Tesla Opens New 40-Stall Charging Station in Baker, Calif.

[mgdurand]

I would think Tesla plans on battery swapping for their semis, rather than charging them per se? Their swap tech for cars was automated and great, but impractical/inconvenient for car drivers, especially after the battery guard retrofit in 2014.... Would make perfect sense to swap semi batteries though, and this LA-LV run is one perfect place to showcase them. Can't wait

 

[KarenRei]

It wasn't actually automated. A fraction of it was automated. You had to book a technician in advance (within specified hours) who would come out, it cost $50, and you had to come back later and pick up your old pack. And then there was the overhead time issue, which made it not all that much faster than supercharging in practice.

Tesla simply gave up on it. Nobody wanted it, even if it hadn't been so expensive and inconvenient. Nobody wants someone's old battery pack, and Tesla doesn't want to be stockpiling huge inventories of expensive pieces of tech which is a constantly moving target and which doesn't match up (and never will) between different models with different energy, power, shape, and pricing requirements. And this is just scratching the surface. Each time you're doing it you're taking out a huge, integral structural component with a lot of sensitive connections. What that would do for vehicle longevity / reliability in the long term.... well, I guess we'll never get to find out, but that's probably for the best.

Beyond that - do you see anything that might suggest swapping in the permit? I sure don't.

 

[RiverBrick]

It wasn't actually automated. A fraction of it was automated. You had to book a technician in advance (within specified hours) who would come out, it cost $50, and you had to come back later and pick up your old pack. And then there was the overhead time issue, which made it not all that much faster than supercharging in practice.

Tesla simply gave up on it.

Good points, but

1) True, but you would be going back on a return a trip where you would want a recharged battery to be swapped in anyway.

2) If the ZEV program weren't eliminating the huge bonus in credits for fast refueling availability (earned by also fool-cell vehicles) some type of limited swapping would still be available.

 

[dhanson865]

Thank goodness for SpaceX so that in a few years we can go back to full spectrum ground lighting and put the telescopes in space where they belong.

Got a couple of down votes from what I assume were some amateur astronomers. If there are hundreds of space telescopes and a flourishing space trade you can either rent time on a space scope or just get images from the collections. Or if you are really rich take a flight and do your own direct observations in space or from mars. If none of that floats your boat you can still drive out to the desert or otherwise travel to a remote observatory on Earth.

As to full spectrum lighting the biggest complaint the average person had about CFLs was the light looked "off". I say for color accuracy and environmental purposes it's better to standardize on high CRI LED bulbs for consumer use. We don't need people resisting the efficient option because they don't like the color temp or CRI.

No matter what, none of this will happen next week or next year. This is slow motion change compared to the quarterly earnings crowd. It's still a blink of an eye in astrological time. I can wait.

 

[PLUS EV]

Got a couple of down votes from what I assume were some amateur astronomers. If there are hundreds of space telescopes and a flourishing space trade you can either rent time on a space scope or just get images from the collections. Or if you are really rich take a flight and do your own direct observations in space or from mars. If none of that floats your boat you can still drive out to the desert or otherwise travel to a remote observatory on Earth.

As to full spectrum lighting the biggest complaint the average person had about CFLs was the light looked "off". I say for color accuracy and environmental purposes it's better to standardize on high CRI LED bulbs for consumer use. We don't need people resisting the efficient option because they don't like the color temp or CRI.

No matter what, none of this will happen next week or next year. This is slow motion change compared to the quarterly earnings crowd. It's still a blink of an eye in astrological time. I can wait.

I did not vote up or down on your post, but I think your assumption is baseless.

Some people would just like to view the stars themselves from the ground with their own eyes like humans had been doing for millennia prior to the last 150 years or so.

 

[abasile]

Some people would just like to view the stars themselves from the ground with their own eyes like humans had been doing for millennia prior to the last 150 years or so.

I totally agree, plus it's about more than just being able to see the stars - besides interfering with our sleep cycles, our planet's excessive artificial outdoor lighting has negative effects on other forms of life as well.

I would personally appreciate it if Tesla chose to install "dark sky compliant" lighting everywhere that this is under their control. With its relatively remote location in the middle of the Mojave, the Baker Supercharger site would be a great place to start. Given the connection to SpaceX, the desire to improve our environment, and the idea that Tesla vehicles are "spaceships for planet Earth", it would make perfect sense for Tesla as a company to support dark skies.

 

[rrosenbl]

Thanks OCRyan for the pictures, I look forward to following this install closely on Talking Tesla and look forward to pictures documenting this site's progress. I also look forward to on-topic discussion.

There seems to be a lot of chatter off topic, that makes it difficult to keep tabs on this topic's focus. Thanks for being considerate.

