Is there a supercharger at Tesla in Palo Alto? Others around?

gnychis · Feb 2, 2014

I was wondering if there is a supercharger station at the Tesla headquarters on Deer Creek road in Palo Alto? I imagine there has to be a supercharger at the headquarters? But, it's not listed on their supercharger website, and I'm not sure if it is public, how many there are, and what hours of the day they are accessible. Does anyone know if one is publicly available at the Deer Creek location, and when it's accessible?

Other than Deer Creek... is there a supercharger at the Palo Alto Service Center on El Camino Real, and is there one at the Burlingame Service Center?

Just trying to determine if there are any other superchargers in the Bay Area other than Freemont.

ecarfan · Feb 2, 2014

There is no publicly available Tesla "Supercharger" in Palo Alto or anywhere on the SF Peninsula. Or do you mean a Tesla HPWC? Those are two different things.

I believe there are HPWCs that Model S owners are welcome to use at all Tesla Service Centers. I know that there are 4 at the Burlingame location and assume there are some at the new Palo Alto location.

gg_got_a_tesla · Feb 2, 2014

There is (or atleast was, a couple of months ago) a single Supercharger installed inside the service area at the Burlingame service center. It wasn't just a mockup but, was actually tethered to a thick metal conduit going into the wall. I was told that it'd have cost some $30,000 to dig a trench and do all the other work necessary to put the stall out alongside the HPWCs in the front and they decided not to take on that expense (for now).

I'll be in for tire rotation on Tuesday and will find out more.

gnychis · Feb 2, 2014

Thanks for the responses! I truly mean supercharger, and not HPWC in case I would be in need of a quick charge!

Thanks for the info on the Burlingame service center, gg. I Wasn't aware how difficult it was to install them outside. Ideally it would be outside so that I could use it while the service center is closed, and I'm sure they don't want random vehicles pulling up and in to the service center to use their supercharger. They probably have it there to recharge the cars they are servicing, but definitely let me know if they're friendly about it and welcome to others using it if its not in use.

Maybe there really are no others outside and accessible other than Fremont near the Bay Area, and none within the peninsula. I would have just assumed the Tesla headquarters would have at least 1, but maybe not!

miimura · Feb 2, 2014

gnychis said:
I would have just assumed the Tesla headquarters would have at least 1, but maybe not!

I've never driven by, but if you look at the pictures on PlugShare for the Deer Creek site, it sure looks like there is one.

TEG · Feb 3, 2014

The city of Palo Alto was working with Tesla to maybe someday offer a public supercharger in downtown Palo Alto.
I think the planned location may be a new building at Lytton and Alma. Not sure if it is a "done deal" though.

tdiggity · Feb 3, 2014

TEG said:
The city of Palo Alto was working with Tesla to maybe someday offer a public supercharger in downtown Palo Alto.
I think the planned location may be a new building at Lytton and Alma. Not sure if it is a "done deal" though.

Downtown PA has so many EVs around that none of the normal chargepoint's are ever available during normal business hours. I can't imagine how hard it would be to get to a supercharger spot if they installed one there. It would be cool to have it nearby, but you could never count on it to be available.

gg_got_a_tesla · Feb 3, 2014

miimura said:
I've never driven by, but if you look at the pictures on PlugShare for the Deer Creek site, it sure looks like there is one.

No, HQ only has high-power AC charging stations out front. The pics are of HPWCs - PlugShare says that there are 30 of them for Model S and 3 Roadster charging stations. No J1772 (anymore) and definitely no Supercharger.

roblab · Feb 3, 2014

gg_got_a_tesla said:
No, HQ only has high-power AC charging stations out front. The pics are of HPWCs - PlugShare says that there are 30 of them for Model S and 3 Roadster charging stations. No J1772 (anymore) and definitely no Supercharger.

Yeah, that's a major problem. The "other EV manufacturers" want to brag about all the chargers available at every corner drugstore, but forget to tell you they are 3.3 amp. When they get one put in at 6.6 amp (14 kWh) they want to call it "Level II". All their chargers are so slow that even Nissan gets giddy with a 50 kWh DC charger and tries to talk it up as if it is in any way similar to Tesla's 120 kWh.

Or, what I notice is, the ads obfuscate by saying "Gives you 80% charge in 20 minutes" so you think it's comparable to Tesla, but they forget to mention that their car only has a 40 mile range.

I REALLY wish there were some standard. This Level 1 or Level 2 or DC doesn't tell you anything. People go around calling Blinks "Superchargers" on the charging sites, when in reality they are nothing more than a standard Level 2 AC. It was reported that one of the wineries in Calistoga had put in a ChaDeMo, how cool is that. They had not.

