Supercharger - Darien CT Rest Area

[mitch672]

Technically, I think they are all 120KW capable SuperChargers
JB said in a NY Times interview they use (12) Model S chargers in each SC, so that's 120KW max,
assuming no other Model S is sharing the other half of the wiring. I think its more of a software mod in combination with the SuperCharger than different SC hardware.

 

[Mayhemm]

I got an email yesterday announcing the new Darien Supercharger. Did anybody charge there yet? Is it the new 120kwh or 90 supercharger?

I would assume all new Supercharger locations would be set up for 120KW. Why bother putting in 90KW units if you're just going to have to incur the extra cost of updating them?

 

[bhuwan]

Charging at a slow pace. Don't think darien is upgraded yet.

- - - Updated - - -

I am charging at Darien now and thought I'd offer some thoughts.

- signage sucks so we will get ICE'd
- there are 4 slots as people already know. 2 by the gas station and 2 by the main entrance
- looks like you could back It in at the main entrance as opposed to head first in
- There are cones by the main entrance to prevent us from getting ICE'd. Management said just move the cones.

This service station is BUSY. Much busier than Milford. !!

 

[aaron.s]

Charging at a slow pace. Don't think darien is upgraded yet.

- - - Updated - - -

I am charging at Darien now and thought I'd offer some thoughts.

- signage sucks so we will get ICE'd
- there are 4 slots as people already know. 2 by the gas station and 2 by the main entrance
- looks like you could back It in at the main entrance as opposed to head first in
- There are cones by the main entrance to prevent us from getting ICE'd. Management said just move the cones.

This service station is BUSY. Much busier than Milford. !!

How slow bhuwan? Remember speed is dictated by how full your battery already is and if you're sharing the adjoining supercharger with another Model S charging...

The 120kw upgraded charging will most likely require a software update for our cars. Tesla had said that the upgraded 120kw charging should come in another couple of months....

Aaron

 

[bhuwan]

How slow bhuwan? Remember speed is dictated by how full your battery already is and if you're sharing the adjoining supercharger with another Model S charging...

The 120kw upgraded charging will most likely require a software update for our cars. Tesla had said that the upgraded 120kw charging should come in another couple of months....

Aaron

Good point

 

[DJ Frustration]

I swung by the station today around 2:45pm. Was double ICE'd on the two chargers by the main entrance. In fact, I called Tesla because the handle that holds the cable in station 1A is already broken off.

As you'll see in the picture below, there was a minivan and a church group parked in the spot. I went inside, found the church group, explained the situation and politely asked if they could move so I could charge. They were apologetic, moved and some even checked out the car. We had 160 miles of range upon arrival and it immediately started charging at 265 mi/hr 376V 189A. Don't know if that's 120kw but within a few minutes we had over 220 miles of range.

Hope someone puts some signage up soon because there is no way that those two spots will not be ICE'd regularly. I mentioned it to Tesla when I called to report the missing/broken holder on charger 1A.

 

[loganss]

I made a detour while in North Jersey yesterday to check out Darien. I charged with no problem at the charger to the left of the main entrance. The side Tesla chargers (1A/B) were ICE'd and most likely will be like that until better signage and markings are added. The 2A/B chargers I used were missing the holders for the cable.

 

[dtich]

For 3 phase power, multiply by square root of 3. (Well, and the power factor, but let's assume 1 for a second).
480 x 210 x 1.732 = 174 kW


Adding in a power factor of 70% (shouldn't be nearly that low, but it's not 1 either since it's a AC to DC transformer) you'll get:
480 x 210 x 1.732 x 0.7 = 122 kW

hey, fwiw, think it's 410VDCmax x 210Amax output. according to placard.

410 x 210 x 1.73 = 149kW * .8ƒp = 119kW, taking your phase angle factor and then an 80% power factor gets close. don't know if that's way off as a fp or not, but fits the math....


anyway, my real point was :

that the newly installed supercharger with random ice cars parked all over it and its broken power cables hanging willy-nilly looks super ghetto. they should be more on top of things than that. why walk away without installing the connector hangers?? if you forgot to put them in your truck when you did the install you should be back out there the next am to put them in. in my book. that's sloppy. whoever the sub-contractor is. (solar city?).

/whine/bitch

 

[Ven Rala]

I made a detour while in North Jersey yesterday to check out Darien. I charged with no problem at the charger to the left of the main entrance. The side Tesla chargers (1A/B) were ICE'd and most likely will be like that until better signage and markings are added. The 2A/B chargers I used were missing the holders for the cable.

