Not-a-Megapack factory - Patterson, CA

[1100MCM]

Moderator note: This thread is about a Megacharger for Tesla Semis. The thread about the Patterson, CA (Speno Drive) Supercharger is:

Supercharger - Patterson, CA - Speno Dr. (LIVE 29 Aug 2020, 8 V3 stalls)

Just saw this on app and in car map today. Says 8 x 120kw stalls on Speno Drive in Patterson, CA (Sorry for the lousy picture)

teslamotorsclub.com

Moderator note #2: It turns out the location under discussion was really a candidate for a Megapack factory, which wound up being located in Lathrop, CA.

My contact for the local utility here (TID) told me that Tesla approached them this week for the installation of a “megacharger” for heavy duty truck EV charging stations. He told me they are asking for about 10 MW of capacity which is a lot but can definitely be done. I couldn’t get the exact location out of him but considering there’s a bit of regional distribution centers and it sits on the I-5, a Patterson location isn’t a bad choice. For reference, Firebaugh can pull about 5 MW if it were maxed out so electric infrastructure wise, it’s about double what Firebaugh is. Of course Tesla, hasn’t really definitively revealed what kind of charging Tesla Semi will be capable of but it is likely to be higher than 250 kW per truck.

 

[MarcoRP]

My contact for the local utility here (TID) told me that Tesla approached them this week for the installation of a “megacharger” for heavy duty truck EV charging stations. He told me they are asking for about 10 MW of capacity which is a lot but can definitely be done. I couldn’t get the exact location out of him but considering there’s a bit of regional distribution centers and it sits on the I-5, a Patterson location isn’t a bad choice. For reference, Firebaugh can pull about 5 MW if it were maxed out so electric infrastructure wise, it’s about double what Firebaugh is. Of course Tesla, hasn’t really definitively revealed what kind of charging Tesla Semi will be capable of but it is likely to be higher than 250 kW per truck.

What’s the area he covers? Because I think I know of one location elsewhere on the I-5, though I wasn’t explicitly told there’s going to be a Megacharger

 

[1100MCM]

What’s the area he covers? Because I think I know of one location elsewhere on the I-5, though I wasn’t explicitly told there’s going to be a Megacharger

For the Patterson area, on the I-5 corridor, it’s roughly between the two red boundaries. There’s much more in their service area than what’s shown but just trying to highlight what area that utility covers on I-5.

 

[Mrbrock]

With the range they are talking about, one in Patterson would get them over Altamont into the Bay Area to deliver then back out to recharge. Seems that another location would be at Tejon in the south for the same reason. Get over the Grapevine. Maybe one on each side?

 

[smartypnz]

My first thought was "WHAT !!!! They're going to put Truck chargers in the hotel parking lot ???"

 

[1100MCM]

So my contact says Tesla has paid some fees to TID this week for initial engineering studies on this project. Tesla is asking for about 20 MW and they want this capacity ready by Q1 2022. He says that now that more concrete plans were laid out, Tesla's conversations described the load as a fairly consistent and predictable load in the neighborhood of 20 MW. Not to read too much into that last bit but are they expecting that much Tesla semi traffic that the load is consistent throughout the day (as opposed to typical supercharger load fluctuating throughout the day)?

 

[mociaf9]

I would expect them to use batteries to smooth out the loads. But 20 MW sounds like an awful lot of capacity unless they are expecting lots of traffic.

 

[Dave EV]

I would expect them to use batteries to smooth out the loads. But 20 MW sounds like an awful lot of capacity unless they are expecting lots of traffic.

Kind of depends on how fast the Semi will charge. At 1 MW, that's 20 trucks which sounds fairly significant for an initial deployment.

But maybe the semi will charge faster? Or maybe Tesla already knows they have enough demand to utilize 20 MW of capacity within the foreseeable future at this location.

 

[miimura]

I would expect them to use batteries to smooth out the loads. But 20 MW sounds like an awful lot of capacity unless they are expecting lots of traffic.

I agree with this. The utility should expect a consistent draw smoothed by batteries, up to 20MW, but there's no way that they're going to get that much demand when the site is newly installed.

 

[TerranApart]

20MW is quite a lot, a few distribution circuits' worth. I wonder if the site will get its own substation.

 

[SMAlset]

Apart from I-5 being a heavily travelled route up and down the state for freight, Patterson is also a location for an Amazon Fulfillment Center, Grainger Distribution Center and Platt Electric Distribution Center. There’s also a Walmart Supercenter in town.

For anyone unfamiliar with Grainger, they are a Fortune 500 industrial supplier and Platt Electric is a West coast wholesale electrical supplier.

Patterson and Tesla Semis could be a sweet deal for any of these companies transporting their goods in the general range of this location. Maybe Tesla has already had orders or interest from these companies?

I might be mistaken but I recall reading a small article in I think a local newspaper a year or so back about Tesla test tracking its Semis I’m pretty sure at an airport strip in the area along I-5 corridor. I know it was near Los Banos (not Los Banos or Tracy) and think it could have been Patterson. There’s an airport there, a NASA one according to Google Maps. Recall not all the city people involved were too happy about them using the area. No idea if I can find the article I’m thinking of now but it came to mind when I saw Patterson and Tesla Semis mentioned.

 

[1100MCM]

Now that it’s public news we might as well put the last nail in the coffin or change the thread title on this one. The project was for a Megapack factory and not semi truck charging facility or anything like that. Patterson and Lathrop were among the finalists for this location and it looks like Lathrop was the “winner” for the new location.

 

[Mrbrock]

Is 10-20 Mw normal capacity for a factory? Seems like a lot of power for just building something. I am guessing Tesla does not fully charge these before deploying them?

 

[1100MCM]

Is 10-20 Mw normal capacity for a factory? Seems like a lot of power for just building something. I am guessing Tesla does not fully charge these before deploying them?

It's not out of the norm for a large factory. Just for perspective, an Amazon warehouse in my area can have about 3 MW of load even though it's mostly lighting, air conditioning, a small amount of refrigeration, and some hydraulic machinery. For an actual manufacturing facility, I've seen a large cheese and dairy product producer in California have in the neighborhood of 12+ MW of demand due to the various processes run on their industrial food manufacturing equipment.

 

[Mrbrock]

It's not out of the norm for a large factory. Just for perspective, an Amazon warehouse in my area can have about 3 MW of load even though it's mostly lighting, air conditioning, a small amount of refrigeration, and some hydraulic machinery. For an actual manufacturing facility, I've seen a large cheese and dairy product producer in California have in the neighborhood of 12+ MW of demand due to the various processes run on their industrial food manufacturing equipment.

Ok. I am not familiar with the scale of things needed for these large factories so good to know that the power request was within the norm for a factory vs a large charging station.