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Harris Ranch is getting first battery swap station

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Lump

Active Member
Mar 31, 2013
2,618
2,632
So. Cal.
While charging at Harris Ranch on the way back from the shareholder meeting I was chatting with the employees at Subway inside the Shell gas station market, I was told by someone (not a Subway employee) who works there that Tesla is putting in the battery swap station where the car wash is currently located, I guess the car wash is broken & they don't want to get it fixed so they struck a deal with Tesla & plans have been drawn up to build the station where the car wash is currently, best guess is should be open in about 6 months or so & will be manned with Tesla personal for awhile until they get the kinks worked out, several times Elon has mentioned the first station will be on the I-5 & this area is perfect.

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Very cool! I'm still on the fence about if this is a good concept or not, but it has to be tested out in the wild to make that call. Will be very interesting to see the actual model they choose to use with regards to pack ownership, pricing etc. I'm happy they are actually doing it, since I had a strange feeling after the big show with battery swapping on stage and then nothingness/silence for over a year.
 
Very cool! I'm still on the fence about if this is a good concept or not, but it has to be tested out in the wild to make that call. Will be very interesting to see the actual model they choose to use with regards to pack ownership, pricing etc. I'm happy they are actually doing it, since I had a strange feeling after the big show with battery swapping on stage and then nothingness/silence for over a year.

Well, the show hid everything so it wouldn't have been ready. The mechanisms have to exact and reliable.

To me the swapping concept hangs on cost on the road, but I think that overall it has great value, because in a Tesla world there will be tens of thousands of installations and removals happening every day and automated swap capability would make those much less labor intensive.
 
Well, the show hid everything so it wouldn't have been ready. The mechanisms have to exact and reliable.

True. I meant more the demonstration of the concept, with all the bells and whistles.

To me the swapping concept hangs on cost on the road, but I think that overall it has great value, because in a Tesla world there will be tens of thousands of installations and removals happening every day and automated swap capability would make those much less labor intensive.

Very true.
 
This is exciting. I have to admit after driving cross-country in the Tesla, there definitely would be times where I would pay a "tank full of oil" in order to have more flexibility on the trip. Not that I would do it any high percentage of time. And I-5 is probably the most boring road in California.
 
The car wash land is fairly big, I wonder if Tesla has secured an even larger area to locate supercharging spots with solar canopy & battery storage, in the future Harris Ranch will need to expand the number of SC's so why not move them away from the hotel & combine everything in one area, maybe even build a small waiting lounge with bathroom & drink vending machines, Harris Ranch can get pretty stinky, dusty & hot. Lots of possabilities if Tesla has a dedicated area & gets creative.
 
Just to be clear, we are basing all this on a rumor from a Subway employee?

No, info came from someone who was very informed on how much traffic was attributed to the current SC & volunteered the swapping info, I quizzed this individual & the individual provided info a typical person wouldn't have, I even asked if it was OK if I shared the info & was told it was fine to share, I am holding back the person identity & further details but if we combine what Elon has said in the past then this all adds up...I guess we will know in a few months, maybe someone can search for permits etc...
 
No, info came from someone who was very informed on how much traffic was attributed to the current SC & volunteered the swapping info, I quizzed this individual & the individual provided info a typical person wouldn't have,...

I see. The wording of your original post made it sound as if you were getting the information from someone who worked at the Subway shop in the gas station.
 
I wonder how they'll address the business aspect of things (do you still own your original pack and how to you get it back if you travel a different way back home?)
I remember during the announcement there is a time frame where you won't get billed for the difference in value of the pack. Ideally you travel the same way back home, but if you don't, I think the idea was a mobile swapper (kind of like the Rangers) that can come to your home to swap the pack back in. Obviously that will involve a service charge of some sort.