Supercharger - Burlington, NC

[ChrisC]

Thank you Eggplant for the report! I have updated the Recargo listing, and stole your latest photo for it.

EV Charging Location - Tesla Supercharger - Burlington - Burlington, NC

 

[jandkw]

Thanks Eggplant for the report. This is the charging I want to test with my S60 for the first time next Tuesday during the Opening event.

 

[pgiralt]

Stopped by today to check out the SC. This was my first time supercharging and it worked great. There was a crew out making a couple of fixes to pass the inspection and they're hoping it should pass inspection today or Monday. They will be out before Tuesday to repaint the lines so they line up properly with the chargers. The crew here is heading out to Colorado and there is actually another company that is doing Rocky Mount.

 

[Sgt Barone]

Stopped by today to check out the SC. This was my first time supercharging and it worked great. There was a crew out making a couple of fixes to pass the inspection and they're hoping it should pass inspection today or Monday. They will be out before Tuesday to repaint the lines so they line up properly with the chargers. The crew here is heading out to Colorado and there is actually another company that is doing Rocky Mount.

Thanks, pgiralt! I wonder where they're going in Colorado? Probably beginning the push to create the nationwide route.

 

[pgiralt]

Here's a photo of my test this morning.

I started off with about 50 miles of rated range left, so it was charging pretty fast most of the time. I did, however notice that it never appeared to go above 90 kW for the charge rate. I had assumed that all the new superchargers were going to be 120 kW. The highest I saw was 358 V @ 250 A. After that it started upping the voltage while lowering the amperage which makes sense. Still happy to have a supercharger in NC.

- - - Updated - - -

@Sgt Barone, I'm not sure where in Colorado, but now that I look at the supercharger rollout map, I'm not sure. He mentioned that he was going to do some site in Colorado and then drive down 5 hours to somewhere in New Mexico. Looking at the map, there is one in south Colorado and Northern New Mexico, but both of those are not there until 2014. I wonder if they are doing some of these out of order.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I did, however notice that it never appeared to go above 90 kW for the charge rate. I had assumed that all the new superchargers were going to be 120 kW. The highest I saw was 358 V @ 250 A. After that it started upping the voltage while lowering the amperage which makes sense. Still happy to have a supercharger in NC.

My understanding is that all the new Supercharger hardware is rated for 120 kW. However, it requires a firmware upgrade in the cars to enable the capacity.

Larry

 

[Eggplant]

The electrician I met at the supercharger site said that to me too. I'm not sure if this is a 5.6 feature or not. It doesn't show up in the release notes that have been posted.

When my car only saw 360V he said it should be more like 470. He then said someone at Tesla mentioned that 120kW requires a firmware update to the car.

 

[dflye]

@Sgt Barone, I'm not sure where in Colorado, but now that I look at the supercharger rollout map, I'm not sure. He mentioned that he was going to do some site in Colorado and then drive down 5 hours to somewhere in New Mexico. Looking at the map, there is one in south Colorado and Northern New Mexico, but both of those are not there until 2014. I wonder if they are doing some of these out of order.

From chatting with one of the construction guys earlier in the week, I thought he said Grand Junction, CO. That at least is a decent sized town where I-70 intersects with a state route.

 

[Sgt Barone]

Please post pictures and a recap of the ribbon-cutting event today if you are there!

 

[Eggplant]

I snapped a few pics. It was nice meeting dflye and voidptr there.

I saw about 16-18 cars, and I think 2-3 of those were demo cars. David, Trevor, and Javier were there.

 

[dflye]

Took a few pictures this morning, plenty of other folks snapping pics (both amateur and professional) as well as at least one video camera crew. About 20 Model S in attendance (which includes the 3 or so that were from the Raleigh service center), finally saw another Sig Red in person and met the owner from Fayetteville. PR guy from Tesla gave his spiel, followed by other officials doing similar, then ribbon cutting... can't give much of a recap on what they said as I was chatting too much.

 

[Sgt Barone]

Thanks for the pictures!

 

[jandkw]

I was there this morning. The ribbon cutting is well organized so thanks Tesla staff. I used the SC for the very first time and is a little disappointed to see my charge rate is 56 miles/hr. I used 4B and another car using 4A has 150+miles/hr. Talking to the other owner he had 360+ miles/hr charge yesterday with no other car charging. I do understand the load is very heavy when all SCs are being used. My questions are: 1. Does it mean when I travel to NY via the i95 corridor using the populous SC stations like Richmond (to be built soon) and Newark, I'll have the similar miles/hr rate when all SCs are being consumed? 2. I know the SCs in California are always busy, what is their experience there?

 

[dflye]

Several variables at play here...

If you started in Cary with anywhere near a full charge, the ~50 mile drive wouldn't have drained enough energy to get the battery down to the point where the SC would be able to charge at the maximum rate. The charge rate tapers off pretty quickly once you get past half full, and isn't terribly fast for the last 1/4 of a range charge.

Each 120 kW charger is shared by a pair of charging bays, in theory those with the same digit and A/B lettering are paired up.

I've heard different stories on how that sharing takes place, whether priority is given to the first car plugged in or more power is dedicated to one bay over the other.

 

[jandkw]

Thanks dflye, it makes sense.

 

[doctrewho]

Sorry I missed out on the festivities but glad to hear it went well. Nice pics!

 

[Blathering1]

Thanks for the report and pix--- I look forward to actually having an MS to plug into the Burlington SC!

 

[pgiralt]

Had a great time at the ribbon cutting and great to meet other Tesla owners there. I didn't think to ask people their usernames on the forums, so I may have met some of you and not know it

Did anyone else notice the sign at the exit off I-40 if you're coming Westbound? I thought it was appropriate...

 

[dflye]

One big danger is that if you take the exit to the east of the mall (where the Cracker Barrel & Golden Corral are), and then you miss the nearly immediate left turn to the back road to the mall, you shortly end up at a newly opened Krispy Kreme store! The perils of a dozen hot glazed donuts mysteriously coming home with you cannot be denied!

 

[P5802]

Thanks for the SC updates and ribbon cutting pics. I live in CLT and travel to Burlington and back in the same day almost weekly. I frequently arrive home with 6-15 miles rated and have to modulate my highway speed on the return trip. I am looking forward to my first super charger experience this Sunday! The next most important SC to me will be the one depicted near I-95 and I-74 near Lumberton, NC. Any of you guys have and location leads on this one?