Supercharger - Indio, CA (LIVE, 36 V3 + 8 V2 + 2 Urban stalls)

[RandyS]

Many utilities don't schedule the work to install the transformer, pull in wire through the conduit, and set the meter until the site has passed the various inspections (that's the way it is done at the utility where I work anyways; too many changing schedules otherwise if approvals are not received as expected).

So the comment "if not the power company, then who?" doesn't really make sense. It could certainly be them, but the power company usually schedules their part of the job after all the other parts are complete, and it usually goes pretty quick. After all, the utility has crews who specialize in that work and do it every day...We don't really know what the contractor's exact status is on the job right now, so it's hard to tell what the next step is without talking to someone...

 

[Tyl]

Are we still on the hunt for the other supercharger locations in southern California? The Ontario CA Airport area? The Cabazon CA Outlets? The location somewhere northeast of Hawthorne CA? I'm sure when Indio CA {Jackson St} goes online soon, it will allow us to deviate more along our journey to PHX and elsewhere, to scour the areas in question to locate them. I've been looking for permits etc. Has anyone determined the location of these other three. We don't want to be caught napping! Watching the TSCN buildout is great fun, but I'm sure there are superchargers in the works and, probably under construction, that we are missing. What say you?

 

[jomo25]

I just need this one to come online by 10/25 or I'm in trouble. Months ago, I thought there wasn't any risk whatsoever of being able to drive to Disney since this was in progress. Now, I'm genuinely concerned I will need to rent a car to make it. Can't believe I can go to Rocky Point, but not LA. This sucks.

 

[benemac]

I just need this one to come online by 10/25 or I'm in trouble. Months ago, I thought there wasn't any risk whatsoever of being able to drive to Disney since this was in progress. Now, I'm genuinely concerned I will need to rent a car to make it. Can't believe I can go to Rocky Point, but not LA. This sucks.

I hope it happens soon too. We plan a few Disney trips ourselves. Big fans here and it doesn't help that we used to work at WDW. It's in our blood. We plan a trip late this month if the car arrives in time, one in the 2nd week of October and then a November visit. Cross our fingers.

 

[unclegeek]

I just need this one to come online by 10/25 or I'm in trouble. Months ago, I thought there wasn't any risk whatsoever of being able to drive to Disney since this was in progress. Now, I'm genuinely concerned I will need to rent a car to make it. Can't believe I can go to Rocky Point, but not LA. This sucks.

You take your Tesla to Rocky Point!!???

We go frequently but reserve Mexico trips to our ICE SUV.. not that it's a beater (Q7) but it wasn't pushing $100k, plus those sand drifts across the roads can be bad sometimes.

We recently (Labor Day weekend) stayed over in Palm Springs (Indian Wells actually) and charged overnight on an HPWC (40A limited) at the hotel so we could make it into Temecula with enough range to return to Palm Springs.. but we ended up charging at the free Chargepoint charger in front of the Police Station which gave us a full battery to start back on.
We still stopped at the Tesla Service Center in Palm Springs (80A HPWC) and added a few more miles to add buffer to get to Quartzsite but didn't need to.

I keep sending emails to Tesla ([email protected]), but get back the exact same canned response every time:
We are working with the involved parties to bring the station on line as quickly as possible. Some sites, like Indio, have longer construction timelines due to added complexities. Because of the intricacies in this construction, we are unable to provide a completion estimate but you’re welcome to continue checking back with us periodically for updates.

We appreciate your patience and will announce on our website when the site is ready for use.

Thanks for your continued support!
The Tesla Supercharger Team

To me that's a bit impersonal, but I'm sure they are getting bombarded by inquires.

 

[ZBB]

I just need this one to come online by 10/25 or I'm in trouble. Months ago, I thought there wasn't any risk whatsoever of being able to drive to Disney since this was in progress. Now, I'm genuinely concerned I will need to rent a car to make it. Can't believe I can go to Rocky Point, but not LA. This sucks.

