up the Superchargers farther south from Kettleman City through Santa Clarita, too.