Superchargers in Southern California (location speculation)

[rckybbby]

Reckless speculation on my part. The rendering with 50+ spaces and the lounge is throwing me off. What they showed was a gas station sized footprint, which I doubt partners would be willing to lease, however looking at the numbers...

If there is to be 1000 new CA chargers and there are about 80 grey 'coming soon' dots on the CA map, that's only about 12 stalls per station on average, which isn't much different from the recently built stations.

I could see a 50+ stall setup with a lounge for a station on the Vegas route though. A/C and reliably nice bathrooms would be great! Not to diss Yermo's hospitality; I've never been.

 

[RubberToe]

Speculating on some of the SC locations.

Burbank expansion: will they expand existing one or create new one? They have some space behind building, but I guess it is being used for car storage. Adjacent CVS pharmacy/Ralphs parking lot? Old Ikea location?

Glendale: Americana and Galleria both have pretty big parking structures, but they are far from freeways. Also there's big empty lot behind BestBuy on Los Feliz, which is not far off i-5.

Pasadena: downtown Pasadena Tesla showroom probably won't get SC, because there's not much space there. Other candidates: Paseo Parking structure or shopping plaza around Foothill and Rosemead.

post your suggestions...

Pasadena: NW corner of Colorado and Hill. Very large abandoned Ford dealership. Good freeway access via Hill. Good for local charging too.

The small lot behind the Pasadena store where they have I believe 4 80 amp dedicated chargers is a perfect location. The lot is there, just a matter of who controls what is no doubt crazy expensive real estate. Given the shopping in Old Town, 80 amp charging versus Supercharging would be a better match for that location.

RT

 

[cpa]

I growed up in Glendale in the 50s and 60s, moving away in the 80s. From memory there is not much room or cheap real estate near the junction of the Golden State and Ventura Freeways for a Supercharger unless they partnered with the LA Zoo or Griffith Park (Travel Town, anyone?)

Perhaps something along the Foothill Freeway near La Crescenta/La Canada would be better. Or there might be some locations along the Ventura Freeway in Eagle Rock. There used to be a mall just off the freeway in Eagle Rock, but the last time I recall seeing it, it looked to have fallen into disrepair.

I wonder how the Tesla traffic flows in this part of the Los Angeles Metropolitan Area. Is there more traffic along the Foothill Freeway or more along the Ventura and Golden State Freeways to head east into the San Gabriel Valley? Clearly, the traffic is less and the distance is shorter taking the Foothill. But there might be more Teslans driving from the lower San Fernando Valley and points west.

 

[rckybbby]

Interesting. I'd imagine the location picking team has the location data and charging habits from every Tesla owner ever at their disposal, lol.

I'm on the lookout for a city permit in Irvine. My prediction/hope is that the location will be somewhere in the "Irvine Business Complex" area surrounding John Wayne Airport. Close to freeways, but also there are a ton of apartment buildings going in now and access to chargers in those buildings leaves something to be desired. The rest Irvine is basically single family homes and have garages already.

 

[Joey26]

Here is a list of Coming Soon sites in Southern California from the new Find Us page:
Baker
Yermo
Barstow (expasion?)
Hesperia
Mojave (expansion?)
Tejon Ranch (expansion?)
Santa Barbara
Oxnard (expansion?)
Thousand Oaks
Calabasas
Santa Clarita
Northridge
Sherman Oaks
Glendale
Pasadena
Hollywood
Culver City II
Santa Monica
Redondo Beach (expansion?)
Long Beach
Commerce
Downey
Fountain Valley (expansion?)
Irvine
San Clemente
Pomona
San Bernardino
Corona
Lake Elsinore
Carlsbad
Vista
La Jolla
San Diego (expansion?)
El Cajon
Cabazon (expansion?)
Palm Desert
Indio (expansion?)

 

[Joey26]

Wow, you got totally duped, those grey points are there only for illustration and are not planned or permitted sites...

 

[ecarfan]

The grey icons on the map at Tesla.com/findus are in fact either the approximate location of a planned new site or indicate expansions of existing site.

 

[TexasEV]

Wow, you got totally duped, those grey points are there only for illustration and are not planned or permitted sites...

OK, I'll bite. Why do you say they're not planned sites, when Tesla says they are. Not the exact spot, of course, but the town or approximate area where they're looking to put one.

