Supercharger - Buena Park, CA (removed from car nav 31 Aug 2018 but still operational, 8 V2 stalls)

[4SUPER9]

I have moved a number of posts in this thread about issues with the Buena Park Service Center staff and the service there to a new thread in the California forum at Buena Park Service Center complaints

This thread is specifically for information and issues with the Buena Park Superchargers. I recognize that the Service Center and the Superchargers are located on the same piece of property. But the issues being discussed in those posts were specifically with service, not with the Superchargers. Everyone is welcome to use that new thread for service issues at the Buena Park location.

Thank you.

I just posted a response here, then saw your new thread and deleted my post and re-posted it there. At the same time, it appears that the complaints with the Service Center at times overlap with the issue of charging. Many of these posts pertain to the attitude of the service people and how this results in them taking up spots and not moving those vehicles when charging has completed.

To cross-post here, when it comes to charging, I also recommend that people complain immediately to Tesla whenever this Supercharge is unnecessarily full from parked service center vehicles.

 

[smilepak]

I just posted a response here, then saw your new thread and deleted my post and re-posted it there. At the same time, it appears that the complaints with the Service Center at times overlap with the issue of charging. Many of these posts pertain to the attitude of the service people and how this results in them taking up spots and not moving those vehicles when charging has completed.

To cross-post here, when it comes to charging, I also recommend that people complain immediately to Tesla whenever this Supercharge is unnecessarily full from parked service center vehicles.

Specifically to this SuperCharger location I just email them on two things

1. Being the fact when I got there, there seem to be a vehicle charging from a day ago, as I can see leaded and stuff on it parking for while. Must be service center parking

2. The map showing wifi, restrooms etc available. Semi true statement. On weekends, off hours, and and Time Service center is closed, they are not available. Hoping they can clarify availability of it on the map or make arrangement for being available.

 

[4SUPER9]

Specifically to this SuperCharger location I just email them on two things

1. Being the fact when I got there, there seem to be a vehicle charging from a day ago, as I can see leaded and stuff on it parking for while. Must be service center parking

If what you think you saw is accurate, I cannot begin to fathom that Tesla headquarters would be okay with that. Never should a service center vehicle be in a supercharger spot when done charging, and especially overnight when the service center is closed. It should be a strict policy that they vacate all spots prior to closing. Thank you for reporting it.

 

[smilepak]

Charge up. Look like one vehicle belongs to service taking up space.

Would be nice if restrooms are open

Just realized it would be nice to have a c timer on the charging screen showing exactly how long u have been charging

 

[smilepak]

One inventory vehicles taking up spot. At least 2 vehicle been here at least over an hour. I've been in wait for 30 mins and charging 40 mins. They are still charging. No one in car. My guess employees abusing space too.

There were three cars waiting behind me.

 

[4SUPER9]

^^^ Please report this to TM. The more people speak up, the higher the chance TM will get on their service center to behave. How can this be? Do the people at the service center not see the huge line, do they not care, or are we wrong about our assumptions, and it is actually others who are abusing the chargers?

 

[thecloud]

Sunday night at Buena Park, right before these last 3 spots filled up. Before taking this picture, I tried each of those empty stalls in turn. The first stall (4B) gave me a rate of less than 60 kW with nobody in the paired 4A stall. I proceeded to try 4A instead. It clicked a few times, and gave me a continuously pulsing green charge port, but 0 kW of actual charge rate. So I backed out and tried the next stall, 3B. It was also maxing out at 60 kW.

At this point, 3A was my last option, as the remaining stalls were taken. I pulled into 3A, and this time got >100kW. Whew!

Sitting in 3A, I looked over at the previous 3 badly-performing stalls and suddenly noticed that the Tesla logo on two of the three charging cabinets wasn't even lit up!? Is that an indication of not being fully online, perhaps?

Right after taking this picture, a red Model S pulled in and tried 4A, and must have gotten the same low rate, since he moved his car to 3B instead.

(I was planning to avoid Buena Park altogether, but as I was heading for the Santa Ana supercharger, the nav system showed that it was temporarily closed!)

 

[TaoJones]

Sunday night at Buena Park, right before these last 3 spots filled up. Before taking this picture, I tried each of those empty stalls in turn. The first stall (4B) gave me a rate of less than 60 kW with nobody in the paired 4A stall. I proceeded to try 4A instead. It clicked a few times, and gave me a continuously pulsing green charge port, but 0 kW of actual charge rate. So I backed out and tried the next stall, 3B. It was also maxing out at 60 kW.

At this point, 3A was my last option, as the remaining stalls were taken. I pulled into 3A, and this time got >100kW. Whew!

Sitting in 3A, I looked over at the previous 3 badly-performing stalls and suddenly noticed that the Tesla logo on two of the three charging cabinets wasn't even lit up!? Is that an indication of not being fully online, perhaps?

Right after taking this picture, a red Model S pulled in and tried 4A, and must have gotten the same low rate, since he moved his car to 3B instead.

