Supercharger - Baker, CA (LIVE / EXPANDED 40 V2 + 20 V3 stalls)

[ecarfan]

I think the elephant in the room is that this thing will never really be used upwards of its capacity anytime in the foreseeable future

Never say never. Tesla is now selling cars in the US at well over the double the rate they were just recently, and production will continue to increase dramatically for the foreseeable future. LA to Vegas is a heavily traveled route. The Baker Supercharger will be heavily used.

 

[PLUS EV]

The main reasons Baker isn't very busy is because:

a) it offers less amenities than the alternatives (Yermo and Barstow)

b) Yermo was recently opened

c) Barstow was recently expanded

That being said, when those locations reach capacity, people will be thrilled to have Baker as a backup fail safe plan for overflow.

Also, unlike Kettleman which has a hip lounge and coffee shop with baristas waiting on you, Baker has a crappy mini mart and a Dairy Queen. It is possible that they could build a Tesla lounge at Baker if they like what they see from the pilot program in Kettleman and/or if it gets busy enough to justify it. There's no shortage of available land in Baker

 

[JohnnyLounge21]

What is your theory on why it's underutilized? As you said it is on a heavily traveled corridor.

Before it was built I thought it would be heavily used being right on I-15 between Los Angeles and Las Vegas.

As I said originally, "I visited/charged there a couple months back and was pretty much the only one there. Since then, I quickly query its usage on my GPS several times a week. NEVER have I seen more than 5 cars at this thing. Most of the time there's 1-2 cars on it. Sometimes none." So I guess that's my theory on why it's underutilized: checking on the GPS and seeing that nobody is ever there.

I guess time will tell. One poster said they'd seen 15 cars there on a super busy weekend. But that's still 25 shy of capacity. Maybe I'm jaded b/c our one and only SC in San Diego is, literally, the busiest SC in the global Tesla network and runs at full capacity 15+ hour a day. I guess in that vein I just think it would have been wiser to halve the initial capacity at Baker (maybe still build the solar arrays and be the net exporter, that's an interesting idea) and then tack on the additional capacity in 5-10 years if/when it was needed. Meanwhile, add capacity at other SCs in the region that are getting hammered.

Being repetitive: there's simply nobody ever at Baker when I look on the GPS. You guys will know what I mean if you take a look on your GPS every now and then. Just think of 35+ superchargers pretty much not charging 95% of the time. That's Baker.

 

[P85_DA]

OP note when I was charging there were six of us in pic 3 not in pic

 

[cpa]

I think that we need to give it some time. Eighteen months from now there will be many more M3 on the road. There will be a larger set of owners from more diverse areas where stopping at Baker (not Primm, not Barstow, not Yermo) makes more sense from a time perspective, and not a convenience perspective. There might be those who also frequent Death Valley or need to travel through Nevada and wish to bypass Vegas to reach US6/50/95 to head east or north.

The Kettleman City SC is close to where I live. A few times over Memorial Day weekend (Friday morning and afternoon; Sunday noon and late afternoon) the Kettleman City SC was mostly vacant. There were times that Harris Ranch just up the highway had more stalls in use than Kettleman City.

Today there are 60,70,75,85,90,100 kWh Model S and (?) 60, 75, 90, and 100 Model X and M3 long range. The M3 short range is expected to be manufactured by the end of this year/early next year.

All these models have varying ranges new, and decreasing ranges as batteries deteriorate.

 

[JohnnyLounge21]

Welp, it's time to definitely insert foot-into-mouth.

I've been checking Baker daily for the last 5-7 days. . . Out of nowhere, its getting all sorts of use. . . To be clear, I've never seen more than 20 charging. However, it's always been north of 10. Even this morning @ 6:30AM there were 18 cars charging! So the smarter people than me know what they're doing at that station building out to 40. . .

And, of course, Qualcomm was/is/will always be 100% full at pretty much every hour

 

[cpa]

Welp, it's time to definitely insert foot-into-mouth.

I've been checking Baker daily for the last 5-7 days. . . Out of nowhere, its getting all sorts of use. . . To be clear, I've never seen more than 20 charging. However, it's always been north of 10. Even this morning @ 6:30AM there were 18 cars charging! So the smarter people than me know what they're doing at that station building out to 40. . .

And, of course, Qualcomm was/is/will always be 100% full at pretty much every hour

Not to argue with you Johnny...

I have seen, and there have been other reports that the occupancy information on the touchscreen is inaccurate at certain locations.

For example, I live by the Fresno Supercharger. In the last week or so, the touchscreen has indicated that there were 7/10 or 8/10 in use every time I get into the car. I have driven by just to see, and, whoops! one car, maybe two cars are charging, and the rest are vacant.

I do not know how this information is communicated to the car. But there is enough anecdotal evidence out there that there may be some glitch in the system.

So, I would reserve your serving of foot-in-mouth until we have a better understanding of the accuracy of this in-car information!

 

[PLUS EV]

Welp, it's time to definitely insert foot-into-mouth.

I've been checking Baker daily for the last 5-7 days. . . Out of nowhere, its getting all sorts of use. . . To be clear, I've never seen more than 20 charging. However, it's always been north of 10. Even this morning @ 6:30AM there were 18 cars charging! So the smarter people than me know what they're doing at that station building out to 40. . .

And, of course, Qualcomm was/is/will always be 100% full at pretty much every hour

I drove by last night and there was no one there. Touch screen said 14 out of 40 were occupied. So it's another case of bad reporting. FWIW most of the other superchargers I drove by had the same issues. Yermo said it was half full when it was actually completely empty.

