Supercharger - Barstow (EXPANDED, 5 stalls added, now 16 total)

[tbleakne]

Got a call while between Barstow and Las Vegas on route to St George: I-15 is CLOSED between prox Loganville and Moape (sp). If kid hadn't phoned me, I'd still be hundreds of miles out in boondocks. Looked up NDOT news and videos and freeway may be closed both north and south for many days.

Very sorry for your extreme inconvenience. Just to clarify, the closure is north of Las Vegas, with detour at US 93. Detour adds 77 miles. News reports they may be able to get I15 going temporarily in a few days by routing both directions onto one side. Full repair will take much longer.

Were you able to charge at Barstow on the new stalls ?

 

[NoMoGas]

The video from Chriz seems to show his car charging at one of the portable SC, and the pictures from NoMoGas show the charger cabinets open. Before we declare the new chargers operational, it would be best to see photos of actual charging at the new stations.

I charged at the station. The pic of the open cabinets was taken while charging.

 

[GabrielB]

Folks, the Barstow Upgrade consists of:
Install 4 portable temporary 120kW SCs --- Done. Remove?
Replace 4 90kW SCs with 4 135kW SCs ---- Done
Install 4 new 135kW SCs -------------------- Done
Install Solar/Shade Canopy ----------------- Two Heavy Footings?
Install Stationary Battery System ---------- Two wooden Creates? (New photo on TM.com forum.)
So this thread is not complete. Lets keep our eyes open for the Solar Canopy and Batteries.
I'll be stopping at the Barstow SC Friday about 7:30pm, and will take pictures of any Solar & Battery parts or construction evidence.
If anyone sees or hears anything sooner, please post. Thanks.

 

[Tyl]

Here are a few photos of the Barstow supercharging site behind Chili's Restaurant. The battery storage packs are in place. They are (6) bi-directional 70kWh stacks. Close ups of the footings for the solar canopy also. The temporary chargers are still hooked up. The temporary chargers are 120kWh while the new ones are 135kWh. There are a total of 8 superchargers at Barstow as of today (counting the two temporary ones)... sooo we may even see more supercharging pedestals in the future?? That'd be sweet!! There are two utility transformers each with trench marks to the site.
I really want to say thank you to Tesla for adding these superchargers!! Very well done. I'm sure once the solar canopy is installed and juicing the battery storage packs we will be witnessing the beginning of serious solar energy storage Yea buddy!!! I'd love to have a few stacks in my home to store more and more of the solar energy I produce.
Enjoy the photos. I'll post more tomorrow.

I also want to give a huge shout out to Chili's restaurant for being such a great partner with Tesla. I noticed about a year a go all their restaurants went LED with their lighting. Someone in Corporate is on the ball! I did make a suggestion to them to add USB/110v plugs at their tables so we could charge our devices etc. while we are having a meal. I hope fellow Tesla owners support Chili's restaurants when they in Barstow CA. I hope we are all supporting those who so wonderfully support Tesla.. which is really ..all the Roadster and MS owners i.e., us!

 

[Cosmacelf]

That's impressive that they have part numbers and the like for the 70 kW stationary batteries. That means they are out of the research stage and into the production stage for stationary storage.

 

[Tyl]

More photos

 

[GabrielB]

@Tyl
Thank you for the great photos! I won't get there until about 7:30pm Friday night, so my photos would not have turned out as well. Good job.
The two footings in your photos look even MORE huge with 10 bolts each! I do not see any conduit so might it just be a cantilevered carport shade without solar panels? Or might they just run the conduit as they build it? Either way it looks like it will only cover the original 4 spots. Can't wait to see it!

 

[Tyl]

Here the first photos are the footing for the solar canopy in Tejon Ranch CA for comparison with the footings at Barstow CA. They ARE a little different. Here too are a few other photos from the other day!

 

[Darmok]

Had lunch with TM folk today, sadly no news on Primm.

 

[GabrielB]

@Tyl
Great photos again. I took basically the same ones (even the same one of the footings at Tejon!) so no need to add them here.
I did notice that somewhere in the past few months a new section (one stall on the right) of canopy and solar panels was added at Tejon.
It is very interesting to see the difference in concrete footing design and to wonder what the new Barstow canopy will look like.

Just to review; at the moment in Barstow there are eight operational 135kW charge pedestals, and four temporary 120kW charge pedestals.
The stationary battery storage is installed and operational. Now we just await the canopy.

