Supercharger pallet - Triple urban SCs

[Chuq]

It looks like a new form of temporary supercharger has appeared in a few California locations the last couple of weeks:

Lone Pine, CA - 3x urban - Supercharger - Lone Pine
Santa Ana, CA - 3x urban - Supercharger - Santa Ana
Cabazon, CA - 3x urban + 2x urban - Supercharger - Cabazon / Desert Hills (EXPANDED, 6 stalls added, now 16 total)

The second Cabazon pallet is the same, just missing one of the SC posts.

I created this thread is a central spot for discussing this format. Ping @mociaf9 @ecarfan @PLUS EV

There have been a few common questions:

Charge speed: Photos from @Ed Trotter of the Santa Ana one shows the SC unit is the same as before, with outputs for 2x 72 kW units. Supercharger - Santa Ana
Reports elsewhere have been of speeds around 50 kW (maybe due to the vehicle tapering) as well as @DFINS75 reporting getting 92 kW.

Active charging ports: The suggestion has been that only two of the charge posts will work. However the in-car nav reports an additional 3 stalls, suggesting that all 3 are active. Also, all photos appear to show cables attached to all posts.

Physical layout: In many cases it isn't possible for three cars to park in such a way that all posts can be used at once, at least not easily.

Mixture of speeds at a single site: This hasn't happened before. Tesla's site still reports 120kW at all locations, but still only the old number of stalls (Cabazon - 16, Lone Pine - 4, Santa Ana - 12) although reports in the threads are that the increased number shows in the nav (Cabazon - no info, Lone Pine - 7, Santa Ana - 15).

Any local owners want to arrange a test at any of these locations to find out about how they work?

 

[mociaf9]

There was a reddit thread which used Ed's pictures and some from other places of the traditional pallet superchargers to create an Imgur album: https://www.reddit.com/r/teslamotors/comments/9zbmkv/new_3post_urbanstyle_temporarymobile/

In the comments users also reported seeing these same pallets at Folsom, CA and Indio, CA as well.

 

[4SUPER9]

@Chuq , thanks for creating this thread. Now, all we need is a dedicated user to go out and test these things!
I won't be in Lone Pine for another 3 weeks or so.

 

[TonyPham]

I posted this photo here Supercharger - Folsom Palladio Parkway Folsom Palladio

 

[spentan]

Has anyone tried plugging 3 vehicles into this simultaneously? You could, if you backed in perpendicular to the 2,

 

[MorrisonHiker]

Has anyone tried plugging 3 vehicles into this simultaneously? You could, if you backed in perpendicular to the 2,

According to the placard on the Supercharger, the Output Power is 72 kW x 2 so it can only power two of them at once. As others have mentioned, such an arrangement would allow them to use the pallet in either parallel or perpendicular configurations.

 

[pdamski]

I just took a ride to check out the Indio charging station. They had a couple of the new chargers. My investigation was inconclusive because I changed from a new charger to an older one mid-charge and both were running at 32Kwh. It seems to me that these will eventually be intended for positioning between two cars head to head instead of side to side?

 

[spentan]

According to the placard on the Supercharger, the Output Power is 72 kW x 2 so it can only power two of them at once. As others have mentioned, such an arrangement would allow them to use the pallet in either parallel or perpendicular configurations.

Wonder if it's intelligent enough to provide 48kW to all 3, if they're all plugged in.

Or if it could do 144kW for 1 vehicle in future o_0

 

[4SUPER9]

According to the placard on the Supercharger, the Output Power is 72 kW x 2 so it can only power two of them at once. As others have mentioned, such an arrangement would allow them to use the pallet in either parallel or perpendicular configurations.

But which ones are active? Is it automatic, with a switch so that if one is in use, the other gets deactivated? That seems like a pricey build. It would make more sense if they removed the cable, or taped off, the non-functioning unit,

 

[MorrisonHiker]

But which ones are active? Is it automatic, with a switch so that if one is in use, the other gets deactivated? That seems like a pricey build. It would make more sense if they removed the cable, or taped off, the non-functioning unit,

Good question! Unfortunately there are any close to me so I'm unable to confirm how it works. I would assume that only one would work. Sounds like a we need 2 to 3 owners to get together and put it to the test!

 

[b0n3z]

I'm not too far from the Santa Ana SC. Let me know if anyone needs help in testing.

 

[PLUS EV]

I'll be driving a lot in CA this weekend so I will check one of them out at some point. Will plug in to each of the 3 with a low SOC to see what happens. Doubt I will be able to coordinate with other owners to try to plug into all 3 simultaneously though.

 

[BerTX]

Has anyone tried plugging 3 vehicles into this simultaneously? You could, if you backed in perpendicular to the 2,

Some of the locations I have seen photos of would not allow a car to be parked with the rear facing the dual chargers. They are too close to a wall or other obstruction. I think the idea that they are positioned such that only two can be used at a time is by design.

 

[Toadmanor]

Why would they position so only two can be used when they have three available?

 

[MarcoRP]

That would be hard to do, like someone would need to park on the access road

 

[PLUS EV]

It's definitely a silly design and I doubt they really intend for people to plug into all 3 simultaneously.

I'm guessing it was something they designed to charge massive amounts of Model 3s in delivery prep and then when they realized the supercharger network would be overwhelmed in the holiday travel season, they deployed a few of them as a last resort.

 

[b0n3z]

This shouldn't be too hard to do at the Santa Ana location. I was there this morning charging. However, if you look at the specs on the unit - it's x2 not x3. These chargers charge at a much slower rate than 120 kW.

 

[yuhong]

Notice this requires 230/400V or 277/480V service at the site. Here in Vancouver BC, it is probably not a coincidence that the temp supercharger is installed at PNE, as they already have 277/480V service that is used for the current ChargePoint Express 200 charger there.

 

[MarcoRP]

Notice this requires 230/400V or 277/480V service at the site. Here in Vancouver BC, it is probably not a coincidence that the temp supercharger is installed at PNE, as they already have 277/480V service that is used for the current ChargePoint Express 200 charger there.

But it’s a 2-stall, no?

 

[MXWing]

To use all 3 plugs you would need to park perpendicular with the inside car being trapped.

Would be fun to try as an experiment but will never happen organically.