Supercharger - Fountain Valley (LIVE 28 Aug 2015, Expanded 27 Oct 2017, 16 stalls)

[AEdennis]

I don't remember if anyone asked or pointed it out, but I'm also following the Burbank Service Center/Supercharger thread and they're discussing liquid-cooled or "regular" Cables...

I took the following picture with plans to share...

The new @TeslaMotors Supercharger in Fountain Valley, CA is now operational! by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

Definitely legacy cables, not liquid-cooled.

 

[KirkNason]

Here are a few photos of my charge experience this AM. Had Breakfast at Starbucks around the corner before returning.
So happy for this SC, I like 1A or B, no chance for door dings :wink:

 

[Lotsadriving]

Site owner wishes to thank everyone who posted to the forum ;-)

It has been a pleasure to see everyone's positive reviews on the site during construction, and how exited everyone is. The photos are very welcome, please keep them coming.

About a year ago, as property owner, I wrote to [email protected], suggesting this site about half way between San Juan Capistrano, and Hawthorne. This was a natural spot with good highway access (ok, 405 is more than a highway, parking lot is another description), retail shopping, lots of Tesla owners, and ~25 miles to the next nearest location. Alas, it took quite a bit of negotiation as there are multiple owners besides Costco, and this is the FIRST public EV charging station in the City of Fountain Valley since the old GM EV-1 charger at Frys went away 12 yrs ago.

If you happen to see Costco Carts by the Supercharger, please bring them closer to Costco, or let their front entrance staff know. DO be careful walking in this VERY busy parking lot.

We ask that you enjoy the amenities, the food, shopping, and of course the Supercharger!

Thank you,

P.S. If you wish to see more Tesla Supercharger sites, look at the maps, amenities, and demographics, find the property owners, and get the owners in contact with Tesla. Their team is fantastic, but there is not much they can do if we as Tesla drivers say "We need a station here," and the owner of that location is not passionate about Electric Vehicles, and their benefit to the site.

 

[TesMD]

As of today, this supercharger is closed. Was driving by to see how busy the SC was, but saw all the stalls being taped off and road closed sign is up. If anyone knows more info, please share with rest of us.

 

[4SUPER9]

As of today, this supercharger is closed. Was driving by to see how busy the SC was, but saw all the stalls being taped off and road closed sign is up. If anyone knows more info, please share with rest of us.

My guess is that the work is done but has not been signed off for final inspection yet, and someone is being a stickler.

 

[lg_golfs]

Here are a few photos of my charge experience this AM. Had Breakfast at Starbucks around the corner before returning.
So happy for this SC, I like 1A or B, no chance for door dings :wink:
View attachment 91952

Your car is so excited it piddled!

 

[TesMD]

@Lotsadriving
just want to say thank you on behalf of myself and other Tesla owners for suggesting this site to Tesla and making this SC happen! As you mentioned, this is a perfect location along the 405, with lots of places to eat and easy exit off the freeway.

It it is so great to see site owners like yourself take initiative and hope there are many other site owners like you out there that see the benefits of having a SC on the property.

Guessing that this will be a busy supercharger, I am positive that the businesses around the SC will benefit from the extra traffic created by the SC.

 

[gene]

@lotsadriving, thank you for your offering of your property to Tesla. I'm hoping you too, are driving an EV!

 

[Binhoang]

drove by today and it wasnt open.

 

[childcarepro]

Any updates on this SC? Was thinking of making a trip out to OC this weekend. Last weekend had a less than pleasant experience at SJC with a line and one stall down.

 

[TesMD]

As of today, the SC is open again! I am not sure if it will stay that way but for now, it is open again!

 

[TTT]

It has been a pleasure to see everyone's positive reviews on the site during construction, and how exited everyone is. The photos are very welcome, please keep them coming.

