(Reported on 12/26/2015) 11+ car wait at Tejon Ranch!

[Soolim]

Except this is really bad publicity for Tesla and EV car ownership when thousands of families on the road heading back home see that if they were in an electric car, they would essentially be stranded with cranky children for an additional 2-3 hours waiting to charge.

I am surprised someone has not stepped in and installed a few electric chargers close to the supercharger. I bet many of those cars waiting would have gladly paid $50 for a charge so they wouldn't have to wait. I guess the issue is that the SC gets backed dup like this only on several days of the year to justify the cost.

To help Tesla, rent an ICE for busy holiday long distance travel in order to avoid creating a peak charging demand.
While this bad publicity has not reach the mass media yet, it is a wake up call for owners, potential owners, and Tesla. Maybe someone can tweet Elon and get some response on Tesla's plan for the future considering Tesla sales goal?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The movie studios use those HUGE generators when they're on location. If they don't want to revisit the battery swap program, then maybe on Holiday weekends when they know it's going to be a problem, the should bring in some of those generators to add temporary chargers. Not a good long term solution, but could be an immediate solution to avoid pissing off a bunch more people over New Years, Easter, etc, etc, until they come up with a more viable long term solution.

Yah, that will make a great front-age article about Tesla - look, Tesla uses diesel generators to power its "clean" cars. No thanks.

The solution is to build more Superchargers. If they aren't keeping pace, then spend more money and hire more people. That's what is happening with the rest of the company. If the SC network doesn't keep pace with deliveries, Tesla's long-term mission may be at risk as drivers discover Tesla's penchant to over-promise and under-deliver.

During a road trip to the SF Bay Area last month, I had no trouble charging at Tejon or Harris. However, when I reached Dublin at around 5pm I slipped into the only available stall. Every other stall was filled. There were 10 stalls there, all but one were occupied. This location has a "charging lounge" for customers inside the Tesla store/service center. Most of the customers in the charging lounge knew each other, were saying hi to each other and hugging. I suspect many of those charging in Dublin that evening were locals. One lady was wearing scrubs, obviously on her way home from work, checking her email while her vehicle charged.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Burbank to Harris Ranch is 188 miles...that's the distance t the Supercharger closest to where i live...I consider that my "easiest" trip. If you have an 85kWh pack you should easily make that, even in cold weather, at 60mph. Completely reasonable.

No it isn't. There is a mountain in between them.

 

[purplewalt]

That means EVs will never become mainstream, because most people I know don't want to sacrifice like that. The whole goal is to make EVs mainstream and already perception is hard to overcome. If I told anyone this, no one would buy a Model S.

I had the opportunity to travel to Houston on Dec. 22 for business via air travel.
And let me tell you, holiday travelers were out in full force with kids, kids in strollers, older folks, people in wheelchairs, skateboards, some carrying presents, etc.

Sometimes, you just have to wait your turn in three or four lines just to get a seat on a plane.
Patience is one of those elusive things we all say we have some of, but actually have very little.
Waiting is not a sacrifice, service to one's country and being injured or dying during that service is sacrifice.

 

[cpa]

I do have sympathy for those who have to wait such a long time at a SpC. Even the long gas lines in the US during the fuel crisis of the early 1970s rarely lasted that long. This thread, however, could be a reasonable place to start a discussion on priorities, as follows:

Preamble:
IF you are endowed with infinite resources as well as infinite power over local Zoning, etc., bureaucracies, THEN the following is not worthy of contemplating. For the remainder of the universe's inhabitants, it can be useful.

Query:
If you have limited resources, what gets you best combination of -
*the biggest bang for your buck
*the most utility for the most number of current Tesla owners
*the most utility for future Tesla owners - both near-term and further out
*the highest-quality exposure to the general public for Tesla Motors
*the largest advancement of TM's announced long-term goals

Is it:
*increasing the number of slots at a high-usage site like Tejon Ranch so as to facilitate peak drive-days like holidays around July 4, Thanksgiving, Xmas and New Year's?
*broadening the general web of NoAm (Eur, Asia, etc) SpCs?
*pursuing a Wow! route - for example, creating a string of SpCs between a bucket-list drive/destination site like between the lesser-48 and Alaska?
*etc.

