noshadow
Member
There are no pull through chargers, but there are a few non-charger spots on both ends that you can probably pull through on.
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Supercharger - Fort Bragg, CA (LIVE 21 May 2021, 12 stalls)
- Thread starter wesprs
- Start date
There are no pull through chargers, but there are a few non-charger spots on both ends that you can probably pull through on.
And if one is concerned about charging while towing, it appears you can parallel on the back row and pull a charger cable in that direction. Assuming nobody is parked there, that allows you to charge without unhitching and still not block any of the Tesla stalls. I've done this at a number of other Supercharger locations and it works well, so long as it's not in a high use area of the parking lot. I try to avoid blocking a ton of spots in prime location and give Tesla towing a bad name...
sxnahm
Member
I'm visiting the "Mendonoma Coast" and took a trip to Fort Bragg to record a review.
Spending a couple days along the North Coast the charge at Fort Bragg is welcomed as it allows you to bypass Branscomb road which appears even more remote than Hwy 1. Let me gives you the details. I'm really glad that Fort Bragg was built by the time my trip occured else I would have to take Branscomb road to Laytonville.
The challenge in Fort Bragg to Eureka via Hwy 1, is leaving Fort Bragg which I had charged to 90% and continuing north Hwy 1 which is remote and isolated. Hwy 1 turns inland from the coast at Rockport and goes through the mountains with some extremely winding roads (15 to 25 mph is typical) for 18 miles up and down the mountain. There were no cars heading north at 6pm on a Tuesday except for me. There were a dozen cars total heading south. This 18 mile leg takes about an hour and there is nothing through the mountains. Only a handful of houses a general store a few miles from the 101 at Legget. I then arrived and overnighted at Garberville at 55% in my Long Range RWD 3. There is no level 2 charging there. There are two CCS/Chademo nearby in Benbow which you will pass on the 101, but with no CCS or Chademo adapter, I can only worry. Leaving Garberville that morning I had 53% charge. After the Ave of the Giants and some roadside attractions, and driving at or below the speed limit. I arrived Eureka with 22%. It not much of a buffer if it were raining, winds or cold weather or if even driving at the speed limit.
Garberville really needs a supercharger for those coming from Hwy 1. The regen through Hwy 1 just wasn't there through the hills and in such a remote area, I really got super anxious with wife, kids and quickly losing daylight.
The market at Supercharger is superb stocked withs lots of camping gear, local foods and deli. I purchased a few packs of North Coast brewery beer as the North Coast Brewery in town was not open on a Tues.
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ChopinBlues
Member
Yup, Harvest market is excellent, and North Coast makes some fine brews -- my favorite: Red Seal Ale.
Doug Martoccia
Member
This is pretty helpful, I'll be out there later in the summer. Usually ABRP is pretty accurate for me, it's showing about 52% battery usage between Fort Bragg and Eureka (2020 MX LR). Do you think that's way off? Should I be worried? I am on the fence about buying a $400 CHadeMo dongle that I would probably just have for piece of mind and never use. Would you recommend that?
ChopinBlues
Member
Yes, I think it's way off -- on the high side. Your MX has a 360-mile range. 52% of that is 190. The distance is about 130 -- starting and ending at sea level. I've been driving a MS for almost 8 years, up and down lots of mountains, and my experience has been that whatever extra you use going up, you get a fairly large percentage of that back going down. I think you could probably go round trip on a full charge, driving conservatively.
I think a 52% is ok. At a 90% charge you have 38% buffer.
Three things to consider.
1. After spending several days on both the North Coast of CA and the Oregon Coast, I found it can get very very windy there and that will throw predictions way off. I charged to 83%, left Brookings OR to Port Orford and back for a day trip which should have returned me back to Brookings at 39% per ABRP, instead I returned back at 19%. That's a 20% difference for only a 112 mile trip which I s huge!
2. ABRP is only as good as the assumptions you give it. With factory tires, my lifetime consumption over 39k miles was 254 Wh/mi. This is already 10% or more above the Tesla rated consumption of around 228 to 230 Wh/mi. Then at 39k miles I changed tires to Bridgestone Quiettrack (big mistake) then my consumption went up to 283 Wh/mi.
So if you're using default ABRP assumptions, that might not be good enough.
