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Supercharger - Tahoe City, CA (LIVE Nov 15 2019, 6 V2 stalls)

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mociaf9

Active Member
Oct 18, 2018
3,277
6,887
CA
I searched the Placer County building permits and found commercial building permit # BLD18-04749 with the following project description:
TESLA MOTORS TO INSTALL 7 ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING STATIONS, 6 SUPERCHARGERS AND 1 LEVEL 2 CHARGER. 7 TESLA PARKING STATIONS, 1 LIGHT POLE, 1 TRANSFORMER. FENCE ENCLOSURE WITH ASSOCIATED CHARGING EQUIPMENT AND ADA SIDEWALK ACCESSIBLE ROUTE.
Applied: 2018-10-11
Record Status: In Processing
Address: 140 N. Lake Blvd.; Tahoe City, CA 96145
GPS: 39.167793, -120.144530
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It looks like everything is ready for the building permit to be approved/issued as soon as the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency [TRPA] permit is finalized. The TRPA permit for the project-- ESRP2018-1386 --was given Conditional Approval at the very end of February. So it's likely they'll get their Finalized Permit soon, if they haven't gotten it already and the website is just showing out-of-date info. But even if the actual building permit was already issued, no construction could start until after May 1st anyways. That's when the Tahoe Region "building season" opens. This is the same reason that the Supercharger - Incline Village, NV install is currently on hold. Digging/grading is only allowed between May 1st and October 15th each year.

I also came across some other associated records/filings for the project, in case anyone is interested-- 1. Placer Co. Planning/Land Use permit: PLN18-00212
2. TRPA Land Capacity/Soils Hydrology Report: LCAP2018-0321

@BlueShift @Chuq
 
Oops, I forgot to include that Tesla's webmap doesn't include a grey "Coming Soon" pin for Tahoe City. But there is one in Truckee. So, maybe that's really the pin for this location just hiding? Or maybe Tesla wants to expand one/both of their existing Truckee superchargers and they've just never put up a pin for this location. Who knows.

Tahoe City_no pin.JPG
 
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Tesla usually doesn’t install under 8 stalls. I would’ve suggested there be 12 stalls and 2 J1772s, but after checking the Google Maps, the parking lot there isn’t even big enough for 14 spaces! I’d then say 6 stalls and (maybe) 2 j1772s. Is it just me or can I picture an occasional very long line up here?

Visitor Center in the lower middle. Small parking lot.
0484014D-0C73-4652-9B34-0C29304E5BCF.png
 
Tesla usually doesn’t install under 8 stalls. I would’ve suggested there be 12 stalls and 2 J1772s, but after checking the Google Maps, the parking lot there isn’t even big enough for 14 spaces! I’d then say 6 stalls and (maybe) 2 j1772s. Is it just me or can I picture an occasional very long line up here?

I thought Tesla said that all future, non-Urban, Supercharger sites would be using V3 Supercharger hardware that should provide a significant throughput advantage meaning that they need fewer stalls per new site. (I assume that is part of the reduction in expenses.)

So what surprises me is that they are installing 6 stalls, since V3 equipment is supposed to be in 4 stall blocks. Unless they wanted 8 but the owner would only give them 7 spots and required that one of them be available to all EVs. (Assuming the destination charger won't be a Tesla wall connector.)
 
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I thought Tesla said that all future, non-Urban, Supercharger sites would be using V3 Supercharger hardware that should provide a significant throughput advantage meaning that they need fewer stalls per new site. (I assume that is part of the reduction in expenses.)

So what surprises me is that they are installing 6 stalls, since V3 equipment is supposed to be in 4 stall blocks. Unless they wanted 8 but the owner would only give them 7 spots and required that one of them be available to all EVs. (Assuming the destination won't be a Tesla wall connector.)
Almost certainly won't be V3.
 
Very cool, but know that area well and not much space anywhere around that area. Will be interesting to see where they put the SC.
It'll be in the very small lot between the Visitor Center and Willard's Sport Shop. If you zoom in on Google Maps link I put in the opening post (it's the address link), I actually dropped the pin in the exact spot in the parking lot where the chargers will go. They'll be in that row, with the cabinets and other hardware in the triangular wedge area just to the north. The lot has maybe 16 parking spaces total and the this will take up about half of them. It's going to be pretty tight. But with another 19 stalls in Truckee (split across 2 locations), when it gets busy here I don't think I would wait in a line for an open stall at this 6 stall installation.
 
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It'll be in the very small lot between the Visitor Center and Willard's Sport Shop. If you zoom in on Google Maps link I put in the opening post (it's the address link), I actually dropped the pin in the exact spot in the parking lot where the chargers will go. They'll be in that row, with the cabinets and other hardware in the triangular wedge area just to the north. The lot has maybe 16 parking spaces total and the this will take up about half of them. It's going to be pretty tight. But with another 19 stalls in Truckee (split across 2 locations), when it gets busy here I don't think I would wait in a line for an open stall at this 6 stall installation.

Agreed.

With the added new benefit of pre heating the battery when navigationing to a Suc, seems people would be more inclined to use it, thus Tesla would have a better idea of congestion at SuC, and maybe someday they would use that knowledge to help me make a better informed decision to not pass up an under underutilzed SuC like Truckee on my way in to Tahoe from Hwy 80. ( Knowing 15 other Teslas are on their way to Tahoe City SuC).
Either way, with the occupancy reporting data, you should be able to make a pretty informed decision.
 
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Whenever in Squaw for several days, we used the DriveTheARC/EVgo charger (CHAdemo) at the Save Mart across the street several times and walked to Bridgetender or further north for meals. This is a good location and a nice retreat from I-80. Looking forward to the SC's opening.
 
Great find.

I think with the two chargers in Truckee, this shouldn't get too overburdened.

I lived in Tahoe City for a few months several years ago. Only on the weekends were things busy, and most of the amenities are really spread out. This is a great location to top off charge.

When I lived there, I was surprised by the number of dwelling units that were second homes. The place honestly felt like a ghost town mid week.
 
So what surprises me is that they are installing 6 stalls, since V3 equipment is supposed to be in 4 stall blocks. Unless they wanted 8 but the owner would only give them 7 spots and required that one of them be available to all EVs. (Assuming the destination charger won't be a Tesla wall connector.)
Hawthorne only has two v3 stalls, so it’s not totally impossible that this could be the v3 version