-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Supercharger - Pasadena, CA - East Glenarm Street (LIVE 21 Oct 2021, 20 V3, 7 DCFC, 20 L2)
- Thread starter RubberToe
- Start date
-
- Tags
- California supercharger
Whoa, a quick stop at the Supercharger this morning to pass the time while I was getting jacked up on coffee turned into quite the adventure. AAA pulls up with a dead Model 3 on board. Tow truck driver spends about 15 minutes trying to figure out where to park so he can lower the car down at a charger and still be able to pull out. I had to jump into the scene to help him realize that he had to pull in parallel to the unoccupied row of chargers so we could plug in while still on the truck.
He pulled off the tow hitch to power the car enough to open the hood. Then he pulled the battery cover off to jump the 12v battery. Car took about 5 minutes to wake up enough to open the charge port door from the screen. I showed him where the manual release was in the trunk, but even though that unlocked the pin preventing connector mate, the display said it wouldn't allow charging due to manual release of the lock. It said to unplug and replug which we did. Finally after about 4-5 minutes we got the first 1 mile of range, which went up quickly from there.
At 60 miles range we unloaded the car from the truck and he backed it into the stall where I had been charging. Young lady then came out of the truck cab and got into her car. Not so much as a thank you to either of us after about 45 minutes of effort
. No good deed goes unrewarded.
At least now I know how to resurrect a dead Tesla. Someone also learned a big lesson today too. Tow truck driver said she was stopped on the 110 North in the number 3 lane of 3. For those unfamiliar with this stretch of freeway, it is 3 lanes wide and very curvy. Very scary place to be stalled out I would imagine.
He pulled off the tow hitch to power the car enough to open the hood. Then he pulled the battery cover off to jump the 12v battery. Car took about 5 minutes to wake up enough to open the charge port door from the screen. I showed him where the manual release was in the trunk, but even though that unlocked the pin preventing connector mate, the display said it wouldn't allow charging due to manual release of the lock. It said to unplug and replug which we did. Finally after about 4-5 minutes we got the first 1 mile of range, which went up quickly from there.
At 60 miles range we unloaded the car from the truck and he backed it into the stall where I had been charging. Young lady then came out of the truck cab and got into her car. Not so much as a thank you to either of us after about 45 minutes of effort
. No good deed goes unrewarded.At least now I know how to resurrect a dead Tesla. Someone also learned a big lesson today too. Tow truck driver said she was stopped on the 110 North in the number 3 lane of 3. For those unfamiliar with this stretch of freeway, it is 3 lanes wide and very curvy. Very scary place to be stalled out I would imagine.
Attachments
SilverSp33d3r
No Longer Silver
In all fairness The new UI does make it difficult to see how low the SOC is. Maybe someone siphoned off the electrons overnight?
Glad superhero rubber toe was there to rescue!
Glad superhero rubber toe was there to rescue!
BostonBurley
Sorry. Bipolar.
BostonBurley
Sorry. Bipolar.
I put your request in! Actually there’s news. During representative visit a few weeks ago they heard/seen the issue and hired a litter clean up vendor already. Not sure of frequency or if it’s supplemental to city services.
Well, I didn't get to save any damsels in distress today. I did check the Tritium chargers. Two on the left were both showing red on the top light indicator, sign posted stating they are being upgraded. Next one actually looked functional showing steady green light. One on the right was out of service, and the light on top was bouncing from white, to yellow, to green, to blue, then back to white. Very colorful! So the Tritium charger isnt working, and even worse, the status light is FUBAR too!
RT
P.S. All 3 trash cans were full too.
RT
P.S. All 3 trash cans were full too.
6 permanent metal trash bins here now, and 4 other plastic ones deployed. Site must be seeing a lot of traffic. The Tritium charger death march appears to have ended, as all 4 are now out of service.
RT
RT
That's a bummer. I know it has been hit or miss for me when I visit (two down, another time one down, then three down). Even checking ahead on Plugshare does not necessarily reflect the real status when I arrive.
This sucks, I did thought about giving these chargers another try after failed attempt back in April.
One of the 4 is back in service as of tonight. It's the one closest to the entrance.
BostonBurley
Sorry. Bipolar.
I have great disdain for the Tesla owners who take up the chargers for non-Tesla bc they’re free. Then you see Leaf’s and bolt’s in line for 2+ hours, with kids in the car while they wait and wait and then charge a bit. I’ve done my fair share of giving those Tesla owners the business and all but once it worked. The final time with two cars waiting and the guy wouldn’t even roll his window down, but flipped me off when I said “you have over 80% I can see it”. I just called the cops on that plaid yoyo boy taking the one working non-Tesla charger with 7-8 Tesla chargers available. Parking enforcement came in about 10 minutes, talked to the guy, and he left.
All I could think was who can afford a plaid but can’t afford to charge at home, or at the correct Charger? .59/kWh was too rich for his blood.
Supercharger stations aren’t good for bipolar people. Many, many close calls over 10 years. Zero violence… gold star!
I agree that if you can afford a Tesla, more than likely you can afford charging at home or paying for charging outside of home.
However, free charging is free for all, without stipulation. Or should it be only for those with an income below a certain threshold? I think Pasadena is doing a great thing with their free charging (Marengo Plaza, Del Mar station, Glenarm, and the level 2s at Playhouse, Del Mar).
At some of the aforementioned stations, when I see non-Teslas pull in I wave them over to let them know they can have my charger (if the location is full). But that’s just me. I’d like to think we have enough BS to deal with regarding ICE vs EV that we don’t need in-fighting.
