Supercharger - Corning (6 V2 stalls)

[wdolson]

I hit this SC twice in the last week. First was southbound on Oct 1 and the other was yesterday (the 8th). Things were fine last week, but they had equipment failure since. 1A and 4B were dead. 1A would connect, but not start charging. 4B said the plug wasn't in all the way. The guy on 4A was getting 15KW max. There is a temporary palette on the other side of the transformer so Tesla must know there are problems, though there are no notices. If I had some tape on me I would have put up signs. I tried 1A and 4B because they were the only ones open, then I waited and grabbed 3B when it opened up and warned two people who came in after me before they tried to charge.

Someone who was southbound said there were problems at Grants Pass which was my destination for the night, but when I got there the SC was empty and I had no problems. This was only my second trip to CA in three years of ownership. The SC situation was overall better this time with only Corning having problems. I peaked at 115KW at most SCs including Corning.

 

[lensovet]

Hit issues in the past two weeks as well. Same thing, going north was getting super slow charge rates, tried the urban super charger on the other side but that maxed out at 60 kW (not even the 72 it should be doing). In both cases, ended up at one of the stalls closest to the electrical equipment — going north a driver pulled out as I was doing the dance, while going south I was limited by pairing (though at 70 kW it was still faster than the urban), but as the other person's charge tapered off the rate went up accordingly.

 

[pdxrajiv]

It was working well Tuesday afternoon - at 114KW on stall 1A.

 

[kevin1]

This location is still not doing very well. On Saturday morning in memorial day traffic, there was a ~30-60 minute wait and a broken stall (1B), while the nav reported 2 open stalls and no wait. Everyone on the V2 stalls was getting ~110kW for a few minutes before it dropped to ~50kW. It is unclear whether this is intended behavior due to power sharing or another issue like cable temperature or total site power limitation. It seems to happen regardless of the paired vehicle's charging rate and even when the paired vehicle is unplugged.

Overall, this turned a 20-min stop assuming the full 150kW into 1 hr 20 min between the waiting and slow charging.

I would recommend avoiding if possible. ABRP and Tesla both tend to route here because there is an empty stretch of superchargers on I-5. It's a trap! It is better to charge slowly to a high SoC at a V3 location (Williams, Cottonwood, Anderson, or Redding) than to wait in line for an unreliable V2.

 

[ecarfan]

It is better to charge slowly to a high SoC at a V3 location (Williams, Cottonwood, Anderson, or Redding) than to wait in line for an unreliable V2.

Thanks for your report. I agree with your strategy, I’ve found the same.

 

[PLUS EV]

This one was totally empty as I drove by an hour ago.

There are many other options along I-5 so no reason to bang your head against the wall with this one if you don't like it.

 

[kevin1]

This one was totally empty as I drove by an hour ago.

Yeah I’m sure Corning works well at off-peak times, but that does not mean it’s also fine on holiday weekends. Because everyone is charging at 50-60 kW, the Corning location has less ability to absorb a sudden spike of drivers arriving, compared to a fully functioning V3 station.

There are many other options along I-5 so no reason to bang your head against the wall with this one if you don't like it.

This is also my recommendation. However it requires prior knowledge of this location’s issues. If you follow the nav and arrive with low SoC, as I did, you have no choice but to charge here.

 

[Fnlrun]

This location is still not doing very well. On Saturday morning in memorial day traffic, there was a ~30-60 minute wait and a broken stall (1B), while the nav reported 2 open stalls and no wait. Everyone on the V2 stalls was getting ~110kW for a few minutes before it dropped to ~50kW. It is unclear whether this is intended behavior due to power sharing or another issue like cable temperature or total site power limitation. It seems to happen regardless of the paired vehicle's charging rate and even when the paired vehicle is unplugged.

Overall, this turned a 20-min stop assuming the full 150kW into 1 hr 20 min between the waiting and slow charging.

I would recommend avoiding if possible. ABRP and Tesla both tend to route here because there is an empty stretch of superchargers on I-5. It's a trap! It is better to charge slowly to a high SoC at a V3 location (Williams, Cottonwood, Anderson, or Redding) than to wait in line for an unreliable V2.

