Supercharger - Honolulu, HI - Kahala Resort (12 stalls)

[Mrbrock]

Multiple people have said they spent a lot less than $50 to get a validation.

I imagine the $50 spend is for the max charge. If you are only there for 30 minutes, probably only a $20 spend.

The cheaper charging rate (40 vs 61 cents per kWh) would fully offset the valet fee.

$10 for 50kwh. Sounds about right for more than 20 mins but less than 40.

 

[jeffypoo]

Just stopped here to give it try, and honestly it’s pretty nice! $6 per 20m seems reasonable considering the lower cost per kWh and it’s not like sitting on the beach at kahala resort while waiting is cruel and unusual punishment.

Peak charge rate of 131kW as I was already at 49%. Nice to see an actually super supercharger here

 

[throwawayx52]

Swung by here to check out the new chargers and since it was early in the morning I had a chat with a couple of the valets while my car was charging. It sounds like the main draw of the chargers is to assist with the uptick of tesla rentals/turos that many of the rental companies are starting to switch over. They aren't trying to turn the valet into a charging hub where you just plug in and sit in your car like Pearlridge, but rather provide an added amenity to people who decide to visit the hotel. The valets pointed out a distinct issue if they switched it to self parking, if their was a line similar to Pearlridge you would be charged the same rate $6/20 minutes for just sitting in their parking lot! The waived idle fee would also mean those that stay overnight in the hotel would take up stalls while sleeping vs if a space needs to be made at odd hours of the night the valets would be able to assist with. They only charged me for $6 even tho it was a bit over half hour for a full charge. The parking lot booth has charged me before any fraction over 20mins before, but paying/tipping cash at the valet desk seems a bit more lenient. Overall very happy with both the price and conversation I had, hopefully this clears some things up for everybody.

The guys there did say they ran into a few issues tho, this what I wrote in my notes.
- Bring your keycard/fob, they really don't want to take your phone.
- Don't leave your pets in the car, against hotel policy (but I think the hotel is pet friendly? so just take them out with you?)
- Tell them you want to charge, they will not plug it in without confirmation
- Keep track of your own %, they are not familiar with what model you have so time spent charging varies
- Any of their outlets/restaurants will likely provide the full complimentary validation with a purchase, $50 minimum seems to scare away beachgoers

 

[Akikiki]

Swung by here to check out the new chargers and since it was early in the morning I had a chat with a couple of the valets while my car was charging. It sounds like the main draw of the chargers is to assist with the uptick of tesla rentals/turos that many of the rental companies are starting to switch over. They aren't trying to turn the valet into a charging hub where you just plug in and sit in your car like Pearlridge, but rather provide an added amenity to people who decide to visit the hotel. The valets pointed out a distinct issue if they switched it to self parking, if their was a line similar to Pearlridge you would be charged the same rate $6/20 minutes for just sitting in their parking lot! The waived idle fee would also mean those that stay overnight in the hotel would take up stalls while sleeping vs if a space needs to be made at odd hours of the night the valets would be able to assist with. They only charged me for $6 even tho it was a bit over half hour for a full charge. The parking lot booth has charged me before any fraction over 20mins before, but paying/tipping cash at the valet desk seems a bit more lenient. Overall very happy with both the price and conversation I had, hopefully this clears some things up for everybody.

The guys there did say they ran into a few issues tho, this what I wrote in my notes.
- Bring your keycard/fob, they really don't want to take your phone.
- Don't leave your pets in the car, against hotel policy (but I think the hotel is pet friendly? so just take them out with you?)
- Tell them you want to charge, they will not plug it in without confirmation
- Keep track of your own %, they are not familiar with what model you have so time spent charging varies
- Any of their outlets/restaurants will likely provide the full complimentary validation with a purchase, $50 minimum seems to scare away beachgoers

Welcome to TMC. Thanks for posting. You posted some very useful and frankly valuable tips. Much appreciated. Hope to "see" you again.

"Tell them that you want to charge". Might be a good idea to make/bring a small sign, and leave it on the seat, so there's no mistake. Since you would only expose this sign at Kahala, might be beneficial to include your cell number, in case they needed to reach out to you.

