Supercharger - San Mateo, CA - Park Place (LIVE, 8 V2 stalls)

[Khatsalano]

Fair question. In my opinion, if at 0715 AM I see a car either occupied by a single person and/or not showing signs of being full of luggage and no people in it or near it (I glanced in all the vehicles as I walked by to go see if Whole Foods was open) I think it likely that they are not long distance travelers. Out of the 8 full stalls, one car was a limo service, and one was me. So I knew for certain that 2 of the 8 cars were not long distance travelers. Out of the 6 remaining cars, none were heavily coated with bugs, all were CA plates, and based on the other aforementioned indications I think it very likely all were local to the SF Peninsula. But I could be wrong...

I agree that this SC is routinely packed. I can't tell whether it's locals or not, except TCP cars for me are always not welcome. Maybe my local-sensing skills are not as fine tuned.

As far as your "locals" criteria above, I think I fit your description exactly. I drive all over the state for work by myself, at about 38,000 miles a year. You will find me just as likely in SF, Bakersfield, Salinas, Kelseyville, Fresno, or Sacramento if you're looking at this month's calendar alone. You won't see me full of luggage because as a regular road traveler, I keep everything out of view in the trunk for security--it's just a best practice if you're on the road a lot. I don't have bugs all over my car because I have my car washed regularly by my go-to detailer in San Carlos, especially after trips on I-5. And ... of course I have CA plates.

I sometimes use the San Mateo SC despite living in San Mateo, but only at about once every 4 months for specific travel itineraries. But like Obi-Wan said, I'm not the local you're looking for.

- K

 

[dandelot]

I visit the San Mateo supercharger location to shop, once in every two weeks. late morning.
Each time, every charge slot is full the entire time. Nothing moves. Thursday a white Model S
with driver waited for an hour (while I was shopping) and nothing changed.

I suspect every one of those slots is filled by an office worker who has no intention to move
the vehicle before 5PM. When I left I drove bythe white S and suggested that the driver
was unlikely to get to a charger before end-of-business-day.

One slot was unused With cones and markers suggesting it was broken.
Unless it was just a creative office working keeping his parking spot open!

When SM SC was new and empty I did use it briefly a couple times even though I'm local,
but the present use is not good for distance travelers. There are lots of residences and lots of offices within two blocks of the SC.

 

[ecarfan]

the vehicle before 5PM. When I left I drove bythe white S and suggested that the driver was unlikely to get to a charger before end-of-business-day.

What did the white Model S driver say in response? Did they indicate they were passing through on a long distance trip and had to charge to make it to their next destination? Or that they had no home charging or other charging alternatives?

It is hard to imagine a local owner being willing to sit and wait for an hour or more before being able to charge unless they had no home charging and no other charging options.

 

[whttiger25]

The entire location is on "reduced service". I'm getting 40kw on a 10% battery.

Par for the course

 

[dandelot]

What did the white Model S driver say in response? Did they indicate they were passing through on a long distance trip and had to charge to make it to their next destination? Or that they had no home charging or other charging alternatives?

He just acknowledged my comment (a nod or something). I recall nothing else.
I suppose I could have asked, but it did not cross my mind.

 

[rickgt]

This super charger is critical to me when making round trip to SF and return to Monterey Bay... for a while they had an employee watching and supervising the use of equipment. What happened to him? This is very upsetting for one who uses this for long distance travel.

 

[debuggr]

I drove past this location today at 6:15pm and noticed that the all chargers are now functional. This wasn't the case yesterday.

Of course, all stalls were occupied and there were two cars waiting to charge.

 

[gordo]

I stopped in this morning for 15 minutes (fist time in months, even though i live nearby). An employee was opening up the chargers and doing some maintenance on each one. He'd just closed up 3B as I was getting there and told me to give it a try. I had only a 10% charge since I drove to Davis the day before and didn't charge last night (8.0 install interrupted scripted charge command) and started out at 115kW. Whatever the problem was, it seems to be fixed.

 

[Khatsalano]

But ... there are new L2 chargers now downstairs!

- K

 

[ecarfan]

But ... there are new L2 chargers now downstairs!

- K

Reallly? I need to go take a look. How many? What type? They are not listed as a separate location on PlugShare.

A recent PlugShare visitor to the Superchargers mentions "CHAdeMO chargers in the garage" for $0.25/kWh but doesn't say how many there are or who operates them. They need to be listed separately on PlugShare to raise awareness.

Of course a Tesla cannot use a CHAdeMO without a very expensive adaptor.

 

[ecarfan]

But ... there are new L2 chargers now downstairs!

I made a visit to those new chargers in the underground parking area. They appear to be run by Chargepoint . Each charging pedestal contains two cables, one is a CCS and one is a CHAdeMO. I was in my Roadster and was unable to try them. My Tesla Roadster J1772 adapator cannot connect to a CCS plug.

Can the Model S/X J1772 adaptor connect to a CCS cable?

Here are photos of the 4 charging pedestals from both sides, and a close up of a pedestal.

 

[rickgt]

I made a visit to those new chargers in the underground parking area. They appear to be run by Chargepoint . Each charging pedestal contains two cables, one is a CCS and one is a CHAdeMO. I was in my Roadster and was unable to try them. My Tesla Roadster J1772 adapator cannot connect to a CCS plug.

