btw, charged at this site again in the afternoon, since it was a random wednesday, perhaps that indicates the site is now open fulltime? I also saw them putting in the parking bumpers too.
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Supercharger - Kettleman City, CA - Bernard Dr. (LIVE, 56 V3 stalls)
- Thread starter MarcoRP
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- California supercharger
My wife and I visited this site on our drive up to Sonoma this last Sunday. I dropped her off at In-N-Out, put the car on the charger, and walked back to wait with her. It took about 30 minutes from start to finish to get enough range to make it to Firebaugh (where I got to enjoy my lunch). I'm glad this site was opened because we would have to add about 20-30 minutes to grab some In-N-Out and then drive to the lounge location to charge and eat. This saves us a good chunk of time since my wife refuses to cross hwy 41 on foot.
We dropped by the lounge on our way back home on Wednesday since my wife really wanted a coffee. I'm thinking the next thing for the Bernard site would be a solar array pergola to both provide shade, generate electricity, etc.
We dropped by the lounge on our way back home on Wednesday since my wife really wanted a coffee. I'm thinking the next thing for the Bernard site would be a solar array pergola to both provide shade, generate electricity, etc.
what's wrong with dropping by in-n-out and then going to the lounge to eat there? That's what I've been doing over the years! The only time "cost" is the time spent waiting for food and not charging but should be way less than 20-30min
That's what I've done at most of my supercharger stops. Buy food, go to charger, eat in car.
Only frustrating part for me is there's usually nowhere to put trash afterwards. Even if there is a trashcan it's almost certain to be full.
Nothing wrong with that other than 15-30min wait it took to order and receive your order; that's a good proportion of time that I would rather spend Supercharging. So given the option I would choose to charge at the Bernard location and walk to In-N-Out. The other consideration is to limit food odors inside the lounge. I like to order my burger with a slice of whole grilled onion and chopped chilis. My wife gets what we call a "hot cheese salad" that is a grilled cheese, protein style, both grilled and raw onions, and mustard instead of spread. We try to keep our fragrant food away from bystanders
Same. You can always use your order bag (or keep a plastic bag in the glovebox) to hold your trash until you find a trash can at your next stop.
The problem with that is by the time you walk there, get your food, and walk back, your car is likely done charging and is ready to go. So then you have to park somewhere else while you eat. (Unless you eat while driving.) 6 of one, half dozen of the other...
Wack it up to 100% and continue charging. Unless people are waiting or it's V2 of course. Maybe shave a couple minutes off the next stop. Just remember to set it back to you standard charge limit.
I always eat outside! Never eaten outside lounge yet so no need to worry about odors, definitely considerate of you though!Nothing wrong with that other than 15-30min wait it took to order and receive your order; that's a good proportion of time that I would rather spend Supercharging. So given the option I would choose to charge at the Bernard location and walk to In-N-Out. The other consideration is to limit food odors inside the lounge. I like to order my burger with a slice of whole grilled onion and chopped chilis. My wife gets what we call a "hot cheese salad" that is a grilled cheese, protein style, both grilled and raw onions, and mustard instead of spread. We try to keep our fragrant food away from bystanders
Same. You can always use your order bag (or keep a plastic bag in the glovebox) to hold your trash until you find a trash can at your next stop.
to charging out there.
Gizmotoy
Active Member
Kettleman is completely down today: both sides. The entire area is without power. Lots of people wondering what to do.
Was able to limp to Harris Ranch with 3 miles left.
Was able to limp to Harris Ranch with 3 miles left.
Bet TSLA
Active Member
Why are people going there if there's no power? Was it showing as working on the in-car nav? Or was it just people who went there directly without checking?
israndy
Supercharger Hunter
Bet TSLA
Active Member
Gizmotoy
Active Member
I’ve noticed this before, but it seems to take an extremely long time for the UI to show chargers down. When we got there the area was a ghost town. The gas station pumps were running on some kind of backup power and the attendant said power had been out for many hours. The In N Out and McDonalds and everything else had sent their workers home 1-2 hours ago, according to the same person.
We’d been there for about 10 minutes trying to figure out what to do and the screen finally updated to say a Supercharger on the route was closed. But it also said we needed to charge at it to make Harris Ranch. Instead we just drove really slow. There were a few cars waiting it out because they couldn’t make it in either direction (the station directly south of Kettleman was also closed). While we sat deciding what to do, another 10 or so cars showed up all wondering what to do.
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Dam this is scary and my biggest fear traveling... what do we do in these scenarios for anyone who's been in this? I typically aim to get to Kettleman with ~10% or so battery. What if you don't have enough % to get to the closest supercharger?
Seems like a Mega pack or two could provide emergency charging to get one to the next operating Supercharger. Of course, if the grid isn't reliable, that's a whole nother story. Not sure even Tesla can plan for that eventuality. When was power restored?
RT
RT
Same as with an ICE pulling into a small town with power out. If you don't have enough (gas or electric) to make it to the next location - you wait it out. Most gas stations do not have backup power for the pumps.
Welcome to the first 20 years of gas vehicles.
Ahh well, the other guy mentioned gas generators for gas station so that solves that problem. How much efficiency could I expect to get for drafting behind a Semi in this scenario? Which I would assume is the best step -- could I extend my range double ? 1.5? Curious
Maybe look for some non-Supercharger that's reachable. That's one of the reasons I bring all my charging gear with me on road trips (e.g. mobile connector and adapters, J1772 / CHAdeMO / CCS adapter, etc.). Not saying you need to have a complete set of everything, but I do know that your charging adapters won't help you if they're not with your car.
In the worst case, I'd do what @smartypnz said, just stay close to some Supercharger (preferably a large one near civilization), conserve energy in the battery, and wait it out. Maybe put in a call to Tesla Roadside Assistance for their awareness and see if they know anything else.
Applied to Kettleman City (Bernard Drive), which is the subject of this thread, the Plugshare map shows some slightly closer (non-Supercharger) charging solutions in every travel direction except for I-5 North. Whether those would be usable in this scenario or not, I'm not sure. If needed, either of the Kettleman City Superchargers are fine places to hunker down (I'd probably go to the original site and stay in the shade under the solar canopy).
Bruce.
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