Supercharger - San Juan Capistrano, CA (7 V2 stalls)

[tbleakne]

I had my first visit to Hawthorne SC yesterday, Sunday, and San Juan Capistrano is looking good, #3 on the SC Dashboard, ahead of Gilroy:

 

[jkliu47]

Wow - Shanghai and Hong Kong are in the Top 10 - what does that say about Tesla sales activities in Asia?

 

[markb1]

I had my first visit to Hawthorne SC yesterday, Sunday, and San Juan Capistrano is looking good, #3 on the SC Dashboard, ahead of Gilroy:

Or bad, if you are looking to get a charge, there.

 

[Cottonwood]

I agree each charging module can serve only one car at a time, because each car is at a different SOC and hence a different pack voltage, so the DC output voltage for the chargers assigned to it is different.

I believe the allocation of modules are quantized in groups of 3, so that there is one charger for each phase in each group. As the total charge rate for one car in a sharing pair ramps down, the chargers assigned to it are only drawing maximum power at the 30, 60, or 90 kW boundaries. At an intermediate power, say 45 kW for example, you would have 6 chargers allocated, but they would not all be supplying full power. They might each be drawing 7.5 kW, or one group could be drawing 5 kW each while the other group is drawing 10 kW. When the primary car reaches the 30 kW boundary, a block of 3 chargers is released to the secondary car.

With this allocation policy the minimum number of chargers assigned to the secondary car would be 3. If the primary car is still drawing more than 90 kW when the secondary starts, the primary will see a drop in its power as the number of chargers assigned to it drops from 12 to 9. If the primary's SOC is such that it is drawing no more than 60 kW when the secondary starts, the secondary should be initially allocated 6 modules and see a maximum of 60 kW.

Scale all these numbers up about 10% for the 135 kW chargers.

This policy would keep the load on the 3 phases balanced. While this is not a strict requirement, it is advisable. I believe I have seen evidence of this allocation in blocks of 3 with both my experience and the reports of others.

I've heard of this theory that modules are switched in groups of three, but have not seen any hard evidence to prove that theory.

The argument, as you stated, is that switching in groups of 3 keeps the 3-phase load balanced. Because the modules are connected L-N, switching one module at a time would cause a worst case imbalance of 10-12 kW. The grid is pretty tough in terms of asymmetric loads on 3-phase. Home HPWC's add imbalances of 20 kW, and my Electro Thermal Storage (ETS) electric heat in my house in Pagosa can draw 46 kW on one phase of the grid on a cold night. On top of that, I can charge at 19.2 kW , as well as turn on the 13.4 kW steam shower; that's a total load of almost 60 kW on one phase. Therefore, a 12 kW imbalance is pretty small in the overall picture.

I have deleted the screen grabs that I did of the one time I shared a Supercharger Cabinet, was the second to arrive, and there was not enough power to give my Tesla all it could take. My memory is that the increases in power that my car got were in increments far less than 30 kW.

If others have better data, I would love to have this question answered of whether the handover of modules from the first Tesla to arrive to the second Tesla to arrive is in groups of 3 or happens one module at a time (~30 kW steps, or ~10 kW steps). The other good question is whether the first to arrive gets all the power it can take, or is there some sort of fairness algorithm, that give the second to arrive at least 20% of the available power.

It sounds like San Juan Capistrano is a good place to gather these data. If any of you there come in as the second to arrive and notice that you are power limited in your Supercharging, try to observe how your power increases.

 

[TexasEV]

Wow - Shanghai and Hong Kong are in the Top 10 - what does that say about Tesla sales activities in Asia?

It says they don't have charging at home.

 

[jkliu47]

It says they don't have charging at home.

A reasonable assumption for the Asian market going forward, but at this time I believe most of the early adopters in China and HK do have their own charging facilities at home.

 

[SeanTek]

I had my first visit to Hawthorne SC yesterday, Sunday, and San Juan Capistrano is looking good

Hey, I never saw that display. Where is it in Hawthorne? Did they just add it recently or something?

 

[4SUPER9]

Hey, I never saw that display. Where is it in Hawthorne? Did they just add it recently or something?

There is a screen in the lobby, on the back wall just to the right of the security desk. Can't miss it.

