Supercharger - Brea, CA - S. Madrona Ave. (LIVE 10 Oct 2022, 24 V3 + 24 L2 stalls)

[SteelClouds]

I'll add that while the L2 chargers are "Free" at Brea.. they run at 5Kw.. Sloooooow. I can already see the issue playing out.. there were a dozen Teslas plugged into the L2 and only a couple on the SC. .ANy non tesla trying to charge would be screwed since they cant use the SC and the Teslas are sucking up L2 which is what they can use.

 

[Limited]

I'll add that while the L2 chargers are "Free" at Brea.. they run at 5Kw.. Sloooooow. I can already see the issue playing out.. there were a dozen Teslas plugged into the L2 and only a couple on the SC. .ANy non tesla trying to charge would be screwed since they cant use the SC and the Teslas are sucking up L2 which is what they can use.

5kw? Are you driving a standard range vehicle that is limited to 32 amps? Or perhaps some of these L2s are wired differently? I got 9.5kw and thought this was fairly generous.

 

[SteelClouds]

I do have a STD Plus but I'm not limited to 5kw.. I run L2 at home and pull 7Kw easily with my Juice box. My guess is the L2s are a shared resource in some way. Like I said, there were ALOT of Teslas using the L2 vs the SC.. I didnt think to get a screen shot.. I was at the Ralph's checking via the app and was surprised to see the low rate.

 

[IronQQQ]

I stopped by this charger Sat morning to check it out and the location stinks... Literally. It's in the basement and many a transient or drunk hath urinated down there and it smells. The high humidity today didn't help. When I was young we used to go drinking on Birch St too... When it was still called birch street promenade vs now being called Downtown Brea.

I plugged into an L2 and pulled 200 VAC @ 48 amps which is 9.6 kW. Not bad at all. My office recently moved from Brea, else I could catch a few zzz at lunch and get a couple of free kWh.

Also plugged into V3 and pulled a couple of kWh for kicks.

The location just stinks unless you live at at a apartment nearby. Maybe plug in, go to Ralph's really quick and come back. The public bathrooms are quite far all the way by the Cantina... It's faster to just go to Ralph's. For highway travelers, this charger needs to offer a discount to persuade people to go there vs Brea Mall.

 

[MrFusion4]

I stopped by this charger Sat morning to check it out and the location stinks... Literally. It's in the basement and many a transient or drunk hath urinated down there and it smells. The high humidity today didn't help. When I was young we used to go drinking on Birch St too... When it was still called birch street promenade vs now being called Downtown Brea.

I plugged into an L2 and pulled 200 VAC @ 48 amps which is 9.6 kW. Not bad at all. My office recently moved from Brea, else I could catch a few zzz at lunch and get a couple of free kWh.

Also plugged into V3 and pulled a couple of kWh for kicks.

The location just stinks unless you live at at a apartment nearby. Maybe plug in, go to Ralph's really quick and come back. The public bathrooms are quite far all the way by the Cantina... It's faster to just go to Ralph's. For highway travelers, this charger needs to offer a discount to persuade people to go there vs Brea Mall.

Why not just plug in and sit inside the car with the ac on?

 

[BigDaddyKevin]

5kw? Are you driving a standard range vehicle that is limited to 32 amps? Or perhaps some of these L2s are wired differently? I got 9.5kw and thought this was fairly generous.

standard range vehicle that is limited to 32 amps? Is that really true?

 

[SteelClouds]

 

[Kevy Baby]

standard range vehicle that is limited to 32 amps? Is that really true?

Yes

 

[Kevy Baby]

For highway travelers, this charger needs to offer a discount to persuade people to go there vs Brea Mall.

Yeah, I don't see the location as being used by travelers. The 57 is a local artery (albeit a rather busy one) rather than a long-distance highway so this is a location geared towards local traffic. While of course, needs will change over time, I have not seen very many instances (well, none that I have personally seen, but I am sure there have been some) of all 20 stalls at Brea Mall in use.

 

[1100MCM]

Yes

It’s 23 cents all day now so sounds like they’re encouraging its use vs the very crowded ones.

 

[SteelClouds]

It’s 23 cents all day now so sounds like they’re encouraging its use vs the very crowded ones.

Really? It was 56 cents or so just a few days ago when I was there last between 8am - 7pm and 36 cents from 7 pm to 11pm.. 21 cents 11pm to 4AM

The L2 chargers were free at the time

 

[Kevy Baby]

I'll add that while the L2 chargers are "Free" at Brea.. they run at 5Kw.. Sloooooow. I can already see the issue playing out.. there were a dozen Teslas plugged into the L2 and only a couple on the SC. Any non tesla trying to charge would be screwed since they cant use the SC and the Teslas are sucking up L2 which is what they can use.

I'm quoting this since someone gave it a thumbs down (not really sure why). The situation that @SteelClouds describes above is exactly what I ran into last Sunday when I went to get some juice while I went to the movies. Every single of the 24 L2 spots were being used (almost all by Teslas) while there were still about 10-12 Supercharger spots open.

And to answer the question of why I would rather use the slower L2 charger rather than the SuC? Because I was going to be gone for about three hours at a movie I wasn't going to leave in the middle of. The car would be done charging MUCH sooner and I would have (potentially) been dinged with a hefty wait charge. I wasn't in desperate need to charge so I skipped it this round.

 

[israndy]

SpC doesn't SuC

Also, aren't the L2s FREE, that'd be a big reason to use them. Got 12 hours to hang out, hit 'em up

 

[Kevy Baby]

Also, aren't the L2s FREE, that'd be a big reason to use them.

Yes. That was the only reason I was going to charge. I didn't NEED to - was just gonna get about 80 miles while we watched the movie.