Supercharger - San Marcos, TX

[DriverOne]

The original Texas Supercharger!

Five stalls, installed late 2013.

Recently heard there are some new boxes sitting around, which at other locations have indicated an expansion will occur... Can anybody confirm this?

 

[TexasEV]

Yup. Dig site utility marking request posted today for "installation of underground secondary power" for Tesla.

 

[JasJ]

About time. Yeah!

 

[Electroman]

Is there that much SpC traffic in that remote place that would necessitate an expansion?

 

[PLUS EV]

Is there that much SpC traffic in that remote place that would necessitate an expansion?

It's not that remote. And yes.

Also, wasn't there already a San Marcos thread? Why did we start a new one?

 

[PLUS EV]

This was the thread I was thinking of. It's in the wrong forum.

San Marcos getting tighter

 

[Electroman]

Is there that much SpC traffic in that remote place that would necessitate an expansion?

My bad. I confused this with another one closer to Mexico border.

 

[DriverOne]

I figured there had to already be a thread - but couldn’t find one. Lo and behold, you found one I started previously! This one’s named and placed more consistently.

San Marcos is a fairly busy charger between Austin, Dallas and points south (San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and other coastal destinations). It’s also where San Antonio owners will pass to find good food

Especially if one or two stalls are down (as has happened), it’s crunch time.

 

[brkaus]

Guess there is not a formal thread. The supercharge.info page links to a charging standards thread.

Good thing about San Marcos, not many "opportunistic local users".

Agree it needs more stalls.

 

[JasJ]

When travelling from Houston to my son's various scout camps, this is a typical charge spot for us. Invariably one stall is dead and another one to two are 'low power'. I have never arrived when at least two other cars were not charging. So glad they may be expanding stalls. It is also one of the earliest superchargers in Texas, so I would suspect it needs some freshening up.

 

[DriverOne]

> The supercharge.info page links to a charging standards thread.

@BlueShift would you update the supercharge.info link for San Marcos to this thread, please?

 

[mociaf9]

When travelling from Houston to my son's various scout camps, this is a typical charge spot for us. Invariably one stall is dead and another one to two are 'low power'. I have never arrived when at least two other cars were not charging. So glad they may be expanding stalls. It is also one of the earliest superchargers in Texas, so I would suspect it needs some freshening up.

Given the seemingly perennial problems at this site, it may be that Tesla has trouble getting "clean" electricity here for whatever reason and that this is creating repeated problems even though they have fixed them a number of times. Or it might just be as you said that since this is one of the earlier installations it uses older hardware which is more prone to failing than their newer generation gear.

 

[DriverOne]

FWIW, San Marcos was the first Texan Supercharger.

This was wonderful at the time, as there was some fear that since Tesla wasn't allowed to sell vehicles in Texas, somehow Superchargers might also be blocked.

 

[DriverOne]

Work is proceeding on this Supercharger. Unclear whether it’s being expanded or just updated.

 

[NoPetrolDream]

Work is proceeding on this Supercharger. Unclear whether it’s being expanded or just updated.

I guess that's why it showed up on my car's map today as "limited service" or some such, and then threw up another window saying the charger was shut down. Good thing I stopped at the Austin charger before proceeding south.

 

[DriverOne]

Word is that it’s being expanded though I don’t know the final capacity. Yay for some San Marcos love!

 

[TexLaw]

Whether it's a welcome expansion or a welcome update, it's welcome! This can be a tricky spot!

 

[BerTX]

I never really understood San Marcos, with it's 5 slots. Why did they not put in a even number?

As to usage, it is fairly busy at all times during the day, but particularly on weekends and during holiday shopping periods. In the hundreds of times I have Supercharged across the country, it is still the only one I have had to wait for a slot.

Under some circumstances, it is good to know that there is a free ChargePoint location here, more conveniently located for the Tanger half of the mall, for just parking and slow charging (about 20 mph). There have been a few times I have bulk charged at the SC, then moved to the L2 chargers for the rest of the shopping time.

 

[thenaimis]

I never really understood San Marcos, with it's 5 slots. Why did they not put in a even number?

So that those of us in the know can have a charger to ourselves

 

[BerTX]

So that those of us in the know can have a charger to ourselves

But at the cost of having to park between two other cars while they are charging... I'll admit this is not as much of a problem at SCs as it is with free-swinging doors in other parking situations (since both cars would be Teslas), but still, other people's kids are not always as careful when getting out of the car.