 

[agoddard]

It's great that people enjoy the experience, though I don't understand any of the rationale. There wouldn't be lines like Pearlridge because presumably (I bet I'm about to find out this is incorrect) Kahala isn't sharing 300kw between all of their chargers like Pearlridge does. Superchargers already have ways to prevent people overstaying, like the idle fees - nobody is parking overnight at a supercharger. Having to deal with someone valet'ing, having your key card, writing a sign, telling someone your %, remembering to tell someone to charge, having someone drive your car etc is all unnecessary and takes away from the typical great supercharger experience. I don't think it matters so much here on the Islands, because superchargers are a bit odd here anyway, but I can't imagine people putting up with all of that nonsense on the mainland. I don't really follow the turo/rental thing either - are renters required to return EVs at 100%? That seems weird, given a Tesla will always recharge overnight ready for the next driver . Skepticism aside, I am glad people are enjoying having move charging options here!

 

[FielderJones]

I don't really follow the turo/rental thing either - are renters required to return EVs at 100%?

My Turo experiences have been that 80% is sufficient.

 

[Bighorn]

Typically 80%, but my current one in Australia is 91%.

 

[MrLewayne]

Just pulled up to this Supercharger on a Friday night, the place was packed, asked the valet guy if I could charge he said “we aren’t doing it tonight due to the event”. I said you’re not charging Teslas tonight? He said no, because we are using all the parking stalls for the event. Not a single Tesla was charging at the superchargers!!! Absolutely unacceptable Tesla. I wish there was a way to make some sort of formal complaint to Tesla Charging.

Now I make a 30 min drive to Pearl ridge to wait in line for 30 mins to charge for 30 mins.

 

[Big Earl]

Just pulled up to this Supercharger on a Friday night, the place was packed, asked the valet guy if I could charge he said “we aren’t doing it tonight due to the event”. I said you’re not charging Teslas tonight? He said no, because we are using all the parking stalls for the event. Not a single Tesla was charging at the superchargers!!! Absolutely unacceptable Tesla. I wish there was a way to make some sort of formal complaint to Tesla Charging.

Now I make a 30 min drive to Pearl ridge to wait in line for 30 mins to charge for 30 mins.

Based on your X post, it looks like you ended up waiting in line far longer than 30 minutes. The charging situation on Oahu is pretty rough right now.

I’m surprised the valet didn’t offer to move a car out of a charging spot so they could accommodate you. It might be helpful to provide feedback to the resort and suggest they always try to accommodate someone who needs to charge. People are relying on this infrastructure, and turning people away gives a poor impression of both Tesla and the resort.

 

[MrLewayne]

Based on your X post, it looks like you ended up waiting in line far longer than 30 minutes. The charging situation on Oahu is pretty rough right now.

I’m surprised the valet didn’t offer to move a car out of a charging spot so they could accommodate you. It might be helpful to provide feedback to the resort and suggest they always try to accommodate someone who needs to charge. People are relying on this infrastructure, and turning people away gives a poor impression of both Tesla and the resort.

Correct. I spent 1 hour 25 waiting. Probably due to the only other SC being “closed”. How does Tesla even allow this? I’m just perplexed that Tesla would ever allow them to just block off an entire charger. I under It’s on their property, but how is that fair for the owners who live on Oahu? Bottlenecking the 6 stall Aieia charger to the max. By the time I left there were probably 20+ cars in line.

 

[Big Earl]

Looks like you got a response from Elon and Tesla Charging.

 

[agoddard]

I feel like I'm a bit of a broken record harping on this but
* closing the charger so they can park their guests instead
* forcing people to valet, and charging to valet
* seeing it as an "added amenity to people who decide to visit the hotel" instead of a "charging hub where you just plug in"
^ this and everything with this SC so far has been about preventing Tesla owners from using it like a normal supercharger, with the focus being on the hotel trying to extract benefits in every way they can come up with, at Tesla owners' expense. The hotel didn't pay for the supercharger and if they didn't want one, they could have just not had one. It's paid for by Tesla (read: Tesla owners) and part of that arrangement shouldn't be preventing Tesla owners from using it. It's just unnecessary for them to keep trying to re-invent the wheel here. Just let people use the supercharger like an normal supercharge, and enjoy the positive side effects of locals discovering your hotel and spending money there.

Aiea is only so slow because they have so little power to the site. Perhaps if they have figured out how to power 12 new stalls at the mall, they might be able to figure out a way to properly power the existing 6, which would likely totally fix the wait lines.

