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Supercharger - Gilroy, CA (16 V2 stalls)

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Cross posted from my blog.

Last week I took my first visit to a Tesla supercharger. My battery was about half full. I did not particularly need to visit the charger but decided to give it a try. I stopped, filled it up and had lunch at the nearby sandwich shop. The supercharger is not particularly obvious to find.
The Gilroy Premium Outlets have four separate strip mall areas and seas of parking. The listed address on the Tesla web page is 101 at Leavesley Road.
gilroyaddress.jpg

If you click through the link, you'll end up in the middle of one of the mall's parking lots.

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After looking around for a minute or two, I decided to call Tesla at their convenient 800 number to get pointed in the right direction quickly.

I think of the superchargers on San Ysidro not in the mall itself.

Travel north on San Ysidro Avenue and make a right into the parking lot. The chargers are right behind the bus stop.


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The Tesla supercharger is not screamingly obvious. I was sort of expecting a large sign of some kind given it is coming out of their marketing budget. The person on the phone indicated that more signage might be coming but that the first priority was getting the charger stations installed. It is right in-between the Sony store to the North, and the Gilroy Inn to the south.

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southgilroy.jpg



When I arrived the middle of a Friday, no one else was at the superchargers. When I left, another car was at the Tesla supercharger, and a BMW retrofit was at the nearby generic public charging station.
Just in case you are curious what the name “San Ysidro” comes from, he was the Catholic patron saint of animals and of Madrid. The name Isidore has Greek origins.



 
No, Tesla needs to add details to its Supercharger page. It only lists the address which as the OP said in this case is the address of the outlet mall which is NOT small. I made 3 loops through the parking lot before I found the station (it was dark). Tesla could simply add "Behind the Sony(TM) store" after the address on their website. Would save people a lot of time and stress.
 
No, Tesla needs to add details to its Supercharger page. It only lists the address which as the OP said in this case is the address of the outlet mall which is NOT small. I made 3 loops through the parking lot before I found the station (it was dark). Tesla could simply add "Behind the Sony(TM) store" after the address on their website. Would save people a lot of time and stress.

I agree but there is a bit of a challenge here. I played around with different addresses on San Ysidro that would be closer to the actual location, but failed to come up with anything on the mapping system. The car does give a San Ysidro address when charging there, but it is actually across the street.

Would be nice if the supercharger has a physical address.

Also, I agree Tesla does need to add details to the Supercharger pages. More detail would make it easier. Just the Sony store didn't help me much as it isn't that obvious either. Or a gigantic freeway visible sign! Some real marketing!

My blog page will hopefully help a few folks in the meantime. The outlet mall is gigantic, spread out over four areas I think with other strip malls nearby.
 
Google Maps on my computer knows the exact location. Just search for "Tesla Supercharger Gilroy". Since the car also has Google Maps, it presumably gives the same precise location.

That's where I did get the final screenshot of the map. But I went first through the Tesla site as I was expecting more detailed info there first. So when I went to Gilroy, I ended up in the middle of that strip mall going "huh?"
 
Today was the first time ever that I saw 8 Tesla Model S's lined up at the Gilroy Supercharger. There are only 4 ports. Two of the MS's were plugged in to the public chargers (at right). In a way, I am glad to see this, as it means production has really ramped up and people are buying these cars. On the other hand, Tesla must match demand with additional ports, or we are all going to be waiting a long time to top off.

As it was, we were on a short day trip, so we elected not to wait around.

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I suppose that adding the 10-stall (or "10-slot"?) Supercharger in Harris Ranch might take a bit load off the one in Gilroy, as Harris Ranch is reachable from the Bay Area. Currently there is only a single Supercharger in Harris Ranch, so those traveling down Hwy 5 are probably taking as much charge as possible in Gilroy. Nevertheless, I'd hope that those being there on a short trip to the mall don't needlessly occupy a Supercharger just for the fun of it. ;)
 
Unfortunately this is the disadvantage of not charging for it. Charging a nominal sum would mean that people who really need it would use it, instead of people who just want a little free power blocking them out. Economics 101.
 
Today was the first time ever that I saw 8 Tesla Model S's lined up at the Gilroy Supercharger. There are only 4 ports. Two of the MS's were plugged in to the public chargers (at right). In a way, I am glad to see this, as it means production has really ramped up and people are buying these cars. On the other hand, Tesla must match demand with additional ports, or we are all going to be waiting a long time to top off.

As it was, we were on a short day trip, so we elected not to wait around.

View attachment 17137

Nice, you caught me (in the orange fleece at the J1772) extolling to virtues of the Model S to an interested family that was passing by as I waited for one of the SCs to free up. :)
 
Here is a proposal, we set up a simple website accessible from our model S browser and it provides the following functionality:

1. For queuing
For each super charger site, we have a queue where users can enter:
a. name
b. arrival time
c. plate, cell
d. level of urgency (optional, required for long trip, urgent with < 25 miles left)
e. notes

2. Once connected to charger
Once connected to charger, users will enter:
a. start time
b. anticipated disconnect time
c. cell, level of urgency (optional, required for long trip, urgent with < 25 miles left)
d. notes

3. When departing location
a. mark yourself as done
b. call person next in the queue

We then put stickers on all superchargers with info to use the website. Maybe we can even connect the site to TeslaMotorsClub.com so it uses the same credentials.

Of course, this is an honor and voluntary system and does not prevent jerk behavior. Maybe, on the site, we can have a wall of shame, where we can post photos of violators :)