Anyone who has read more than ten percent of my own posts knows my own answer to the above....Your Priorities May Vary.

I might make use of my Awesome Powers Of Moderation to carve this out to its own thread, but it reasonably can stay here, as well.

OK, I will bite, Mr. Moderator, Sir:

As to driving between the Los Angeles Basin (or further south) to the Bay Area/Sacramento Valley there are essentially three highways to take: US101, Interstate 5, and Interstate 5/SR99. (I will ignore slight variations for the purposes of this discussion, as those detours will add more time and complexity to the journey.) Generally, US101 is the slowest as the speed limit is 65 for most of the journey. I5 is the fastest with 70 MPH over most of the journey, and SR99 falls somewhere in between. Of course much depends on your destination or departure point, as 101 might work for Gilroy or Monterey, but not for the East Bay or Sacramento.

Placing Superchargers along 99 in Bakersfield and at the SR198/SR99 junction near Visalia would help out tremendously. This gives drivers a choice of routes to take if they are coming from (or going to ) the East Bay or Sac. Yes, the drive is slightly longer, but would dilute the demand at Ft. Tejon. I also would think that Tesla should build a Supercharger further south along I5 near Castaic Junction to give us options.

I believe that inherent in this conundrum is the fact that many travelers only know one way to get from Point A to Point B. Folks find road maps boring, and do not wish to consider alternate routes. Folks want to reach their destinations as quickly as possible. As more and more people acquire Teslas of any model, this subset of owners will increase geometrically, I am afraid. If Tesla could implement "smart routing" by having us file a "drive plan" this might be a way to mitigate some of these long waits during these periods. Of course something like that will be only as good as those who care to use it!

(Incidentally, I seem to recall reading on the Buttonwillow thread that expansion at Ft. Tejon was out of the question, so I do not think that we should get our hopes up for additional stalls at the current location.)

 

[Cosmacelf]

Sincere question...any idea how many people were exceeding their necessary amount of charge? In other words, how many needed 100 miles of range to make their destination, but stayed on the charger until they hit 90%/200 miles or more? That seems like it could have caused much of the backkup. Seems like you should have been able to cycle at least 12 cars through those 6 chargers every hour if people were only taking what they needed.

It isn't that simple. I doubt people who waited over an hour just to charge wanted to wait even longer charging. They did the best they could figuring out charge level needed.

 

[russman]

I did tweet while I was there...

https://twitter.com/russwong/status/680906188280573952

 

[MsElectric]

The other solution to this is to hurry up and release a 130 KWh battery pack

 

[TexasEV]

This is an advertisement for why 72A chargers should be standard in the Model X rather than a hidden option. Imagine if some of these cars plugged into HPWCs at nearby restaurants while they wait-- even if the car didn't get all the charge it needed, it would result in a much shorter time plugged into a supercharger for the remaining needed miles and the turnover rate would increase.

 

[MsElectric]

This is an advertisement for why 72A chargers should be standard in the Model X rather than a hidden option. Imagine if some of these cars plugged into HPWCs at nearby restaurants while they wait-- even if the car didn't get all the charge it needed, it would result in a much shorter time plugged into a supercharger for the remaining needed miles and the turnover rate would increase.

I bet they didn't have enough inventory of the 72A chargers. I can't imagine another reason for them to "hide" that option as I bet they would have loved to take in extra money if they could have for a desirable option.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

This is an advertisement for why 72A chargers should be standard in the Model X rather than a hidden option. Imagine if some of these cars plugged into HPWCs at nearby restaurants while they wait-- even if the car didn't get all the charge it needed, it would result in a much shorter time plugged into a supercharger for the remaining needed miles and the turnover rate would increase.

When did HPWCs get downgraded to 72A?

 

[Oyvind.H]

Tesla does what they can, but we all know that the number of cars will grow faster than the number of chargers.

It shouldn`t though.