 

[spentan]

Any ETA on the canopy? I presume they will leave the temp superchargers in until the canopy is done?

 

[Cottonwood]

Just to review; at the moment in Barstow there are eight operational 135kW charge pedestals, and four temporary 120kW charge pedestals.
The stationary battery storage is installed and operational. Now we just await the canopy.

Are all 12 Charging Pedestals active?

Barstow Supercharger | Tesla Motors only lists the site as having 8 Charging Stalls (pedestals). I assume that the temporary, "Mobile" Superchargers are on their way to another deserving site.

 

[tbleakne]

Here the first photos are the footing for the solar canopy in Tejon Ranch CA for comparison with the footings at Barstow CA. They ARE a little different. Here too are a few other photos from the other day!
View attachment 58979View attachment 58980

The canopy at Tejon looks very nice and sturdy. I imagine the maximum wind loading at both locations could be pretty high. Thanks for great pictures.

At Barstow it appears the stalls face SW, which is good for the canopy to cast a nice long shadow across the full length of the cars, except perhaps in the early morning, but then it is not as hot.

 

[cpa]

@Tyl
Great photos again. I took basically the same ones (even the same one of the footings at Tejon!) so no need to add them here.
I did notice that somewhere in the past few months a new section (one stall on the right) of canopy and solar panels was added at Tejon.
It is very interesting to see the difference in concrete footing design and to wonder what the new Barstow canopy will look like.

Just to review; at the moment in Barstow there are eight operational 135kW charge pedestals, and four temporary 120kW charge pedestals.
The stationary battery storage is installed and operational. Now we just await the canopy.

Gabriel, the new section that you refer to was a repair. I stopped by Tejon in early June, and someone had driven an RV or some other high-clearance vehicle under the canopy and thoroughly destroyed it. Tesla had been out and cordoned off the area, so for several days there were only five available charging ports.

 

[FredTMC]

Thanks for all the new Barstow photos and progress reports. Very exciting

 

[GabrielB]

Are all 12 Charging Pedestals active?

Barstow Supercharger | Tesla Motors only lists the site as having 8 Charging Stalls (pedestals). I assume that the temporary, "Mobile" Superchargers are on their way to another deserving site.

As can be seen in Tyl's photos, the temporary chargers are mounted on heavy welded fork-lift skids. They are wired in with heavy fastened down conduit and it appears they could stay indefinitely, that is until there is an urgent need for them elsewhere. In that case, the design looks like they could be disconnected, removed, and moving on a truck within hours. So it seems appropriate the Tesla Website lists only the 8 permanent ones, though at the moment (Sunday) there are 12 functioning SC's in Barstow.

Since we believe canopy construction will start at any moment, and that new canopy covers 4 of the newly upgraded spaces, I would think that the 4 temporary SC's will stay in place at least until the canopy construction is completed.

 

[wraithnot]

As can be seen in Tyl's photos, the temporary chargers are mounted on heavy welded fork-lift skids. They are wired in with heavy fastened down conduit and it appears they could stay indefinitely, that is until there is an urgent need for them elsewhere. In that case, the design looks like they could be disconnected, removed, and moving on a truck within hours. So it seems appropriate the Tesla Website lists only the 8 permanent ones, though at the moment (Sunday) there are 12 functioning SC's in Barstow.

Since we believe canopy construction will start at any moment, and that new canopy covers 4 of the newly upgraded spaces, I would think that the 4 temporary SC's will stay in place at least until the canopy construction is completed.

I've got the entire Barstow supercharger site to myself at the moment. I pulled in with 58 rated miles (started with 253 RM at the Excaliber and drove with the flow of traffic the whole way) and decided to try one of the temporary superchargers for the heck of it. I topped out at 86 kW so I moved to one the permanent superchargers and got 114 kW. Based on this, I'd say the temporary superchargers are only 90 kW while the permanent ones are 120 kW or 135 kW.

The bank of 70 kWh batteries that Tyl posted photos of are also really impressive in person. There were a couple of guys in a utility van tinkering with the cabinets in front of the batteries when we drove out on Saturday, but it was really hot and my wife wanted to get to Starbucks ASAP so I didn't stop to see if they were willing to tell me what they were up to.

