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

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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.

Tesla isn't favoring California (and it's main in-n-out routes) for any other reason than just pure numbers. They expand and build where there is demand. California has a very high number of Model S on the road. If I remember correctly, there are as many Model S in California as there are in all other states combined. Elon said that they are building the SC as fast as they can. That is the mandate he has given the teams. No restrictions on budget. He literally said, "spend the money as quickly as you can" (building Superchargers). So there is no lack of resources or money or intention on Tesla's side. It comes down to where the demand is. Just in LA County and adjacent Counties there are aprox 80 CHADeMo stattion, about 800 L2 charging station (average of 3 chargers per station). Just to give you an idea how massive the EV saturation is here. Following discussions here, the only reports of waiting times at Superchargers are from California SCs.

The only reason there are Superchargers connecting west and east coast is for marketing reasons. They wanted to show the coast to coast trip. There are very few Model S in most of the areas where they build these Superchargers and they get used very very little. I know it is frustrating to own a Model S and not having any Superchargers to make long distance traveling.

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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.

They are 120 kW vs the old 90 kW so that's a 33% reduction in wait time when they are fully utilized.
 
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.

The entire supercharger network in France (9 stations installed in basically the last month) is 2-stall portable systems like these. It seems like they could do some high priority routes like eastern Canada or bridging to the Texas Supercharger Island this way before they have permanent installations.
 
The only reason there are Superchargers connecting west and east coast is for marketing reasons. They wanted to show the coast to coast trip. There are very few Model S in most of the areas where they build these Superchargers and they get used very very little.
The entire supercharger network is for marketing reasons, the California ones no less than the ones connecting the coasts. As Steve Jurvetson said at TMC Connect, it's the answer for when someone asks "How would you get to X?", when the person probably hasn't driven to X in years and has no plans to drive to X. He actually used SF to LA as an example, which he said he hasn't driven since Southwest Airlines was invented. Knowing it's possible to get somewhere makes it easier to convert ICE drivers to EVs. A supercharger that is used less often doesn't make it any less valuable to Tesla.

Also remember the coast-to-coast route chargers aren't just for coast-to-coast driving, any more than the interstate highways that go from coast to coast are primarily for coast to coast driving. Most inter-city trips are hundreds of miles, not thousands of miles, and the superchargers enable those trips just as the highways do.
 
You're talking about the temp ones right? I assume the new ones will be 135kW
Also, it's not exactly a 33% reduction in time due to tapering, but it definitely helps at the max point

I actually meant times you wait for getting a spot when it's busy. When all stalls are full the charger output is most probably at max because of sharing between two cars. So there would actually be a 33% advantage.

Regarding 135 kW, I have yet to see anyone getting more than 120 kW anywhere. I charged at one of these new 'portable' Superchargers (at Hawthorne) and got 120 kW. Maybe the total power is 135 kW when two cars are charging. I visited many different SCs and never anywhere got more than 120 kW. Tesla's website always says 120 kW so I assume the 135 kW is the max combined power when two cars are charging.

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A supercharger that is used less often doesn't make it any less valuable to Tesla.

Expanding the SC in Barstow is a simpler and quicker task than an entirely new location. Since there is no shortage of hardware, they are doing it. People are already getting annoyed waiting at this location. If it gets worse it can quickly backfire and create negative press for Tesla. Imagine an article in major media outlet showing a long line of Model S waiting at a Supercharger.

At the same time I realize that not having a charging infrastructure in a region doesn't help with sales.
 
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).

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Even with an 85 it is not always easy making it to Barstow from Vegas. We had 25 mph winds during the route and never drove over 65 mph and arrived in Barstow with 11 miles left. This is after a range charge before leaving Vegas.
 
I wonder what's in these white cabinets. Just switch gear? Or is there a grid-storage system hiding in them?

If they are installing solar, it makes sense that they would also be installing grid-storage the same as they have in Tejon Ranch to minimize demand charges and shift demand off-peak hours.

Those just look like different generations of Supercharger Cabinets to me.
 
Even with an 85 it is not always easy making it to Barstow from Vegas. We had 25 mph winds during the route and never drove over 65 mph and arrived in Barstow with 11 miles left. This is after a range charge before leaving Vegas.
Barstow to Vegas was tight for me as well.... in July. Note that I left Barstow with 221 rated (my 90% at the time).
 
Finally back in LA (last night) and have some more pictures from last night's work on the ones in Barstow...

Guys were working at 715pm

14921730902_bb13e5c6bf_c.jpgSupercharger guys are still working at 715pm. Impressed. by dennis_p, on Flickr

14735411070_f195bbef90_c.jpgSupercharger guys are still working at 715pm. Impressed. by dennis_p, on Flickr

There was a lot of equipment waiting to be installed

14735502947_407e898641_c.jpgSupercharger guys are still working at 715pm. Impressed. by dennis_p, on Flickr

14735408539_c11d1e9a62_c.jpgSupercharger guys are still working at 715pm. Impressed. by dennis_p, on Flickr

14735421219_b592dffc48_c.jpgSupercharger guys are still working at 715pm. Impressed. by dennis_p, on Flickr

The four portable ones are working fine...
 
I can confirm. These are the two supercharger cabinets that served the four old stalls. There were installed at different times, since this was originally a two-stall location, and then it was expanded to four.
Thanks - I've been looking for pictures of the battery cabinets at Tejon Ranch but can't find any. I have to imagine that Tesla would want to install batteries at all California SuperCharger locations given demand fees in the state, especially during summer months when demand charges can reach $25 / kW (an 8-stall SuperCharger with 4 SC cabinets could ring up $13,500 / month demand charges on top of energy charges of $0.10-0.15 / kWh during peak hours.

Considering that it sounds like they will be installing solar here, they very likely will be installing batteries, too.