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Supercharger - Big Sur, CA - Ventana (LIVE 24 May 2019, 8 Urban stalls)
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Ulmo
Active Member
Today, April 21, 2019, I took some photos of the Big Sur Ventana Tesla SuperCharger under construction: Big Sur Ventana Tesla SuperCharger Under Construction Photos 2019-04-21
I don't think that SC is being built as a V3 SC. All of the trenching at the parking and cabinet level looks done (pipe laid and backfilled). There are 4 inverter cabinets, all installed. There are 8 pedestal bases installed, most of the chases for those pedestals installed, and wire pulled through the conduit from the inverters to half the pedestals. I don't know if that existing transformer is new or sufficient for this SC, but I presume one of those new pads not yet poured will receive a new transformer and the pictured transformer is just an old one for something else. Charging parking area is as I presumed above, in the same parking area as where the construction is, at the bottom of the gravel-filled stairs mentioned above.
Here are a few superfluous vids I also took there, including one rough one of the drive out:
P.S., I saw many dozens of Teslas on Hwy 1 in Big Sur today; I wasn't counting, but I would be entirely unsurprised if the number I saw was around or over a hundred. They were all three models being sold: S, X, and 3.
I don't think that SC is being built as a V3 SC. All of the trenching at the parking and cabinet level looks done (pipe laid and backfilled). There are 4 inverter cabinets, all installed. There are 8 pedestal bases installed, most of the chases for those pedestals installed, and wire pulled through the conduit from the inverters to half the pedestals. I don't know if that existing transformer is new or sufficient for this SC, but I presume one of those new pads not yet poured will receive a new transformer and the pictured transformer is just an old one for something else. Charging parking area is as I presumed above, in the same parking area as where the construction is, at the bottom of the gravel-filled stairs mentioned above.
Here are a few superfluous vids I also took there, including one rough one of the drive out:
P.S., I saw many dozens of Teslas on Hwy 1 in Big Sur today; I wasn't counting, but I would be entirely unsurprised if the number I saw was around or over a hundred. They were all three models being sold: S, X, and 3.
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That conduit and basing looks like it will be for urban-style charging posts. A bit of a surprise as it's not too urban out there. But if you're driving along PCH you shouldn't really be in any hurry, so it's not much of an issue.
Ulmo
Active Member
I think I agree, plus, a lot of people would only need a bump up in charge. As evidenced by the many dozens of Teslas already on PCH, they seem to do just fine without a SuperCharger there, although I don't know what their route was.
When I had my Model S 60D, it told me that it would not make it to the next SuperCharger South of Monterey via Hwy 1, but since then, Tesla has a closer SuperCharger in Monterey proper, and Tesla doesn't sell any vehicles as short range as my old 60D any more. Even a slow charger at Ventana would be great to fill the gaps, and even in my slow charging 60D, it would have only taken a nice walk up and down the hill at Ventana, a quick look around, and then I would have been able to leave and go to the next SuperCharger.
Today with Tesla's newer cars, having Ventana SC just makes what was barely impossible via Big Sur in my 60D now copiously safely convenient and bother-free. In winter in an older lower range Tesla, just be sure to verify that they have electricity at Ventana SC and maximize your battery charge on the way to Ventana just in case there is trouble (so, top up charge to 100% at Monterey's shopping center SC while strongly prewarming the interior of your car then turn that heater off (manual mode) before you stop the Monterey SC charge, verify the Ventana SC is marked as working in the nav, use seat heaters and warm clothing, don't drive hard, and when you get to Ventana, make sure you have a full charge again before you set out and before you get aggressive with the handling and heating; if you do all that in winter in a short range Tesla on Hwy 1 Big Sur, then you should be relatively safe from running out of charge in the dead of winter without cell coverage, and you can also hone in the margins you can use on your next such trip; be aware that in winter, you could have to turn back due to road blockage, and by the time you come back past Ventana again, the power could be out there, so drive sparingly).
