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Superchargers in Northern California (location speculation)
- Thread starter Lyon
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palmer_md
Member
I drove through the Manteca and Lathrop potential locations again today. No signs at any of the sites visited, but I did see lots of activity at the old Mopar distribution center that Tesla purchased. The site has been empty for years now, but today I saw a dozen or so cars in the lot and you can see all the lights on inside the warehouse. There was some light construction visible on the north side of the building. Looked like they were modifying a doorway or something (can't see very well from the west side front of the building). I thought there might be some supercharger construction there. Not a great site for superchargers since it is too far to walk to anything. You'd be just stuck sitting in your car if they used this site, but I thought I'd look anyway. I had a friend who worked there, so its nice to see it getting back to use.
I was thinking the new Lathrop manufacturing facility could have a very unique supercharger. Fence off a section of the parking lot, with a gate that can only be accessed by supercharger enabled cars. Build bathrooms and a nice visitors center for people to use while their cars charge. Maybe even a gallery overlooking the manufacturing floor. Would be really cool and keep owners engaged in the company.
Palmer MD, thanks for your scouting report. Keep us posted if you hear anything. I and I hazard to say quite a few other folks traveling up and down I-5 or traveling from the SF Bay Area to Yosemite would be more than happy to sit in my car for 30 minutes and just watch the car charge away.
On a separate but related note, I received an email today from the Tesla Supercharger team in response to an email I sent to them a couple days ago. The email states that the development of a Manteca site is a top priority. Understandably, they don't want to disclose details on location and timing until they were 100% sure when and where it would be rolled out. I took this to mean that the site could still be in Manteca proper, but it wouldn't surprise me if the actual site ends up being in Lathrop as the Tesla folks were responding to an email in which I had specifically asked about a Manteca site (this was before the news of the Lathrop manufacturing facility surfaced).
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@SFOturtle, thanks for the update, I am glad to hear that something in the Manteca area is in the works even if a location has not been finalized yet.
Now that Manteca is confirmed, I have heard that Truckee is a for sure. Not sure of location yet. Also Petaluma looks like your wine country jumping off point. As far as location goes there is a Premium outlets that has level 1 and 2 charging and Tesla has a relationship with Premium outlets. However there is a new shopping center on East Washington with a little more in the way of eating choices so that may be more appealing. Also has better freeway access....although traffic is always a mess there. So probably one of those two.
NorCal Supercharger locations?
I have seen nothing official from Tesla about a Truckee location. I think that is just a rumor at this point, though I would certainly like it to be true.
As far as Petaluma is concerned, if you look on the official Tesla SC map at Supercharger | Tesla Motors and slide the bar to "End of 2014" the dot north of San Francisco appears to me to be well north of Santa Rosa, which would be a logical location. Petaluma is too close to SF to be a likely SC site.
An SC in the Manteca area is obviously coming since it is shown on the map as "Coming Soon". The question is, when? All we really know is that it will be this year. I hope! My wife and I are leaving this Thursday for a 3-day stay in the Oakhurst area. A Manteca SC would have been helpful for that trip. Instead we are going to drive from our home in San Mateo to Gilroy, top up there, and then take the 152 into the Central Valley and over to the 99, then the 145 to the 41 to Oakhurst. That is slightly longer overall than the route through Manteca and slightly more elevation gain, but with a near full charge in Gilroy (will eat lunch while charging) I will have an over 100 miles of range as a safety margin. Will charge overnight at my destination on 220V/20A before heading into Yosemite National Park to do some hiking.
I have seen nothing official from Tesla about a Truckee location. I think that is just a rumor at this point, though I would certainly like it to be true.
As far as Petaluma is concerned, if you look on the official Tesla SC map at Supercharger | Tesla Motors and slide the bar to "End of 2014" the dot north of San Francisco appears to me to be well north of Santa Rosa, which would be a logical location. Petaluma is too close to SF to be a likely SC site.
An SC in the Manteca area is obviously coming since it is shown on the map as "Coming Soon". The question is, when? All we really know is that it will be this year. I hope! My wife and I are leaving this Thursday for a 3-day stay in the Oakhurst area. A Manteca SC would have been helpful for that trip. Instead we are going to drive from our home in San Mateo to Gilroy, top up there, and then take the 152 into the Central Valley and over to the 99, then the 145 to the 41 to Oakhurst. That is slightly longer overall than the route through Manteca and slightly more elevation gain, but with a near full charge in Gilroy (will eat lunch while charging) I will have an over 100 miles of range as a safety margin. Will charge overnight at my destination on 220V/20A before heading into Yosemite National Park to do some hiking.
