No such thing as a "San Clemente SC".
The San Juan Capistrano Supercharger is very busy on weekends. This is a known issue. See upthread.
The San Juan Capistrano Supercharger is very busy on weekends. This is a known issue. See upthread.
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Supercharger - San Juan Capistrano, CA (7 V2 stalls)
- Thread starter airj1012
- Start date
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- California Supercharging USA
SJC became the 2nd busiest SC immediately upon its launch in May 2014, with a steady back-up of cars waiting to charge since the first week it opened. It is an absolute certainty that there are now far more Teslas in this area compared to "way back then." Yet, FV is the only new SC to have opened anywhere even close to SJC since that time. That one is regularly backed-up as well. This is the busiest corridor in the country, and the highest concentrations of Tesla's to boot. TM needs at least 2 additional locations in the South OC.
Looking at the Supercharger map on Tesla's homepage it seems they already have more planned or even in the works.
The problem is they need to be along the 5, not the 405 to impact SJC. Tesla built 4 along the 405 and each time we had folks saying, "Oh yeah, this will definitely help SJC". I was the only one to point out that Tesla needed to focus on the 5 more and sure enough, all these other SpCs did little to reduce congestion at SJC. Maybe Tesla finally got the message.
Maybe. I think you are correct, but by looking at FV, and how immediately congested that got, it is the entire corridor that needs help, not just the 5. FV was only 8 stalls and insufficient to alleviate SJC. And yes, it does not catch those continuing up the 5.
No more adding minuscule 8 stalls locations on this corridor. They need to get serious on this route, and beat out Fremont, Harris, etc. Put in a 16 stall location in the south OC, and my guess is that it will still fill up. That is the only way to finally address this problem.
So, let's help Tesla find a new location. I think Irvine near the 5/405 interchange would be ideal. There is a mall close to there, right?
Absolutely agree. The entire north/south route in California is so busy that they need to get serious.
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Of course. Superchargers are the best charging stations out of all. They are the fastest and free. Of course people will use this over lesser alternatives. But that can't be an argument against a Supercharger in any location because then none would be built.
It's the same as roads. Building a new road will cause more people to go on it. Every new road attracts more traffic and causes more traffic. It's a known fact. So should we just stop building roads because people will use them?
Currently you can't go from LA to San Diego and back without charging. FV SJC and SD Superchargers help but the bottle neck is definitely SJC, hence the business there. Do locals charge there. Heck yes. Some people like to top off just to be safe instead of running down their battery and having to worry.
FredTMC
Model S VIN #4925
This'll be an unpopular opinion, but honestly, I think the only solution is to charge a nominal convenience fee ($/kWh) for "local" supercharge use. OR, a limited amount of free uses per month and a fee after that. The main issue with supercharger congestion is use by tons of locals.
A few power packs would most likely fix that problem. In general I think more locations/stations with fewer stalls is better than fewer stations with lots of stalls. It makes more sense to support traffic in more places rather than trying to funnel it through big charging stations.
I think the solution is to charge locals for parking. There are some reports of folks leaving their Tesla connected and driving off in another car. Charging should be free, but local parking should not.
I say "local" parking because, well, I've done it before too while I was on a road trip. We were staying at a nearby hotel and arrived very late and I didn't have the energy to sit up and wait for the charge to complete. I moved it first thing in the morning and I never prevented or blocked anyone. Well, unless there was some crazy rush at 2 am that I missed...
I would tend to agree with this philosophy in the long run. That would be ideal when there are hundreds of stations around and you can pull into any one of them and likely find a spot. For now, we don't have that luxury. If we arrive at SJC and see all the spots are full, we will go to the next one, let's pretend, about 10 miles further, only to find that it is also full, maybe with a bigger wait. Or, maybe not. I think key locations with LOTS of stalls now, and fill in with lots of smaller stations later.
What many people do in that situation is charge for a few minutes when you check in, move the car to the regular parking lot, and move it back in the morning to charge as you're having breakfast.
With regard to local "parking" at superchargers, I don't think anyone could object to Tesla charging an hourly fee for being plugged into a supercharger beyond 90 minutes. That gives plenty of leeway for slow charging from a paired car, needing to charge to 100% for the trip, etc. but would focus on the real abusers as you describe above or those who shop all day at the mall while staying plugged in, etc.
BrokerDon
Active Member
Oops you're correct. The Supercharger is in SJC not SC... Or should I shorten that to "The SC is in SJC not SC" LOL
FredTMC
Model S VIN #4925
Nice! LOL.
Per apacheguy comment, I haven't personally witnessed people parking their car at a supercharger stall for hours on end. It's extremely rude and I think owners intuitively understand (especially SJC)
I think the tesla app helps too. "Your charging is nearly complete..."
BrokerDon
Active Member
OOPS. The South Orange County Supercharger I was referring to is in San Juan Capistrano not San Clemente... Or should I shorten that to "The SC is in SJC not SC" ? LOL
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
And remember that to aviators, SJC is the TLA for Norman Y Mineta San Jose International Airport — San Jose, California, USA — SJC
There has been so much debate, on so many different threads, about locals making use of SC's. After reading almost everything, it seems that the real problem is people who park at SC's, not just use them frequently. TM can do so much to alleviate this, but have not done much of anything to date. At SJC, or other problematic places, they should put up new signs (yes, I know the first ones were stolen) that say exactly what TexasEV said above: "90 minute parking only while charging. All others will be towed." That will stop cold anyone from dropping off their cars there for the day or overnight, which has been witnessed here. My guess is that TM has been hesitant to do such, since these spots are typically borrowed from other businesses, and they don't want to anger those people. If, however, it is selectively enforced on these few violators, even just a few times, we should see the problem cease. Actually, even if they never enforce it, the signs enough may be sufficient to make a difference.
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