(Reported on 12/26/2015) 11+ car wait at Tejon Ranch!

[RDoc]

I continue to think that Tesla needs to extend fixed station battery swapping and develop mobile battery swapping stations for peak periods combined with an ownership model of battery leasing or net battery worth if they ever want to become anything more than a niche player in the auto market.

Travel at many locations is by its nature very peaky, so building enough charging stations to handle the 1% maximum load makes no sense and is likely not economically or physically possible. Charging just takes too long, and there's not much that can be done about it unless some new form of energy storage comes along. That leaves battery swapping as the only way to deal with peak local demand, both fixed stations for heavily traveled areas, and mobile stations for ones with seasonal peaks.

 

[liuping]

I'm really bummed by this. We originally planned to come home Monday, but a snow storm is coming and we need to leave sunday instead. It will probably be even worse tomorrow.

Really wish Tesla expanded Tejon earlier this year. It's always a high risk of having a wait there and it's been that way for a long time. It not like they did not know it would be a bottle neck. And there is space for more chargers.

 

[thecloud]

Have you been to San Juan Capistrano? Yes, people do that... even leaving the car in the stall for hours and hours while they are elsewhere.

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They need more locations, not 15 chargers at one location. Probably one somewhere up the grapevine. Imagine a closed road or a blown transformer at a site with 15 charge stalls.

That's a good point, although if you think about the ICE equivalent of charging on this route, there are quite a few gas stations clustered at this spot, because it's the logical place to fuel up for your journey over the Grapevine to L.A., or to refuel again after making it over the Grapevine. There needs to be some expansion at Tejon (at least 2 more stalls, for starters), plus additional superchargers nearby on that heavily-traveled route. As others have pointed out, there are more Teslas coming off the line every day, adding to the number which will be contending for these charging spots. It's a good thing that this growth is happening; I'm just hoping the infrastructure can grow with it.

I'm familiar with both SJC and Tejon, and they are very different use cases.

Lots of people live in and around San Juan Capistrano (much like Fountain Valley). People don't live around Tejon Ranch, they pass through it on their way to somewhere distant. Everyone I've ever talked to at the Tejon Ranch supercharger is on a trip somewhere. The ones who aren't traveling between the Bay Area and L.A. were either from Utah or Arizona.

 

[Dwdnjck]

It is now possible to skip or short charge at Tejon Supercharger if you load up at Burbank. It is 74 miles to Tejon and 190 to Harris Ranch from Burbank.

 

[cwerdna]

That's a good point, although if you think about the ICE equivalent of charging on this route, there are quite a few gas stations clustered at this spot, because it's the logical place to fuel up for your journey over the Grapevine to L.A., or to refuel again after making it over the Grapevine.

I suppose so, but there are quite a few gas stations all along I-5 between the Bay Area and LA. When driving my ICEVs to LA (has pretty much always been my Prius since 06), I can make it from home in the South Bay to LA on a single tank of gas and the Prius' gas tank is not very big. I've never put more than 9.975 gallons into it.

I know some of my trips ended in San Gabriel and per Google Maps, it's 341 miles from my home to that city. I get gas once I arrive in San Gabriel. If I achieve only 40 mpg, I'd need 8.525 gallons.

People don't live around Tejon Ranch, they pass through it on their way to somewhere distant.

Yeah, because it's in the middle of nowhere. I highly doubt there are many Model S owners around there since virtually nobody lives around there to begin with.

It looks like Tejon Ranch, along w/Buttonwillow and Bakersfield falls within Kern County. Per Kern County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, median household income there between 2009 and 2013 was just under $49K, so not many folks there would be able to afford a Model S.

In comparison, Santa Clara County (where most of Silicon Valley falls within) per Santa Clara County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau is at almost $92K, and there are quite a few Model S running around.

And in terms of population density, the former has 103.3 persons/square mile vs. 1381. The state average is 239.1/square mile. (I suspect if you tossed Bakersfield w/its 2444.2 persons/square mile at Bakersfield (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau, Kern County population density would be much lower.

For comparison, San Jose has 5358.7 person/square mile per San Jose (city) QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau and it's nowhere near what I'd call densely populated. It has a LOT of suburbs w/folks living in 1 and 2-story houses. And, almost all apartments, townhouses and condos are low-rise.)

 

[eye.surgeon]

Tejon definitely needs expansion. The new buttonwillow SC will definitely help but not enough...by the time it opens, the need for SC north of the grapevine will significantly increase even more than today.

 

[SFOTurtle]

I wonder how many of those in line would've been on the 101 but diverted because of the brush fires. There are two routes, but I believe that the 101 was/is (?) closed for some brush fires today.

Ding ding. I bet you're right. I have driven the I-5 route a few times and never waited once for a SC (drove northbound as recently as November), but never on Friday or Sunday. If I have to drive on either of those days, I've always taken 101 and also have never waited. I would fathom that at least some of those cars took I-5 because they had to with 101 closed.

 

[cwerdna]

Re: the fires down there, for context for those unaware, the news has been re-broadcasting this video as part of their coverage: Maaike Maks on Twitter: . So, it's no wonder highways had to be closed.

 

[capt601]

It is now possible to skip or short charge at Tejon Supercharger if you load up at Burbank. It is 74 miles to Tejon and 190 to Harris Ranch from Burbank.

