Supercharger - East Palo Alto, CA - 1700 East Bayshore Road (LIVE 9 Apr 2024, 20 V3 stalls)

[DoItDiff]

Still no transformer. Impressive copper grounding rod in the slab. The transformer delay may be related to construction a few steps down the sidewalk (towards the freeway). I suspect they're related because the landscaping (lawn, etc.) has been removed between this new work and the transformer slab, which would be consistent with trenching for conduits.

 

[DoItDiff]

As of Monday (March 18th), no visible progress, either on the transformer or on the apparently-related work down the street.

 

[DoItDiff]

Transformer! And the related vault down the street now a cabinet over it. However the charging posts are still covered or dark.

 

[DoItDiff]

Tesla on site!

 

[Limited]

Tesla on site!

View attachment 1034786

I see bright red tesla lights!

 

[DoItDiff]

Closer, but Tesla isn’t done yet. Charging posts are powered up, but covered. Weird sight.

 

[DoItDiff]

Another view of the powered-up charging posts with their covers (socks? hoodies?). Tesla is still on site.

 

[DoItDiff]

Well, that’s disappointing: The charging posts are uncovered but they’re dark (unpowered). No sign of Tesla workers on site.

 

[Limited]

Still dark

 

[Limited]

Open! @bmah @corywright @Guacahummus

 

[tivoboy]

Open! @bmah @corywright @Guacahummus

View attachment 1037134

These globulous red bubble ballons are glorious.. I don't need anything from IKEA, but I feel like just driving over there.

 

[DoItDiff]

I was earlier there today and I saw the powered-up charging posts. But when I parked to charge, the Tesla person told me that they were still checking out the site and it wasn't available for charging. He said at the time that they hoped to have ready by the end of the week; apparently it all went well and quickly.

Also learned that tire stops are being removed from V3 sites (like this one) to accommodate non-Tesla vehicles, but V4 sites will have tire stops (is that due to longer cables?).

 

[sunnnv]

Transformer! And the related vault down the street now a cabinet over it. ...

The "cabinet" is pad mount distribution switchgear, in this instance, specifically ABB Elastimold™ brand.
These pad mount cabinets have several (typically 4, but maybe more) 3 phase switches to allow turning off the "primary" aka "distribution" (12,470V AC in the case of Palo Alto) to the transformer(s) and/or other switchgear/large energy storage systems/etc. attached further down the line from the switchgear.

This video from ABB has pics of what the insides look like.
Link to their web-page.

I noticed the transformer pad you showed had only 1 input conduit, but figured this is why - there was a distribution box (going to be) nearby. This way they don't have to order the transformer with the extra (or any) switch in it for daisy-chaining another transformer, or dig around close to an active/large/heavy transformer when somebody wants to daisy-chain something. With the growth of BEVs, I'd bet there will be more charging in/near this garage within a few years, maybe hundreds of level-2 and/or inductive chargers.

 

[sunnnv]

Mods - the Google Map link says 1770 E Bayshore, should be 1700.

existing link: Google Maps

@Guacahummus @corywright @Big Earl

 

[DoItDiff]

Mods - the Google Map link says 1770 E Bayshore, should be 1700.

Good catch. 1700 is the street number on Tesla’s cabinet.

 

[bwng]

I charged here on Saturday! Was a little low on charge and was at IKEA picking up some new cabinets. While partner was checking out items and doing order pickup, I moved the car from general parking over to here. Everything works! It was pretty busy though— almost all stalls taken on the first weekend of opening!

If you buy anything from IKEA, you can easily load the car while it charges, by the way. It's right next to the entrance/exit.

I think it would be awkward to come here if you weren't going to IKEA already. You have to get in line to enter the parking garage and deal with slow-moving traffic that is finding parking spots. It's not like this Supercharger is right by the entrance. And to leave you have to go through the whole garage including through an area where everyone is pushing carts to/from their cars.

 

[dgatwood]

I learned last night that Ikea locks up this parking structure at night, so these Superchargers will not be accessible outside of store hours. Same limitation as for the Urban Superchargers under Whole Foods in Los Altos. But this Ikea is right next to the freeway (US 101), so the lack of 24x7 access will be unfortunate. There are Urban Superchargers across the street from Ikea, so there a (slower) back-up if someone needed a charge.

I wish Tesla had actually made that known in either their on-dash UI or their website. I was down to single-digit miles by the time I slid into the next V3 supercharger in Sunnyvale. (No way am I dealing with 72 kW charging starting from single-digit percent late at night.) If they had actually made it known that this site is unavailable after 9:00 on the weekends, I'd have charged at the previous supercharger and I'd have a whole lot more hair and stomach lining left right now.

On the flip side, by starting with just 9 miles of remaining range, I think I hit a new record charging speed for my 2017 Model X — 159 kW.

 

[tivoboy]

That really unfortunate