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

[arg]

Hmmm... I thought that the Gen 0 Supercharger Cabinet design used in those first 6 sites only accepted 208 Volts. I don't have a picture on the labels from one of those Gen 0 Cabinets for reference. Does anyone have such pics? If not, we should get pictures of the labels and the rest of the cabinet and pedestal views to document them before they all disappear from the wild.

There was a photo posted of the one I believe may have been 208V, showing 208/480 capability. It's not entirely clear that the labels have always accurately described what was inside: early interviews by JB said that some cabinets had 9 charger modules (for 90kW) and some had 12 (for 120kW total, at that time limited to 90kW max for any one car sharing the cabinet). But Harris Ranch was the only reasonable candidate from the original 6 that might have been 9-module, as it was single-stall and all the others were pairs and noone reported charge being limited below what would be expected with 120kW for the pair.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/10733-SuperCharger-Launch/page3

 

[HHHH]

I'll be in Barstow tomorrow (probably twice) so if you guys need additional pics let me know and I'll post 'em up for ya.

 

[Cottonwood]

There was a photo posted of the one I believe may have been 208V, showing 208/480 capability. It's not entirely clear that the labels have always accurately described what was inside: early interviews by JB said that some cabinets had 9 charger modules (for 90kW) and some had 12 (for 120kW total, at that time limited to 90kW max for any one car sharing the cabinet). But Harris Ranch was the only reasonable candidate from the original 6 that might have been 9-module, as it was single-stall and all the others were pairs and noone reported charge being limited below what would be expected with 120kW for the pair.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/showthread.php/10733-SuperCharger-Launch/page3

OK, foggy memory... It does appear that the original Supercharger Cabinets would accept 480 Volts, and 160 Amps per phase is what you need for 120 kW out. If you do the math for a 208 Volt feed, 280A*208V*sqrt(3)=101 kW, that is enough to put out 90 kW DC.

Still want 480 Volts for the new, mobile Superchargers in Barstow to get max charge rates especially with 2 cars charging from the same cabinet.

 

[HHHH]

Four extra Barstow chargers are open

 

[AEdennis]

Four extra Barstow chargers are open

Did you charge at the new chargers or the old ones? Are the newer ones faster/slower/same speed as the older ones?

Good to know, I'm off to Vegas for a conference tomorrow.

 

[spentan]

Did you charge at the new chargers or the old ones? Are the newer ones faster/slower/same speed as the older ones?

Good to know, I'm off to Vegas for a conference tomorrow.

Would be nice if these are 120-135kW.

I'm in Vegas now (@DEF CON), will be driving straight to San Francisco on Monday morning, the lesser charging time required, the better

 

[Cosmacelf]

Cool! Are the new Barstow chargers 120 kW or 135 kW? Are they fed via a separate transformer?

 

[FredTMC]

Four extra Barstow chargers are open

Fantastic news! Way to go, Tesla Motors!!

 

[Burt Court]

AEdennis, don't forget the Cajon Crawl is in effect this week-end

 

[AEdennis]

AEdennis, don't forget the Cajon Crawl is in effect this week-end

Thanks Burt... Didn't realize it, luckily conference is on Monday, so I'll prepare myself for a seven hour drive instead of the five hour one...

 

[HHHH]

Did you charge at the new chargers or the old ones? Are the newer ones faster/slower/same speed as the older ones?

Good to know, I'm off to Vegas for a conference tomorrow.

I spoke to the Tesla representative while I was there yesterday and this morning. He had a 85 loaner car with NV loaner plates. I had a brief convo with the rep, I believe he said the chargers were 120kW, he told me these are temp chargers, and the permanent ones will be to the left of the existing chargers and will eventually have a solar canopy over them. I snapped a few pics...

 

[spentan]

thx for the pics. will be using them come monday

 

[4SUPER9]

I wonder how many of these portable SpC's Tesla has on hand? What a great idea. Once they get the permanent ones installed, they can move these to the next needed site, and so on, and so on...
Does anyone think of a reason why these cannot also be created for permanent use? The idea of TM pre-fabricating a large amount of these units and dropping them in wherever needed could be a method of rapidly expanding their SpC network.

 

[David99]

The idea of TM pre-fabricating a large amount of these units and dropping them in wherever needed could be a method of rapidly expanding their SpC network.

