Supercharger - Burbank, CA (Service Center, no longer on nav map)

[4SUPER9]

Burbank is on what is probably the single most used long distance route for Teslas in the entire world.

I may be wrong, but I believe that distinction is reserved for the LA to San Diego route. Hence, why SJC, with 8 stalls, immediately became congested when it opened 2 years ago, at a time when there were far fewer Teslas on the road. FV was added far too late in the game, and is also too busy to be practical for most travelers.

The 101 route near Burbank is, regardless, extremely busy too. To me, it seems that the Burbank SC was a stop-gap measure, one easily implemented given the service center there. Unfortunately, there are far too many stalls. 12 would have barely been sufficient. Here's to hoping more will open along the 101/134 freeways.

 

[TaoJones]

I may be wrong, but I believe that distinction is reserved for the LA to San Diego route. Hence, why SJC, with 8 stalls, immediately became congested when it opened 2 years ago, at a time when there were far fewer Teslas on the road. FV was added far too late in the game, and is also too busy to be practical for most travelers.

The 101 route near Burbank is, regardless, extremely busy too. To me, it seems that the Burbank SC was a stop-gap measure, one easily implemented given the service center there. Unfortunately, there are far too many stalls. 12 would have barely been sufficient. Here's to hoping more will open along the 101/134 freeways.

Not for nothing, but SJC got hammered because of a failure to support the county (with the most owners on the entire continent) with a quantity of superchargers at least equal to those in LA County. Even today, the OC has just 2 and a half versus 4 in LA. Further, and worse, until relatively recently, San Diego County had zero SCs and now has just the one barely north of downtown (Qualcomm). Unless and until a 2nd SC is placed in North (SD) County, and a 4th built in the OC,
(just to get to level pegging) SJC will continue to be negatively impacted.

Collectively, and as exacerbated by the continued practice of placing SCs in mall parking lots, this is why I and others question the management of the Southwestern Region. While the low hanging fruit is long gone, that's no reason to throw in the towel.

External to the SC weirdness, the SvC rollout seems to be going great in SoCal. Van Nuys, Costa Mesa, and now Buena Park are all multi-purpose locations. Van Nuys alone manages over 400 cars on any given day, and Costa Mesa has had a 2nd shift working until 11pm for some time now. Pretty impressive, any way you slice it.

 

[TexasEV]

San Diego is a destination. It's not on the road to anywhere but Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Tesla may want to install more destination chargers there, but superchargers should be built on routes elsewhere in the country that are currently inaccessible.

 

[TaoJones]

San Diego is a destination. It's not on the road to anywhere but Mexico and the Pacific Ocean. Tesla may want to install more destination chargers there, but superchargers should be built on routes elsewhere in the country that are
currently inaccessible.

Not completely false, but far from accurate. For almost 2 years now, Tesla has committed to DENSITY as well as to DISTANCE.

While it is regrettable that after this commitment, it became obvious that all they did was to halve the pie, and hence the rate of progress for both, that's reality as it stands today.

Nowhere has suffered more from this change than the I-10 Supercharger Wasteland from Tucson to San Antonio (forecast for completion since late 2014, when the aforementioned commitment was made). Once complete, this will represent the first and only annual transcontinental route that will not require chains or AWD. Further, millions will be served from Florida to Texas to California. That's why they built I-10 in the first place.

Destination chargers are worthless for distance travel, and have nothing to do with the SC rollout. Happily, hoteliers and malls recognize their value for half-day shopping/dining trips and for overnights, and those deployments do continue.

If Elon's commitment holds for another 250 SC sites in the US and Canada by the end of 2018, which seems a bit fanciful given that the low hanging fruit is long gone, that would be wonderful. SCs at San Ysidro, Lukeville, Nogales, and every other significant Port of Entry would be great to boost tourism to Ensenada, Puerto Peñasco, Guaymas, and points east - but that ain't happening any time soon.

Supercharge.info shows that there is good progress in the Midwest and the Northeast. We'll see how it goes in the Southwest and SoCal. I fully expect Alaska to be connected to BC and there to be SCs in Arkansas, North Dakota and Nova freaking Scotia before Tucson gets connected to San Antonio,

 

[David99]

Burbank was probably added only because of the Service center being built there. 6 Stalls in one of the busiest areas is not making much of a dent. But frankly 6 stalls is better than none.

 

[ecarfan]

To me, it seems that the Burbank SC was a stop-gap measure, one easily implemented given the service center there. Unfortunately, there are far too many stalls.

I assume you mean "...far too few stalls."?

 

[4SUPER9]

I assume you mean "...far too few stalls."?

Oops. And now it's too late to edit it.

Burbank is the only SC in the San Fernando Valley. I find that amazing.

 

[apacheguy]

So what does one do when they arrive at the destination at midnight and need to hit the road by 7? Don't say get up at 6 and charge, because if you are anywhere where it is remotely cool overnight, you will find the charge rate is VERY SLOW in the morning. The only other option is of course to plug in at midnight and move the vehicle first thing in the morning. Completely reasonable, IMO.

And before you all attack my position consider all the folks that jam SpC during the day and actually prevent folks from charging. I NEVER do this, but lots of folks do. I've seen it. Bigger fish to fry...

