Supercharger - Kettleman City, CA - Bernard Dr. (LIVE, 56 V3 stalls)

[sodakar]

Just curious if anyone has any updates for this new location.

Last I heard, it was going to be paved in January, but when I checked via the car's navigation yesterday and today, it said "not in service," which got me a bit concerned, as I was hoping to make use of it in the near future, as it looks like a much shorter walk to In-N-Out. Priorities...

 

[Limited]

Just curious if anyone has any updates for this new location.

Last I heard, it was going to be paved in January, but when I checked via the car's navigation yesterday and today, it said "not in service," which got me a bit concerned, as I was hoping to make use of it in the near future, as it looks like a much shorter walk to In-N-Out. Priorities...

Was posted on another thread that this site is currently fenced off and not accessible with signage posted "closed for paving in january" or something to that extent.

 

[israndy]

I am sure they'll have it finished in time for the 4th of July holiday traffic

 

[sodakar]

Was posted on another thread that this site is currently fenced off and not accessible with signage posted "closed for paving in january" or something to that extent.

Bummer my search skills didn't catch that, but thank you for the heads-up!

 

[tengtengvn]

The other Kettleman City is my favorite location. Free L2, clean restrooms 24/7, lounge, walkable to in and out burger,...

 

[israndy]

I did use the free L2 one trip, it was a long drive and I just fell asleep and woke up after the car finished charging. Now I use the Free CHAdeMO just down the drive from the Tesla chargers. I still sleep, but the car is ready to go so much quicker.

 

[bmah]

Moderator note: Moved 14 posts about trip planning to this thread:

Trip Planning -- LA to Carmel

Moderator note: The first 14 messages in this thread were moved from the "Supercharger - Kettleman City, CA - Bernard Dr." thread. Planning LA to Carmel trip this weekend. This would be one of my preferred charging stops. Anyone know if it's re-opened yet?

teslamotorsclub.com

Bruce.

 

[jiserrab]

Stopped at both Kettleman Superchargers this past weekend. On the way up to NorCal we stopped at the OG supercharger at around 1:30 pm on Friday. About 30 minutes prior to arriving we placed a mobile order to Subway (which is right before the supercharger in the Shell? Station.) We arrived there almost the exact time the navigation indicated. Grabbed our sandwiches and proceeded to the supercharger. Most of the 250s were being used but I managed to snag one. Used the bathroom and charged to continue on trip, then a little more finished our lunch and we’re on our way. Total charge time was about 30 minutes.

On the way back down to SoCal on Sunday morning we stopped at the new Kettleman Supercharger. Arrived at about 7:30am. We were the only ones there our entire charge ~50 minutes. It’s still a dirt parking lot and there appeared to be spray painted lines but they were difficult to see when backing in. Since I was the only one, it wasn’t that much of a problem but if it gets full some of those who are “parking challenged” could certainly have an issue. Was able to walk to Starbucks use the restroom and grab a and coffee. It’s about a 3-4 minute walk so not too bad.

Conclusion…use the OG supercharger until the new one is paved. OG has much easier access to bathrooms and feels more welcoming overall. The new one feels a little isolated and less personal. There is an empty dirt lot next to the new one. Wishful thinking they will build another owners lounge or at least restrooms. I’ve never experienced a busy holiday weekend so I would assume that the new supercharger is a welcome sight for travelers and I certainly wouldn’t be concerned to use again if necessary.

We were in our new 2022 LRMY btw. Have made quite a few stops at OG KC in our 2018 MDL3 AWD.

 

[newjacka]

Stopped at both Kettleman Superchargers this past weekend. On the way up to NorCal we stopped at the OG supercharger at around 1:30 pm on Friday. About 30 minutes prior to arriving we placed a mobile order to Subway (which is right before the supercharger in the Shell? Station.) We arrived there almost the exact time the navigation indicated. Grabbed our sandwiches and proceeded to the supercharger. Most of the 250s were being used but I managed to snag one. Used the bathroom and charged to continue on trip, then a little more finished our lunch and we’re on our way. Total charge time was about 30 minutes.

On the way back down to SoCal on Sunday morning we stopped at the new Kettleman Supercharger. Arrived at about 7:30am. We were the only ones there our entire charge ~50 minutes. It’s still a dirt parking lot and there appeared to be spray painted lines but they were difficult to see when backing in. Since I was the only one, it wasn’t that much of a problem but if it gets full some of those who are “parking challenged” could certainly have an issue. Was able to walk to Starbucks use the restroom and grab a and coffee. It’s about a 3-4 minute walk so not too bad.

Conclusion…use the OG supercharger until the new one is paved. OG has much easier access to bathrooms and feels more welcoming overall. The new one feels a little isolated and less personal. There is an empty dirt lot next to the new one. Wishful thinking they will build another owners lounge or at least restrooms. I’ve never experienced a busy holiday weekend so I would assume that the new supercharger is a welcome sight for travelers and I certainly wouldn’t be concerned to use again if necessary.

