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Supercharger - Gilroy, CA (16 V2 stalls)

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The day after I ran into a TM employee who sheepishly said something about that supercharger really only being there as a design sample and not really meant for high traffic. Grumble...

When a TM employee makes a comment like this, I am suspicious. Why would they say such a thing? Do they even know what they are talking about? And there is no evidence that what they are saying is even remotely true.
 
When a TM employee makes a comment like this, I am suspicious. Why would they say such a thing? Do they even know what they are talking about? And there is no evidence that what they are saying is even remotely true.

What? It's rather obviously true if you've visited the Hawthorne supercharger. All but two of the charging pedestals are just dummies. Either the door doesn't open (with no button to open it), or no door at all. And the location is rather terrible, with no restaurants next to it.
 
Last week I made a trip from Southern California to Silicon Valley and used the Supercharges for the first time. Here are some observations and photos:

Harris Ranch - Only one supercharger with two signs posted
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I ran into some folks from the local utility that were surveying a site across the street in front of the Restaurant readying to install six or more supercharges very soon.

Gilroy -
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Plenty to do, shopping, dinning etc during business hours.

NOTES -
After driving & charging a Nissan Leaf for the last year and a half, what a revelation to pick up 300 miles of range so fast! I've seen the future, and it's here.
The etiquette around EV charging is evolving as we're all learning to share this new and wonderful electric highway.
New tools are coming online rapidly to assist us to be more courteous, such as smart phone prompts, charging station databases with status and reservation enhancements.
Until then, while charging, a simple post it note on the car with your cell phone number would be an awesome gesture.
I've met some really nice folks at these charging stations. Enjoy your Tesla Time.
(note to Tesla engineers and site planners: Short charging cord + known vehicle type = properly positioned wheel stops. Wheel stops would not only speed up the charging turnover time, but be a convenience to drivers)
 
I have a feeling that in a year or two most new J1772 plugs will be higher powered 70A+, as more cars will have the charging potential.

Nope. No other EV except Tesla in the US can take more than 40 amps (not even the Tesla powered Rav4-EV). J1772 is doomed to be a low amperage delivery mechanism in the US, thanks to the way the tax credits were set up.

And now that there are tens of thousands of 30 amp J1772s across the US, no other car company is going to consider putting in larger on-board chargers. They'll just go Chademo or J1772-QC (or whatever they call the combo plug monstrosity).
 
(note to Tesla engineers and site planners: Short charging cord + known vehicle type = properly positioned wheel stops. Wheel stops would not only speed up the charging turnover time, but be a convenience to drivers)
But it's only a known vehicle type for the next couple years. Gen3 and the Roadster replacement will have shorter wheelbases than Model S/X. I guess we could make it like an airport terminals and have marks for each model painted on the ground that you could see from the rear-view camera.
 
The 30A J1772 chargers all in bigger cities was very short sighted.

I'll go much further than "short sighted". If you sell a plug in hybrid or an EREV that has a little tiny battery you are perfectly happy with 30 amp max J1772, and it has the added benefit of being useless for a competitors real EVs. I'll float the conspiracy theory with no evidence that a big manufacturer of plug in hybrids pushed for a limited J1772 implementation for this reason.

Tesla is and will be for the forseeable future - alone in selling highway capable EVs. Highway capable EVs that have completely different charging needs from EREVs or city EVs.
 
While it would be nice for Tesla to build a reservation system (right into the app and into the nav please), I think it is more important to be courteous to other S owners, and disconnect as soon as you have enough juice to go.

But make sure you put in enough for unexpected circumstances, such as overnight drops, headwinds, rain, snow or diversions on the road. In fact, charge to max or the flatbed will be your fault.
 
But it's only a known vehicle type for the next couple years. Gen3 and the Roadster replacement will have shorter wheelbases than Model S/X. I guess we could make it like an airport terminals and have marks for each model painted on the ground that you could see from the rear-view camera.

Huh? There are other Tesla models outside of the Model S?? Say it's not so.

:)
 
(note to Tesla engineers and site planners: Short charging cord + known vehicle type = properly positioned wheel stops. Wheel stops would not only speed up the charging turnover time, but be a convenience to drivers)

The Hawthorne (LA) superchargers do have wheel stops. Sounds like standardizing the supercharging experience would go a long way (no pun intended).
 
What? It's rather obviously true if you've visited the Hawthorne supercharger. All but two of the charging pedestals are just dummies. Either the door doesn't open (with no button to open it), or no door at all. And the location is rather terrible, with no restaurants next to it.

Yes, and the location inside the city isn't where superchargers are meant to be. It will be obsolete once they have a real one in San Clemente or Carlsbad to allow travel to San Diego.