188.4 actual miles. Rated miles used 239-263. Depending on speed used. Not as easy when you just look at distance.

 

[AWDtsla]

..... that's terrible....

bad press.... bad everything... bad all around...

Tesla is already building a supercharger 40 miles up the road... That's not as bad press as "No, we can't take the Tesla because there's no superchargers around the area and we get half the range because it's 5F out, oh and they have no official plans to build one around the area".

 

[russman]

None of them were locals, as I spoke to most of them during the 2 hr wait. Just a mix of people going North and South. One person said they came this way because of the fire. All in all, it was about a 3 hour hassle and when I left the line was 14 deep +6 people in the stalls, so a steady 4+ hours for 14 or more cars, as someone early in the line was waiting for over an hour when I got there.

A number of people who were heading south said they came from Harris Ranch and there was someone taking names to help keep the line in order, so it was bad there. When I got to Harris, it wasn't crowded. Looks like more going south then north.

Lastly, the charging notification telling me I had enough to get to the next charger as way off. Partially because it's cold outside and seems like high winds.

At Gilroy now and this has been a long roadtrip....

 

[FredTMC]

Yeah, down San Diego way, we all thought the San Diego supercharger would relieve congestion at San Juan Capistrano. No suck luck. It is still congested.

Nope. I never thought that simply because there are many locals close to SJC. Locals use their local Superchargers. It happens.

I really feel feel bad for the holiday travelers at tejon. That's nasty. Tesla needs to scale out the pumps more quickly.

I wish Tesla would deploy more temporary "pallet skid" pumps at these tejon type travel routes. These temporary pumps aren't hard to build or deploy for holiday weekends.

I would also be okay if tesla blocked access to people who live close to a particular supercharger during these peak demand periods.
Its really not fair to holiday travelers to have locals hogging a supercharger. For example, I live close to SJC but id never dream of using SJC while other travelers were waiting to charge.

 

[aus]

Where could they possibly put 10 stalls at Buttonwillow??
There's NOTHING there!!
Last time I was there, it as Summer and a car hit a power line pole and the whole town was dark for almost the entire night. Imagine if something like that happened and you were planning on charging there!!
.

 

[Lennox]

Google maps images even show that Tejon is full lol

I'm based in Glasgow Scotland and you often see the EV stations/parking spaces in town full by 7am, it's a real problem, people park and block. And it can only get worse as good EVs become cheaper and social adoption grows.

 

[Mark Z]

Photo from FB

That photo reminds me of the gas crises of the 1970's. View the orderly wait at HESS. Check out photo number 4 in this link:

Gas Lines Evoke Memories Of Oil Crises In The 1970s : The Picture Show : NPR

Back then, as I sat in those lines, I thought it would be perfect to have an electric car!

With the Tesla Connector at home, now EVSE is a perfect solution to fill-up the battery everyday at home, and not just on odd or even days.

 

[ecarfan]

11+ car wait at Tejon Ranch AVOID IF YOU CAN!!!!

As usual, a picture is worth a thousand words. That photo should really get the attention of the Tesla Supercharger team.
It appears that Tesla owners behaved sensibly and formed a line. Hopefully not too many people tried to cut in and jump the queue.

View attachment 105558

 

[SW2Fiddler]

11+ car wait at Tejon Ranch AVOID IF YOU CAN!!!!

That photo should really get the attention of the...

local business owners!


None of these businesses see the opportunity yet, of installing a couple HAL2 to pick up some business from Supercharger Overflow?
"Waiting? Sit down at our table and feed all your hungry batteries. FREE 70A charging code with purchase of a Family Meal and a HomeMade Pie. CLEAN RESTROOMS!"
Or CHAdeMO (loaner Tesla Adapter on site) for faster turnaround, more likely.
Give it time. One of 'em will figure it out and then others will Follow The Money.

 

[PatD]

Wonder if next year or sometime soon if Tesla can implement 800V charging that Porsche plans to offer in their EV. They are claiming 80% capacity in 15 minutes...

First thing that went through my mind when I saw Porsche's 800V claim - where are they going to get that kind of voltage to supply several "stalls" of their own "superchargers?" It's marketing. MOST people will charge at home and this will be of no benefit to them.

 

[RiverBrick]

It will help ease the congestion, but solve it? Not so sure about that. There are already more cars in line today than can fit at both the Buttonwillow and Tejon superchargers put together. An expansion of the Tejon supercharger is needed as well.

Mathematical modeling of waiting lines will show that 10 additional stalls would normally have been sufficient to handle this situation. Thanks to earlier cars being cleared more quickly, there likely would never have been 21 vehicles competing for 16 spots.

 

[4SUPER9]

They need more locations, not 15 chargers at one location. Probably one somewhere up the grapevine. Imagine a closed road or a blown transformer at a site with 15 charge stalls.

They need both. The photos above are a poor advertisement for TM.

Tejon is a key location for traveling. Until such a time as locations become ubiquitous (still a few years at best), they need important sites like Tejon capable of handling the capacity. TM has had 6 stalls at this location since inception of the SC network, yet how many cars have been delivered to this region since then? Heck, even if they added just 4 stalls this queue could have been eliminated. Buttonwillow will help, but not solve this problem, much like adding San Diego AND Fountain Valley failed to solve the congestion at San Juan Capistrano.