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arcus
Active Member
Agree as well. We covered PCH last year during our trip. Even with the detour (the road was still closed for repairs) the charging stops were very quick:
California, here we come! (Road trip 2018 – part 7)
Likely there is not a lot of electrical current reserves in this part of California. Urban chargers may be all the grid can handle.
I have never seen a higher percentage of Teslas than on that highway around Big Sur. And it was about a year ago when I drove it. My estimate was about 3% of the cars on the road were Teslas and this is made all the more impressive by the fact that many of the non-Teslas were rental cars.
It's 136 miles from the Monterey supercharger to the SLO supercharger. And 6 miles shorter than that if you need to cut over to Atascadero in an emergency. Also these are winding roads with low speed limits. Even in an S60, you shouldn't have much to worry about. I think you are overthinking this.
Ulmo
Active Member
When I owned my Model S, it said I could not make it from Seaside to Atascadero in winter during wind, cold, and rain, and still have enough energy to make it back to Seaside if the road was blocked along the way. Things that have changed since then:
- Additional SC's opened.
- Summer months allow less heating in cabin.
- Increased efficiency and range of Teslas sold.
These days, the increased efficiency of newer Teslas, Tesla nixing the selling of low range vehicles (except the off-menu Standard Range Model 3), and the new SuperChargers, all help this tremendously. Tesla's slow incremental improvements have really made a difference over time.
Ulmo
Active Member
Plug pedestals finished. Transformer not in yet. Cabinets finished. PG&E won’t let them use a lot of juice.
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israndy
Supercharger Hunter
They should put in a PowerPack so it can be pulling the lower power all the time until the batts are full. It would be able to drive more chargers at once than the transformer could.
-Randy
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Ulmo
Active Member
What does it mean? It says "90 minute general parking". (Ask 10 people and you'll probably get 50 answers.) I tried making it flat in the 2D image, but it became less legible:
But here it is untransformed and just cropped:
Fully, it says:
(T logo)
TESLA
(90)
90 MINUTE
GENERAL PARKING
Whatever people take it to mean, I don't think it's going to be a problem, at least at this SuperCharger (since I am guessing it will only be a medium use SC at first and then trailing off as people purchase higher and higher range Teslas), until a group of 8 people decide to make a policy of being a problem and park there all day. Just don't piss off ICE owners and they'll have less reason to do that. (I'm not saying to never fight back, but there is a bit of occasional efficiency in not always having to fight.)TESLA
(90)
90 MINUTE
GENERAL PARKING
Thinking ahead, and to answer your "bummer" point, I think this is future-thinking: what if every car in the world becomes an EV, and those with the old fashioned Tesla proprietary plug are rare? Then, all of the regular CCS or Future-Plug cars would still need someplace to park, and all the antique 25 year old Teslas from back in the day would only come by occasionally. We'll take pictures of them as rare sightings of those old Roadster 2020s and such, collectibles or whatever.
The technical software programmer designer lawyer civil planner thinker in me thinks that "90 minute general parking" could mean just only for the Teslas to charge up and then generally park after charging an additional 90 minutes after having finished charging without trespassing or extra cost (e.g., no SuperCharger Late Fees for at least 90 minutes after getting to the charge-to setting you have in the charging screen on your Tesla UI (and no late fees if it can't get there for some failure reason by no fault of the owner)). That's probably the best logical legal explanation of that sign, given its context. However, I doubt that's actually what they intended, because almost no one looks at these things like I do.
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They use this regularly. It means you can park there if you are driving an ICE (“general parking”) typically due to parking lot restrictions placed by the lot owner. They cannot reserve those spots solely for Teslas, so they allow general parking for up to 90 minutes.
Ulmo
Active Member
Thank you.
I wish they would just say that in the sign instead of playing guess the meaning games. But oh well.
I'm guessing there is a more descriptive way to say this on the sign, but I can't immediately think of the phrasing that's quite as concise. Selfishly, I am OK with the phrasing as-is, because I feel as if ICE drivers won't get the gist of it, and will avoid ICEing those spots. And in this case, if Tesla owners misinterpret it to mean they can only charge for 90 minutes, that's not really much of a limitation anyway. All packs should be able to fill prior to 90 minutes.
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