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Supercharger - The Dalles, OR (LIVE Aug 2014, 5 V2 stalls)
- Thread starter emupilot
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- Northwest oregon Supercharging USA
Jedibryan
Member
The Dalles being down made my way home from the Timberline Lodge in Government Camp a little more interesting yesterday. I've only had my Model Y for a couple months, so I haven't had much anxiety with range till now. Topped of at the Sandy SC, and between the tail wind and actually driving the speed limit made it back to the Tricities with about 15% range left.
I think it was a good experience for me to have as a relatively new Tesla owner. It'll be nice when the Hood River SC gets put in, for a little more redundancy along this route. Especially with how bad the headwinds can get along this corridor.
I think it was a good experience for me to have as a relatively new Tesla owner. It'll be nice when the Hood River SC gets put in, for a little more redundancy along this route. Especially with how bad the headwinds can get along this corridor.
In Oregon I recommend getting a chademo adapter. Oregon has great chademo coverage and at least on my old model s can still charge at about 160mph.
Has saved me many times already.
Boardman, OR also is supposed to get one. With Hood River and Boardman I would feel safe on this route if one went down (assuming the Dalles remains) even in an SR+
As it is
Unfortunately I think between the Dalles and the next supercharger there is really only one Chademo station and I think it’s either 25kW or 40kW...
Chuq
Active Member
GHammer
Dark Star
According to a Plugshare entry they were told by Tesla support the outage was due to severe damage to power cabinet. Seems pretty coincidental that first Baker City goes down due to theft/vandalism and now this one goes down. Seems reminiscent of what happened in California a few years ago. Multiple CA Supercharger locations down in past 5 months: breakdowns, vandalism, or theft?
Well if they’re going to have to replace equipment anyway... might as well upgrade them to V3 (or add additional stalls, though space is kinda at a premium at this site).
I think there is pretty much no chance of a space upgrade there. V3 would be nice because that one has so few spaces, but I’m not holding my breath.
It does highlight how precarious this route is and how important that supercharger is. I can do portland in my 3LR with no wind or a tail wind, but that’s not the norm there. Bend is only possible with substantial reduction in speed. This means anyone with an older (and really, not that much older) S, an X, and most 3s and Ys are just SOL without serious drafting or lower speeds
It does highlight how precarious this route is and how important that supercharger is. I can do portland in my 3LR with no wind or a tail wind, but that’s not the norm there. Bend is only possible with substantial reduction in speed. This means anyone with an older (and really, not that much older) S, an X, and most 3s and Ys are just SOL without serious drafting or lower speeds
bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
Possibly the Anarchists in Portland branching out? That group seems to have no respect for anyone's property, and probably to them Tesla = rich owner, so they feel justified.
This message is approved by Donald Trump
bkp_duke
Well-Known Member
This message is approved by Donald Trump
Whatever chump. Get your head out of the sand.
I don't care what party someone is affiliated (I'm an independent) - violence is and should always be illegal. The constitution does not guarantee violent protests, only peaceful ones.
I thought this was a non-political site. Outside Portland, it is more likely to be the anti-electric car crowd. The coal roller types. Right, left or center, vandalism is a criminal activity.
get tf out of here with your unsolicited nonsense. seriously. I don’t come to read updates on SCs to see this pile of garbage -infused think piece. Honestly, would anyone believe this train of thought?! Flabbergasted.
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You obviously know nothing about the PNW or where the Dalles are. Nor do you understand the deep love pretty much all liberals have of electric cars and Tesla in Portland. The worst emotion I have had to deal with in this area is envy.
The Dalles is in a county that went for Trump in 2016 by 9 points and Trump won the next county to the east by 52 points (72-20). Like California, the urban areas of the PNW are fairly liberal and the rural areas conservative (Trump won a majority of counties in Oregon in 2016). The Dalles is politically a lot more like Bakersfield with a lower Hispanic population than Portland.
In the primary Jo Rae Perkins, a QAnon candidate won the nomination for the GOP slot to run against incumbent Jeff Merkley. She will probably win Wasco county (where the Dalles is) and lose the Senate race.
I believe the sabotage done to the superchargers in California a few years ago was done by people harvesting metal they could sell for scrap to feed their drug habits. There have been some thefts in this region for the same purpose.