For Fort Bragg to Eureka the default ABRP prediction is 51% used. My adjusted for 283 Wh/mi is 55% used. Actual was 68%. Way off!
3. In Car Nav - I always try to buffer at least 20% min remaining. On straight mountain roads at good speeds, the prediction is pretty good dead on to just being off by a few percent (for example I drove Bakersfield I-5 supercharger to Cucamonga twice in the last two weeks... Both times within 1%). However, winding mountain roads, I find to be consistently, off, mis calculation the regen on the way down. Usually it's not huge, but could be up to high single digits of the route is long enough.
throw in wind, detours, and cold weather you could be in trouble in rural places. I go to a lot of rural places, so I always overcharge to buffer in rural places.
i've got a number of stories of Supercharger going down while en route, super headwinds, and unexpected detours up and down through rural national forests. I've spent over 25k miles road tripping over the last two years and most are to rural places.
bb95570
Member
Thanks for this very detailed assessment. I live just south of Trinidad, CA and travel the 101 corridor often back and forth to SF. Will be taking the coast on my next trip thanks to the Fort Bragg SC. But I'm starting to wonder about my 2016 MS 90D with it's 294 EPA mile range if conditions are at all less than ideal... All the mapping I've done shows it should be doable but now I'm not so sure. I may be looking at a quick top-off in Eureka if I head South I guess.
Of course I would always want to see another Supercharger, and Garberville makes sense geographically. The problem is the town is a total armpit thanks to the dope growers etc. But yes, there are some services that are ok.
+1 for North Coast Brewery Red Seal Ale
Nice report! 22% still sounds like a decent buffer (assuming that you knew you'd arrive with something like that based on watching the predicted arrival charge in the Nav), but two things might be worth mentioning here for cases where poor conditions reduce range:
1) You can get an appreciable addition to your buffer if you can plug into a standard 120V plug overnight (typically ~5 miles of range per hour of charging for a Model 3 for a standard 5-15 plug and up to 7 mph if you can find a 5-20 plug and have the appropriate adapter)
2) If you're really running low and can't make it to the supercharger, you can look for an L2 charging location and charge for a short time to make it. In this case, Plugshare shows an L2 charger in Rio Dell, which you passed ~23 miles before you arrived at Eureka supercharger.
Happy driving!
I have been staying here in Ft. Bragg for several days. Just looking at properties between Ft. Bragg and Mendocino. I used to live in these parts and I may want to come back. The Supercharger is near my motel and usually has 1 to 3 cars charging. I've been all over the residential areas of this 7K population town. The only EV that I believe lives in Ft. Bragg is the one VW ID4 I saw. I talked to the guy and he was very happy (any EV is better than an ICE).
I can recommend the motel I am at. The Surf Motel and Gardens. Dog fee is only $12. There's a new budget Mexican restaurant that is as good as almost anything in Santa Barbara, called La Palapa.
I can recommend the motel I am at. The Surf Motel and Gardens. Dog fee is only $12. There's a new budget Mexican restaurant that is as good as almost anything in Santa Barbara, called La Palapa.
Did a drive to Fort Bragg this morning to grab a charge here.
PSA: While here, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who helped get this Supercharger put in. He says the shopping center owner (who BTW drives a Tesla himself) would really like owners who are Supercharging to park on the "correct" side of the pedestals in the middle of the lot because when people park on the "wrong" side, it ties up parking spaces unnecessarily when the shopping center is busy. If you see the red Tesla charging signs behind your car, and the pedestals and cables line up with your car in a half-way reasonable way, you're in the right place. There is likely to be new signage to help guide people to Do The Right Thing (tm).
(For example, in the photo in post #84, the "correct" side is where the blue Model Y is parked. Don't park on the side of the pedestals closer to the camera. Obviously there's no issue with the stalls where the white Model 3 is parked.)
Bruce.
PSA: While here, I struck up a conversation with a gentleman who helped get this Supercharger put in. He says the shopping center owner (who BTW drives a Tesla himself) would really like owners who are Supercharging to park on the "correct" side of the pedestals in the middle of the lot because when people park on the "wrong" side, it ties up parking spaces unnecessarily when the shopping center is busy. If you see the red Tesla charging signs behind your car, and the pedestals and cables line up with your car in a half-way reasonable way, you're in the right place. There is likely to be new signage to help guide people to Do The Right Thing (tm).
