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

[cpa]

Ulmo, I think the Supercharger model is a work in progress. Tesla is in a difficult position trying to place the locations at convenient intervals and in convenient locations. I speculate that Tesla looked for the most bang for their buck in negotiating zero or as little rent as possible. These were the loss leader, as it were, to entice us to buy their automobiles because Supercharging is (was) free--for life!

I think (and hope) that after the VW funds start to be disbursed and more long range BEVs hit the road that we will see companies starting to build out charging stations (or augment convenience stores) with fast DC charging. Eventually these spots will dominate, and the Supercharging model as we see today will slowly go away as leases expire. A dozen years from now very few grandfathered Teslas will still be on the road to take advantage of complimentary Supercharging.

Whether DC fast charging by the end of the next decade will resemble the current hodge-podge of Tesla, CHAdeMo, and CCS combined with a half dozen compaines like ChargPoint, EVgo, SEMA Connect, Blink, Tesla SC, or not, is anyone's guess. Nor do we know if/how the various states will assess road taxes for BEV's. But I could certainly see the day coming when public utilities and others will be in the DC fast charging business and be able to collect the road tax at the plug. Tesla may opt to get out of the charging business by then.

 

[ecarfan]

Moderator note: please try to keep posts in this thread specific to the Vacaville Supercharger as opposed to general comments about the Supercharger network (there are other threads for that). I will endeavor to follow my own advice as well.

 

[siucity]

There's 2 temp chargers in place, giving it a total of 10 for now.

 

[siucity]

 

[McManX]

There's 2 temp chargers in place, giving it a total of 10 for now.

Expansion imminent? Any evidence / markings on the ground?

 

[siucity]

Expansion imminent? Any evidence / markings on the ground?

No markings on the ground that I saw.

 

[dinkoh]

No markings on the ground that I saw.

I was there last weekend, the expansion chargers weren't there. Also, I experienced super slow charging, ~110 mi/hr max.

 

[emupilot]

The permit for expansion was just approved today. There aren't any details on the permit, but presumably that is for a permanent expansion, not just the portable superchargers.

 

[Blu Zap]

@emupilot is the permit to expand the current location? Or is it for another spot in the same area? We are seeing some locations (i.e. Mountain View) will not be able to add more stalls to the current location.

 

[emupilot]

@emupilot is the permit to expand the current location? Or is it for another spot in the same area? We are seeing some locations (i.e. Mountain View) will not be able to add more stalls to the current location.

The permit says it's an expansion, but the address on the permit is different than the address of the supercharger. So I guess it's hard to say.

 

[bxr140]

Expansion in progress. No temp pallet. Trench dug on the other side of the cabinets. The construction fence and trench go down for ~12 Parking spots, but it looks like ~2 of them will be for the new cabinets, so probably 10 more pedestals.

 

[McManX]

Expansion in progress. No temp pallet. Trench dug on the other side of the cabinets. The construction fence and trench go down for ~12 Parking spots, but it looks like ~2 of them will be for the new cabinets, so probably 10 more pedestals.

Any pictures?

 

[bxr140]

No pics. I'm lazy.

 

[AMPd]

10 more stalls would be great.
Stopped here last weekend.
Was able to get the last spot before a line started forming, had to charge for over an hour due to slow speeds.

 

[Ulmo]

Expansion in progress. No temp pallet. Trench dug on the other side of the cabinets. The construction fence and trench go down for ~12 Parking spots, but it looks like ~2 of them will be for the new cabinets, so probably 10 more pedestals.

That makes sense from Google Maps Street View (I counted 13 spaces in that on the other side of the fence area in which I see some obvious hints of cabinetry).

It's both good and bad: good for speed of construction, siting, simplicity in provisioning and contracts, the ease of everyone involved understanding that "Vacaville is expanding", and such. I find it somewhat bad in that that parking lot is still a really busy parking lot, and we need to make certain every Tesla driver is very careful when they go in and out of that SuperCharger area. I was only there once, and wonder if it has any other ways in from the other side that are safer in terms of pedestrians and other cars. From Google Maps, I see the way I went in was via the little vagina road off of Nut Tree Parkway past Bath & Body Works that gets you into a busy parking lot intersection at Zales Diamond Store at which you have to U-turn to get to the SuperCharger, but that another way would be to get off Nut Tree Parkway at Marshalls and wind around it past Luggage Center, Banana Republic, and Gap Outlet, and then get in that way, or even another access road besides Nut Tree Parkway at a T intersection for Helen Power Drive (at Power Plaza and Mels), and turn in by Sam's Club Fuel Center / Home Town Buffet (seems superior) or Barrel 2 Bottle (seems inferior since would have to wind around Marshalls again). Has anybody approached the Vacaville Tesla SuperCharger from those approaches?

Is it me or are Vacaville chain stores & streets named after really randy things?

 

[ProphetM]

The little what road?!

 

[Ulmo]

The little what road?!

Inlet road.

 

[ChrisJ]

That makes sense from Google Maps Street View (I counted 13 spaces in that on the other side of the fence area in which I see some obvious hints of cabinetry).

It's both good and bad: good for speed of construction, siting, simplicity in provisioning and contracts, the ease of everyone involved understanding that "Vacaville is expanding", and such. I find it somewhat bad in that that parking lot is still a really busy parking lot, and we need to make certain every Tesla driver is very careful when they go in and out of that SuperCharger area. I was only there once, and wonder if it has any other ways in from the other side that are safer in terms of pedestrians and other cars. From Google Maps, I see the way I went in was via the little vagina road off of Nut Tree Parkway past Bath & Body Works that gets you into a busy parking lot intersection at Zales Diamond Store at which you have to U-turn to get to the SuperCharger, but that another way would be to get off Nut Tree Parkway at Marshalls and wind around it past Luggage Center, Banana Republic, and Gap Outlet, and then get in that way, or even another access road besides Nut Tree Parkway at a T intersection for Helen Power Drive (at Power Plaza and Mels), and turn in by Sam's Club Fuel Center / Home Town Buffet (seems superior) or Barrel 2 Bottle (seems inferior since would have to wind around Marshalls again). Has anybody approached the Vacaville Tesla SuperCharger from those approaches?

Is it me or are Vacaville chain stores & streets named after really randy things?

The little what road?!

Inlet road.

Ulmo, I don't think you typed what you think you typed.

 

[AdamEKM]

Progress as of Saturday June 24th.

 

[ecarfan]

Ulmo, I don't think you typed what you think you typed.

Let it go guys...either way one can get the intent...

@AdamEKM thanks for the photos! Good progress.