 

[Mrbrock]

I feel like I'm a bit of a broken record harping on this but
* closing the charger so they can park their guests instead
* forcing people to valet, and charging to valet
* seeing it as an "added amenity to people who decide to visit the hotel" instead of a "charging hub where you just plug in"
^ this and everything with this SC so far has been about preventing Tesla owners from using it like a normal supercharger, with the focus being on the hotel trying to extract benefits in every way they can come up with, at Tesla owners' expense. The hotel didn't pay for the supercharger and if they didn't want one, they could have just not had one. It's paid for by Tesla (read: Tesla owners) and part of that arrangement shouldn't be preventing Tesla owners from using it. It's just unnecessary for them to keep trying to re-invent the wheel here. Just let people use the supercharger like an normal supercharge, and enjoy the positive side effects of locals discovering your hotel and spending money there.

Aiea is only so slow because they have so little power to the site. Perhaps if they have figured out how to power 12 new stalls at the mall, they might be able to figure out a way to properly power the existing 6, which would likely totally fix the wait lines.

Unless you know what was outlined in the lease with Tesla, you can’t can’t comment on what they can and can’t do with the supercharger that Tesla paid for. Also assuming that you have a right to be there because you paid for it is false. Buying a Tesla does not mean you paid for that supercharger. Buying a Tesla allows you to use superchargers when Tesla says you can. Which reverts back to the lease agreement in this situation. It may allow for closure during certain events in which case the feedback to Tesla should be that the hotel needs to convey this to Tesla so they can have it marked as temporary closure during a certain timeframe to prevent people making the trip to a closed site.

At the end of the day, expecting the supercharging experience in the islands to be the same as the mainland just doesn’t work, much like everything else is different. Accept it, adapt, move on.

 

[nanimac]

I feel like I'm a bit of a broken record harping on this but
* closing the charger so they can park their guests instead
* forcing people to valet, and charging to valet
* seeing it as an "added amenity to people who decide to visit the hotel" instead of a "charging hub where you just plug in"
^ this and everything with this SC so far has been about preventing Tesla owners from using it like a normal supercharger, with the focus being on the hotel trying to extract benefits in every way they can come up with, at Tesla owners' expense. The hotel didn't pay for the supercharger and if they didn't want one, they could have just not had one. It's paid for by Tesla (read: Tesla owners) and part of that arrangement shouldn't be preventing Tesla owners from using it. It's just unnecessary for them to keep trying to re-invent the wheel here. Just let people use the supercharger like an normal supercharge, and enjoy the positive side effects of locals discovering your hotel and spending money there.

Aiea is only so slow because they have so little power to the site. Perhaps if they have figured out how to power 12 new stalls at the mall, they might be able to figure out a way to properly power the existing 6, which would likely totally fix the wait lines.

The permanent Pearlridge chargers have been planned for over 4 years now. They were waiting for HECO to build a new transformer. We were lucky to get the temporary site 2 years ago, otherwise there wouldn't be ANY superchargers until Kahala opened. Kahala also took two years to open and Bayview too. I always shake my head when people think Tesla isn't doing anything about charging, especially visitors who clog up the superchargers while they're here, complain about it, and don't really know how difficult it is to build anything here.

I've actually heard positive feedback from people who use the Kahala one regularly even with a parking charge. They're actually happy to have an option in town and without any wait vs wasting time driving to Aiea and waiting in line. Plus waiting on the beach while charging doesn't seem so bad to me.

 

[agoddard]

The permanent Pearlridge chargers have been planned for over 4 years now. They were waiting for HECO to build a new transformer. We were lucky to get the temporary site 2 years ago, otherwise there wouldn't be ANY superchargers until Kahala opened. Kahala also took two years to open and Bayview too. I always shake my head when people think Tesla isn't doing anything about charging, especially visitors who clog up the superchargers while they're here, complain about it, and don't really know how difficult it is to build anything here.

I've actually heard positive feedback from people who use the Kahala one regularly even with a parking charge. They're actually happy to have an option in town and without any wait vs wasting time driving to Aiea and waiting in line. Plus waiting on the beach while charging doesn't seem so bad to me.

Yeah I'm not complaining about Pearlridge, I'm genuinely hoping they're able to figure out getting more power to the site. 300kw is better than nothing, and it sounds like the new transformer is the solution, that's awesome.
Hopefully all those visitors who complain won't be clogging anything up now they can go to Kahala which is apparently never clogged