(For example, in the photo in post #84, the "correct" side is where the blue Model Y is parked. Don't park on the side of the pedestals closer to the camera. Obviously there's no issue with the stalls where the white Model 3 is parked.)
Bruce.
bb95570
Member
OK, just spent the night in Fort Bragg and used this SC last night. Drove from San Francisco, leaving with 92% charge from Marin City SC. Hwy 1 the entire way. Arrived in Fort Bragg with ~30% charge. Gorgeous day to be driving up the coast!
After dinner about 9 pm I parked the Tesla and plugged in, and walked the dog back to the hotel. We returned about an hour later-- around 10 pm. There were some sketchy people wandering around the shopping center, FYI. With the car at 97% I unplugged and drove back to the hotel.
Next day we were headed back home to Eureka and Trinidad, but decided to do brunch and spend a little time in Mendocino. When I was coming back north into Fort Bragg I had 91% so I double checked range using the in-car nav and it predicted no charging needed, arrival in Eureka with 31% remaining. Actual arrival SOC was 35%. I had fun in the twisties a bit, but otherwise drive with AP at 70 mph or so, getting a bit over 300 Wh/mi. Girlfriend loves to have her seat warmer on high constantly. Not in range mode or anything-- just normal, comfortable driving.
I understand the concern for extreme situations of rain wipers, cold, etc. but that would just mean taking the car up to 100% or close and driving frugally IMO. I'm pretty confident at this point there's no problem making the Eureka SC and vice versa with range/battery like my car (284 mi range now with battery showing 100%).
As for food recommendations-- we went into Fort Bragg to eat at Cucina Verona and it was OK, but disappointing after the city... Close to the SC, we did nothing except sleep. Emerald Dolphin Inn was clean, very affordable, and very nicely accommodating of our dogs, but is not a marquee hotel.
After dinner about 9 pm I parked the Tesla and plugged in, and walked the dog back to the hotel. We returned about an hour later-- around 10 pm. There were some sketchy people wandering around the shopping center, FYI. With the car at 97% I unplugged and drove back to the hotel.
Next day we were headed back home to Eureka and Trinidad, but decided to do brunch and spend a little time in Mendocino. When I was coming back north into Fort Bragg I had 91% so I double checked range using the in-car nav and it predicted no charging needed, arrival in Eureka with 31% remaining. Actual arrival SOC was 35%. I had fun in the twisties a bit, but otherwise drive with AP at 70 mph or so, getting a bit over 300 Wh/mi. Girlfriend loves to have her seat warmer on high constantly. Not in range mode or anything-- just normal, comfortable driving.
I understand the concern for extreme situations of rain wipers, cold, etc. but that would just mean taking the car up to 100% or close and driving frugally IMO. I'm pretty confident at this point there's no problem making the Eureka SC and vice versa with range/battery like my car (284 mi range now with battery showing 100%).
As for food recommendations-- we went into Fort Bragg to eat at Cucina Verona and it was OK, but disappointing after the city... Close to the SC, we did nothing except sleep. Emerald Dolphin Inn was clean, very affordable, and very nicely accommodating of our dogs, but is not a marquee hotel.
ChopinBlues
Member
not really, unless you're staying at one of the few resorts with destination chargers. But FB is not much further, and is a fun little town to spend an hour or two in.
Mrbrock
Active Member
Check out Plugshare for L2 options on your route. Last SC before Fort Bragg is either Marin City (urban) in going 1 or Windsor if taking 101/128. Windsor is 92 miles, Marin City is 150+ to Mendocino. So depends on if you want scenic or not and how much charge you’ll have to explore. If you can get to Fort Brag to top up it will give you more options.
Fort Bragg is a fabulous place! Way more fun and with real people, as opposed to Mendocino. It's like 15 minutes. I don't see the issue?
bb95570
Member
I 2nd the idea that Fort Bragg is really not much farther north from Mendo (esp. with the SC on the south side of town) and a nice place to visit. The shopping center has some food options, so would be a fine, cheap lunch stop. We took a nice walk from our hotel (across Hwy 1 from SC) down to the ocean/bluffs via Ocean View Dr.-- this is easily walkable from the SC and would be a very scenic bit of exercise while the car charges... there's even a park at the end and there appears to be a loop trail back to Hwy 1. That's what I would do in nice weather, honestly.
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