Can the Model S/X J1772 adaptor connect to a CCS cable?

Here are photos of the 4 charging pedestals from both sides, and a close up of a pedestal.

View attachment 196818 View attachment 196819 View attachment 196820

This is a great alternative when the supercharger is filled with local folks doing their shopping, and a traveler needs to charge to continue a trip... I need this location frequently going to SF from Monterey area. Thanks for sharing the info

 

[ecarfan]

This is a great alternative when the supercharger is filled with local folks doing their shopping, and a traveler needs to charge to continue a trip... I need this location frequently going to SF from Monterey area. Thanks for sharing the info

Unfortunately, the lure of "free" Supercharging is going to continue to result in the San Mateo stalls being very busy and likely not because they are being primarily used by long distance travelers. The Chargepoint plugs in the below ground parking area require the Tesla owner to have CHAdeMO adaptor, which few have (I certainly will not be buying one, I would never use it) and of course they cost money to use.

Rick, I consider your use case, Monterey to SF round trip, a perfectly acceptable reason for you to use the San Mateo Supercharger (not that you need my permission, just stating my opinion). Since that is an approximately 240 mile round trip, in a P85 you are going to need to charge.

I live a few miles from this Supercharger location. I have charged there exactly once, when my home HPWC and backup NEMA 14-50 was out of operation for over a week during my solar PV system installation this year. I do not expect to charge at this Supercharger location again.

It would be interesting to see the results of a survey of Tesla owners plugging in at the San Mateo Supercharger and get actual data on what percentages of them live within 15 miles / have home charging / are passing through on a long trip / are charging as part of their regular commute.

There have been intense arguments about how much of the crowding is due to local use and if those locals have home charging available to them or not. If we had real data we could hopefully discuss the issue more reasonably.

The Mountain View Supercharger also appears to be full on a regular basis, sometimes late at night.

The issue of why some urban area Superchargers are so crowded can be discussed but angry posts and personal insults will not be tolerated. Facts and reason are welcomed.

 

[jeffro01]

The issue of why some urban area Superchargers are so crowded can be discussed but angry posts and personal insults will not be tolerated. Facts and reason are welcomed.

I think the core problem here is Tesla has been woefully inconsistent with it's position on this issue. Elon had the famous statement at the shareholders meeting, then the email came out, and then all hell broke loose. Tesla basically went dark at that point and really hasn't said anything since.

My circumstantial guess, based on what we've seen pop up on "my tesla" is something along the lines of; "look, we tried to be polite about this, tried to discourage locals from abusing the free supercharger access, but instead got hit with a serious backlash for even trying, so now we're going to move the system to one that does X"... It's the "X" that remains to be seen... It certainly looks like Tesla is trying to figure out a way to discourage locals, and people who drop their cars off and leave, from abusing the system.

Tesla as a company naturally has different priorities than it's owners do. I get that. I get that the need to sell a car to someone who can't, or won't charge, at home. At the end of the day, Tesla is in the business to sell as many cars as it can.

The universal question is, how does Tesla achieve balance between the two sides? I think the economical middle ground here is to place valets at the urban locations that are most crowded so that at least people can't drop their cars off and leave. If you want to charge there, you must leave your FOB with the valet, otherwise, no bueno...

Jeff

 

[rickgt]

I do have a ChadeMo adaptor, and will gladly pay for electricity if the alternative is a long wait for the locals to finish using the San Mateo Supercharger stalls... I've even seen limo service guys sitting there charging between rides. This alternative charging site in the garage may be just the thing when I need to continue my travels north.

 

[miimura]

The pricing on the ChargePoint DCFCs at this location is quite reasonable. It's only 25c/kWh for the first hour. After that there is an additional fee of 25c per minute. If you only need enough energy to complete a Monterey / SF round trip a 30 minute charge should do it. That would add at least 20kWh, likely more than enough to complete your trip. That's only $5. Most other CHAdeMO chargers in the area are NRG EVgo and they charge $10.95 for the same 30 minutes unless you pay $15/month.

 

[Altes]

Can't tesla check what cars are on the supercharger and tell them not to camp? Vial email or txt or app? Repeat offenders get suspended and eventually banned

 

[dhcp]

Maybe the first 40 or 45 minutes are free. After that you pay dearly, like $1/min something. That would keep people from parking there all day.

I've been there once and all the slots were full and I was one of three cars waiting. When I finally made it in, I ran over and bought a soda and came back. In the 20 or so minutes I charged, no other cars had turned over and the same two cars that were waiting behind me were still waiting.

 

[Bet TSLA]

Can't tesla check what cars are on the supercharger and tell them not to camp? Vial email or txt or app? Repeat offenders get suspended and eventually banned

This has been discussed endlessly. Please not on this thread. Everything you can think of has been thought of and debated.

 

[ecarfan]

Moderator note: please keep this thread focused on issues specific to the San Mateo Supercharger. There are multiple threads about the issue of locals using Superchargers instead of charging at home, Tesla owners leaving their car for hours in a Supercharger stall, what Tesla could do to better manage crowded Superchargers, etc. Thank you.