 

[tbleakne]

I've got the entire Barstow supercharger site to myself at the moment. I pulled in with 58 rated miles (started with 253 RM at the Excaliber and drove with the flow of traffic the whole way) and decided to try one of the temporary superchargers for the heck of it. >>>>

This is helpful info for me for calibrating the Barstow to Kingman leg.
253 - 58 = 195 RM, actual miles 156. You used 39 additional RM, 25% more RM than actual.
Google Maps predicts 70.3 mph "without traffic"
Q: Is this about what speed you averaged, keeping "with the flow of traffic"? Higher, lower? Is 70 the posted limit?
Q: Would driving 60-65 have caused difficulties with trucks going faster or slower ?

Q: No significant headwinds/tailwinds? I know this can vary from day to day in this area.

Only .5Kft net altitude change, but serious ups and downs.
2.7Kft upgrade to highest point inside CA, 60 miles from start, 10 miles of steep 4% grade.
30 miles of downgrade, losing 3.7Kft, with portions of 3.5% downgrade.
Q: Did you see much regeneration on the downgrade ?
Final 70 miles of 1.5Kft upgrade to Barstow.

The simple rule presented at TMC was to allow 7 RM per 1Kft up and add back in 6 RM per 1Kft drop (regeneration inefficiency).
Applying this rule to above elevation profile yields a predicted net correction of 7 additional RM.
My experience is that I can achieve 1-to-1 RM at about 62-64 mph on level ground with no wind.
A rule I derived from TeslaMotors range calculator is to expect reduction of about 3 miles range for each mph increase above neutral point.
Applying these to above matches: 156 + 7 + 3*(70-62) = 187 RM.

EVTripPlanner.com estimates for this route 195 RM using Speed Multiplier of 1.0. Good show.

 

[wraithnot]

This is helpful info for me for calibrating the Barstow to Kingman leg.
253 - 58 = 195 RM, actual miles 156. You used 39 additional RM, 25% more RM than actual.
Google Maps predicts 70.3 mph "without traffic"
Q: Is this about what speed you averaged, keeping "with the flow of traffic"? Higher, lower? Is 70 the posted limit?
Q: Would driving 60-65 have caused difficulties with trucks going faster or slower ?

Q: No significant headwinds/tailwinds? I know this can vary from day to day in this area.

Only .5Kft net altitude change, but serious ups and downs.
2.7Kft upgrade to highest point inside CA, 60 miles from start, 10 miles of steep 4% grade.
30 miles of downgrade, losing 3.7Kft, with portions of 3.5% downgrade.
Q: Did you see much regeneration on the downgrade ?
Final 70 miles of 1.5Kft upgrade to Barstow.

The simple rule presented at TMC was to allow 7 RM per 1Kft up and add back in 6 RM per 1Kft drop (regeneration inefficiency).
Applying this rule to above elevation profile yields a predicted net correction of 7 additional RM.
My experience is that I can achieve 1-to-1 RM at about 62-64 mph on level ground with no wind.
A rule I derived from TeslaMotors range calculator is to expect reduction of about 3 miles range for each mph increase above neutral point.
Applying these to above matches: 156 + 7 + 3*(70-62) = 187 RM.

EVTripPlanner.com estimates for this route 195 RM using Speed Multiplier of 1.0. Good show.

I had the cruise control set to 79 for most of the way (posted speed + 9 mph) and the AC on high, although I did have to slow down a few times for trucks and RVs. It seems like most cars are driving 75-80 on that stretch of road with an occasional driver going much faster.
On the trip from Barstow to Vegas, I drove 65-70 since I didn't range charge at Barstow and wanted enough reserve so that I didn't have to charge immediately. People were definitely flying past me when I was going 65, but I don't remember getting passed by any semi trucks at that speed.
I didn't notice any obvious head winds or tail winds, but I'm not sure how severe a headwind or tailwind would have to be in order to notice it.

I've done this trip twice before and only used 173 and 180 RM for the Vegas to Barstow leg so I think there was less traffic this time:
1,100 mile road trip to Las Vegas and back with a REST datalogger
Road Trip: Post your trip experiences - Page 4

One other thing to consider is that air resistance goes down at higher elevations. I remember getting better than rated mileage going 65 mph between Willcox AZ and Lordsburg (they're both a bit over 4,000 foot in elevation). I'm not sure if EV trip planner takes this into account.

 

[DrComputer]

Here at Barstow charging alone. All twelve superchargers are active and available.