 

[miimura]

This might explain why I saw the screen showing 11 stalls occupied at Hollister (Casa de Fruita) at 7am on a Sunday morning. It seemed extremely unlikely at the time.

 

[Mark Z]

On my drive to Vegas on June 8th, half the stalls at Baker were “live” with one car charging. Photos attached.


Phantom vehicle charging was also noted at Yermo and Primm when discovering breakfast was not available at 6:30 AM at Yermo and Baker didn’t serve until 9 AM.

Thankfully, the McDonald's at Primm is open 24/7. Be careful, look down and don't trip over the high cement curbs at the Primm Supercharger.

 

[JohnnyLounge21]

1 of us is an anomaly, 2 a huge coincidence. . . But 3-4 of us seeing over-reporting of utilization in the area shows there are other strangities (is that a word?) going around. When the station said 18 cars were charging on a Tuesday morning @ 6AM, I should have known it couldn't be correct. I mean seriously, there's no reason for anyone to be out at that hour in, literally, the middle of the desert.

My foot wasn't all that tasty so I'll gladly reserve my serving for now!

Wonder what's going on with the obvious error(s) in reporting? It's a crummy feeling knowing you have to take supposed real-time information that's being offered to you with a grain of salt. . .

 

[PLUS EV]

1 of us is an anomaly, 2 a huge coincidence. . . But 3-4 of us seeing over-reporting of utilization in the area shows there are other strangities (is that a word?) going around. When the station said 18 cars were charging on a Tuesday morning @ 6AM, I should have known it couldn't be correct. I mean seriously, there's no reason for anyone to be out at that hour in, literally, the middle of the desert.

My foot wasn't all that tasty so I'll gladly reserve my serving for now!

Wonder what's going on with the obvious error(s) in reporting? It's a crummy feeling knowing you have to take supposed real-time information that's being offered to you with a grain of salt. . .

This has been an issue with many superchargers since they implemented this program (remember, back in 2016, we didn't get any info at all about stall usage). It does seem more widespread lately, especially in CA. The good news is there are only false positives, no false negatives. When cabinets don't communicate properly, they will show as being in use all the time, but you will never arrive at a supercharger that shows 10 stalls available only to find that it's completely occupied. So yes, take the info with a grain of salt, but it is still quite a bit better than no info at all.

 

[smak]

I'll add that I found the same thing at Baker and Yermo.

Wednesday at about 9pm at Baker, said 20 of 40 stalls available.

There were 0 cars charging.

Yermo Sunday at 230, said 1/2 were available, only 3 were charging.

 

[chillaban]

The main reasons Baker isn't very busy is because:

a) it offers less amenities than the alternatives (Yermo and Barstow)

b) Yermo was recently opened

c) Barstow was recently expanded

That being said, when those locations reach capacity, people will be thrilled to have Baker as a backup fail safe plan for overflow.

Also, unlike Kettleman which has a hip lounge and coffee shop with baristas waiting on you, Baker has a crappy mini mart and a Dairy Queen. It is possible that they could build a Tesla lounge at Baker if they like what they see from the pilot program in Kettleman and/or if it gets busy enough to justify it. There's no shortage of available land in Baker

OTOH, on my trip last weekend, I originally planned to spend my sole charging stop for the day at Yermo for precisely the reasons outlined. Except it was 110 degrees and within 10 minutes of charging I was down at 50-60kW. Ended up just getting enough to get to Baker and finishing there under the shade where I was easily sustaining 116kW until the taper.

Baker's amenities are terrible. The restrooms are dirty and overutilized. The gas station / convenience store neither has enough cashiers for any given time nor knows how to manage a line. And of course busloads of tourists get dropped off there, and their general etiquette is if they can rush towards a cashier they have no clue why there's other idiots standing in a line

 

[smak]

Plus who can resist Eddie World's 25 types of gummi worms

 

[RubberToe]

Plus who can resist Eddie World's 25 types of gummi worms

The jerky is to die for at $72 per pound.

RT

 

[PLUS EV]

Plus who can resist Eddie World's 25 types of gummi worms

All conveniently packaged in 5 pound increments!

 

[PLUS EV]

The jerky is to die for at $72 per pound.

RT

I've been a fan of the jerky since visiting the Beatty locations many times over the years, but I have to admit the ridiculous prices are off-putting. Especially since I like the softer kinds like the brisket which have a lot of water weight. I think I could get a wagyu beef steak at a 5-star restaurant in Vegas for a cheaper price.

 

[JohnnyLounge21]

This has been an issue with many superchargers since they implemented this program (remember, back in 2016, we didn't get any info at all about stall usage). It does seem more widespread lately, especially in CA. The good news is there are only false positives, no false negatives. When cabinets don't communicate properly, they will show as being in use all the time, but you will never arrive at a supercharger that shows 10 stalls available only to find that it's completely occupied. So yes, take the info with a grain of salt, but it is still quite a bit better than no info at all.

Great point. . . Happy there's more than just nothing on the screen besides the station itself.

Plus, having the info is always impressive to the passengers you're cruising with. Then, knowing that it's not full and you can most certainly charge (albeit with some false positives) lowers the anxiety right away. I'm sure this will be remedied eventually. . .

 

[chillaban]

Yikes Baker has a power outage right now..... no power at any of the stalls. This should be interesting..... avoid for now!