Supercharger - Gilroy, CA (16 V2 stalls)

[Benz]

Do you know how many Tesla Model S's have been delivered to customers in California?
I bet that more than a third of all the Tesla Model S's that have been delivered to customers so far, have been delivered to customers in California.
Which is at least 4,000 Tesla Model S's in the state of California alone.
Therefore, I think that the Gilroy Supercharger location should be expanded in the very near future.

 

[Lloyd]

Likely better to put another 4 in Salinas instead of expanding Gilroy. Being able to see if the sites are occupied would be a great help in trip planning!

 

[100thMonkey]

The S is a different beast and only time will tell but if use patterns are at all like the Leaf's up here as the Quick Chargers were rolled out, there was a burst of use of the QC's out of novelty and then reality set in, most folks don't drive more than 30 miles a day. Use patterns with the S may be different somewhat, but I bet the SC's won't get as much use as you might think in the long run as the vast majority of charging will happen in one's garage, even more so than a smaller battery EV like the Leaf.

Do you know how many Tesla Model S's have been delivered to customers in California?
I bet that more than a third of all the Tesla Model S's that have been delivered to customers so far, have been delivered to customers in California.
Which is at least 4,000 Tesla Model S's in the state of California alone.
Therefore, I think that the Gilroy Supercharger location should be expanded in the very near future.

 

[wraithnot]

So, actually only 2 cars can get full power at any one time.
While there are 4 charging spots.
Is that a wise decission?
I doubt it.

Some people spend a lot of time shopping at Gilroy and don't move their car immediately after it's done charging. If two cars are sharing a charging stack and one car finishes, the other car then gets full power. It's kind of like waiting in line for full power. I'm pretty sure the stacks of chargers are the most expensive part of the system so it makes sense to share them in this way.

Gilroy seems to get enough use that they should probably add both more charging stacks and more charging bays, but I agree with Lloyd that they should build the Salinas location first since people that drive to Salinas are more likely to be on a real road trip. A lot of people at Gilroy live in San Jose and are just there on a shopping trip.

 

[deonb]

So, actually only 2 cars can get full power at any one time.
While there are 4 charging spots.
Is that a wise decission?
I doubt it.

Tesla will actually double this. The 2-1 ratio is becoming 4-1 (SuperCharger announcement). So soon there will be 8 parking bays to 2 chargers.

If there aren't enough chargers, there aren't enough chargers, and it should be addressed.

However, things get even worse when a car that is done charging is still using up a charger spot that could be used by someone else. So yes, I would say it's a wise decision.

 

[apacheguy]

Being able to see if the sites are occupied would be a great help in trip planning!

Hear, hear!

 

[Benz]

Likely better to put another 4 in Salinas instead of expanding Gilroy. Being able to see if the sites are occupied would be a great help in trip planning!

Why not: put another 4 in Salinas, AND expand Gilroy?

And I totally agree with: "Being able to see if the sites are occupied would be a great help in trip planning!"

 

[DavidM]

Some people spend a lot of time shopping at Gilroy and don't move their car immediately after it's done charging. If two cars are sharing a charging stack and one car finishes, the other car then gets full power. It's kind of like waiting in line for full power. I'm pretty sure the stacks of chargers are the most expensive part of the system so it makes sense to share them in this way.

Gilroy seems to get enough use that they should probably add both more charging stacks and more charging bays, but I agree with Lloyd that they should build the Salinas location first since people that drive to Salinas are more likely to be on a real road trip. A lot of people at Gilroy live in San Jose and are just there on a shopping trip.

The phone app should sound an alarm when charging is almost complete.

 

[strider]

Why not: put another 4 in Salinas, AND expand Gilroy?

Because for nearly everyone in the Bay Area the Gilroy chargers are unnecessary. From most parts of the Bay Area you can get to Harris Ranch on a single charge so only folks that are coming from the North Bay would need to stop in Gilroy. Yes, people who are taking 101 would top off in Gilroy but INMO these folks are in the minority. Most people will jam out to I-5 to use the SC's along the say instead of the 70A rabobank chargers. So it makes perfect sense for Tesla to pour cash into Harris Ranch and Tejon than Gilroy.

I do agree it would be nice to have some kind of charge station status app but it wouldn't tell you how long the wait is. If all bays are occupied with no one waiting I would hit that SC since by the time I got there one would likely free up.. But if all bays are occupied and there are several cars waiting then I'd rather avoid.

Though soon you'll be able to swap if you don't want to wait.

 

[Banahogg]

Because for nearly everyone in the Bay Area the Gilroy chargers are unnecessary. From most parts of the Bay Area you can get to Harris Ranch on a single charge so only folks that are coming from the North Bay would need to stop in Gilroy.

