San Diego: Where are the Superchargers?

[davewill]

.. Yes, a North County supercharger is long overdue.

Just where do you think it's needed? The one at Qualcomm IS in North County...and placed so you can access it from the 5, or the 15 via the 56. One in Mission Valley where it could be within 5 miles of the 5, 805, 163, 8, and 15 would make more sense.

 

[SD_Engnr]

Just where do you think it's needed? The one at Qualcomm IS in North County...and placed so you can access it from the 5, or the 15 via the 56. One in Mission Valley where it could be within 5 miles of the 5, 805, 163, 8, and 15 would make more sense.

I think somewhere further North, and right off the 5 would make sense. Otherwise, yes, something in Mission Valley would be great. There's a lot of opportunities to utilize some available space in the MV corridor, right off the 8. Then, I'll have a super convenient (and free), place to charge up!

 

[Rocky_H]

I may bring down the wrath of the anti-snark gods on this forum, but it's worth it. It might be a good idea to not mention to the Tesla owners in Arkansas or Iowa that the Supercharger 10 miles away was too far for you to use.

 

[markb1]

Just where do you think it's needed? The one at Qualcomm IS in North County...and placed so you can access it from the 5, or the 15 via the 56. One in Mission Valley where it could be within 5 miles of the 5, 805, 163, 8, and 15 would make more sense.

Out curiosity, what do you consider North County? I would consider that to be everything north of the City of San Diego.

 

[davewill]

Out curiosity, what do you consider North County? I would consider that to be everything north of the City of San Diego.

I call it South County starting at National City, and anything north of Miramar I call North County. The City of San Diego includes areas as far north as Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Bernardo, so that doesn't make a good boundary.

There's only about 30 miles of I-5 left north of Qualcomm before you hit Camp Pendleton. That's why I'm confused by the thread. Anyone starting north of Qualcomm who wants to travel north on 5 can hit charging in Orange County or LA, and traveling south or east can hit Qualcomm.

 

[callmesam]

I'm not sure it's worth bothering with the extension cord. 120V is a slow slow way to charge. It will take days to fully charge a nearly empty battery pack that way.

I think it incredibly foolish to advise people not to prepare for 120V charging.

 

[markb1]

I think it incredibly foolish to advise people not to prepare for 120V charging.

Fair enough. How about this: Know how slow 120V charging is before you plan any trips around it.

But in my experience, I've never used the 120V adapter, except to test it. If I ever find myself in a situation where I really need a 120V extension cord, I think I could acquire one pretty easily.

 

[PBEndo]

120V would have been fine for this trip. the "44-48 hrs needed" comment is silly. Since you said that you stayed for days, I will assume you had the Tesla parked at the rental house for at least 2 nights. If you only managed 10 hours per night, that is still 60 miles of range. Assuming you hadn't run the battery to zero, this may have been enough to get you to Temecula or SJC, without even stopping at La Jolla.

Perhaps this is not the car for you.

 

[davewill]

I have done several trips to OC where the only real charging I got was 120v at night. Two nights plus some opportunity charging at a mall, or three nights meant I didn't have to borrow my wife's PIP. Obviously, when I can, I stay where I can get 240v charging.

 

[SD_Engnr]

I call it South County starting at National City, and anything north of Miramar I call North County. The City of San Diego includes areas as far north as Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Bernardo, so that doesn't make a good boundary.

There's only about 30 miles of I-5 left north of Qualcomm before you hit Camp Pendleton. That's why I'm confused by the thread. Anyone starting north of Qualcomm who wants to travel north on 5 can hit charging in Orange County or LA, and traveling south or east can hit Qualcomm.

I think it's fair to want a SC somewhere between the Qualcomm site and Pendleton. If you choose to vacation in Oceanside from out of the city, or even state, I think you would want a SC somwhere in that corridor. But what do I know? I haven't even purchased a Tesla yet, and have exactly 0 miles experience (unless test drives count?).

 

[gaswalla]

The issue here isn't the supercharger, its is the knowledge base of the owner. Not a bad thing, it just shows that tesla cars are being purchased by mainstream folks who and are comfortable just jumping into the car and making long trips. These are good things for EVs, but right now, folks need to have some planning in advance and need to understand some nuances like Phantom range losses overnight, benefits of trickle charging, etc...

