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Supercharger - Tehachapi, CA (permit, 40 stalls)
- Thread starter rayluis1988
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- California supercharger
Here is the news article:
www.tehachapinews.com
I've actually had my eye on this Love's Truck Stop as a potential supercharger location for quite some time. Nice to see one of my ideas (eventually) coming to fruition.
Tesla Supercharger station approved by Planning Commission
The first action toward an eventual Tesla Supercharger fueling station for Tehachapi was made by the Tehachapi Planning Commission Monday night.
I've actually had my eye on this Love's Truck Stop as a potential supercharger location for quite some time. Nice to see one of my ideas (eventually) coming to fruition.
Bet TSLA
Active Member
Sure, but why 40 stalls? This isn't on a major route from anywhere to anywhere, is it? Are the superchargers in Mojave heavily used? Certainly not when I've been through there.Here is the news article:
Tesla Supercharger station approved by Planning Commission
The first action toward an eventual Tesla Supercharger fueling station for Tehachapi was made by the Tehachapi Planning Commission Monday night.
I've actually had my eye on this Love's Truck Stop as a potential supercharger location for quite some time. Nice to see one of my ideas (eventually) coming to fruition.
I was thinking the same but then I was like: Maybe future proofing, magic dock/CCS cars usage.
It’s on a route from Las Vegas and also I-40 to Northern California.
Mrbrock
Active Member
I get the feeling that Tesla now has enough money and momentum to where it doesn't make sense to have a bunch of smaller partner hosts in areas with cheap(ish) desert land; just buy and build what they want. It does seem easily double the size necessary, but it looks like all prefabs, so maybe they can negotiate the permit to add them as demand dictates.
Johnny Vector
Member
I mean, they already have one in Tonopah. Also Tucson and Tucumcari, so this completes the set. Now if they just give me weed, whites and wine, and they show me a sign, I for one will be willin'.
Shade. Back of the napkin math for a station this size at a 25% annualized utilization rate would need something like 24 acres of solar panels to make it net zero.
Most likely 40 stalls are
Planned to accommodate the large amount of Tesla Semi commercial trucks that pass through that route.
Mrbrock
Active Member
These stalls aren’t for semis. And which semis are making that route? Currently they are most if not all Pepsi/Frito Lay and travel between factories in CA where they have dedicated chargers at each end of the route. Or the one of Tesla owned one doing deliveries at EOQ. Or taking batteries from Reno to Fremont. Dont think any are doing the Tehachapi run.
I think the semis use a different, beefier style of charger regular Superchargers (and they also wouldn't fit in normal spaces even if they were compatible). I guess they are just trying to get ahead of future demand for Central Valley/Central Coast <-> Vegas and I-40 trips. It does seem that with so much expansion on the 58 corridor Tesla should have plenty of capacity to enable CCS compatibility. Given this is a truck stop location, perhaps they have an arrangement to add truck chargers also at a later date.
Mrbrock
Active Member
It’s for all 9500 A’s fans making the trip from Oakland to Vegas by way of Bakersfield (40 of them have to own Teslas right?)!
cpa
Active Member
You are kidding, right?
State Route 58 is the direct line from Bakersfield to Barstow then onto Interstate 40 to northern Arizona or onto Interstate 15 to Vegas and beyond. A lot of owners live in the Central Valley like me while others live along the Central Coast. The planned Supercharger in Bakersfield is a little bit away from the freeway and traffic might be problematic at certain times of day. It is also not easy to reach from the imminent relocation of SR58 from Rosedale Highway onto the Westside Parkway for people using Interstate 5 instead of highway 99.
The access to the Supercharger locations in Mojave are a good 4-5 minutes off highway 58 from the west, and about 5-6 minutes from the east. In addition, Tehachapi is about 20 miles closer to Bakersfield. To me it makes good sense to place a Supercharger in Tehachapi as it is an easy reach with 85% from Visalia and Fresno or from San Luis Obispo/Pismo Beach. In addition, it might even let people from Cupertino skip the 150kW Superchargers in Buttonwillow or Bakersfield/I5 if they leave Kettleman City (or the planned Supercharger at Lost Hills).
I fail to see why having 40 stalls at a hub like Tehachapi would be problematic. Most of the newer cars can make it to Baker from Tehachapi or make it to their homes along the coast or in the Central Valley without stopping. I am sure you are aware that the 40-stall site in Baker is expanding to add a bunch of V3 Superchargers, and the site in Quarzsite, Arizona is also expanding with a bunch of V3 Superchargers too. Sure, those highways have a higher traffic count than 58. But I believe that Tesla knows what it is doing with the quantity, density, and sizing of Supercharger sites.
Just to add to what you are saying... it isn't just the Central Valley and Central Coast people. Many Bay Area people heading to Vegas, I-40 or even the national parks in Southern Utah will take this route. And obviously there are a ton of Teslas in the Bay Area.
Furthermore there is significant motivation for all of the above parties to take this route to avoid LA traffic even if they are eventually headed to I-10 (say Phoenix for example). LA traffic almost always sucks!
cpa
Active Member
I also overlooked an obvious benefit for Tehachapi: Those souls who spend time in the Owens Valley and Eastern Sierra. From the coast or the Valley, the options to reach the other side of the hill are either the northern passes along 80, 50, or 88 (year round) or the southern route via Bakersfield then north on highway 14. There are winter closures along highways 4 and 108, not to mention Tioga Road through Yosemite. In fact, those highways are still "closed for the winter" as the crews are busily trying to clear the highways of snow, ice, and debris and then making sure there aren't corollary problems like broken culverts or damaged shoulders. Moreover, there were about seven days this past winter that the only open highways to head east from north of the transverse range were highway 36 out of Red Bluff to reach Susanville or highway 58 east of Bakersfield. Interstate 80, US50, State Signed Routes 20 and 88 all were temporarily closed.
I used to head to Palm Desert right after Thanksgiving for a week. I generally went through Mojave to Kramer Jct. then south on 395 to I15, SSR210 to Interstate 10 and onto my destination. You are correct that while longer it is only about 45 minutes longer and it avoids the cluster****when SR14 merges onto Interstate 5 and the 3/4-mile distance before merging right to exit onto Interstate 210, not to mention the traffic through Pasadena and the SG Valley. Much less stressful a drive.
It is on our way From NorCal to Las Vegas and such, this location will be perfect.
We use this rout to go to Arizona in the winter and avoid LA traffic. Not to mention to check out the famous Tehachapi Railroad loop.
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