The most likely reason for the damage is economic. That region of the PNW has struggled economically for a long time. My partner's mother grew up a bit east of the Dalles on a homestead her parents established and it was a very tough life. One thing that has become an economic boon to many who own acreage over there are windmills. Oregon and Washington have both benefited greatly from the dams built in the 1930s-1950s that provide cheap electricity (I pay $0.08/KWh and some parts of eastern Washington are even cheaper). Wind power coming online in Oregon has enabled the state to close it's last coal powered generation plant a decade earlier than planned. Washington still has one left that is slated to close soon.
There are knuckleheads everywhere, but overall renewable energy is fairly uncontroversial in Washington and Oregon because most of the generation is in the conservative parts of the state and people there benefit directly from them. Between jobs maintaining and running them to economic activity created by being close to cheap renewable power.
All that said, someone the last few days said the supercharger in Hood River needs to be built ASAP. I second that! I've led the local Tesla club over there to do the Hood River Fruit Loop that last two years and some of the people with shorter range cars need to go 20 miles further and supercharge in the Dalles. One guy last year was an electrician and he had a temporary power panel in the trunk of his Model 3 in case he had to rig up emergency charging somewhere.
Hood River is a major destination for a lot of people in Portland, whether they are doing the Fruit Loop or wind surfing. For Tesla owners to go another 20 miles up the road to supercharge is a hassle. There already is a CHaDEMO in a municipal lot near downtown. Having a supercharger there would drive business into the downtown restaurants (of which there are several good ones).
I've also written McMennimans suggesting they put in a destination charger at the Edgefield. It not only will give a slower speed backup along the I-84 route, but it will also draw a lot of people in who would probably like the place, but don't know it's there now. I never got a reply.
xrayangiodoc
Member
Drafting really helps stretch the range when required. Made a big difference when we had to go from St. Louis to Kansas City before the Columbia SC was installed.
eprosenx
Active Member
Yeah, I am really curious what causes the different outages. I wish I could find a way to become certified as a limited maintenance tech for superchargers. I keep a pretty good set of electrical tools in my car all the times and I would love to be able to inspect things, reset breakers, swap rectifier modules / control modules, and swap out charging cords as needed.
All of those things are relatively easy and could put a supercharger stall back in service in just a few minutes while I happened to be there.
Now if the main electrical switchgear is damaged that is a whole different story. Probably would require coordination with the power company, not to mention probably a crane, etc...
To the comment about upgrading to V3: I have not looked but I suspect the conduit structure layout is vastly different in the ground between them so it may require heavy construction (also may require bigger transformers from the utility, etc...)
Indeed through the solution here needs to be more superchargers more places. It removes the single failure domain issue.
P.S. I may be the guy that brings gear to hard wire into any panel with me on the Fruit Loop tour. I am thinking this year about seeing if one or two of the places wants to add a couple NEMA 14-50’s ahead of time for the shorter range vehicles to top off.
GHammer
Dark Star
I worked on high current and high voltage power supplies and control systems for many years, I've often thought Superchargers cant be that complicated. There's been a Portland area job posting for a supercharger tech for quite some time, i've thought about it but I'm not really looking for a full time gig.Yeah, I am really curious what causes the different outages. I wish I could find a way to become certified as a limited maintenance tech for superchargers. I keep a pretty good set of electrical tools in my car all the times and I would love to be able to inspect things, reset breakers, swap rectifier modules / control modules, and swap out charging cords as needed.
All of those things are relatively easy and could put a supercharger stall back in service in just a few minutes while I happened to be there.
Now if the main electrical switchgear is damaged that is a whole different story. Probably would require coordination with the power company, not to mention probably a crane, etc...
To the comment about upgrading to V3: I have not looked but I suspect the conduit structure layout is vastly different in the ground between them so it may require heavy construction (also may require bigger transformers from the utility, etc...)
Indeed through the solution here needs to be more superchargers more places. It removes the single failure domain issue.
P.S. I may be the guy that brings gear to hard wire into any panel with me on the Fruit Loop tour. I am thinking this year about seeing if one or two of the places wants to add a couple NEMA 14-50’s ahead of time for the shorter range vehicles to top off.
As for a V3 upgrade, very unlikely. Different pedestals, larger wire feeding the pedestals, different power supply stacks and as you pointed out probably different conduit layout and utility supply.
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