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Nope. No other EV except Tesla in the US can take more than 40 amps (not even the Tesla powered Rav4-EV). J1772 is doomed to be a low amperage delivery mechanism in the US, thanks to the way the tax credits were set up.

And now that there are tens of thousands of 30 amp J1772s across the US, no other car company is going to consider putting in larger on-board chargers. They'll just go Chademo or J1772-QC (or whatever they call the combo plug monstrosity).

And I think that makes sense. I don't think 70amp is enough to make a qualitative difference. DC charging is where it's at and that's what needs to be built out.
 
I thought of that, too, but then thought about the pranksters who think it funny to ring my doorbell as they walk by. Using a QCode interpreted by the Tesla app will ensure that only Model S owners can "ring the doorbell."

Hmm... yeah possibly. Maybe there could be a sensor of sorts where the system knows that there is another Model S on a waiting pad or something...? Just brainstorming here...
 
The 30A J1772 chargers all in bigger cities was very short sighted.

I can only speak for the jobs I've been involved in here in San Diego, but I feel it was a proper compromise between what most cars can charge at and what the capacity of the infrastructure is capable of delivering (since most public units connect to existing panels and only a small percentage is fed from new services). It's a pretty expensive proposition to install public stations (even with grant funds), so while I'd love to see 70a stations everywhere that would just be even more expensive...
 
Tesla also needs to license out the Supercharger technology, or at least provide 3rd parties the ability to erect their own and charge a fee if they so choose. Officially sanctioned Tesla Superchargers will remain free, but independent Superchargers can charge. If businesses feel it'll provide more (likely wealthy) clientele to there stores, then there's incentive for them to install them. And if they charge a nominal fee, it will not only help recoup some of the costs of installation and maintenance, but also deter people from freeloading. Why wouldn't Tesla do this? It provides Model S owners more charging options, and it helps spread the effort in creating a more dense Supercharger network to 3rd parties.
+1 Gotta happen.
 
Superchargers should have Bluetooth. i.e. sense when the car is approaching, then have a small IR laser which would reflect against the charge port and thus when detected the Bluetooth signals you are in position. Display something in the dash... Like the shot in Blade Runner with the car landing... "Approaching... Over the charging threshold.. Stop... Now..."

"Everything is better with Bluetooth."
 
Tesla also needs to license out the Supercharger technology, or at least provide 3rd parties the ability to erect their own and charge a fee if they so choose. Officially sanctioned Tesla Superchargers will remain free, but independent Superchargers can charge. If businesses feel it'll provide more (likely wealthy) clientele to there stores, then there's incentive for them to install them. And if they charge a nominal fee, it will not only help recoup some of the costs of installation and maintenance, but also deter people from freeloading. Why wouldn't Tesla do this? It provides Model S owners more charging options, and it helps spread the effort in creating a more dense Supercharger network to 3rd parties.

I certainly hope Tesla does exactly this. More Superchargers, in walking distance from where I would stop to eat, shop, hike, or relax for one hour.

GSP.
 
And I think that makes sense. I don't think 70amp is enough to make a qualitative difference. DC charging is where it's at and that's what needs to be built out.

Yes, while I'd expect that especially hotels will have some 10kW and/or 20 kW Tesla chargers, aside from J1772's, once there is a certain number of Model S on the road. Just because it makes sense for the customer.
 
What? It's rather obviously true if you've visited the Hawthorne supercharger. All but two of the charging pedestals are just dummies. Either the door doesn't open (with no button to open it), or no door at all. And the location is rather terrible, with no restaurants next to it.

Last week I was there and they were working on the two stalls adjacent to the two working ones. The fifth stall was not being serviced and may still be "in training". The electricians were there wiring them up. Hopefully they're online now.
 
I can only speak for the jobs I've been involved in here in San Diego, but I feel it was a proper compromise between what most cars can charge at and what the capacity of the infrastructure is capable of delivering (since most public units connect to existing panels and only a small percentage is fed from new services). It's a pretty expensive proposition to install public stations (even with grant funds), so while I'd love to see 70a stations everywhere that would just be even more expensive...

I agree that 30A is sometimes either adequate, or all you can get, or just cheaper. I don't think all EVSEs should be 70A.

But I do think people that took DOE money to install EVSEs should have at least been *allowed* to install EVSEs over 30A if it made sense in certain locations. It can be far more useful, and if the power is available the price delta related to the entire install cost is very small. But the DOE contract specifically disallowed that. Nobody at the DOE would talk to me about why (although in other conversations they have said they didn't talk to owners before writing the contracts, and they should have because they might have done some things differently).