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Supercharger - Vacaville, CA (expanded in 2017, 16 V2 stalls)

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Hopefully, they will charge the $3k supercharger rate for the Model 3 to use them and then turn that money around into building out more chargers. I'm not sure how they will tell between a Model 3 and a Model S, do they have to go to a ChargePoint card system or can the chargers recognize what type of car is connected?
 
Hopefully, they will charge the $3k supercharger rate for the Model 3 to use them and then turn that money around into building out more chargers. I'm not sure how they will tell between a Model 3 and a Model S, do they have to go to a ChargePoint card system or can the chargers recognize what type of car is connected?
Superchargers do a handshake with the vehicle before charging. A vehicle that hasn't enabled supercharging won't pass this handshake. The same system that prevents legacy Model S's from before Supercharging was standard from charging will work with Model 3's if this is the route Tesla goes.
 
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The VIN number is transmitted as part of the Supercharger negotiation process. The mothership knows if you have unlimited Supercharging, no Supercharging, or a-la-carte.
Incorrect. All the Supercharger software does is check the car to see if it is allowed to Supercharger. That is done between the Supercharger and the car. Nothing is transmitted to Tesla. This has been discussed many times on TMC.
 
You post count is way higher than mine, so I'm inclined to believe you. However, I swear I remember reading that people who snooped the digital communication while the car was negotiating Supercharing said the VIN was transmitted on the wire. If that's true, we know that the Supercharger cabinets have cellular communication back to Tesla Operations, so the dots could be connected, even if it's not done now.
 
As I understand it the mothership knows all. But likely each supercharger station is pretty dumb.

Tesla knows when every car starts and stops charging and information has to include either the VIN, or a unique id that can be used to find the VIN. How else could they generate phone notifications? The mothership also knows where the car is, at least well enough to check against a list of Tesla facility geofences. They probably know whether or not a charger is connected, and what kind it is. Put those together and that's how you get nags to "Please move your vehicle..." when it's in the shop for service and you're miles away.

Based on this I'm confident that Tesla can enforce whatever charging policies they like, disabling or enabling supercharging on demand, by VIN or by location. They could use this to enforce a system of supercharger credits, or ban certain vehicles from using certain locations, etc. A jailbroken car might be able to work around it, but if that became a problem I suspect Tesla would find a way to apply stronger measures.
 
Busy day at this Supercharger. I do not come here often but have been here several times over the past few years and never had to wait. Today on my way here the car nav showed that all stalls were occupied and when I arrived that turned out to be correct. Two cars waiting (including mine).
IMG_3193.JPG
 
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Busy day at this Supercharger. I do not come here often but have been here several times over the past few years and never had to wait. Today on my way here the car nav showed that all stalls were occupied and when I arrived that turned out to be correct. Two cars waiting (including mine).
I have never had to wait either but I have been there many times when most stalls were occupied. Unfortunately there are not a lot of options in the area. If you need a charge, you need a charge.
 
Yesterday I stopped at Vacaville on my way back home and there were 2 stalls free when I arrived. For 30 minutes in advance of arriving back at that Supercharger I kept the Supercharger location window open in the car nav to see if the "stalls available" data would update. And I was pleased to see that data did change several times over that time period, and when I arrived it accurately showed the number of stalls available.
 
The Vacaville Supercharger location currently shows as not operational in my car's navigation display. I am not at that site currently and haven't been there for a month. I have not received any first-hand reports about this Supercharger location. I am only reporting what my car navigation shows.

The issue of multiple California Supercharger locations being rendered non-operational by thieves/vandals is being discussed in this thread Multiple California Supercharger locations down in past 5 months: vandalized or simple theft?

This thread is specifically for the Vacaville Supercharger only. If you wish to discuss the broader issue of California Supercharger sites being burglarized or vandalized, please use the thread I link to above. Thank you.
 
Help! Just arrived at Vacaville without knowing about the temporary closure. What are we gonna do? Plan was to stop in Redding for the night, but we don't have enough juice to get there. Yikes.

If you have a Chademo adapter, hit up the EVGo Chademo that is in the same outlet mall parking lot as the supercharger (see plugshare.com for exact location). Even if you are not an EVGo member, you can call the 800 number and get a 30 minute charge for $10-11 (prices may vary). You may wish to do this twice to be sure you have enough range to get to the Corning supercharger.

If you don't have a Chademo adapter, the Napa supercharger is 24 miles away. I realize this is not ideal, but assuming, you have 30+ rated miles, I think your best option is to go there.

If you are sub-30 rated miles and don't have a Chademo, your best option is to hit up one of the many level 2 chargers in Vacaville (again see plugshare.com. There are level 2 chargers in the same parking lot as the supercharger). Charge there until you have 35 rated miles or so and then head back to Napa supercharger and fill up there before turning around and heading up to Corning.

I realize these are not ideal solutions, but if done right, you should have only a 1-3 hour delay depending on how dire your situation is. Best Wishes!!
 
Help! Just arrived at Vacaville without knowing about the temporary closure. What are we gonna do? Plan was to stop in Redding for the night, but we don't have enough juice to get there. Yikes.

Do you have enough range to divert to the Napa Supercharger? It's close by and as far as I know / remember should be operational.

Good luck!

Bruce.
 
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