Supercharger - Folsom, CA - Iron Point Rd. (4 V2 stalls)

[AnOutsider]

That's a 'satellite' post that needs to be thin if they are going to install between spaces.

Jeez, they install enough power for 5 cars to simultaneously charge and people complain about its looks

Yeah, who the f**k cares what it LOOKS like. It just needs to work and be in an area where I can kill an hour w/ the family. Yeah, yeah, 30 minutes, blah, blah. It'll be an hour all-in.

Though one thing I'm curious about is if you leave it longer than 30 mins will it slow the charge and go ahead and top off the pack instead of just an 80% charge?

Whoa, I think the both of you are taking those comments a bit further than they needed to go. Who's complaining? I see simple observations, made about anything that's dangled before us without much information to go with it.

As for the design, it's functional, sure, but it's spartan compared to Tesla standards. Look at their charging cables, the HPWC and the big talk about the aliens landing at highway rest stops. THEY play up their design chops. To not comment on the simple appearance (and odd placement and storage of the cable) would be like not commenting if Apple came out with a macbook that looked like a generic Dell.

 

[agileone]

Though one thing I'm curious about is if you leave it longer than 30 mins ...

If you are still connected after 30 min, it will zap your car and turn it into a Fishing Karma ...

So better leave the place for someone else ...

 

[ToddRLockwood]

I predict that the way cool visual part of this charging station had not been installed yet. Take a close look at the announcement photo.

 

[Robert.Boston]

FWIW, Folsom is home to the electric grid operator for the state, the California Independent System Operator. The irony is that Folsom itself is served by SMUD, which is not ​under CAISO control.

 

[Todd Burch]

As for the design, it's functional, sure, but it's spartan compared to Tesla standards.

Given the interior of the Model S, many would say that spartan *is* their standard .

 

[bonnie]

FWIW, Folsom is home to the electric grid operator for the state, the California Independent System Operator. The irony is that Folsom itself is served by SMUD, which is not ​under CAISO control.

cAISO has charging stations, but not for public use. Ironic.

Their old office was within a block of this location, but now they're several miles away on the other side of Folsom.

 

[Robert.Boston]

cAISO has charging stations, but not for public use. Ironic.

Charging points under a large solar canopy. Sounds like another company we know!

Security at ISO offices is extremely high; they are designated "critical infrastructure". Part of the reason that CAISO moved out of its old offices is that they simply weren't secure enough. If you could knock out the Folsom CAISO office and the regional backup offices (in undisclosed locations), you'd black out California for a good long while.

 

[TEG]

...you'd black out California for a good long while...

Or you could do like Enron and call them up and just tell them to turn the power off...

 

[elecblue]

Or you could do like Enron and call them up and just tell them to turn the power off...

No fake - when I saw that on Frontline a few years ago I was livid, and I don't even live in CA. The westcoast residents really got screwed by the Enron crooks.

 

[strider]

So for those of you who know the Sac area, how would this work if you're headed to North Lake (Truckee) from the Bay Area?

 

[spleen]

So for those of you who know the Sac area, how would this work if you're headed to North Lake (Truckee) from the Bay Area?

Honestly sort of difficult if you're traveling on I80. You'd have to go out of your way to go to Folsom and cut up north on back roads to get back to I80. Or you could go up 89 once you get to Lake Tahoe but that'd add miles to your trip. I would have thought that Natomas might have been a better choice for the Supercharger since then it could be used by the I5 corridor as well as the I80 and the 50 corridor but maybe the mileage didn't work out.

(speaking as a 3 year former Sac resident)

 

[spatterso911]

Yeah, who the f**k cares what it LOOKS like. It just needs to work and be in an area where I can kill an hour w/ the family. Yeah, yeah, 30 minutes, blah, blah. It'll be an hour all-in.

Though one thing I'm curious about is if you leave it longer than 30 mins will it slow the charge and go ahead and top off the pack instead of just an 80% charge?

I was told that it will top off the battery, but at a much slower rate that initial charging, to protect the battery. You can stay as long as you want or need to.

 

[Robert.Boston]

I was told that it will top off the battery, but at a much slower rate that initial charging, to protect the battery. You can stay as long as you want or need to.