More standard 12-stall or smaller installs are now going up in a couple weeks, I wonder how long this site will take? Any thoughts?

 

[dhanson865]

I did not vote up or down on your post, but I think your assumption is baseless.

Some people would just like to view the stars themselves from the ground with their own eyes like humans had been doing for millennia prior to the last 150 years or so.

well if you follow back the thread did talk about low pressure sodium bulbs being easy to filter out by professional astronomers. I don't think I can do that with my bare eyes and I don't think any of my ancestors could either.

Light pollution is still light pollution. I'd just rather it be generated by lower power full spectrum bulbs. Reduce the pollution, sure, but while we are at it can't we improve the light quality in addition to avoiding spillage?

 

[ecarfan]

Moderator note: this thread is for discussion of the new Baker Supercharger location. To those who wish to discuss astronomy and light pollution, please start a thread in the Off Topic forum. If that discussion continues in this thread I will split the posts into a new thread in Off Topic. PM me if you have any questions. Thank you for your cooperation!

 

[4SUPER9]

This appears to be the largest Supercharger in the world currently under construction. There are permits for similar 40-stall locations Kettleman and Norway, but this site looks like the first mega supercharging station, and double the size of any in existence.

 

[smilepak]

It might be ready for CES 2018. Sweet!

 

[Ed Hart]

Will try to get photos Saturday on way back from Vegas.

 

[jtc_LA]

I know the advice it to always use an unpaired supercharger, but with busy sites that may not always be possible. With something as large as this 40 stall location, IF 20 or more spaces are already occupied (as in no unpaired spaces available), maybe the Nay system, once within a few hundred feet of location, could display a message like "Use space 17 or 32 for fastest charging speed". Even is every paired stall has 1 car connected already, some would have just arrived and drawing maximum power, but some may have been there for 30 minutes or more, thus drawing minimum power. It would be nice to know which stall to go to, and would make the whole process faster for all.

 

[emupilot]

I know the advice it to always use an unpaired supercharger, but with busy sites that may not always be possible. With something as large as this 40 stall location, IF 20 or more spaces are already occupied (as in no unpaired spaces available), maybe the Nay system, once within a few hundred feet of location, could display a message like "Use space 17 or 32 for fastest charging speed". Even is every paired stall has 1 car connected already, some would have just arrived and drawing maximum power, but some may have been there for 30 minutes or more, thus drawing minimum power. It would be nice to know which stall to go to, and would make the whole process faster for all.

Advice about which stall to use could also be helpful even if there are unpaired stalls available. It could spread the load between superchargers and give charging cables time to cool after charging sessions, which might be a particular concern in Baker.

 

[chillaban]

It would be nice if stalls were color-coded or otherwise advertised their available charging rate. In addition to pairing/unpairing, it seems like after prolonged charging the handles/cabinets get hot, which also reduces charging rates.

 

[4SUPER9]

The notion of a pop-up for a recommended charger has come up on other threads, and something that I wholeheartedly support, as should Tesla. My suspicion is that this will become particularly useful in the Baker supercharger, where there are so many stalls to choose from, it could get confusing on where to go (unless they are mostly empty which is likely if go-live is within the next couple of months).
This is not only helpful for paired stall issues, but Tesla keeps track of problem stalls and could steer us away from those.
A possible con is what happens if two vehicles arrive at the same time, and both get a pop-up for the same stall. This is a VERY likely scenario, as I have often seen. I guess an algorithm can be built that it gives one person a stall, and another person a different stall. Alternatively, what if someone does not look at the pop-up and grabs the stall to where someone else was directed. The person who read the pop-up may say "Hey, that's my stall!" and could lead to some altercations (ala San Diego)
OK, my head is spinning now.

 

[GSP]

Instead of directing me to an unpaired stall, I hope that Tesla's large 40-stall sites like Baker use the new V3 superchargers. I would like to see a central charger, powerful enough to make 350 kW seem like a child's toy, that can direct power to whatever stalls that are charging cars.

GSP

 

[PLUS EV]

Instead of directing me to an unpaired stall, I hope that Tesla's large 40-stall sites like Baker use the new V3 superchargers. I would like to see a central charger, powerful enough to make 350 kW seem like a child's toy, that can direct power to whatever stalls that are charging cars.

GSP

Would the cars we currently own even be able to handle 350kW?

 

[PLUS EV]

Oh and guys... this thread is about the supercharger currently under construction in Baker, California!

 

[Don TLR]

Some people would just like to view the stars themselves from the ground with their own eyes like humans had been doing for millennia prior to the last 150 years or so.

Exactly,, nothing like dark skies to see a sky full of stars,, see avatar..