Looks like there's some activity. I asked one of the workers when it would be finished but he really didn't know ("not too long but not too soon either"). I also saw a van and truck in the parking lot 1 level below (at the level the Best Buy used to be at) that seemed to be a part of the work going on today.
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Supercharger - San Francisco, CA - Geary Blvd. (LIVE 20 May 2021, 16 V3 + 18 Urban stalls)
- Thread starter MarcoRP
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- California supercharger
SUP THO
Member
Thanks for the updated pics! So exited for this location plus the views of the city from that top parking lot are amazing on a clear day.
Nine Supercharger V2 cabinets of the type usually seen in service centers have been installed (in the background on the right side of photo), which is consistent with 18 urban pedestals. The photo also shows 16 V3 pedestals are on site to match the four V3 cabinets seen in previous posts. In addition to the V3 charger cabinets, there are three large cabinets of possibly switchgear waiting to be installed; one can be seen to the right of the V3 cabinet below.
The middle part of the rooftop parking lot is no longer closed by fencing, and there is conduit being installed for something, possibly 5 L2 stations. The area to the left of those conduit runs, with the cones, could be where some of the urban chargers will go, but I didn't see any actual progress started on them yet. (The area in the first photo alone is not enough for 34 stalls.)
It looks like all the Tesla chargers will be together in the same rooftop lot. There is also something big afoot at the former Best Buy and its parking lot, but it does not look to be related. A sign on the blue fence that I didn't get a photo of had a Target logo on it, so perhaps Target is expanding into the Best Buy space now that the Whole Foods project got derailed?
The middle part of the rooftop parking lot is no longer closed by fencing, and there is conduit being installed for something, possibly 5 L2 stations. The area to the left of those conduit runs, with the cones, could be where some of the urban chargers will go, but I didn't see any actual progress started on them yet. (The area in the first photo alone is not enough for 34 stalls.)
It looks like all the Tesla chargers will be together in the same rooftop lot. There is also something big afoot at the former Best Buy and its parking lot, but it does not look to be related. A sign on the blue fence that I didn't get a photo of had a Target logo on it, so perhaps Target is expanding into the Best Buy space now that the Whole Foods project got derailed?
eladts
Member
Looks like V3 cabinets are now in place and they are starting to install the chargers! There were 2 urban chargers and 1 V3 charger installed this afternoon.
Great to see that this effort didn't really depend upon Whole Foods presence. Folks who want to charge while shopping for groceries would likely just go to the Trader Joe's across the street.
As for the V2 vs. V3 partitioning, this Model 3-driving SF apartment dweller doesn't really notice
much difference in V2/V3 charging anyway -- going from near-empty to near-full, the
charging curve at the end erases much of the V3 advantage. Further, if there is to
be a price difference for the kWh (is there one in other places with mixed chargers?),
I'll likely stick with the V2s except for a quick non-shopping-related near-empty
to mid-range session.
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There are a few other sites in California that have mixed V2 and V3 charging at the same location. Currently Tesla bills the same pricing if either is used. Some examples I can think of include Santa Clarita, Folsom, San Luis Obispo, Kettleman City, Fremont, and the old Hawthorne site at the design center. These were all V3 expansion sites however. I am not aware of any sites where both V3 and urbans/V2 was installed at the get-go...maybe someone else can chime in.
Visited the site today; nobody working there this afternoon, unlike a few weeks ago. A bit more progress has been made, with 16 V3 and 16 urban posts installed. Looks like there is space and more square raceway ready for two more urban posts.
Also saw six posts installed for the mounting of L2 chargers.
Interestingly, the V3 chargers have no visible raceways connecting them to the cabinets. It looks like they must be wired up form below. Also not clear, at least from a cursory glance, is how the utility power is coming in to the site. Walking around the block, I didn't see any transformers above ground, but there were a number of PG&E-labeled utility vaults under the sidewalk along the Geary frontage/slip road on the north side of the building. None of these looked super recent, but one did look newer than the others. (Also some survey markings are visible, but they seem to cover a larger area than I'd expect would be needed just to add an additional utility vault, but maybe there would be a wire run necessitating more excavation.)