Or as long as you dare, with a line of impatient people waiting behind you... ;-)

 

[strider]

Or as long as you dare, with a line of impatient people waiting behind you... ;-)

Absolutely, if people are waiting, yeah, take the jolt and move on. But if no one's waiting, that's good news. Would also be nice if they added an HPC or 2 so if we're going to stay for awhile (longer meal, shopping, etc) we could get to 80% on the supercharger and then move to an HPC to continue to charge until we're ready to leave.

 

[weccman]

Honestly sort of difficult if you're traveling on I80. You'd have to go out of your way to go to Folsom and cut up north on back roads to get back to I80. Or you could go up 89 once you get to Lake Tahoe but that'd add miles to your trip. I would have thought that Natomas might have been a better choice for the Supercharger since then it could be used by the I5 corridor as well as the I80 and the 50 corridor but maybe the mileage didn't work out.

(speaking as a 3 year former Sac resident)

I live in Sacramento and have given this some thought. Spleen is right that it is a bit out of your way if you are going from the Bay Area to Reno or North Tahoe, but the navigation system should easily help you get from the Supercharger back to Hwy 80 on pretty good roads that only add a few miles of travel. Going all the way to South Tahoe and then driving around the lake would definitely be a lot longer.

 

[bonnie]

I live in Sacramento and have given this some thought. Spleen is right that it is a bit out of your way if you are going from the Bay Area to Reno or North Tahoe, but the navigation system should easily help you get from the Supercharger back to Hwy 80 on pretty good roads that only add a few miles of travel. Going all the way to South Tahoe and then driving around the lake would definitely be a lot longer.

I was surprised that they didn't pick the arena area, where I-80 and I-50 cross. There are a lot of shops in that area off Truxel Road. I supposed it would have gotten the distances off by 30 miles. The Folsom location is a good one, but I agree - it's not ideal.

 

[weccman]

I was surprised that they didn't pick the arena area, where I-80 and I-50 cross. There are a lot of shops in that area off Truxel Road. I supposed it would have gotten the distances off by 30 miles. The Folsom location is a good one, but I agree - it's not ideal.

I would expect that they may put one on 80 as well, but perhaps a bit later in the development of the network. They will also need one or two more to the North of Sacramento to get us to Oregon.

 

[palmer_md]

I would expect that they may put one on 80 as well, but perhaps a bit later in the development of the network. They will also need one or two more to the North of Sacramento to get us to Oregon.

They show two more along I-5 north of Sacramento in the 2 year plan, but even in the long term plan there are no additional dots indicating another site on I-80 between SF and Reno.

http://www.teslamotorsclub.com/attachment.php?attachmentid=10088&d=1348543478

 

[weccman]

I have now used the supercharger at Folsom twice. It is very cool, but in both cases, I arrived with about 85 to 90 miles of range left in the battery, expecting to get 150 miles in 30 minutes. That did not happen. The readout showed an immediate charging rate of 225 amps at about 360 volts and I was getting a mile of range about every 15 seconds. But before long, the amps started dropping and continued to do so until they got to about 75. In order to get a full "standard" charge (to 240 miles), it took about an hour. Still very good, but if you want 150 miles in 30 minutes as promised, I think you have to arrive with a nearly empty battery.

 

[Norbert]

I have now used the supercharger at Folsom twice. It is very cool, but in both cases, I arrived with about 85 to 90 miles of range left in the battery, expecting to get 150 miles in 30 minutes. That did not happen. The readout showed an immediate charging rate of 225 amps at about 360 volts and I was getting a mile of range about every 15 seconds. But before long, the amps started dropping and continued to do so until they got to about 75. In order to get a full "standard" charge (to 240 miles), it took about an hour. Still very good, but if you want 150 miles in 30 minutes as promised, I think you have to arrive with a nearly empty battery.

It wouldn't surprise me if they recently changed the software to allow a more frequent use, and for that purpose, to limit the charging rate more strongly as batteries heat up. Also, they might be collecting real-life use data before adjusting the parameters to final values. I hope they'll have a blog about it at some time.