After reading this thread for the last couple years, I can't imagine why it would remain popular. Also, I would exactly describe it as a "convenient location for freeway travelers." It's over a mile off the freeway and in some office park parking lot. Definitely not as good as most supercharger locations.
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Supercharger - San Diego, CA (Qualcomm / Pacific Heights Blvd., 12 V2 stalls)
- Thread starter Cosmacelf
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- California Supercharging USA
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
After reading this thread for a few years, I don’t know why people keep complaining about this location. It has always been crowded, and likely will remain so. Complaining will not change that. Carry on...
Uncle Paul
Well-Known Member
Kind of the same thing where people will wait in line for 30 minutes to get the cheaper fuel at Costco.
It's an interesting jockey fest to see people trying to figure out which line will get them to the pump soonest. Quite the intense wait.
It's an interesting jockey fest to see people trying to figure out which line will get them to the pump soonest. Quite the intense wait.
Two reasons:
1. It's free.
2. It's free.
OK - the real reason is that it's 15+ miles in opposite directions to the next nearest Supercharger (Carlsbad and downtown SD). Carlsbad isn't a bad spot (though amenities could be a bit closer), but downtown is in an extremely tight pay-lot. No traffic it takes 20-25 minutes to get to either one, so if you're close, that adds 40 minutes to get a charge best-case. With traffic it can take double that.
So unless you're headed towards either of the other Superchargers anyway or the line is more than 6 cars deep, you're better off just waiting.
Tesla has put up signs like that at a number of California Supercharger locations just recently, including Atascadero. That sign doesn’t mean there is someone at the location enforcing it. Tesla is hoping that owners will be respectful of others and not leave their car in the stall after it is done charging so that others may use the stall during this busy travel season. It is a very reasonable request.
Problem is this location is notorious for undelivering the 120kw charging even when not sharing. I would say you can expect 40kwh -50kwh depending on your car and condition of your battery on arrival for that 40 minutes assuming no sharing.
That's an issue with many locations. I believe the total power of a supercharger site is often lower than the theoretical number. For example an 8 stall site would technically have 4 * 120/144 kW. In reality it is often lower. I have noticed this at several locations that were full. If you add up the numbers of the two shared stalls they don't even come close to what they should be able to output (even if both cars could take a higher rate). It is rarely an issue as most sites are utilized maybe 20%. Tesla is just being reasonable with transformer sizes and demand charges and that makes sense.
Those added temporary stalls will most likely not provide additional power, but when a site is full it is still much better to have more cars being able to plug in than having to wait in line. At least you can leave your car and get a snack.
While commercial user energy rates tend to be driven by real time wholesale prices that can be a little unpredictable, I think demand charges are still tied to the clock.
I haven't checked the latest SDG&E commercial tariffs, but for residential TOU users (who aren't grandfathered under PV net metering) new on-peak hours are 1600-2100 (4-9pm) every day (including weekends). Super off peak is 0000-0600 weekdays and 0000-1400 on weekends. So if anybody's interested in testing some hypotheses, see if site-total charging powers increase during super-off-peak times...
I haven't checked the latest SDG&E commercial tariffs, but for residential TOU users (who aren't grandfathered under PV net metering) new on-peak hours are 1600-2100 (4-9pm) every day (including weekends). Super off peak is 0000-0600 weekdays and 0000-1400 on weekends. So if anybody's interested in testing some hypotheses, see if site-total charging powers increase during super-off-peak times...
Oh, and it just occurred to me that maybe one of us should actually check the power ratings on a supercharger transformer...
Transformers are usually rated in kVA (kilovolt-amperes) as opposed to kilowatts, but superchargers (like all large, newly designed electronic loads) can be assumed to have a power factor of ~ 1.0. I.e., kVA and kW would essentially be the same.
Transformers are usually rated in kVA (kilovolt-amperes) as opposed to kilowatts, but superchargers (like all large, newly designed electronic loads) can be assumed to have a power factor of ~ 1.0. I.e., kVA and kW would essentially be the same.
To answer my own question, somebody photographed the transformer at the Oxnard site (20 pedestals) and found that it is rated for 1000 kVA. That's not enough to keep everything going at full power, but transformers do have a lot of thermal inertia and can take a certain amount of overload for a limited time.
I’m here currently charging with about 50% battery state of charge. It’s giving me 33kW, 112 mph charge. When I came a couple days ago it was almost 300 mph.
Any tips?
All stalls full of course
Edit:
After 15 minutes it jumped up to about 55 kw plus minus 4 kw and moved up to 126 mph
Any tips?
All stalls full of course
Edit:
After 15 minutes it jumped up to about 55 kw plus minus 4 kw and moved up to 126 mph
Last edited:
I was just there this morning. Had the same thoughts - that I was charging at a slower rate than expected. I was in the stall closest to where the line starts (stall 3B) and 3A left shortly after I plugged in, so I should have been the primary but was only getting ~70kw max. This has been an issue for me at this specific stall in the past. Anyone else have this issue at this specific stall?
That is the key piece of information. Search TMC for the words “paired stalls”. This has been intensively discussed for the past 6 years on TMC.
See Supercharger
QUOTE: “Superchargers are installed in pairs. Each pair is driven by a stack of standard Model S chargers (ie. the same 10kW charger unit that is installed in the car in single or dual configurations), arranged in groups of 3 such that they can be fed conveniently from 3-phase power. The stack contains either 12 or 9 chargers (for a total of 120 or 90kW) feeding the two charge cables. The power available from the chargers is distributed between the two cables according to demand: if two 85kWh cars, both empty, arrive at the same time then they will receive less than their ideal charging current. Ideal for the 80kWh car is 80kW, so they will get 75% or 56% of their ideal current (depending on number of chargers in the stack) and charge correspondingly more slowly.”
Further discussion of this topic can take place in that thread. Thank you.
I visited this morning at 4am and was the only Tesla using the Supercharger. My car was at less than 40% charge when I plugged in and was only able to pull 68KW max. Something is definitely wrong here.
bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
This is a guess, but it fits with the observed data.
1) We know / are pretty sure that Qualcomm foots the bill for this supercharger.
2) Power for larger installations like this is not by kWh, like our homes, it is by "peak" demand (i.e. the highest draw of power, irrespective of how long that draw was for)
With the above two assumptions, I would put good money that Qualcomm has limited the peak power that this site can draw, in order to keep their power bills "reasonable". Bear in mind that SDG&E makes a fortune off peak power charges, and those charges are not linear. If Qualcomm draws twice the power at peak, it can cost them 3-10 times as much.
Either that, or the other option is that the power transformer is over-taxed. But the observation that a single car charging by itself is only able to pull limited power does not support the over-taxed transformer hypothesis.
1) We know / are pretty sure that Qualcomm foots the bill for this supercharger.
2) Power for larger installations like this is not by kWh, like our homes, it is by "peak" demand (i.e. the highest draw of power, irrespective of how long that draw was for)
With the above two assumptions, I would put good money that Qualcomm has limited the peak power that this site can draw, in order to keep their power bills "reasonable". Bear in mind that SDG&E makes a fortune off peak power charges, and those charges are not linear. If Qualcomm draws twice the power at peak, it can cost them 3-10 times as much.
Either that, or the other option is that the power transformer is over-taxed. But the observation that a single car charging by itself is only able to pull limited power does not support the over-taxed transformer hypothesis.
Thanks for the replies. Paired stalls I understand, I’ve charged here when it’s always been full. It still fluctuates like crazy with my X. Im glad im not the only one. Ive also hit 95 kw nearing 300 mph when all stalls full...
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