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Lack of signage, ICE'd chargers, missing holders. This looks like a very poorly done job by the contractor ( and Tesla, as they should be making sure their contractors are doing good work). Things like this will seriously hurt Tesla in the eyes of their current and potential customers, if they (customers) are relying on the superchargers as their only viable way to travel long distances.

 

[jeff_adams]

Lack of signage, ICE'd chargers, missing holders. This looks like a very poorly done job by the contractor ( and Tesla, as they should be making sure their contractors are doing good work). Things like this will seriously hurt Tesla in the eyes of their current and potential customers, if they (customers) are relying on the superchargers as their only viable way to travel long distances.

I think this was likely a case of Tesla begging the contractor to get it operational by the holiday weekend.

 

[Mayhemm]

Keep in mind that this Supercharger is less than a week old. The missing items are easily remedied.

Arguably, they should have been in place before the charger even went online. Like Jeff said though, they were likely trying to beat the holiday rush.

If they don't learn for the next opening, we'll really have something to complain about.

 

[aaron.s]

All -

Charged for the first time in Darien, CT today before I went home. All 4 spots had placards and cones blocking the spaces... None ICE'd! Topped off to 95% from 178 miles pretty quickly too!


Aaron

 

[johnnydop]

Darien and Milford - Why so close together?

Any idea why they put two stations so close to each other? The Darien station is only 29 mles from the Milford station.

Perhaps the Darien station exists more for the area residents ? Darien and the surrounding towns are upper-middle to upper class neighborhoods and perhaps Model S sales are very high there.

 

[bhuwan]

Any idea why they put two stations so close to each other? The Darien station is only 29 mles from the Milford station.

Perhaps the Darien station exists more for the area residents ? Darien and the surrounding towns are upper-middle to upper class neighborhoods and perhaps Model S sales are very high there.

Darien gives me 60 additional miles in the NYC area, without having
To charge. Also gives an option to stay on ct15 longer or get on it earlier.

 

[mitch672]

Any idea why they put two stations so close to each other? The Darien station is only 29 mles from the Milford station.

Perhaps the Darien station exists more for the area residents ? Darien and the surrounding towns are upper-middle to upper class neighborhoods and perhaps Model S sales are very high there.

The East Coast I95 SuperChargers are also on a limited access divided highway, so there where 2 Northbound and 2 Southbound before Darien (at Milford). There will be 6 Northbound and 6 Southbound when completed. Yes they are 30 miles apart, but that's close enough for the Model S... It's also a very busy New York to New England travel corridor, 6 does not seem excessive per direction.

 

[kendallpb]

Any idea why they put two stations so close to each other? The Darien station is only 29 mles from the Milford station.

Perhaps the Darien station exists more for the area residents ? Darien and the surrounding towns are upper-middle to upper class neighborhoods and perhaps Model S sales are very high there.

I wondered why two; I don't think that's the answer. It could be that they're limited to how many they can put at these service areas, so they have to spread them out. It looks like there's be another one not far south of Darien (by the grey dots as you move the slider on the map on Tesla's site). Also there are two planned that look very close together in NC, just south of the Virginia border. It may be simple population density--the I-95 corridor gets a lot of traffic. There will be a ton, eventually, on the West Coast, too (a few quite close together, though I realize the maps aren't exactly perfect so it may be misleading).

/ramble...anyway, just more theorizing. ;-)

 

[aaron.s]

All -

Topped off at Darien before going home again today and saw some guys working on one of the chargers in the back of the main lot... Seems as though someone backed into one of the charging pedestals and damaged it - so they were checking it out and going to replace the outer white metal cover in the front.

Took some shots....

Aaron

PS - They said that the Southbound Darien Service Area should be finished in the next 4-5 weeks...

 

[Lloyd]

BOLLARD!!!!!!

 

[PeterK]

Any idea why they put two stations so close to each other? The Darien station is only 29 mles from the Milford station.

Perhaps the Darien station exists more for the area residents ? Darien and the surrounding towns are upper-middle to upper class neighborhoods and perhaps Model S sales are very high there.

There's another reason - Broder. Darien reduces by 29 miles the distance from Newark, DE, which could be important on a very cold winter day. Of course, they'll be adding another one in NJ it appears.

General consensus is that the gray dot just south of Darien on the map is actually the Greenwich service area on the Merritt Parkway.

 

[markb1]

BOLLARD!!!!!!

Sort of looks like they have an internal bollard, which won't protect the outer shell, of course. The Hawthorne ones look like they have a bollard that's partially exposed. I wonder if/when they're going to roll out this design.