But the competition does not want you to know that you will have to wait 2 hours pretending to do wine tasting just so you can get back to your hotel down valley. If you are still able to drive a straight line.

How can we push for Clarity (Not the Honda)? Why cannot people designate kWh on the charge points, so you can see, when you pull your leaf up to the charger at the drug store that it's going to take you a half hour looking for band aids and AlkaSeltzer before you can go across town to the bakery?

Thank you, at least, Tesla, for making it more understandable and truthful.

Kipernicus · Feb 3, 2014

gg_got_a_tesla said:
There is (or atleast was, a couple of months ago) a single Supercharger installed inside the service area at the Burlingame service center. It wasn't just a mockup but, was actually tethered to a thick metal conduit going into the wall. I was told that it'd have cost some $30,000 to dig a trench and do all the other work necessary to put the stall out alongside the HPWCs in the front and they decided not to take on that expense (for now).

I'll be in for tire rotation on Tuesday and will find out more.

Yes, service advisor told me that originally it was intended to be just a mock-up, but one day JB pulled in with his personal car and tried to use it and thought "hey, why doesn't this work?"
So then they got it to work, as GG said.

markb1 · Feb 3, 2014

gg_got_a_tesla said:
No, HQ only has high-power AC charging stations out front. The pics are of HPWCs - PlugShare says that there are 30 of them for Model S and 3 Roadster charging stations. No J1772 (anymore) and definitely no Supercharger.

What's this? http://www.plugshare.com/api/_uploads/locations/P2150146_1.jpg

gg_got_a_tesla · Feb 3, 2014

markb1 said:
What's this? http://www.plugshare.com/api/_uploads/locations/P2150146_1.jpg

Well, I'll be damned! That's indeed a Supercharger! Can't tell exactly where that is in the parking lot; given the flagpole's location, this looks to be at the back of the buildings?! Meant for employees?!

markb1 · Feb 3, 2014

gg_got_a_tesla said:
Well, I'll be damned! That's indeed a Supercharger! Can't tell exactly where that is in the parking lot; given the flagpole's location, this looks to be at the back of the buildings?! Meant for employees?!

From studying Google Maps, it appears to be in back, near the south-most corner.

gg_got_a_tesla · Feb 3, 2014

FWIW, fired this off to [email protected] :

Thanks for all the wonderful work these past few weeks on the Supercharger network. Congrats on the successful coast-to-coast rally last week!

I have a quick question: there's this picture on PlugShare that appears to show a functional Supercharger at your Palo Alto HQ. Is this right?

http://www.plugshare.com/api/_uploads/locations/P2150146_1.jpg

Is it available for public use (atleast on weekends)? Or, is it employee-only?

Please clarify when you get a chance.

ecarfan · Feb 3, 2014

If that SC at the headquarters is publicly available and becomes known it is going to be swamped with users. I suspect it is for employees only, as it is not shown in the list of Superchargers on the TM website. But thanks to gg for asking the question.

gnychis · Feb 3, 2014

Nice find markb! That's exactly what I was wondering about if one exists. Thanks for shooting off that e-mail gg. I also suspect they want it to be for employees only. But maybe if it's in a public area, and I'm tight on charge at like 2-3am one night, it would be great to know if it's an option period rather than me having to drag myself over to Fremont. During normal business days and hour, it should truly be for Tesla employees.

I just like to know my options and if any other of these single stations exist and/or start popping up at the service centers.

ecarfan · Feb 3, 2014

gnychis said:
Nice find markb! That's exactly what I was wondering about if one exists. Thanks for shooting off that e-mail gg. I also suspect they want it to be for employees only. But maybe if it's in a public area, and I'm tight on charge at like 2-3am one night, it would be great to know if it's an option period rather than me having to drag myself over to Fremont.

In that kind of situation I think the best plan would be to use an HPWC at the Burlingame or Palo Alto showrooms. My understanding is the Model S owners are welcome to use them at any time.

markb1 · Feb 3, 2014

gnychis said:
Nice find markb!

Actually, thank miimura, who first mentioned that it was pictured on PlugShare.

miimura · Feb 3, 2014

markb1 said:
Actually, thank miimura, who first mentioned that it was pictured on PlugShare.

:wink:

gnychis · Feb 3, 2014

Haha, thanks to the both of you

Confirmed. There is 1 supercharger back there, I swung by the headquarters tonight to check it out. Go through the main entrance (publicly accessible to guests), just keep going straight and pass the main entrance, and it's right around the back. As you'd imagine, someone was charging there.

There is definitely a gate that could close that goes across the main entrance. Does anyone know if this main gate is closed on weekends or after hours? You'll probably got a response about this, gg.

Is there a supercharger at Tesla in Palo Alto? Others around?

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