(I was planning to avoid Buena Park altogether, but as I was heading for the Santa Ana supercharger, the nav system showed that it was temporarily closed!)

Do give Tesla a call after experiencing the first bad pedestal. They can tell you which pedestals and/or towers are down/poor/better/best.

There is an existing feature request to show more useful info in Nav (pedestal-specific coloring/health). As it is, if an entire site is down, the icon is supposed to be grey, but this hasn’t always been the case. The weaker link, as you unfortunately experienced, is if part of a site is bad. Hence the feature request.

The more information drivers have (instead of having to guess), the more efficient charging activities can and will become. At least until Nav just figures out the routing/charging automagically. Soon.

 

[thecloud]

Yes, in hindsight, I certainly should've reported this. It was getting late and I figured that since this was an actual Tesla service center instead of a random mall parking lot, they were probably already aware of the issue(s). Was just glad to have prior Nav warning of the Santa Ana site closure before arriving there.

 

[Sharkbait]

My guess employees abusing space too.

I normally charge at home. My outlet is ALWAYS available However, when out and about, and when I'm less than 50%, I'll stop at BP. More often than not, employees abuse the chargers. On one occasion, believe it or not, I saw an employee use one of the charging slots as a parking space, walking away from the slot without connecting the charge cable! Incredible! I've reported such incidents to no avail but it seems my complaint falls on deaf ears. I thought the SC manager at this location was a reasonable person, but he doesn't have the courtesy to even return emails regarding service issues.

 

[Sharkbait]

It was really bad yesterday. I pulled in to check on the status of my replacement tail light lenses that were both cracked in the same place. As usual, all charging spots were occupied and there were no less than five customers waiting for a slot! No space to park and chaos. Saw a fight over who was first for a slot that was opening up. Worst ever. This site has gone through at least three SC managers, and I understand the fourth is coming soon. No wonder Tesla doesn't give their employees business cards. Instability should be a concern for TSLA shareholders.

 

[David99]

11:30 pm Tuesday. A Model 3 with dealer plates is parked (not plugged in) in one of the stalls. One of the 8 stalls is broken and taped off. So this could have been used as a parking spot. There are also many open parking spots on the lot so it’s not like there is no other space.

Looks like the people working at this service center really don’t care abou the supercharger.

 

[Sharkbait]

Looks like the people working at this service center really don’t care abou the supercharger.

If they're charging new inventory coming off trailers, they certainly do care about these spaces, because they still use them for that purpose. The degree of use might be less now, as I was told they have two, new, dedicated chargers in the back for this purpose. Whether that's true or not is another issue. I don't have an issue with new owners getting a freshly topped up vehicle but it would be nice if this activity could be entrusted to a Tesla employee during the least busy hours, say 2 AM.

 

[opiuman]

I know this SC gets a lot of hate but both times I've been here during the day on Friday and Saturday in the last month, surprisingly didn't have to wait. Didn't see more than 1 person waiting either.

 

[GlobeCLK]

Did they remove the superchargers here at Buena Park? It doesn't show up on my X anymore, and Tesla's website doesn't list it under the supercharger page anymore.

 

[ecarfan]

Well that is strange. Here is Tesla’s Find Us webpage. The Buena Park Supercharger icon is gone.

 

[MIT_S60]

This supercharger is annoying from both points of view. For service loaners, people like to drop them off with less than sixty miles of range, and the quickest way to get them ready for the next person is to pop them on the supercharger. For people traveling, obviously it's a pain to have to wait on service vehicles to be able to charge (hence I would strongly recommend avoiding this one at all costs). They really should have some reserved in the back for the service vehicles, but then that would be a waste outside of service business hours if they were not accessible to the public.

By the way, it's INCREDIBLY annoying when people drop off service loaners with low charge levels. I have found to get a loaner I often times have to wait a while for one to come in, but the ones that come in keep having low charge.

 

[spentan]

Interesting that it is no longer listed.

Considering that the Santa Ana one and Downey are not too far apart, it's not really that necessary.

And for those that know that it is there, it's kinda like an Easter Egg/Hidden Charger. And usable by Service/Sales, as they can easily say that it's not advertised as a publicly available supercharger.

 

[David99]

Yes it’s gone from the supercharger map in the car. It is still open and you can charge but the car won’t show it any more. They also put up signs here in Buena Park making people aware of the new locations in Downey.
That’s one way to deal with the problem. I get it, they can’t expand the supercharger here. They are super tight on space here. Traveling along the I5 it’s much nicer to go to either of the Downey stations. Both have a lot more food and shopping options.

 

[Sharkbait]

Yes it’s gone from the supercharger map in the car.

Taking it out of NAV is a great disservice to any visitor in the area running low on juice, even if there are two superchargers in Downey. Right off the I-5 corridor, Buena Park has always been quite busy, which should have triggered construction in nearby Cerritos, Anaheim, and Tustin.