 

[markb1]

I'm almost afraid to ask, but how long should I expect the wait to be on a Friday mid-afternoon? Specifically today?

 

[BlueTan85]

I've been to SJC twice. Neither time I was able to charge. First time, I arrive, plug in, charge port light flashes red. Then supercharger plug is STUCK in my car's chargeport. Luckily a Tesla engineer was onsite working on the transformers and came over and took apart my chargeport (from inside the trunk) so we could remove the plug. Final service center diagnosis next day: faulty charge port, replaced.

Next time, D day, arrived and all slots were busy and there were 7-8 cars waiting to charge. Drove to Hawthorne, had the #1 spot in the queue, took 30 min to wait, then got in and did a full charge.

So far batting .000 on San Juan Capistrano.

Also, the location is awful. Whoever dreamed up this location has a lot of explaining to do.

 

[markb1]

Next time, D day, arrived and all slots were busy and there were 7-8 cars waiting to charge. Drove to Hawthorne, had the #1 spot in the queue, took 30 min to wait, then got in and did a full charge.

Yeah, I passed through SJC on D day, too. I hope that was event traffic, but I know SJC is often busy.

 

[Lloyd]

I went to D day and charged in Oxnard (8 slots) both directions so I did not have to charge at Hawthorne. 1 of 4 cars charging there and 1 of 2 returning.

 

[wycolo]

> San Juan Capistrano . . . the location is awful. Whoever dreamed up this location has a lot of explaining to do. [BlueTan85]

I've praised the layout of this SpC in the past given the limitations of the locale, specifically the lack of elbow room and the antique theme. Extend these constraints, if you will, to the entire OC Beach region. Not much cheap and available real estate for Tesla's purposes hereabouts imho. Hotels and restaurants unwilling to lease lot space due to their own future expansion plans etc.
--

 

[BlueTan85]

Stopped there yesterday afternoon. All charger slots in use. Parking lot packed as well, children running around, a real mad scene. Finally able to get a charger, we back in, and find the charge rate at ~90mi/hr, 77A. Slowww. After a few minutes I spot these two derelect-looking characters who looked like they'd slept in a dumpster, eyeing all the Teslas. The wander around and decide to sit down on the curb, directly behind my car, their backs leaning against my charger stand. And sure enough they start hassling me when I get out to unplug my car.

Man, I really do not like this San Juan Capistrano location. Not a single good experience yet.

 

[Gear]

Stopped there yesterday afternoon. All charger slots in use. Parking lot packed as well, children running around, a real mad scene. Finally able to get a charger, we back in, and find the charge rate at ~90mi/hr, 77A. Slowww. After a few minutes I spot these two derelect-looking characters who looked like they'd slept in a dumpster, eyeing all the Teslas. The wander around and decide to sit down on the curb, directly behind my car, their backs leaning against my charger stand. And sure enough they start hassling me when I get out to unplug my car.

Man, I really do not like this San Juan Capistrano location. Not a single good experience yet.

Were they asking for money or something?

 

[Larry93428]

Were they asking for money or something?

Atascadero had people lurking behind the chargers.
Not at all pretty people either. This will be an increasing concern.
I have no answer to it.
~Larry

 

[Cosmacelf]

What kind of hassling did you get?

 

[Lloyd]

Atascadero had people lurking behind the chargers.
Not at all pretty people either. This will be an increasing concern.
I have no answer to it.
~Larry

We have vagrancy laws that need to be enforced, but again, this is California and that will never happen.

 

[BlueTan85]

Mocking-tone questions about the car and the charger, as in they were pretending to be interested. There's a street-style line of questioning I'm very familiar with from living in a city and dealing with these folks often, and this was that line of questioning, that's really about sussing out the person with the fancy car and seeing if they can get money, or confrontation, maybe even a fight, or at least something out of them.

It was a really bad vibe, they were there loitering around my car looking for trouble, and I didn't stick around.

 

[Gear]

Atascadero had people lurking behind the chargers.
Not at all pretty people either. This will be an increasing concern.
I have no answer to it.
~Larry

It would be great if there were some way to eject the charge cable from inside the car so you can drive away from potentially dangerous situations. If you're inside your car and charging, you're particularly vulnerable.