Coming back to the Bay Area from Harris Ranch you need to get well into the taper at Harris Ranch to make it all the way without a stop, especially if there's anything impacting range.

That happened to us last time. We weren't stopping for a meal at Harris Ranch (wrong time of day), so we added enough that we could probably get home, but since we were stopping in Gilroy for dinner anyway, didn't wait around for the extra 20 minutes it'd take to reliably get home. There were high winds on the way back, so when we got to Gilroy, we didn't have quite enough to make it all the way to San Jose.

 

[strider]

Coming back to the Bay Area from Harris Ranch you need to get well into the taper at Harris Ranch to make it all the way without a stop, especially if there's anything impacting range.

That happened to us last time. We weren't stopping for a meal at Harris Ranch (wrong time of day), so we added enough that we could probably get home, but since we were stopping in Gilroy for dinner anyway, didn't wait around for the extra 20 minutes it'd take to reliably get home. There were high winds on the way back, so when we got to Gilroy, we didn't have quite enough to make it all the way to San Jose.

Ah yes, my 85kWh blinders are showing - didn't think about 60's coming back from Harris Ranch.

 

[Russell B]

I think the Gilroy location was an unwise choice. It's in a commute zone and, having been there a number of times, it appears to me that many are locals just topping off. Couple that with cars left there while shopping makes for an unnecessary jam-up for people on trips. This is not true of Harris Ranch or Tejon Ranch and won't be for Atascadero. No offense intended to any of the locals who use Gilroy.

 

[Lloyd]

Saw a RECORD LOW charge rate at Gilroy with an empty battery yesterday. 4th to plug in at the 4 slots and recieved only 22kw !! That translates to 3.5 hours at a Supercharger. Same issue at Hawthorne last week with all stalls full and a line waiting to charge, but getting ~40 KW. Anyone else having these issues?? This is a problem if you can't depend on the superchargers to charge as advertised.

 

[wraithnot]

Saw a RECORD LOW charge rate at Gilroy with an empty battery yesterday. 4th to plug in at the 4 slots and recieved only 22kw !! That translates to 3.5 hours at a Supercharger. Same issue at Hawthorne last week with all stalls full and a line waiting to charge, but getting ~40 KW. Anyone else having these issues?? This is a problem if you can't depend on the superchargers to charge as advertised.

Once the car in the stall you are paired with is done charging, your charging speed will increase so it won't actually take 3.5 to get a charge. 1A and 1B is a pair and 2A +2B is a pair. I was data logging at Barstow when the person in the stall I was paired with finished charging. My charging rate increased dramatically: Supercharger charging rate anomaly

 

[RandyS]

So, actually only 2 cars can get full power at any one time.
While there are 4 charging spots.
Is that a wise decission?
I doubt it.

It is/was a VERY wise decision. Maximum power doesn't last very long anyways before it starts to taper off, that's the nature of the fast charger technology (avoid overheating the batteries). So it makes perfect sense to share expensive charging resources and expensive operational power demand issues...

At Teslive I heard that Gilroy was expanding from 4 to 14 bays, so it should be more "Available"...

One improvement I'd like to see is an official Tesla policy or some signage that requests drivers to leave their cell numbers visible on the dash if you leave your car...That would help when the charging stations get congested and drivers are away shopping/eating and their car finishes charging...

 

[cschock]

At Teslive I heard that Gilroy was expanding from 4 to 14 bays, so it should be more "Available"...

That is awesome news if true. We've stopped at Gilroy twice now (going to and coming back from Monterrey from the wine country) and both times all slots have been in use for the entire time we were there (a week day just before noon once and a week day around 3 pm the other time.) Having more slots there seems to be needed.

 

[SFOTurtle]

Anyone have an update on whether and how the Gilroy SC expansion is progressing?

 

[hans]

Anyone have an update on whether and how the Gilroy SC expansion is progressing?

They are building it now. Pictures of the holes in the ground were posted on another thread. Should be done in a week or two.

Pictures of the expansion in progress (from the TM forum)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/101436116@N04/9694691717/in/photostream/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/101436116@N04/9694692039/in/photostream/

 

[SFOTurtle]

Anyone have an update on expansion of Gilroy SC? Not sure if this is the right thread to post this question.

Edit: Good news - construction is well under way for the new bays at Gilroy. I will post pictures I took last night.

 

[Russell B]

What's up with Gilroy?

About a month ago I used one of the superchargers and noted concrete pads and conduit for about eight additional units. Last week one of the four "operating chargers" was coned-off and nothing had been done on those not yet installed. Three operating units has to be a problem for this heavily used location. Anyone know "what's up".