Supercharger - Beaver, UT

[TaoJones]

The Beaver supercharger is labeled as “Reduced Service” in the Nav so that helps. Obviously anyone who can should try to skip this one if possible, especially for something like the Custer rally.

What happened in Quartzsite a couple weeks ago?

Versus the usual tumbleweeds and maybe 1 other car, all 8 stalls were filled with 4 cars waiting. This caused Indio and Cabazon to clog. Most drivers reported multiple interruptions and those who didn’t stay with their cars or paid attention to their apps would come back and start up again so the site was a clusterfook for hours.

2 days prior I had gotten 78% before the pedestal quit. But I was the only car there then.

Support was of no help, reporting only 1 pedestal impacted and that report has been submitted by an owner 15 minutes prior (we were all gathered at one end in the shade and heard him make the call).

So chalk it up to a utility supply issue that lasted for hours that day, and to some extent a couple of days prior. At least.

Timely Nav/SC icon color change (or flashing), or better yet, implementation of the aging feature request to show relative pedestal health in red/yellow/green would have been useful. I easily could have charged more at Buckeye and those eastbound could have managed as well, collectively avoiding Qzsite altogether. Spreading the load in a less clumpy manner, as it were.

The wife’s parting refrain as she and her husband left the SC after an hours-long delay during their first distance road trip in their Tesla? “I’m keeping my Denali!”

The husband appeared... deflated.

So the sooner site and pedestal health is managed in real-ish time to the benefit of owners on the road, the better.

Addendum: Was the “Reduced Service” annotation only in the pop-up visible as one arrives or if one taps upon the SC icon, or was it displayed in the Nav routing list at left? If the latter, that’s helpful. If the former, that’s not nearly as helpful because a) most people don’t tap, and b) once you’re there, it’s too late.

A heads up 1-2 SCs out (e.g., in the routing) would facilitate at least manual re-routing until auto-routing compensates for SC bottlenecks like any other traffic impediment.

Another example would be the Silverthorn outage 2-3 years ago. Had I gotten a heads up, either programmatically, or directly from Support when I called from Cheyenne SC due to a problem there, I could have charged more there else stopped at Denver and avoided Sthorn completely to get to Glenwood Springs. Instead, a flatbed was dispatched to get me from Sthorn to GS - luckily, reduced power returned to Sthorn about 1 minute before my chariot was winched onto the flatbed.

 

[David99]

I've been driving my Model S on road trips for 4 years now. I supercharged about 800 times at 100 different locations. One thing I have definitely noticed in the last 12 months is that Superchargers are not as reliable as they used to be in the first years.

I could plug in anywhere and it always got full power, never any issues, never any outages. I remember after the first time I took the trip from LA to Minneapolis and back (4400 miles) and it was just flawless. I passed through Beaver each time. I have taken this trip probably 8 times since then. The last time I had to switch stalls many times because I was getting a lower power (not paired).

I remember someone saying that high power systems like Superchargers actually do age and wear out. I'm not an expert but could this be an issue with older stations now?

 

[ccutrer]

I've been driving my Model S on road trips for 4 years now. I supercharged about 800 times at 100 different locations. One thing I have definitely noticed in the last 12 months is that Superchargers are not as reliable as they used to be in the first years.

I could plug in anywhere and it always got full power, never any issues, never any outages. I remember after the first time I took the trip from LA to Minneapolis and back (4400 miles) and it was just flawless. I passed through Beaver each time. I have taken this trip probably 8 times since then. The last time I had to switch stalls many times because I was getting a lower power (not paired).

I remember someone saying that high power systems like Superchargers actually do age and wear out. I'm not an expert but could this be an issue with older stations now?

Beaver has been a problem point for me in the past. But I’ve also figured out that your own charge port can get dirty, drastically increasing resistance, and thus heat, and then the amperage drops to prevent problems. If when you first arrive at a station it goes to 100+kW, then 5-10 minutes later it drops to as low as 50kW, and the handle is blazing hot, this is likely the problem. This first happened to me at Beaver, when the trip out I was fine, but I drove through a LOT of dusty dirt roads up in the mountains during the vacation. I was incredibly frustrated at Beaver barely getting 50kW, and “burning” every handle trying them all. I figured I’d do just enough to get to Nephi (instead of skipping it), a relatively new station, and I’d be fine. Same thing happened there. Luckily I didn’t need much of a charge to get home. I learned how to clean the charge port, and I figured I was good. My current road trip (3700 miles to Ohio and back) started out fine, but a few stops into Nebraska where I faced 20+ mph headwinds the whole time, and I started having the same problems. I asked at a service center in Illinois if they could clean it for me, and they looked at me like I was stupid. “Just try some compressed air” (I already had, and water with a bottle cleaner, to no avail). Next stop I picked up some electrical contact cleaner at Home Depot, and wha la! Back to normal charges rates consistently (be sure to still clean out with compressed air so that it’s dry before you plug in). New essential equipment for road trips for me!

All that said, it makes me wonder if only certain cars are more susceptible, either with age, or poor construction (I have a pretty early Model X from the panel gaps from hell era) not properly sealing and protecting the charge port, which could explain why the service centers aren’t familiar with the issue.