We were in our new 2022 LRMY btw. Have made quite a few stops at OG KC in our 2018 MDL3 AWD.

this supercharger is still not paved? what the hell are they waiting for? It's also high time for them to start switching those old 150kw(og suc) to 250 ones

 

[Mrbrock]

this supercharger is still not paved? what the hell are they waiting for? It's also high time for them to start switching those old 150kw(og suc) to 250 ones

Not sure if they are a simple swap since it’s combining 2 cabinets into one. The conduit runs are different so it might require a bunch of underground work combining conduit runs so it doesn’t look like a mess above ground. V2 has wiring from transformer to main switching to auto transformer to cabinet to 2 stalls (I think, auto transformer might be switched somewhere in there). V3 is main transformer to main switching to cabinet to 4 stalls.

 

[Zorg]

Not sure if they are a simple swap since it’s combining 2 cabinets into one. The conduit runs are different so it might require a bunch of underground work combining conduit runs so it doesn’t look like a mess above ground. V2 has wiring from transformer to main switching to auto transformer to cabinet to 2 stalls (I think, auto transformer might be switched somewhere in there). V3 is main transformer to main switching to cabinet to 4 stalls.

Even if possible, would the existing conduits sized for 150KW be sufficient for 250KW?

 

[Mrbrock]

Even if possible, would the existing conduits sized for 150KW be sufficient for 250KW?

250kw at 350V is ~700A. 150kw at 350V is ~400A. So probably not. Unless they used larger conduits than needed for expansion possibilities. Which is not likely. Look at the Vallejo, CA SC. They planned to install 4 additional stalls at a later date and it would have been easier to put in V3 (I cabinet instead of 2 plus 2 auto transformers) but all the conduit was laid out for V2.

 

[israndy]

I have seen the pipes they lay for the power to go thru and it's like 5 or 6 inch conduit pipes, I haven't seen them with cables installed, but I cannot imagine that there isn't lots of room to run different cables. Now the routing could be an issue. May have to dig up the place where the cabinets are and reroute the layout for the v3 cabinets.

 

[Big Earl]

The conduits themselves should be the same or similar between V2 and V3. Where the conduits terminate in relation to the charging cabinets is different, since each V2 cabinet feeds two stalls and each V3 cabinet feeds four stalls. At the very least, excavation would need to occur to reconfigure how the conduits run to the cabinets and new cable would need to be pulled to the stalls. It's not a small job, but it's definitely doable with some downtime and digging.

 

[cpa]

this supercharger is still not paved? what the hell are they waiting for? It's also high time for them to start switching those old 150kw(og suc) to 250 ones

For the cars manufactured before the M3 was released, there is zero difference in charge times between the V2 and V3 Superchargers with the exception of paired-up stalls capping the rate at 72kW instead of pushing the maximum the car can receive if the stall is unpaired. With 24 v2 SC at Kettleman, at most times on most days there will not be an issue with paired stalls, especially when the new installation across the street is paved and ready. Moreover, the much older model S are capped anyway at around 90kW unless the batteries are below 15%, and even then the rate tapers quite fast to SOC + kW = ~110 under ideal conditions, and less if the battery is coldish. Prior to the charge speed being slowed in 2019, the SOC + kW = 120 until around 60% when it declined, and cooler weather was less of a factor.

I have observed and others have confirmed that the total time to charge from ~15% to 65% on Model 3 takes about 5 more minutes with v2 SC, so not a whole lot of time is lost (unless of course one is paired.)

So, at this time, I don't feel that upgrading this site to 40 v3 is high on Tesla's to do list.

 

[israndy]

The key phrase being “unless of course one is paired”

 

[newjacka]

The key phrase being “unless of course one is paired”

exactly!

 

[Hazelwood]

Stopped by the lower chargers last night and they are still turned off. Not sure why they can't keep them live. Only worsened by the lounge being closed in the late evening.

 

[Big Earl]

Stopped by the lower chargers last night and they are still turned off. Not sure why they can't keep them live. Only worsened by the lounge being closed in the late evening.

Power bills for a low utilization site are incredibly expensive. It’s probably significantly cheaper for Tesla to keep the site shut down until the next major travel event.

 

[ElectricCyclist]

Power bills for a low utilization site are incredibly expensive. It’s probably significantly cheaper for Tesla to keep the site shut down until the next major travel event.

That is an interesting thought but I do worry about Tesla's ability to flip the switch with someone like PGE to make sure it happens quickly enough. I just stopped at the original site a few hours ago heading back into the Central Valley and it was around half full so your reasoning seems plausible. I didn't go to the other side to see if the paving at been complete yet.