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Supercharger - Lake Arrowhead, CA (LIVE 17 Nov 2021, 8 V3 stalls)

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M

MarcoRP

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Found a new permit on San Bernardino County's EZOP portal for the installation of 8 V3 Superchargers at Lake Arrowhead Village (28200 STATE HWY 189, LAKE ARROWHEAD CA 92352). Will keep you updated.

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Lake Arrowhead.jpg
 
Big Bear and Arrowhead are great locations for Superchargers. People use lots of juice just getting up the mountain and worry they will not have enough to drive around the city and still get home back down the mountain. Reality is that you will gain a bunch of miles through regeneration on your way down hill.

Lots of people are also transversing throught these villages on their way somewhere else. Having a local Supercharger they can use, plus the advantage of lots of local shopping to kill time waiting to fill. Perfect.

Looks like on the road Supercharging will continue to be a huge differentiator to those deciding which brand of EV to purchase.
 
Really hoping for something in Big Bear Lake soon!

gibraltar, me too! Big Bear Lake might even be a little embarrassed that Lake Arrowhead beat them to it! :D After all, both communities offer a lake, outdoor activities, and some resort amenities, but only BBL also offers snow sports! Now Lake Arrowhead upped their game with the Superchargers!
 
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Big Bear and Arrowhead are great locations for Superchargers. People use lots of juice just getting up the mountain and worry they will not have enough to drive around the city and still get home back down the mountain. Reality is that you will gain a bunch of miles through regeneration on your way down hill.

Lots of people are also transversing throught these villages on their way somewhere else. Having a local Supercharger they can use, plus the advantage of lots of local shopping to kill time waiting to fill. Perfect.

Looks like on the road Supercharging will continue to be a huge differentiator to those deciding which brand of EV to purchase.

From my house in central LA, I use about 60% of my battery on the way to Big Bear, which is about 30% to San Bernardino and 30% up the mountain. On the way back it's about 30% all the way back to LA in my 2018 MX 100D. In the winter it's usually about an extra 10% both ways depending on how cold it is on the mountain.

So before this charger, if I wanted to do any significant driving around Big Bear, I needed to charge at San Bernardino at slow speeds to get close to 100% before going up the mountain. Then if it was really cold I'd need to drive back down and up again to charge at San Bernardino or pay $25 to charge at a L2 charger in town.

Now I can drive through Lake Arrowhead, which is a bit of a detour, but charge up once I've gotten most of the elevation out of the way - saving me the extra charge and hassle of going up and down the mountain. If I don't drive much in Big Bear I might even be able to make it back to LA without charging again on the way back. This is a huge improvement when coming from LA, reducing the number of charging stops from 2-3 down to 1.
 
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Looks like on the road Supercharging will continue to be a huge differentiator to those deciding which brand of EV to purchase.

True, and I would add that it's also a differentiator for where people go and spend their money. If I wanna go to Big Bear Lake, the Superchargers in Lake Arrowhead are a bit out of the way. So, maybe I'll just go to Lake Arrowhead instead or use that as my base. Either way, Lake Arrowhead wins. BBL really needs to get moving on some Superchargers!
 
If I don't drive much in Big Bear I might even be able to make it back to LA without charging again on the way back.

If I'm up at Big Bear Lake, I'm either driving around the lake for hikes or I'm skiing. Either way, I need more energy, and I don't want to have to limit my driving or make a detour to charge at Lake Arrowhead.

Hmmm... I haven't been to Lake Arrowhead since 2001. Maybe it's time I went back and just skip BBL!!! ;)
 
If I'm up at Big Bear Lake, I'm either driving around the lake for hikes or I'm skiing. Either way, I need more energy, and I don't want to have to limit my driving or make a detour to charge at Lake Arrowhead.

Hmmm... I haven't been to Lake Arrowhead since 2001. Maybe it's time I went back and just skip BBL!!! ;)

Eh, going up to Big Bear via Lake Arrowhead is only a 10-15 minute detour vs. the direct route. I'd rather do that once and stay in Big Bear if I'm skiing than stay in Lake Arrowhead and have to drive to Big Bear every day to ski.
 
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Eh, going up to Big Bear via Lake Arrowhead is only a 10-15 minute detour vs. the direct route. I'd rather do that once and stay in Big Bear if I'm skiing than stay in Lake Arrowhead and have to drive to Big Bear every day to ski.