 

[TaoJones]

Beaver has been a problem point for me in the past. But I’ve also figured out that your own charge port can get dirty, drastically increasing resistance, and thus heat, and then the amperage drops to prevent problems. If when you first arrive at a station it goes to 100+kW, then 5-10 minutes later it drops to as low as 50kW, and the handle is blazing hot, this is likely the problem. This first happened to me at Beaver, when the trip out I was fine, but I drove through a LOT of dusty dirt roads up in the mountains during the vacation. I was incredibly frustrated at Beaver barely getting 50kW, and “burning” every handle trying them all. I figured I’d do just enough to get to Nephi (instead of skipping it), a relatively new station, and I’d be fine. Same thing happened there. Luckily I didn’t need much of a charge to get home. I learned how to clean the charge port, and I figured I was good. My current road trip (3700 miles to Ohio and back) started out fine, but a few stops into Nebraska where I faced 20+ mph headwinds the whole time, and I started having the same problems. I asked at a service center in Illinois if they could clean it for me, and they looked at me like I was stupid. “Just try some compressed air” (I already had, and water with a bottle cleaner, to no avail). Next stop I picked up some electrical contact cleaner at Home Depot, and wha la! Back to normal charges rates consistently (be sure to still clean out with compressed air so that it’s dry before you plug in). New essential equipment for road trips for me!

All that said, it makes me wonder if only certain cars are more susceptible, either with age, or poor construction (I have a pretty early Model X from the panel gaps from hell era) not properly sealing and protecting the charge port, which could explain why the service centers aren’t familiar with the issue.

That's a great idea. Note to self: Get electrical contact cleaner and a can of compressed air before next road trip.

 

[David99]

I have a can of contact cleaner with me for about 2 years now I tried it a few times when I got a reduced charge rate but it rarely helped. It certainly can't hurt though. I believe they had some issues with old and also new handles that got hot. Not so much the charge port itself. I think they got that fixed mostly. I had this isse a lot about a year ago, now it is very rare that I get the charge rate dropping after a few miutes like it did back then.

 

[idoco]

Charged at Beaver yesterday.

According to the in car navigation the supercharger is listed as Out of Order/Reduced Service. When I called Tesla they said that the #2 pair was out of service and the #1 pair was reduced service (40-50%).

When I arrived I plugged into 1A. Immediately was at 100kw. Don't think it ever dropped below 70kW.



Someone else came and plugged into 2A and was charging normally. He told me the "B" pair is out when he tried to charge a few days ago.

So 1A & 2A appear normal. 1B & 2B appear out.

 

[txakoli]

Charging normally at 1A. 104kW at 30% SOC. I did not check the other pedestals.

 

[Klaus]

Charged at 1A on 17 May 2018. Normal charge rate starting at >100 kW at 41%. Had decent dinner at the Timberline Restaurant. Used the touchless car wash to reduce the dust and bugs accumulated at Capitol Reef NP, worked really well!

 

[HookBill]

Charging at 1A with another X in 2A. Don’t know what he is getting but 1A is full power. Started at 107kw at 38% and is 80kw at 61%. Nav shows 3 of 4 occupied with two cars charging. Did not test 1B or 2B.

 

[ccutrer]

Man, they really need to put more chargers here. On my way south, there were 3 of 4 in use. Now it’s full, and I’m second in line (and my brother will make 3 when he gets here in a few minutes). 4 chargers just doesn’t cut it anymore anywhere except the most remote of locations.

 

[Park2670]

Ive wondered why they haven't added more to that location. Seems like the perfect middle point to have a large amount of stalls. This should be expanded to 8 or 12 stalls.

 

[camthehombre]

So last I passed through there were 4 stalls only here and currently the navigation shows there are 6 stalls. Was there an expansion of sorts or if the navigation wrong?

 

[PLUS EV]

Only one way to find out!

 

[Park2670]

The Utah Tesla club on Facebook says there are now seven stalls. I am heading through next week and can take some photos to post.

 

[PLUS EV]

The Utah Tesla club on Facebook says there are now seven stalls. I am heading through next week and can take some photos to post.

I'm guessing that means they put one of those 3-pronged urban superchargers there as a temporary solution. Only 2 of the prongs work and they only give you 50kW. But at a 4-stall sight that had had some power supply issues, this is still a big help. Not a long-term fix though. They need at least 8 stalls in Beaver.

 

[camthehombre]

I'm guessing that means they put one of those 3-pronged urban superchargers there as a temporary solution. Only 2 of the prongs work and they only give you 50kW. But at a 4-stall sight that had had some power supply issues, this is still a big help. Not a long-term fix though. They need at least 8 stalls in Beaver.

I honestly think they could do with 10+ there at times. I’ve heard of people arriving and having a line of 5+ cars waiting to charge there. With the number of model 3s coming out, I’m sure it’s just going to get worse, and soon.

 

[KJD]

They could expand Beaver, a better option to me would build a new one in Cedar City instead

 

[David99]

Just passed through there. No temporary stalls. Same as it ever was.

 

[camthehombre]

Just passed through there. No temporary stalls. Same as it ever was.

Just the 4? What does navigation in the car show?

 

[David99]

Just the 4? What does navigation in the car show?

I don't remember. I'm in Wisconsin now so my car doesn't show the status of this station any more.