 

[ecarfan]

So what does one do when they arrive at the destination at midnight and need to hit the road by 7? Don't say get up at 6 and charge, because if you are anywhere where it is remotely cool overnight, you will find the charge rate is VERY SLOW in the morning. The only other option is of course to plug in at midnight and move the vehicle first thing in the morning. Completely reasonable, IMO.

I agree with you that in that scenario what you describe is reasonable.

Let's please keep this thread on topic and about the Burbank Supercharger, specifically. To discuss Southern California Superchargers in general see this topic Superchargers in Southern California (location speculation)

For general discussion of the Supercharger network and how to use it please use this thread Tesla Supercharger network

 

[TTT]

Monday night at 9pm I thought would be off hours. 6 stalls full with 4 cars waiting! If I didn't have just 38 rated miles I'd come back. Waited 23 minutes before a car moved. The longest I ever had to wait for a SC

 

[CSFTN]

Not completely false, but far from accurate. For almost 2 years now, Tesla has committed to DENSITY as well as to DISTANCE.

While it is regrettable that after this commitment, it became obvious that all they did was to halve the pie, and hence the rate of progress for both, that's reality as it stands today.

Nowhere has suffered more from this change than the I-10 Supercharger Wasteland from Tucson to San Antonio (forecast for completion since late 2014, when the aforementioned commitment was made). Once complete, this will represent the first and only annual transcontinental route that will not require chains or AWD. Further, millions will be served from Florida to Texas to California. That's why they built I-10 in the first place.

Destination chargers are worthless for distance travel, and have nothing to do with the SC rollout. Happily, hoteliers and malls recognize their value for half-day shopping/dining trips and for overnights, and those deployments do continue.

If Elon's commitment holds for another 250 SC sites in the US and Canada by the end of 2018, which seems a bit fanciful given that the low hanging fruit is long gone, that would be wonderful. SCs at San Ysidro, Lukeville, Nogales, and every other significant Port of Entry would be great to boost tourism to Ensenada, Puerto Peñasco, Guaymas, and points east - but that ain't happening any time soon.

Supercharge.info shows that there is good progress in the Midwest and the Northeast. We'll see how it goes in the Southwest and SoCal. I fully expect Alaska to be connected to BC and there to be SCs in Arkansas, North Dakota and Nova freaking Scotia before Tucson gets connected to San Antonio,

Tao, not to be contrary and start a flame war, but every time you post, I hold my breath and look for your "Tesla has committed to DENSITY as well as to DISTANCE" line, in caps. I have only ever seen you post that concept in that fashion. I don't disagree that they are building density in certain places, like LA/NYC/Beijing/London. I have never seen anything official that says anything other than "support long distance driving". Would you mind quoting a reference?

 

[garygid]

The actual locations of existing SpC facilities might be some "proof" of Tesla's intentions to support both density and range charging. Observing actions is sometimes more useful than believing written, or spoken, words, especially in a year like this one.

Clearly the range network is a major game changer, moving the Tesla out beyond the "Big Neighborhood" EV.

Tesla's supporting their customers who have difficulty charging at their place of residence is an extraordinary act of kindness, not often found in "big business". It also expands their customer base.

All in my opinion, of course.

 

[4SUPER9]

The problem with Burbank is that it is not just a density location, but is also along a heavily used route. Having just 6 stalls, this late in the game, is a nice offering, but woefully insufficient. The people who are in a hurry (travelers) suffer as a consequence. I'm sure that is all they had room for, given size of their lot and possibly electrical demands.

 

[ecarfan]

If you view the 2016 map at Supercharger | Tesla Motors compared to the "Today" map, there are a lot more SCs planned for the LA metro area. They will go a long way towards alleviating the crowding at Burbank.

 

[smilepak]

Stopped by here on the way to Canyon Country at 2:30 pm. It was full with four cars waiting. We end up just park and use the restroom and continue our trip.

So how do you access the lounge after hours anyhow?

 

[AEdennis]

Stopped by here on the way to Canyon Country at 2:30 pm. It was full with four cars waiting. We end up just park and use the restroom and continue our trip.

So how do you access the lounge after hours anyhow?

From what I heard the one time I stopped by this SC is that they haven't activated it for 24 hour access yet.

They are supposedly planning for it, but not yet turned on.

 

[smilepak]

From what I heard the one time I stopped by this SC is that they haven't activated it for 24 hour access yet.

They are supposedly planning for it, but not yet turned on.

How about other places? Is there a special code? By the way the website said 24/7 restroom access

 

[ggr]

How about other places? Is there a special code? By the way the website said 24/7 restroom access

We borrowed a Model S in Austria last week. On the Nav menu for chargers it said something like "Graz, Austria (#34567)". The number is the code to get into the lounge.

 

[AEdennis]

How about other places? Is there a special code? By the way the website said 24/7 restroom access

Haven't run across one, but I remember @Lanny mentioning a lounge in the middle of the country that had the code pop on the center console when they got to that charger. (GPS triggered?)

 

[Lump]

On Sundays the showroom is open between 11am-6pm, people were using that door to get to the lounge or just goto Starbucks.