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Trip to Bay Area

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We live in So Cal and we're thinking about driving to the bay area and visiting the factory at the same time. It would probably be for a couple days in a few weeks. For those folks that have taken delivery at the factory, is there a supercharging station available in Fremont?

We're looking at the Harris Ranch charger, but don't know how to charge the car once we arrive. I know there is a station in Gilroy, but that is really too far away from our route.
 
We live in So Cal and we're thinking about driving to the bay area and visiting the factory at the same time. It would probably be for a couple days in a few weeks. For those folks that have taken delivery at the factory, is there a supercharging station available in Fremont?

We're looking at the Harris Ranch charger, but don't know how to charge the car once we arrive. I know there is a station in Gilroy, but that is really too far away from our route.

There are plugs at the factory that are useable during business hours but no supercharger for public use( as far as I was told by Menlo folks).
not sure if they are J1772 or what Amp
 
We're looking at the Harris Ranch charger, but don't know how to charge the car once we arrive. I know there is a station in Gilroy, but that is really too far away from our route.
The Bay Area is crawling w/ J1772's but most are 32A and many are in pay garages. There are also Tesla stores in San Jose and Menlo Park that have 70A chargers but may need a Roadster-Model S adapter.
 
The Bay Area is crawling w/ J1772's but most are 32A and many are in pay garages. There are also Tesla stores in San Jose and Menlo Park that have 70A chargers but may need a Roadster-Model S adapter.

Menlo will do 70A for you and they have adapters ( but mine only does 40A ;<
Santana Row is 'close' to the Factory. If Santana has 70A I think the factory should also.
 
Returned to LA last night. This has been covered in other threads, but I thought I should give feedback here. The drive up took 7 hours and we stopped at Tejon and Harris. After 15 mins of charging at Harris another MS had pulled in and left a note on our car. We gave them a call when we pulled out. The return trip took 9 hours mostly because we were not able to acquire sufficient charge using public J1772s and had to go through Gilroy. We also got stuck at Harris behind another MS, but quickly realized that it was the same MS as before! Gave them a call and got that sorted out.

Summary:
1. Tejon is awesome. They are about to add 2 additional stations for a total of 6. They have a ~6 kw solar array and a massive battery bank.
2. Harris Ranch needs some work. At a minimum, Tesla needs to install a HPWC so those folks waiting in line can begin to charge. The HPWC could go right next to the Roadster charger adjacent to the supercharger.
3. Gilroy was great. Another black MS was there, but with 4 spots that wasn't a problem.

Other Suggestions
1. The long-awaited mobile app needs a function to check supercharger status and to notify owners who are charging that there is a queue of MS waiting to charge.

Overall, really impressed that an electric car is capable of a long road trip.
 
Tejon is awesome. They are about to add 2 additional stations for a total of 6. They have a ~6 kw solar array and a massive battery bank.

Are you sure it was a battery bank? I got the impression they are putting excess solar back into the grid and taking grid power at night or otherwise needed. It would be a lot cheaper to implement. this way. Perhaps you were looking at the green boxes where they house electronics and transformers? I've only seen the Gilroy and Harris Ranch stations, but neither have solar.
 
Are you sure it was a battery bank? I got the impression they are putting excess solar back into the grid and taking grid power at night or otherwise needed. It would be a lot cheaper to implement. this way. Perhaps you were looking at the green boxes where they house electronics and transformers? I've only seen the Gilroy and Harris Ranch stations, but neither have solar.

Nope, the modules were labeled "Battery Storage System" and there were quite a few. I think this could serve two purposes:

1. Provide a temporary backup in case of grid failure.
2. Supplement current and voltage input received from the grid.

I'm sure that once the batteries are full, they shoot electricity back into the grid.
 
Apacheguy's story made me think of another "Tesla is on top of this" opportunity:

Add a feature to the mobile app for the "supercharger is busy" situation in his post.

A crude implementation would be something like glancing through the windshield to identify the VIN number and have a button in the app that allows notifying that VIN number that you are waiting behind them at the SC. The owner would then get that information via a app->server->app communication. I'm sure Tesla can come up with something sexier and less...invasive... than spying a VIN through the windshield.
 
I think this would be a great feature on the supercharger app.

Would be nice to have the following information for each supercharger station on the app

1. Number of available "pumps" / charger
2. Number currently in use
3. Number of people on the wait list
4. A waitlist
5. A beep to your phone when you are elsewhere to let you know your done charging
6. A notification on your phone also that someone is behind you waiting to be charged. So you don't dally any further.
7. A way to message or call the person who just filled their charge that you are behind waiting. I'm thinking about the one person I met at the Tesla store that does not own a smart phone.
8. Time to complete charge
 
Apacheguy's story made me think of another "Tesla is on top of this" opportunity:

Add a feature to the mobile app for the "supercharger is busy" situation in his post.

A crude implementation would be something like glancing through the windshield to identify the VIN number and have a button in the app that allows notifying that VIN number that you are waiting behind them at the SC. The owner would then get that information via a app->server->app communication. I'm sure Tesla can come up with something sexier and less...invasive... than spying a VIN through the windshield.
Printed this, laminated it, and placed in window when charging...
Tesla PlacardX.jpg
 
...
1. Number of available "pumps" / charger
2. Number currently in use
3. Number of people on the wait list
4. A waitlist
5. A beep to your phone when you are elsewhere to let you know your done charging
6. A notification on your phone also that someone is behind you waiting to be charged. So you don't dally any further.
7. A way to message or call the person who just filled their charge that you are behind waiting. I'm thinking about the one person I met at the Tesla store that does not own a smart phone.
8. Time to complete charge


No way of knowing how many are in line. Of course some GPS region tracking but there are many owners that would not want to make that available.