Perhaps, but that assumes you're driving by Lake Arrowhead. If I'm in BBL for a few days, I might need some more juice. In that case, the round trip to Lake Arrowhead and back takes too long, plus, factor in the actual charging time. Going out of my way for that is just time I'd rather be on the slopes or enjoying après-ski.

However, the skiing is better in Mammoth and around Lake Tahoe, and there's plenty of Superchargers on the way and in town for those destinations. For me, BBL would be a lot more attractive for skiing if it had its own Superchargers. Sure, I can get there faster, but for lesser skiing and no local Superchargers -- it just doesn't call to me. Hopefully, they'll catch up to Lake Arrowhead, and then I'll certainly make the trip for skiing! :)
 
I blasted some emails off to various big bear city departments about the fact there is no real public EV chargers available. They claim Public services and Mountain Transit is working on getting some chargers installed.

The city manager also responded with this on Nov 11 2020.
"Plans are for one in The Village and one at City Hall. We are getting ready to order the units later this month or next, and hopefully we will get them installed by spring."

I had emailed Tesla last year about the lack of charging in Big Bear and a Sr. Project Developer, Charging Infrastructure responded on Aug 1st 2019 with this statement "A Supercharger station in Big Bear is in the works. Thank you."
I just followed up with another email to see if there are any status updates.

I can't believe there is still no public chargers at this fairly busy winter resort.
 
I can't believe there is still no public chargers at this fairly busy winter resort.

I agree!

Interesting that something seems to have been in the works for so long. Hopefully actual Tesla Superchargers will come along soon, but I do wonder if the city folks understand all the charging options and what cars need for really fast DC charging vs. just Level 2 AC charging. o_O

Also not sure why it's taking so long. Maybe Big Bear Lake needs to hear from more people about how important it is for their businesses, tourism, environment, etc. :D
 
I blasted some emails off to various big bear city departments about the fact there is no real public EV chargers available. They claim Public services and Mountain Transit is working on getting some chargers installed.

The city manager also responded with this on Nov 11 2020.
"Plans are for one in The Village and one at City Hall. We are getting ready to order the units later this month or next, and hopefully we will get them installed by spring."

I had emailed Tesla last year about the lack of charging in Big Bear and a Sr. Project Developer, Charging Infrastructure responded on Aug 1st 2019 with this statement "A Supercharger station in Big Bear is in the works. Thank you."
I just followed up with another email to see if there are any status updates.

I can't believe there is still no public chargers at this fairly busy winter resort.

Thank you for doing this!
 
This is very apropos. I am in L. Arrowhead right now, in an isolated cabin, far away from everyone. I looked up charging prior to my trip, and found only a Level 2 at the resort, restricted now to guests staying there, and another single station at a nearby church. I charged for a few minutes at San Bernardino to give me a buffer for up here, worrying about the storm and cold weather. Fortunately, the heavy duty 100' extension cord has worked beautifully. I got 4 mi/hour while here, and since I am not leaving the cabin, I am full after 2 days.

Speaking of, the storm up coming up here late Friday afternoon was brutal. Every road was closed at one point, and we manged to get around it by taking the Twin Peaks detour, having to get back on the 18 prior to getting there though. Crashes aplenty. My Model S was amazing, though I definitely needed the chains.
 
Every road was closed at one point, and we manged to get around it by taking the Twin Peaks detour, having to get back on the 18 prior to getting there though.

That's a great tip, 4SUPER9, in case I encounter something similar. I wasn't aware of this option until seeing your post, and then I looked it up on the map. So, thanks!

Also, your Buick Super Convertible looks like a really sweet ride!
 
Map.jpg
Anyone else notice how inaccurate and out of date Tesla's "Find Us" map webpage is for Superchargers?

There's a permit now for Lake Arrowhead to get Superchargers, and it sounds like Big Bear Lake may be getting Superchargers too. But, neither site is shown on the map with gray "Coming Soon" markers. In contrast, Highland, CA is near the base of the mountain and has had the gray marker since sometime in 2019. However, there's no sign that Highland is really in the pipeline for any Superchargers! I've found other examples of this same thing.

Of course, the map in the car is correct where open Superchargers are concerned, but it would be nice if the webpage was aligned with reality since they bother to publish it. I'm grateful for supercharge.info for all of the great info to fill in the gaps! :)