We drove to Disney on the first leg of our big road trip in July (after Disney we went to TMC Connect, then up to visit my in-laws in BC, and a little get together with my side of the family in Oregon on the way back...).

This was the only gap in the Supercharger network for us. We ended up spending just over 4 hours at the Cathedral City service center using one of the 3 HPWCs they have in the parking lot. We took in a movie during the wait (Tesla drove us over to the theater a few blocks away; we walked back to Tesla (about 20 min) and then hung out in the customer lounge until the car was ready.

You should still be able to make the trip. As you know we also have a 60 -- so just give an extra few hours for a slow charge if the supercharger still isn't ready.

Here's some charging & driving notes from that portion trip:

• Quartzsite Supercharger: We charged to 194 miles -- unplugged when it took >2 minutes to add 1 RM -- since at that point the HPWC would be faster than the Supercharger
• Drive: We drove the speed limit instead of my normal 5-over since going slower after Quartzsite added 10 minutes to the drive, but saved ~15 RM (and ~40 min of charging).
• Cathedral City Service Center HPWC: Delivered 24-25 RM/hour of charge (provided ~202-204V at 40A for our single charger car). We left with 154 RM
• Drive: We hit some major headwinds (30+ gusts) heading out of Palm Springs (even before getting back on I-10 and for about 10 miles past Cabazon) -- heaver than I'd seen before. RM were dropping very fast, so I got behind a semi that was going 60 (I wasn't drafting -- kept a 2 second distance behind him). That helped a little, but I was still a bit worried that we'd have to stop and charge someplace before getting to Anaheim. But the gusts were no longer a factor during the downhill drop from Beaumont to Moreno Valley, and we ended up only using 3-4 more RM than EVTripper estimated. Arrived in Anaheim with 43RM. We just parked overnight at the hotel and didn't worry about charging.
• Disnelyland Garage Chargepoints: Ask the parking booth attendant where the chargers are and they'll put a marker under your windshield -- so the people directing traffic will point you to the section with the chargers. We plugged in and charged while we enjoyed the park, the car was at 90% by early afternoon and we let it stay there until we left that evening...

For the return trip, since we were coming down I-5, we decided to skirt LA. Original plan was to go Tejon - Barstow - Indio - Quarrzsite - Wickenburg - Home, but with Indio not ready, I did some routing calcs and it turned out that Tejon - Barstow - Las Vegas - Kingman - Wickenburg - Home only added 50 miles and made it all via Supercharger. We ended up staying a night in Vegas also...

 

[tamman34]

Plan on going to the 49ers game on 9/21, please be open. Worse case is drive 55mph to Yuma. Has anyone tried this yet?

 

[Gear]

Plan on going to the 49ers game on 9/21, please be open. Worse case is drive 55mph to Yuma. Has anyone tried this yet?

Tried 55mph to Yuma? No, but I've driven between 60 and 65. I'm not sure any slower is very safe. I got some angry people even at those speeds.

 

[Tyl]

Severe weather and associated power outages will delay transformer and hook up. Emergency needs all over the southwest will trump regular work and scheduling.

 

[jomo25]

...We ended up spending just over 4 hours at the Cathedral City service center using one of the 3 HPWCs they have in the parking lot. We took in a movie during the wait (Tesla drove us over to the theater a few blocks away; we walked back to Tesla (about 20 min) and then hung out in the customer lounge until the car was ready.

You should still be able to make the trip. As you know we also have a 60 -- so just give an extra few hours for a slow charge if the supercharger still isn't ready.