About a year ago, as property owner, I wrote to [email protected], suggesting this site about half way between San Juan Capistrano, and Hawthorne. This was a natural spot with good highway access (ok, 405 is more than a highway, parking lot is another description), retail shopping, lots of Tesla owners, and ~25 miles to the next nearest location. Alas, it took quite a bit of negotiation as there are multiple owners besides Costco, and this is the FIRST public EV charging station in the City of Fountain Valley since the old GM EV-1 charger at Frys went away 12 yrs ago.

P.S. If you wish to see more Tesla Supercharger sites, look at the maps, amenities, and demographics, find the property owners, and get the owners in contact with Tesla. Their team is fantastic, but there is not much they can do if we as Tesla drivers say "We need a station here," and the owner of that location is not passionate about Electric Vehicles, and their benefit to the site.

Not only are you the property ownere, but also a Tesla owner? Kudos to you and thank you. I don't know if there are a lot of property owners that are Tesla owners, would you be opened to give property owners the benefits of having Superchargers on their property from the owner's persepective? We certainly do need a pro-EV property owner champion.

 

[TesMD]

Update: talked to construction crew and they confirmed that this SC will remain open. They were just cleaning up and doing some final touch up.

 

[mikeg561]

Charged for about 10 minutes today (8-28), just to make sure it was live! Thanks to Lotsadriving for helping make this happen!

 

[gaswalla]

site is live on official Tesla supercharger map as well as in dash nav. yay!

 

[kf93]

I don't remember if anyone asked or pointed it out, but I'm also following the Burbank Service Center/Supercharger thread and they're discussing liquid-cooled or "regular" Cables...

I took the following picture with plans to share...

The new @TeslaMotors Supercharger in Fountain Valley, CA is now operational! by Dennis Pascual, on Flickr

Definitely legacy cables, not liquid-cooled.

the liquid cooled ones are prototypes being tested at only one site I think. Our Monterey/Seaside center just opened a few weeks ago and has the older cables also.

 

[dauger]

Tuesday midday I saw the crew prepping the dispenser bases, but I was beaten to the punch before I could return home to post. Good to see it finally online. Late yesterday 8/28/15 I could see them glowing, but I was surprised no other S was there, but then again I suppose it isn't yet official. So I tested my favorite stall:

DIBS! Ha! No, just kidding; I know I can't. At least I have a grey pin here on my Nav now.

But I do wonder: If I charge while eating at Souplantation or shopping at Costco, will I get the fearsome "No Local SC" email? The temptation is great to alter my work travel to have lunch here once a week.

 

[Lotsadriving]

Liquid Cooled charging cables are in very busy 12 stall Mountain View, CA site only.

This gives very convenient access to development, service, engineering, and factory teams. A very plausible explanation is that they want to determine a maintenance schedule, reliability, and long term operational experience before deploying more widely. Imagine needing to staff "repair crews" nationwide with 7x24 on call duty to only 212 sites, and each site only needs a visit once in a while. Then change something significant, and start retraining that staff.

The charging pedestal is different in Mountain View as it adds a fluid reservoir, pump, radiator, and fans. Having personally used the liquid cooled charging station several times, I can say the cable itself never gets hot, but part of the handle does get noticeably hot to the touch after 15-20 minutes of max power delivery. Presumably, this is where the smaller wires attach to the charge pins, and past where the liquid cooling ends. If that spot heat becomes a problem, they will need to bring out the laptop CPU cooling specialists.

As observed previously, the bottom of the liquid cooled pedestal has vent slots, these do not.

If I had to guess, the conversion process would not be too difficult, although it could take an hour or so, as they would most likely swap the entire charge pedestal, sending the old unit back to the factory for "refurb." I would assume they would also shut down both sides "A & B" to swap a pedestal for safety reasons.

- - - Updated - - -

As per Tesla:

The Fountain Valley, CA Supercharger Station is officially open as of today, 8/28/15


​

 

[smilepak]

Total of 3 Tesla charging. Going to be popular place. At least it is one more station than SJC lol...

As of 3:25 pm, this place is almost full. One spot open only

By the time I left around 3:35, full with two tesla heading in lol

 

[4SUPER9]

No surprise. Wish it was 12 stalls. My guess is that if there were 16 most would be full