So it's not clear to me if things are almost done here, or if there might still have a long wait for PG&E.
Regarding the staging on the former Best Buy lot, saw several more Target signs on the fences. Definitely looks like Target is expanding into that area, perhaps with their own grocery section.
Also saw six posts installed for the mounting of L2 chargers.
Interestingly, the V3 chargers have no visible raceways connecting them to the cabinets. It looks like they must be wired up form below. Also not clear, at least from a cursory glance, is how the utility power is coming in to the site. Walking around the block, I didn't see any transformers above ground, but there were a number of PG&E-labeled utility vaults under the sidewalk along the Geary frontage/slip road on the north side of the building. None of these looked super recent, but one did look newer than the others. (Also some survey markings are visible, but they seem to cover a larger area than I'd expect would be needed just to add an additional utility vault, but maybe there would be a wire run necessitating more excavation.)
So it's not clear to me if things are almost done here, or if there might still have a long wait for PG&E.
Regarding the staging on the former Best Buy lot, saw several more Target signs on the fences. Definitely looks like Target is expanding into that area, perhaps with their own grocery section.
Looks like more progress. The pedestals for all 18 urban chargers seem installed now. The 16 V3 pedestals have been installed for a while. The 6 level 2 chargers have poles to mount them on, and the conduit seems in place for them. There's a few pipes visible in the floor where I assume they will thread the wiring through to the ceiling of the level below. There are spools of what look like very thick wire. And the signage is up. It does look like the parking spot lines will need to be repainted.
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Mrbrock
Active Member
Interesting that the L2 spots have Tesla signage. Recent SC sites with L2 spots have had HPWCs with J1772 handles which would be useable by any EV/PHEV, not just Tesla. Maybe these will be standard HPWC without the J1772 modification.
We'll see, but if I had to guess, I would expect them to be J1772s open to all, with the Tesla logo just indicating who's sponsoring them.
I really wish Tesla used a distinctive faceplate for HPWCs that used J1772 plugs. Like instead of their normal colors, they had a solid blue or green cover. Something that made it easy to identify at a glance which stations were Tesla only and which were universal without you having to physically walk up to them and check. At locations where every plug is one type or the other, this isn't as much of an issue, though.
Sorry if this is an obvious - [though I couldn't find much of an answer on Google fwiw !] - at a site with both L2 & L3 Superchargers, how do you tell the difference when selecting which Supercharger - [ie particularly when planning a shopping visit and happy to have a slower charge rate] any photos showing the physical differences please? Many thanks !
All Superchargers are Level 3. I believe you're talking about urban Superchargers (72 kW) vs highway Superchargers (150 or 250 kW). The former is a short pedestal with no TESLA logo. The latter is a tall pedestal with a light up TESLA on top.
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stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
By L2 do you mean AC charging? If so, it should be obvious. The L2 would be on a small post. It'll look like your home charger mounted on a post. They are not superchargers and would typically charge much slower than a supercharger.
The L3 (DC chargers, Tesla calls superchargers) would be a pedestal substantially bigger.
They look like these:
If instead you are talking about V2 vs V3 superchargers, the difference is V2 has two pedestals per cabinet, so they are numbered in pairs (1A and 1B for example). V3 has four per cabinet. I just visited one last week and noticed they are numbered in 4s (1A, 1B, 1C, 1D for example).
There's also urban chargers which are slower (limited to 75kW from memory). They look like these (the ones in the background).
stopcrazypp
Well-Known Member
Thanks for the update on this. Correct me if I'm wrong, but after these are active these will be the only superchargers in the city (excluding other projects at may also still be pending) where you don't have to pay for parking just to charge, right?
If you're defining "in the city" strictly to mean only within SF proper, then yes. But it's not like there's many there to consider. The two superchargers that currently operate in the city--Letterman Dr. and Opera Plaza--are in pay garages. The Daly City and South SF superchargers (each of which are about 4 miles south of SF city limits) don't have pay parking.
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