As long as Tesla dedicates a sum from each sale to expanding the Supercharger network the network should keep up with the Model S fleet growth.
Even the marketing budget should fund the Supercharger network, since the network is a huge selling point.

Personally I bring the CHAdeMO adapter, try to avoid the worst hours on the worst days (even though I`ve been positively surprised when unable to do so), and buy the largest battery pack to avoid having to charge on 99,9% of my trips.
No problem paying for a CHAdeMO charge every other year if it saves me time

 

[TexasEV]

When did HPWCs get downgraded to 72A?

They didn't. The Model X has 72A charging (rather than 80A) if it has the hidden 72A option, otherwise it has 48A charger as standard. See other threads for extensive discussion of this.

 

[Soolim]

When did HPWCs get downgraded to 72A?

It is car DC converter that is limited to 72A in X. HPWC still capable of 80A.

 

[RDoc]

This is an advertisement for why 72A chargers should be standard in the Model X rather than a hidden option. Imagine if some of these cars plugged into HPWCs at nearby restaurants while they wait-- even if the car didn't get all the charge it needed, it would result in a much shorter time plugged into a supercharger for the remaining needed miles and the turnover rate would increase.

Unfortunately though, not by very much.

Assuming the cars had 72A chargers, a car with a low charge will Supercharge about 7 times faster then from a HPWC, so an hour's charging will save about 9 minutes of Supercharging. For most cars with single 40A chargers it's about 5 minutes.

 

[TexasEV]

I don't see how it would make sense for local businesses to install chargers or, for that matter, how it would help Tesla drivers.

A typical J1772 charger is only useful if you can stay there for at least a couple of hours, so unless the local business is a restaurant which serves full dinners lasting a couple of hours, a theater, etc. it's not of much use to the drivers. For the businesses, the few times per year that the Supercharger is backed up is the only time the charger will make any difference, which means that the cost has to be amortized over perhaps 20 additional patrons per year. That doesn't sound like it's going to be a profitable investment.

Were not talking about $6000, 30A networked charging stations that I agree are overpriced and underpowered, we're talking about 40-80A HPWCs that cost only $750 and Tesla even gives them away to locations that qualify for the destination charging program and pays towards installation. Plugging in for an hour while waiting will reduce the time needed at the supercharger even if it doesn't eliminate the need for supercharging for most people. Even 5-9 minutes per car will move the line much faster.

 

[Mark Z]

...Plugging in for an hour while waiting will reduce the time needed at the supercharger even if it doesn't eliminate the need for supercharging for most people.

I agree. Those who see the line could choose to stop and charge at the Tesla Wall Connector while dining, especially at locations like Harris Ranch.

Movie theaters would be an excellent location for Wall Connectors. Rather than the line hassle, relax and enjoy another viewing of Star Wars 7 to see the epic battle between... (no spoiler posted here.)

And let's not forget the indoor mall, where hours of time can be spent looking at merchandise and trying on clothes.

 

[andrewket]

Actually, this idea might have some merit.
All the Supercharger Towers (inside the fenced area) are linked in Pairs, A and B.
The first to arrive (@ A) is charging at fullest capacity, while whoever arrives next (@ B) is charging at a much slower rate.
Eventually it switches, and the B pedestal is charging at a faster rate.

IF there were a way to implement the additional power from the generator into the towers and through the pedestals, then ALL pedestals would be charging at optimum rate for each of their packs requirements.

Very interesting and provocative thinking how to work around a temporary (holiday induced) situation.

There aren't enough chargers in each cabinet to sustain 100% max power for both pedestals. It is designed to be oversubscribed.

 

[MartinScorpio]

CHADEMO ADAPTER would help in this situation,right?

 

[Mark Z]

CHAdeMO ADAPTER would help in this situation, right?

Not at the Fort Tejon location. PlugShare shows no other DC charge stations.

PlugShare does show the comments from other users of the Supercharger and right now there is a Tesla employee on site. Sounds like this afternoon is going to possibly be busy. Click the "Show Comments" link at the following site:

Tejon Ranch Supercharger | Lebec, CA | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare