San Diego: Where are the Superchargers?

[caseygreen]

This past weekend we took our first road trip in our new model S, from Los Angeles to San Diego. We were disappointed by what seemed to be the absence of a SC infrastructure in San Diego.

We rented a house in La Jolla and spent what seemed to be a significant amount of time on PlugShare trying to locate a nearby supercharger. As we were not in a hotel, we could not plug our S into an EV charger overnight. The closest SC location was about 10 miles away, in a Qualcomm office park.

On the day of departure I had to go to the Qualcomm location at 6:00 am to recharge for our trip back to Los Angeles, as we did not have enough power for the 40-50 mile drive to the SC in either San Juan Capistrano or Temecula.

(For the record, the first SC experience in the Qualcomm parking lot was impressively fast!)

All this raises some questions:
-- did we miss other SC locations in San Diego that were closer to La Jolla?
-- are we the only Tesla owners who have experienced SC issues in metro San Diego?

This first experience -- a "short drive" from LA to San Diego -- has forced us to reconsider some of our plans for future road trips in the S.

Our thanks for whatever information and assistance the Forum can provide.

 

[kort677]

there's this big screen you your car that has a nav system. access the nav system, in the top right corner there is a button with a lightning like bolt, touch it and it will turn blue, on the map red and grey icons will appear, the red ones are the superchargers. hit an icon and you'll be prompted to open directions to the supercharger. In the SD area there appears to be only one SpC that is local.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Superchargers are for travel between areas rather than charging at the destination.
Longer term the assumption is that destination charging will be available. Tesla does have a destination charging program which companies can participate in, in which Tesla will give themc2 HPWCs.

 

[caseygreen]

there's this big screen you your car that has a nav system. access the nav system, in the top right corner there is a button with a lightning like bolt, touch it and it will turn blue, on the map red and grey icons will appear, the red ones are the superchargers. hit an icon and you'll be prompted to open directions to the supercharger. In the SD area there appears to be only one SpC that is local.

YEP, we used the big screen and also PlugShare on our iPads. And that's how ewe found what seemed to be the one (only one?) SpC location in San Diego.

Given the workday and weekend traffic between San Diego and LA, this high volume traffic corridor would seem to be an important one for Tesla to provide more SpC venues.

 

[Lloyd]

We rented a house in La Jolla

Why did you not charge at the house?

 

[kort677]

YEP, we used the big screen and also PlugShare on our iPads. And that's how ewe found what seemed to be the one (only one?) SpC location in San Diego.

Given the workday and weekend traffic between San Diego and LA, this high volume traffic corridor would seem to be an important one for Tesla to provide more SpC venues.

that could be, join the chorus, there are many threads here discussing that very issue.

 

[Uncle Paul]

In addition to the big Super Charger station at Qualcomm, there are also high speed charging facilities at the LaJolla/UTC shopping center and the Mira Mesa service facility.

They are not set up as destination chargers as they are needed for their business purposes, but in an emergency I would imagine they would allow you to hook up for enough juice to get you to San Juan Capistrano.

There are also several SuperChargers between LA and San Diego that would allow you to top off on the way down and back.

Also, there are available HPWC's at the Inn at Rancho Santa Fe. Have fantastic meal, glass of iced tea while waiting to get some juice.

Would think that having a SuperCharger only 10 miles away would be convenient enough for most recharging needs.

If you are renting a house, you might be able to string a 110v extension cord to your Tesla, or maybe plug into a convenient dryer plug.220v

Tesla says more charging infrastructure is on the way in anticipation of increased vehicle productions.

 

[caseygreen]

Why did you not charge at the house?[/QUOTE

This was a rented house in La Jolla. As this was our first road trip, we did not think to bring our Tesla power cord. Also, there was no 220 outlet at the rented house

Additionally, had we been able to plug into a 110 outlet, at three miles/hour recharge, it would have taken 44-48 hours to recharge the S for us to have enough power for the 140 mile drive back to our home in Los Angeles

 

[Lloyd]

ALWAYS bring your cord when you know that your next charge will not be at home. You likely had enough time to charge at the house while sleeping.

 

[caseygreen]

YEP. This was our first road trip and a good learning experience. Now we know to always bring the power cord, plus long 110 extension cord. And we also know to we have to "plan for power" if we are not staying in a hotel or near a SuperCharger location.

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.

 

[markb1]

Yes, there is only one supercharger in the San Diego area. Yes, more would be nice. Somewhere in North County along the 5 would be good. Or if they covered the 5, 8, and 15, then there would always be a supercharger on the way into or out of of town.

But I did get a chuckle out of your message. For what seemed like forever, we didn't have any superchargers in San Diego.

 

[markb1]

YEP. This was our first road trip and a good learning experience. Now we know to always bring the power cord, plus long 110 extension cord. And we also know to we have to "plan for power" if we are not staying in a hotel or near a SuperCharger location.

Thanks to all for your comments and suggestions.

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.

 

[davewill]

Why did you not just stop at the Qualcomm charger on your to LA? I don't actually see how it could have been located much better for you, except to be right next to your hotel.

 

[Lloyd]

Yes, but he was there "days"!

 

[markb1]

Yes, but he was there "days"!

Yeah, it could work, if you can leave the car plugged in all the time. But it is important to know how long L1 charging takes before making that part of a plan.

 

[caseygreen]

Why did you not just stop at the Qualcomm charger on your to LA? I don't actually see how it could have been located much better for you, except to be right next to your hotel.

Why did you not just stop at the Qualcomm charger on your to LA? I don't actually see how it could have been located much better for you, except to be right next to your hotel.

We assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that the 12 SuperChargers at Qualcomm would be fullly occupied during weekday working hours. As it was, when I made the first first of two trips to the Qualcomm location on Saturday afternoon, the chargers were all occupied: other than the Qualcomm buildings, there is nothing nearby to occupy the time, so people were in their cars reading, listening to music, engaged in conversation with one another, or, in one case, walking the dog while the car was connected to the supercharger.

 

[TexasEV]

We assumed, perhaps incorrectly, that the 12 SuperChargers at Qualcomm would be fullly occupied during weekday working hours. As it was, when I made the first first of two trips to the Qualcomm location on Saturday afternoon, the chargers were all occupied: other than the Qualcomm buildings, there is nothing nearby to occupy the time, so people were in their cars reading, listening to music, engaged in conversation with one another, or, in one case, walking the dog while the car was connected to the supercharger.

Working hours has nothing to do with it. They're charging spaces, not eight hour parking spaces.
If you buy a 120V extension cord, make sure it's 10 or 12 gauge. The usual outdoor cords are NOT acceptable.
Next time you rent a house, inquire about ability to plug in.
You didn't know you had to plan your charging before you took your trip?

 

[Cosmacelf]

Always, always charge at night. Rented houses are the best since you can always find a plug. Newer houses will have 20A receptacles where you can use the Tesla 5-20 adapter for faster charging. Even if only using the 15A receptacles, if you plug in at 6pm, and leave next day at 9am, that's 15 hours, or about 50 miles of range. Times two nights, that's 100 miles. Well worth doing. With a 20A receptacle, you can easily get 75 miles a night.

CA houses often have dryers near the garage, dryers plugs will give you pretty much a full charge overnight.

 

[ShotgunF15E]

This past weekend we took our first road trip in our new model S, from Los Angeles to San Diego. We were disappointed by what seemed to be the absence of a SC infrastructure in San Diego.

We rented a house in La Jolla and spent what seemed to be a significant amount of time on PlugShare trying to locate a nearby supercharger. As we were not in a hotel, we could not plug our S into an EV charger overnight. The closest SC location was about 10 miles away, in a Qualcomm office park.

On the day of departure I had to go to the Qualcomm location at 6:00 am to recharge for our trip back to Los Angeles, as we did not have enough power for the 40-50 mile drive to the SC in either San Juan Capistrano or Temecula.

(For the record, the first SC experience in the Qualcomm parking lot was impressively fast!)

All this raises some questions:
-- did we miss other SC locations in San Diego that were closer to La Jolla?
-- are we the only Tesla owners who have experienced SC issues in metro San Diego?

This first experience -- a "short drive" from LA to San Diego -- has forced us to reconsider some of our plans for future road trips in the S.

Our thanks for whatever information and assistance the Forum can provide.

Yes, there is only one supercharger in San Diego but there are MANY destination chargers in the area as well as countless other charging options. As you learn the system better you'll find it's a pretty robust system that's already available to owners once they know where to find the information. Spend some time on the Tesla website and click on charging. Look at both tabs for Supercharging and Destination Chargers as a good place to start that might help more than sifting through Plugshare.

 

[ggr]

There are also free J1772 chargers in the park at Mission Bay, not far from La Jolla. But they're slow and I think you have to be registered with Blink to use them.

Yes, a North County supercharger is long overdue.