Producing the hardware isn't the problem at all. What makes things slow is finding good locations, convincing the owners, checking if local utility companies are able to provide enough power, getting permits from the cities, negotiating with all of them. Lots of variables and many people involved. As we have seen, the actual physical work of installing them is pretty quick.

Expanding an existing location like this one is much simpler because the whole initial process isn't necessary any more.

 

[TexasEV]

Glad to see Californians won't have to wait in line a few minutes at peak times at one of their busier superchargers. Meanwhile, in much of the rest of the country, we'd love to have the opportunity to wait in line for supercharging anywhere were going.

 

[4SUPER9]

Glad to see Californians won't have to wait in line a few minutes at peak times at one of their busier superchargers. Meanwhile, in much of the rest of the country, we'd love to have the opportunity to wait in line for supercharging anywhere were going.

An old argument, and not really a valid one IMHO. This is an extremely heavily traveled route, with a very large volume of Teslas in this area. It's not a few minutes wait. Waiting two hours just to start charging, and at a slow rate, makes this route impractical. If a SpC was built close to you, with 8, or even as few as 4 bays, how often do you think that every slot is taken, with a line waiting? If there was just as much of a need in other parts of the country as there is here, than I would vote for expanding/installing those areas just as much as anywhere else.

 

[purplewalt]

I wonder how many of these portable SpC's Tesla has on hand? What a great idea. Once they get the permanent ones installed, they can move these to the next needed site, and so on, and so on...
Does anyone think of a reason why these cannot also be created for permanent use? The idea of TM pre-fabricating a large amount of these units and dropping them in wherever needed could be a method of rapidly expanding their SpC network.

I don't know how many portable SpC they actually have on hand, but I have seen at least five.
Lone Tree (Denver)
Las Vegas
Laguna Seca (during TMC Connect)
Hawthorne (off to the side on the left)
Bethesda

and now Barstow

Sometimes there are wires and cables on the floor which create a potential trip hazard (Vegas).
And the platform/frame is slightly wonky to walk around.

The other key component that must be installed at each location is the Transformer.
Without the high voltage power source, Superchargers are not much good.

 

[bszynxz74e]

Nice photos, Hussain! Solar canopy would be fantastic.

I was the last charge on the old gear (10am Saturday 9th August) before they fired up the new ones. Actually they asked if they could use my car as a double-check on the labeling of the circuits. They flipped a switch on the big transformer and said "okay, it should be off now" to which I yelled back "Nope!! Be careful!" So they flipped another switch and then the car reported "there is a problem with the charging". Nice to see them all lit up with the Tesla logo glowing!

p.s. for those coming back from Las Vegas early -- Chili's doesn't open until 11am but Denny's is only about 50 yards away.

- - - Updated - - -

This was my first Supercharger experience and first trip from Vegas to OC. Have to say THANK YOU to this thread. I've been reading it for weeks preparing for the trip and it helped immensely to settle my anxiety about running out of battery. I'm pleased to report that I completely over-thought it and had nothing to fear.

If you have an 85kW and you are not gunning it on the uphill, you'll be fine without a single care in the world. I charged all night at Mandalay Bay (the valets are great and knowledgeable!) and drove slower than I needed to from Vegas to Barstow. Arrived in two hours with 65 rated miles remaining. I really should have driven faster on the downhill. I was very careful on the uphill but never slower than 69 and didn't feel like the world was passing me by with dirty looks (there was one Hummer H2 but he was just angry at the world).

Although I didn't need to, I did a 90% charge in Barstow (up to 236 rated miles) and arrived home with 80 rated miles to spare. I took photos of the charging (via iPhone app) in case people are curious. This was in stall 2B using the older 90 kW charging stations (only 1 other Tesla in left-most stall), with photos taken at 15 minute intervals:

9:45am 65 rated miles 352 volts 128 amps
10:00am 117 rated miles 370 volts 169 amps
10:18am 181 rated miles 389 volts 128 amps
10:30am 210 rated miles 397 volts 98 amps
10:45am 235 rated miles 402 volts 68 amps

As I left, the electrician disabled stall 2B and another Tesla pulled into the stall right next to mine.

 

[spentan]

So just to confirm,

Are the new stalls connected "in-place" of the old ones? Or are there 8 places to charge?

 

[Darmok]

So just to confirm,

Are the new stalls connected "in-place" of the old ones? Or are there 8 places to charge?

Was just told by a tesla person the the four temp chargers are in place of the four permanent slots, so still only 4 slots. There will be 8 once they're done.