 

[Tony8489]

Tesla website has always had these maps of future superchargers. It used to be current map, then one or two non-zoomable maps labeled 2015, 2016, etc. They have just changed the format to overlay the proposed chargers in gray alongside the existing ones in red.

The "future chargers" are a wish list, pure speculation until there is actually a permit (blue dot on supercharge.info). They are a guideline but IMHO no more than half get built within the proposed timeframe.

I was told at Burbank Service Center that any new chargers in Burbank will be at a different location. They also speculated that the current Burbank supercharger would be closed once there are new ones in Pasadena, Glendale and a new Burbank location. The Burbank store/service center is very squeezed for space.

 

[ecarfan]

Moderator note: 8 posts in this thread regarding whether or not Tesla should charge the "going rate" for electricity if someone is charging locally or to over 80% have been moved to the Model S charging forum, since they were about a different subject than what this thread is about.

 

[Vern Padgett]

Thanks ecarfan for keeping us on path!

Back to the discussion topic: Anyone seen any progress on supercharging stations at the proposed Downey, or the Commerce, locations?

 

[rckybbby]

Looks like a team is currently expanding Culver City.

 

[WalterB]

Pasadena: NW corner of Colorado and Hill. Very large abandoned Ford dealership. Good freeway access via Hill. Good for local charging too.

looks like that lot is being used for car storage with no signs of construction...

 

[Vern Padgett]

Walter keep us posted. I want to drive over to the proposed Commerce, and Downey, supercharging locations, and see what is happening, if anything. There are no abandoned Ford dealerships there, just a vacant lot next to the Burger King (Commerce), and vacant lots next to not anything in in Downey, on the South East corner, but maybe the Northeast corner is the site-- I'll go check when classes are over. And eat at the Burger King.

 

[rckybbby]

Hi Vern, those grey dots are not proposed locations, specifically. They do not necessarily indicate the intersection or even general part of the city where the supercharger might be. It looks to me like they appear either above the name of the town on Google Maps or "centered" in the city limits.

For example, the Irvine grey dot is smack dab in the center of Irvine, in the middle of a residential community. Like they typed "Irvine, CA" into the google maps search and dropped the pin wherever the result was.

You might have better luck scouring city government permits that are posted online for public record.

Anyway, happy hunting!

 

[ecarfan]

posted. I want to drive over to the proposed Commerce, and Downey, supercharging locations, and see what is happening, if anything. There are no abandoned Ford dealerships there, just a vacant lot next to the Burger King (Commerce), and vacant lots next to not anything in in Downey, on the South East corner, but maybe the Northeast corner is the site--

Vern, you are welcome to do that but in my opinion you won't find anything and will be wasting your time. As @rckybbby correctly points out, many of the grey icons on Tesla's Supercharger map are not the exact location of coming new Superchargers. They are generic marker for future sites.

 

[4SUPER9]

Vern, you are welcome to do that but in my opinion you won't find anything and will be wasting your time. As @rckybbby correctly points out, many of the grey icons on Tesla's Supercharger map are not the exact location of coming new Superchargers. They are generic marker for future sites.

It may be a waste of time, but I am all for it! Well, easy for me to say, as it's not my time. None of us are finding anything with permit searches for new sites. Maybe he'll stumble upon something (not likely).

 

[Vern Padgett]

Vern, you are welcome to do that but in my opinion you won't find anything and will be wasting your time. As @rckybbby correctly points out, many of the grey icons on Tesla's Supercharger map are not the exact location of coming new Superchargers. They are generic marker for future sites.

You are right.
But I'd still like to go there.
Maybe wait a few months?
How will we know when Tesla is ready to move?
Searching city building plans is not so much my idea of fun.

 

[rckybbby]

Well we know they are working on Culver City now. If we make an assumption that at least part of that crew is from Tesla Corporate and goes from site to site (not just local contractors doing a 1 off project), you would think we should see another Supercharger go under construction when Culver is finished or close to finished. That's assuming they have permits and contracts lined up at another site.

Of course they could have multiple crews or work on two simultaneously, but at worst I'd say soon after Culver is done.

 

[ecarfan]

How will we know when Tesla is ready to move?

Tesla does not announce when Supercharger new site construction or expansion commences.

There are multiple instances in the past where TMC participants have discovered by chance a new site under construction or even completed and waiting final connection work to be done by the local utility.

When a new Supercharger location becomes operational it will show up in the car nav and on the Find Us map on the Tesla website.