First Public Megacharger Installation

[MP3Mike]

It appears that the first publiclly accessible Megacharger will be in Baker, CA and is mostly done:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1683865013814177792

Weird that it appears that it will be for a Tesla Semi without a trailer... (Do they have a spot to drop a trailer on-site?)

Another interesting thing is that it appears to only have a single Supercharger cabinet, I assume V3, that would limit it to ~360kW. (But maybe it is sharing with the other stalls being added, which appear to be pre-built V3 setups, and maybe there is a Megapack on-site for other DC power.)

 

[israndy]

That's a portable palette mounted unit. So funny that the Urban or v3 palettes have 3 or so chargers on them.

 

[Big Earl]

Those are not Urban, just the pre-built V3s with 4 stalls on each slab with the cabinet and everything prewired.

Randy is saying that the Megacharger is a pallet-mounted unit, and compares it to the other palletized units that are typicaly 3x Urban posts (with only 2 active) or, as we've seen in at least one location, V3 posts. He is not referring to the prefabricated V3 units.

 

[Big Earl]

Is anyone planning on passing through? I'd love to see more pictures of where this unit is wired, the data plate, etc. I expect it to be a typical 387 kVA Supercharger unit. Data plates on the charging post and on that buck-boost transformer would be helpful, too.

 

[Watts_Up]

It would be interesting to get an aerial view to undertand the layout of this Mega charger.

I was surprised that the trailer will have to be removed before charging,
which takes time and can be a little bit tricky depending of the space available.

See below, the Giga Nevada, Semi Mega Charger, for comparison:

 

[MP3Mike]

It looks to me like it is part of the expansion of the Baker, CA Supercharger: Supercharger - Baker, CA - Expansion (under construction, 56 V3 stalls)

 

[1100MCM]

The Frito Lay install has 8 V3 cabinets for powering 4 megacharger connectors. I wonder if Baker is a one-off limited power install to start.

 

[MP3Mike]

I wonder if Baker is a one-off limited power install to start.

My guess is that it power shares with V3 Supercharger stalls on site. (Since it seems like they use the same cabinets.)

 

[israndy]

I don't think so, the photo shows what appears to be 480v wires coming off the backside and assumably going up a power pole to a transformer and the switch gear and charger on the same palette as the Megacharger stall.

I think with it being a single palette at the end of a row of Superchargers it is designed to be pulled up to and plugged in w/o unhitching. This would block all the v3 stalls under the canopy but I am sure the other Tesla drivers would wait with their mouths agape until this becomes a regular sight.

Guess my dream of a Megacharger port on both sides of the truck that each can feed half the pack hasn't been born out in the trucks we've seen so far.

 

[ThomasD]

Will Tesla open up the stalls to other makes of electric semis like they did with the Supercharger stalls being open to other makes of electric cars?

 

[MP3Mike]

I don't think so, the photo shows what appears to be 480v wires coming off the backside and assumably going up a power pole to a transformer and the switch gear and charger on the same palette as the Megacharger stall.

But the power sharing is handled by a separate DC bus. So the 480v AC feed can be separate from the others, but still share DC power.

Guess my dream of a Megacharger port on both sides of the truck that each can feed half the pack hasn't been born out in the trucks we've seen so far.

That isn't going to happen. The MCS standard that I am sure the Semi will comply with, the connector pictured is prototype 2 of the MCS connector, requires the charging inlet to be on the left side behind the most rearward door and in front of the most forward rear axel. (Something the CCS standard completed missed setting.)

 

[MP3Mike]

Will Tesla open up the stalls to other makes of electric semis like they did with the Supercharger stalls being open to other makes of electric cars?

My guess would be yes, but not until the MCS standard has been finalized, and ratified, and Tesla has gone back and retrofitted all of their Semis/Megachargers with the final connector design. (They are using the MCS prototype 2 connector which is rectangular with blade connectors, while the prototype 3 version, which is triangular with round connectors, is likely to be the final connector design.)

 

[israndy]

But the power sharing is handled by a separate DC bus. So the 480v AC feed can be separate from the others, but still share DC power.

I know, but that ~380v DC buss is not connected to the pallet (spell-checked) charger, so all it has is its own connection to probably its own power pole transformer. We'll know more when we see more pics from the site, I am just basing my thoughts on the 3 black wires I see trailing out of the pallet away from the Supercharger. I have seen that before at other palleted temp sites.

 

[mgazzolo]

Dang, look at the size of that thing—it’s almost the size of a CCS2 connector!

 

[Big Earl]

This is clearly a very temporary installation. I highly doubt Tesla intends to leave an underpowered, single-stall Megacharger that blocks an entire bank of V3 charging posts. I expect this will get relocated once this bank of V3 posts is ready to go live.

 

[ThomasD]

It seems silly to have to park your Trailer and down jack it. Then charge the truck and have to hook back up to the Trailer. I see the chance of Trailers being blocked if you have several Trucks with Trailers pulling in to charge.

 

[TSemi]

This Megacharger was manufactured in March 2022. The DC Output is: Output Power - 375 kW Output Voltage Range - 0-1000V Output Current - 465A

 

[MP3Mike]

A video on the Megacharger site:

 

[MP3Mike]

This Megacharger was manufactured in March 2022. The DC Output is: Output Power - 375 kW Output Voltage Range - 0-1000V Output Current - 465A

It is interesting that it is a "custom" charging cabinet and not a standard V3.

Things to note:

• It is more than a year old, made in March of 2022
• Single output
• No DC bus for power sharing
• Lower AC input voltage: 317-396V

 

[Watts_Up]

Surprise view of a Tesla Semi charging at Baker:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1684672522376392709