Here's some charging & driving notes from that portion trip:

• Quartzsite Supercharger: We charged to 194 miles -- unplugged when it took >2 minutes to add 1 RM -- since at that point the HPWC would be faster than the Supercharger
• Drive: We drove the speed limit instead of my normal 5-over since going slower after Quartzsite added 10 minutes to the drive, but saved ~15 RM (and ~40 min of charging).
• Cathedral City Service Center HPWC: Delivered 24-25 RM/hour of charge (provided ~202-204V at 40A for our single charger car). We left with 154 RM
• Drive: We hit some major headwinds (30+ gusts) heading out of Palm Springs (even before getting back on I-10 and for about 10 miles past Cabazon) -- heaver than I'd seen before. RM were dropping very fast, so I got behind a semi that was going 60 (I wasn't drafting -- kept a 2 second distance behind him). That helped a little, but I was still a bit worried that we'd have to stop and charge someplace before getting to Anaheim. But the gusts were no longer a factor during the downhill drop from Beaumont to Moreno Valley, and we ended up only using 3-4 more RM than EVTripper estimated. Arrived in Anaheim with 43RM. We just parked overnight at the hotel and didn't worry about charging.
• Disnelyland Garage Chargepoints: Ask the parking booth attendant where the chargers are and they'll put a marker under your windshield -- so the people directing traffic will point you to the section with the chargers. We plugged in and charged while we enjoyed the park, the car was at 90% by early afternoon and we let it stay there until we left that evening...

For the return trip, since we were coming down I-5, we decided to skirt LA. Original plan was to go Tejon - Barstow - Indio - Quarrzsite - Wickenburg - Home, but with Indio not ready, I did some routing calcs and it turned out that Tejon - Barstow - Las Vegas - Kingman - Wickenburg - Home only added 50 miles and made it all via Supercharger. We ended up staying a night in Vegas also...

Thanks for the notes! Its great to know that Disney now has onsite chargers. I didn't know that. We're staying across the street, so didn't buy parking passes, but, since we're doing the Halloween event, it comes with parking, so I will plan to use the chargers that day. 37c per kWh seems high, but what isn't expensive and overpriced at D-land ?

I am concerned about the winds heading west, so definitely want to make sure I have enough to get there comfortably, thus the reason for really hoping the Indio SC is open. It's trivial to make sure we have enough to get there with that. Without, then we're trying to balance the buffer needed vs. extra time getting a maint charge at a L2. (And when I finally post my RP trip details, hopefully today or tomorrow, you'll know that I'm done with gambling on that. Plus, one of the major lessons on that trip was our younger daughter, 17 months, does not like road trips. So, while a short break every couple hours is welcome, a long break mid-way could be tortuous.)

 

[tbleakne]

Severe weather and associated power outages will delay transformer and hook up. Emergency needs all over the southwest will trump regular work and scheduling.

Yes, this general area was hit hard by recent storms and flooding.

 

[Gear]

Yes, this general area was hit hard by recent storms and flooding.

Can't really blame recent storms for such a long day. This has been going for months now.

 

[jomo25]

Well, 6 weeks to go. When we started planning this trip back in April, never did we imagine that neither the Indio SC nor Chademo adapter would not be available. We figured at least one would be and that would make the trip practical and feasible. Looks like we were a bit optimistic.

 

[franklandfield]

Transformer in place, but not turned on. OMG.

 

[4SUPER9]

So close. My gosh. Traveling to Phoenix Thanksgiving weekend. 2 months away. Better be up by then!!!!

 

[Jackman]

Excellent, now maybe soon has some meaning.

 

[franklandfield]

Up by thanksgiving.....I'd bet on that......

$1.00

 

[MikeC]

Interesting that Oxnard and Indio had the transformers put in within a day of each other. Hopefully they're both turned on soon!

 

[Cottonwood]

Well, 6 weeks to go. When we started planning this trip back in April, never did we imagine that neither the Indio SC nor Chademo adapter would not be available. We figured at least one would be and that would make the trip practical and feasible. Looks like we were a bit optimistic.

Maybe, we can start a black market in CHAdeMO adapters from Japan to the U.S. :tongue:

 

[jomo25]

Maybe, we can start a black market in CHAdeMO adapters from Japan to the U.S. :tongue:

I'd be down with that. Or could I be a tester for a week or so.