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Supercharger - San Luis Obispo, CA (LIVE 5 May 2018, expanded May 2020, 14 V2 + 4 V3 stalls)
- Thread starter jchag
- Start date
To Fremont to be recharged. It seems that they figured it was only needed the two days.
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I was there at 3pm today and there were about 20 cars waiting in line. I didn't need a charge so I left. It seemed to indicate one stall was always open, (which was false) which probably added to the lines. No mega charger truck thing here today, supposedly going to be there tomorrow though. My advice would be to avoid this charger today.
When my friend got to the SLO Supercharger around 5:15, he said the line was about 30 deep and the line in Atascadero was about 20 deep. But the mobile charging unit arrived around 6:45 on Saturday night.
Santa Barbara would have 24 stalls at least if that were the case
We still have zero, although Montecito is supposed to be getting eight.Santa Barbara would have 24 stalls at least if that were the case
I would suspect that has more to do with lining up a site with workable real estate numbers for them. SB property even leased out for ten years must be pretty pricey. I’m sure even as popular as the SLO location at Madonna’s commercial area is, it would not be as costly as anything in SB. There’s also the traffic impact like on holidays.
The Megapack wasn't charging cars last night because it had just gotten brought back and probably wasn't setup yet.
I'm charging here right now at 9:45am, 6/12 stalls full. The mobile charger still isn't available for use, but it definitely looks ready to go. I think they are just waiting for it to get busy, before letting anyone use it, so it will last as long as possible today.
Yeah, it's pretty clear that having one of these on-site for busy travel days would be super-useful for providing temporary capacity.
It also desperately needs a way to recharge on-site. I would not be surprised if a 250 kW grid connection would be enough to keep this thing topped off and fully recharge overnight as long as it's only used for overflow charging, meaning use all the permanent stalls first, then use this if the permanent stalls fill up.
SLO property prices aren't cheap, but that part of town is a bit depressed. I went to school in SLO, and my parents lived in Morro Bay since the mid-80s but I haven't been back to SLO in a while. A few years ago my father said the Madonna Plaza was struggling and the Madonna Inn has seen better times.
Because of the weather a lot of people who would be taking the Valley route between the Bay Area and So Cal this year are going 101. Whenever a lot of traffic diverts there will be supercharger congestion. A couple of years ago 101 was closed either right after Thanksgiving or Christmas (I can't remember which) and the superchargers in the San Joaquin Valley had long lines. And the Tesla fleet was tiny then compared to now.
The supercharger options in California from Sacramento South are staggering compared to most of the rest of the world. Having supercharger options as close as Atascadero and San Luis Obispo are unheard of in many other regions.
Tesla does need to continue to build out the support network, both for service and for supercharging, but much of the year a lot of the California superchargers have plenty of openings.
Tesla has done a lot to expand since my first trip to California (Oct 2016). Most of the California superchargers I stopped at were running slow. At the Manteca supercharger I ran into a Tesla tech working on the SCs. He told me they were running around constantly repairing the superchargers because between the California heat and the heavy use the superchargers were wearing out far faster than expected. Parts would get hot and not have a chance to cool down between uses and parts would start to degrade, especially the cables. By expanding the network as much as they have over the last 3 years, they have cut down on the constant use day to day. It can still be a pain on holidays, especially like this year when a lot more people divert to one route.
I think there is something else at play. Tesla has a service center right off the freeway, big empty parking lot on one side. Maybe they can't get the permit/power needed. I can see why Buellton and SLO would get backed up when there is a lot of traffic, after Buellton you've got 80 miles to the next one going south. Loads of Teslas in about 40 of those 80 miles coming from and going to somewhere, if it's north you have to plan carefully..
ucmndd
Well-Known Member
goldengate
Member
The other "interesting" dynamic is as you drive this stretch, you're acutely aware that your Tesla brothers and sisters are also your competition at the few SC's... This year I let one get in front of me before Buellton - he got off and I didn't. My distinct impression was that he was trying to get in front of me to exit so he could be ahead of me in line for the SC.
Last year, a person "raced" me at Salinas by turning right at an intersection then flipping a U and then turning right again so she could skip the light and get to the SC first.
It's the most wonderful time of the year....
I think so too are the number of Teslas on the road
Up until about 2018 about 1/4 of all the Teslas in the world were between Sacramento and the Mexico border. There are still quite a few, though I think the ratio has evened out a little though California probably has more than most countries.
I avoided travel this Thanksgiving. But I’m thinking about Christmas travel from Gilroy to Santa Barbara given the Thanksgiving Supercharger problems at SLO, Atascadero, and Buellton.
Looks like SC charging really needs to be done before ~9am and after 7pm during holidays to avoid lines.
Maybe just rent a ICE car for Holiday travel....
Looks like SC charging really needs to be done before ~9am and after 7pm during holidays to avoid lines.
Maybe just rent a ICE car for Holiday travel....
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