 

[ecarfan]

But in my experience, I've never used the 120V adapter, except to test it

I've used it and was really glad that I always keep it in my S along with the other adaptors (which I have also used) and UMC.

 

[TexasEV]

Fair enough. How about this: Know how slow 120V charging is before you plan any trips around it.

But in my experience, I've never used the 120V adapter, except to test it. If I ever find myself in a situation where I really need a 120V extension cord, I think I could acquire one pretty easily.

If you need one, you're probably not going to want to be driving around to get a 10 or 12 gauge extension cord. You do realize you can't just use a regular outdoor extension cord, right?

120V overnight charging can be very useful. Why have the car just sit there if it can be gaining 30 or 40 miles while parked? Perhaps this doesn't seem important in California, land of the superchargers, but people elsewhere who are traveling would do well to keep the proper extension cord in the car.

 

[bkp_duke]

I call it South County starting at National City, and anything north of Miramar I call North County. The City of San Diego includes areas as far north as Fairbanks Ranch and Rancho Bernardo, so that doesn't make a good boundary.

There's only about 30 miles of I-5 left north of Qualcomm before you hit Camp Pendleton. That's why I'm confused by the thread. Anyone starting north of Qualcomm who wants to travel north on 5 can hit charging in Orange County or LA, and traveling south or east can hit Qualcomm.

OC and LA chargers almost always have wait lines. If there was something in say Oceanside, it would cut down on demand for the San Juan Capistrano SpC greatly. Last weekend there was a poor lady there in a 60 who pulled up with 5 miles range coming from San Diego. She had been stuck in north-bound traffic on the 5 for 2 hours (common on the weekends).

 

[RandyS]

Until (or IF) more superchargers are deployed, a Chademo adapter comes in handy. There are quite a few DC Fast chargers in the area that can add 64 miles in 30 minutes of charging and can help take up the slack from supercharging until something is built...

 

[Az_Rael]

The issue here isn't the supercharger, its is the knowledge base of the owner. Not a bad thing, it just shows that tesla cars are being purchased by mainstream folks who and are comfortable just jumping into the car and making long trips. These are good things for EVs, but right now, folks need to have some planning in advance and need to understand some nuances like Phantom range losses overnight, benefits of trickle charging, etc...

Its funny that I was chastised rather thoroughly in one of the Model 3 threads for suggesting that while the Model 3 is closer to mainstream, there are a lot of regular drivers who won't want to put in the extra planning effort to travel with one long distance (especially in TX). Many concluded that I was nuts and that people don't just drive off on 3-4 hour trips without making PLANS or that driving around in a Model 3 long distance won't be more planning than you do for an ICE car. The OP here has demonstrated that even in charger-saturated California, you still can't just pull over to get "fuel" at the next exit when you get low (the extent of planning most ICE drivers do). Until the charging network is much more fleshed out, even driving Teslas long distance will require more planning than your average ICE car.

 

[leighb]

I travel to San Diego quite often from the Coachella Valley. I would love to see a supercharger in the downtown area as well as an east county charger off the I-8. That being said, I have 220v adapters for charging via dryer outlets when visiting family and have also taken advantage of the HPWC in the Fashion Valley Mall. I will grab a nice lunch and have at least enough charge to make it to Temecula, Cabazon, or home. So far, I have been very impressed with the supercharger network and am planning a road trip to Vancouver, B. C. next summer. Looking forward to more coastal superchargers opening before then.

 

[ggr]

Just where do you think it's needed? The one at Qualcomm IS in North County...and placed so you can access it from the 5, or the 15 via the 56. One in Mission Valley where it could be within 5 miles of the 5, 805, 163, 8, and 15 would make more sense.

Don't mean to sound picky, but North County has always meant to me anywhere that's in San Diego County, north of San Diego City. The current supercharger is in San Diego City limits. Wikipedia agrees with me: North County (San Diego area) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I would site one somewhere near the I-5 and CA-78 interchange.

 

[kort677]

I may bring down the wrath of the anti-snark gods on this forum, but it's worth it. It might be a good idea to not mention to the Tesla owners in Arkansas or Iowa that the Supercharger 10 miles away was too far for you to use.

I wish there was a super like button

 

[kort677]

Until the charging network is much more fleshed out, even driving Teslas long distance will require more planning than your average ICE car.

thanks for that insightful post, this should be made part of a wiki for every new tesla owner [/s]