BostonBurley
Sorry. Bipolar.
The in-fighting holds Tesla owners accountable to basics in the instances where I’ve intervened, that’s all. Almost every time the response is that they didn’t know or it’s their first time (with a dongle on the free charger? Doubt it). If you’re on the roof at Paseo’s garage and there’s 40+ fast chargers, sure. They’ll cycle through quickly enough. If you back your Plaid in to the handicapped spot where the one and only non-Tesla charger is functioning, and meanwhile several vehicles try plugging in to the other green chargers to find they’re all not functioning, you might draw ire from the 5-10 tesla owners backed in and watching this go down. That’s why I wanted to inquire… you’re an inconvenience to your peers, yano, why? You’re nearly fully charged, how much will it cost you to just plug in to a much faster supercharger and pay like $4 to 100%?
Thankfully, the handicapped spot but him in the end and was enough to get an authority out there.
It’s not infighting, just tales of humanity. If nobody says anything, the precedent will already be set. I can’t hold my tongue, hold my breathe, in those situations. Feels good to breathe.
Sure, it's open to everyone, but it's also important to be a considerate person and have a sense of proportion and reasonableness that compares your technical entitlement to the benefits of using that particular charger with the situational need of others and the costs your delaying them incurs. Change up the situation just a bit and see if you still feel the guy was being reasonable:
At many superchargers the stalls are signed to allow general parking (i.e. explicitly okay for non-charging use). You show up to one of those needing a charge and, even though the rest of the parking lot is basically empty, every supercharger stall is ICE'd by trucks. The drivers are just hanging out in the parking lot, sitting on the tailgates and shooting the breeze. You ask one of them to move to any of the many other spots he could park in so that you can access a supercharger which are only in a few select stalls. He says no and points to the signs saying they allow general parking and that him and his friends will leave in a couple hours, if you want to use the chargers you'll just have to wait.
Just like the guy in the Tesla using the only available universal charger, it's clear, these truck guys are technically in the right. They have every right to be parked there, blocking you from charging. Doesn't change the fact that they're being inconsiderate dicks just like the Tesla driver in the original situation.
You are right - I would absolutely view the truck drivers in this situation as jerks. However, there were two items in the situation regarding the Tesla driver that differentiate the issue: he/she/they were parked in a handicapped spot to access the charge station (I have even seen an EV parked in the "no parking" hashed area to avoid being in the handicapped spot) and would not have occupied the space for several hours. Still it is a non-neighborly move, but beyond the illegal parking, the opportunity for free electricity applies to everyone.
I am in agreement with being a considerate EV owner. Sometimes the onus falls to us to teach others charging etiquette (how many Sentry videos are out there with someone attempting to unplug their J1772 connection?). The hope is that the lessons reach these owners and they in turn convey that message.
Regarding this station, was the plan always for only a few non-Tesla stations? There are so many more spots that could be used for fast charging stations. One of the documents from the first post shows seven DCFC and 20 Level 2s. It could accommodate so much more.
BostonBurley
Sorry. Bipolar.
I feel the same. They couldn’t made it like the rooftop at Paseo, DCFC’s around the perimeter, maybe another 10-15, with Tesla in the center. When all these City people were there for a Senator visit, one guy was telling a few others that the parking space left empty on the side of the gated charging equipment was for future expansion, which I’m guessing would be more Tesla SC, which honestly it could use another 4-10. Exponential growth of ev owners without home charging equipment (like me) are more common with used ev availability for decent prices and high gas prices.
There are 6 DCFCs, the 4 Tritium and the two 50kW Veefil units co-located with Tesla Superchargers. The L2 chargers never showed up. And yes, the lot is large enough to certainly add more chargers of any variety.
I think the City learned one lesson after the Marengo charging plaza was built. They put in 20 of the 50kW Veefil units that are very, very underutilized, even though the electricity is still free there. The Superchargers in that Marengo plaza are a big hit. The Tritium chargers at Glenarm were no doubt designed or envisioned as "next gen" chargers that could provide higher power, so they installed 4, and only two Veefil. The next lesson learned was that the provider they initially selected apparently had little desire to maintain the chargers, which were often inoperable. Having 4 operable 150kW Tritium DCFCs would make a lot of people happy. All they are doing now, when inoperative, is steering EV drivers to buy Teslas.
I stopped by the Marengo site this morning to get Starbucks. I have a bunch of Stars, so my coffee is free, and they validate for parking, so I only pay for the Supercharger cost. I noticed a Taycan and Mache both using the free Veefil chargers when I left. Anyone owning an EV with CCS/Chademo and having any reason to hit that mall for any duration of time has an ideal use case for jumping on the free charging available, especially with the free parking. I would imagine going forward that more people will start figuring this out. If you don't have residential or work charging, and have a short commute, you can hit the Yard House for dinner one night a week and get free gas that could last the whole week.
RT
Hopefully any planned expansion includes a few pull-through Tesla SC stalls for those traveling with trailers or Cybertrucks (or CTs pulling trailers).
Thank you for the insight. I often thought I had arrived at the Marengo station at non-peak hours given the number of empty stalls. Perhaps a combination of owners not needing to drive (Work From Home) and large number of stalls resulted in much less usage than PWP projected. We rarely have reason to visit Paseo (we're usually in Old Town Pasadena) since a lot of the stores have closed/left.
Similar threads