Why didn't you just hit 1 of the 20 V3 in Red Bluff? It's only 20 min up the road

 

[PLUS EV]

Yeah I’m sure Corning works well at off-peak times, but that does not mean it’s also fine on holiday weekends. Because everyone is charging at 50-60 kW, the Corning location has less ability to absorb a sudden spike of drivers arriving, compared to a fully functioning V3 station.


This is also my recommendation. However it requires prior knowledge of this location’s issues. If you follow the nav and arrive with low SoC, as I did, you have no choice but to charge here.

Other than being a v2 (which is noted in the Nav), I don't believe this location has any "issues." What am I missing?

 

[kevin1]

Why didn't you just hit 1 of the 20 V3 in Red Bluff? It's only 20 min up the road

19 miles away with 7% SOC, not going to risk it

 

[cpa]

For what it is worth, possibly less than 2¢:

It is my belief that for the foreseeable future, we need to do a little planning before heading out on the road. Yeah, the Tesla navigation works. It does all the heavy lifting while we just follow the blue line on our touchscreen. No need to think. No need to use our judgment to make decisions. Easy to point the at Tesla if the navigation takes us to a crowded V2 Supercharger with very little in terms of amenities, or if the navigation takes us on some ridiculous dirt road or other tertiary road.

It is so easy (at least for me) to dial up PlugShare to see the possible Superchargers along my chosen route. (Not crazy about Tesla's method of sharing info.) I can then decide where to stop to recharge. My general rule of thumb is to have my preferred charging locations known in advance. I then dial in my next preferred location while Supercharging and then leaving when I feel I have enough in reserve to reach my next Supercharger.

I would have made it a point to stop either in Williams or Dunnigan (maybe even Woodland, depending) and then aiming for Red Bluff. I would have kept Corning in reserve in case my arrival percentage was dropping too fast, and I would run the risk of not making Red Bluff safely.

Especially if one is traveling with friends or family, there can be a consensus about where to stop to charge when we know in advance the advantages or disadvantages at the various Supercharger locations that are along our route.

 

[Fnlrun]

For what it is worth, possibly less than 2¢:

It is my belief that for the foreseeable future, we need to do a little planning before heading out on the road. Yeah, the Tesla navigation works. It does all the heavy lifting while we just follow the blue line on our touchscreen. No need to think. No need to use our judgment to make decisions. Easy to point the at Tesla if the navigation takes us to a crowded V2 Supercharger with very little in terms of amenities, or if the navigation takes us on some ridiculous dirt road or other tertiary road.

It is so easy (at least for me) to dial up PlugShare to see the possible Superchargers along my chosen route. (Not crazy about Tesla's method of sharing info.) I can then decide where to stop to recharge. My general rule of thumb is to have my preferred charging locations known in advance. I then dial in my next preferred location while Supercharging and then leaving when I feel I have enough in reserve to reach my next Supercharger.

I would have made it a point to stop either in Williams or Dunnigan (maybe even Woodland, depending) and then aiming for Red Bluff. I would have kept Corning in reserve in case my arrival percentage was dropping too fast, and I would run the risk of not making Red Bluff safely.

Especially if one is traveling with friends or family, there can be a consensus about where to stop to charge when we know in advance the advantages or disadvantages at the various Supercharger locations that are along our route.

Dunnigan is my #1 spot. Williams is fine for a splash and dash, but my Car is 2" lowered WITH underglows. So getting in/out of Williams is a challenge lol

 

[lensovet]

These days I try to avoid v2 if at all possible. Did a trip from South Jersey to Ohio a few weeks ago, and the nav wanted us to stop at Carlisle, PA with something like 20% charge. Made no sense, we kept driving to Newburg to hit a v3 and it wasn't even very close in terms of remaining charge when we got there. No one else there and got the max charge speed since we started with a lower battery.

Vacaville to Red Bluff is 134 miles, I have no idea why you'd be charging at this location.