Based on a tip here by member SeaDoc at the Palm Desert thread, I called the Rancho Mirage Planning Dept. and they can CONFIRM that a Tesla Supercharger station is going through the planning process right now. The Rancho Mirage Supercharger will have 13 stations and will be located at The River Shopping Center in Rancho Mirage underneath the new solar canopies as member SeaDoc speculated correctly. HOORAY !!!
This was a rumored site a year ago, glad it’s finally going to happen. Smart move by The River since they have been losing tenants; maybe the restaurants will see more business. The only concern I see is ICE drivers parking under the canopies, especially in the summer.
Unlike the 120 kWh stations these 72 kWh stations aren’t paired to a single cabinet. The benefit is not getting a reduced rate of charge when sharing with another car.
I live in Rancho Mirage and am frequently at The River so I can post photos when things start happening.
They are still paired, 2 per cabinet, they are just set at a fixed 50% share rate. (You will notice that they are still labeled 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc.)
Nothing. They were probably only able to get 13 parking spots, so half of one Supercharger cabinet will be unused.
Or, when the planning official @gasisnasty spoke to said, "13 supercharger 'stations'," they may have meant 'cabinets' (the number of cabinets is usually the first line in the project description, not the number of stations). In which case, that would likely mean 26 supercharging stalls with no singlet, unpaired stalls. Or, they may have meant that Tesla was going to be using 13 parking stalls total--which could include space for the back-end hardware and the extra width needed to make some stalls disabled access compliant--with the end result being that there will actually be 10 or some other even number of stations. Or, the project will include some odd number of L2 charging stations and those were included in the planner's total. Etc.
It could just as easily be 13 stalls as @MP3Mike pointed out. It's a bit rare, but there are supercharger locations with odd numbers of stalls, which leaves one of them totally unpaired. I was just trying to point out that we don't really know what's what yet. There's lots of ways the info you were given could still fit a more "normal" install design.
Or, maybe even MORE likely, if they are V3 Superchargers which are 4 to a cabinet, there will be 12 stations and a 13th parking space to fit the 3 cabinets. -Randy
As another bit of evidence for them being 72kW is that Tesla is not likely to install 120kW+ chargers in any location so far off a highway. 120kW+ are meant for road trips and charging as fast as possible. 72kW are meant to be stayed at longer while eating or shopping, with more stations available to allow those longer stays.
View attachment 417747 View attachment 417747 I drove by the site today and there is a good deal of activity. A portion of the parking lot to the east of the solar panels has been fenced off and construction is in progress. I did not see any crates, but there are piles of conduit stacked about. The work does not appear to involve the existing solar panel canopies at this time; perhaps this project will add to them. Given the extreme summer heat, as well as the 300 plus days of sunshine in the Coachella Valley, it’s a possibility. View attachment 417753 View attachment 417754 View attachment 417755