SC's north of S.F. need to be in Cloverdale and Ukiah or else you wont be able to make it to I-5 on 20/29 from the south or north. + with the current SC build out map it still puts the Eureka area ~170 miles from any SuperCharger (Ukiah would be 160mi) and the 101 or route 1 up the coast is not doable without RV parks and overnight charge stops.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Some rumors have sources that can be reliable, and some don't...
Let's look at reasonableness of choices. Truckee is 83 miles from Roseville. That seems a little close until you realize that Truckee is at least 5,000 feet higher than Roseville; that is 30 rated miles needed on the uphill direction. With the elevation gain and possible winter conditions, Truckee looks like a great choice for a Supercharger location.
Petaluma may seem a little close to San Francisco, but it would complete the set, having Superchargers on all major approaches into the Bay Area. Also, if you stay on the SFO side of the Bay, it is 117 miles from Gilroy to Petaluma. That is a very nice Supercharger spacing if you want to see SFO on your way though the area.
The Tesla map for future Superchargers has given some good hints and has also been an error prone, rough guide. I would take it with a large grain of salt.
All in all, I think that Truckee and Petaluma are very plausible as Supercharger choices. Take that with some rumors that may have good basis, and I think we should keep an eye on these locations.
Cloverdale and Ukiah would be strangely close together. If they are going to put another supercharger north of Cloverdale, why not Eureka (or at least somewhere near Humboldt redwoods)? As it is, Cloverdale is sort of a strange dead end.
true
I guess Ukiah would be good enough
Eureka/Arcata would be a good spot for the 299 shot to Shasta or Corning + 199 to Grants pass but a 60kWhr car won't make those trips easily.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
OK, let's think like a Tesla Supercharger Planning Engineer, and plan a 101 route up into Oregon. This would provide a more scenic alternative for all of those west coast MS's and add to the credibility of the MS as a great touring car.
Here is my stab at the route. I have stated other places that the maximum spacing between Superchargers should be no more than 133 miles (less with extreme elevation changes), to allow for comfortable, quick-charging, Supercharger road trips. This route gets a little sparse in places, but I got close to staying with my 133 rule. See Petaluma, CA to Astoria, OR - Google Maps for reference.
Petaluma makes a great start to this 101 touring route. I'd put my money on the Petaluma rumor!
Here is my stab at the route. I have stated other places that the maximum spacing between Superchargers should be no more than 133 miles (less with extreme elevation changes), to allow for comfortable, quick-charging, Supercharger road trips. This route gets a little sparse in places, but I got close to staying with my 133 rule. See Petaluma, CA to Astoria, OR - Google Maps for reference.
- Petaluma - start
- Willits - 100 miles
- Eureka - 134 miles
- Crescent City - 85 miles
- Coos Bay - 133 miles
- Newport - 98 miles
- Astoria - 134 miles
Petaluma makes a great start to this 101 touring route. I'd put my money on the Petaluma rumor!
I've looked at the options a lot for 101 north. The biggest question is how much cross access you want to provide to 1 (and 5 via 20 or 299), and does it make sense to put an SC somewhere along 1? Answering those questions determines where you'd want the SCs, as there are many possible combinations that fit each case.
Until you do that, on 101 you could justify SCs at numerous locations: Mill Valley, San Rafael, Petaluma, Santa Rosa, Healdsburg, Geyserville, Cloverdale, Hopland, Calpella, Willits, Leggett, Scotia/Rio Dell/Fortuna, Eureka/Arcata, and Crescent City. For Hwy 1, Pt. Reyes Station, Bodega Bay, Bridgehaven/Jenner, Albion, Ft. Bragg, and maybe a few others like Pt. Arena/Manchester could make sense.
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I'm not sure why you think that. Petaluma is only about 70 miles from Fremont and the Tesla Supercharger map has always shown the one planned 101 supercharger as well north of that.
The map does show the dot in what appears to be the Geyserville/Cloverdale area, but as is obvious by now, many of the dot locations are subject to change. In Petaluma's favor, it's a good takeoff point for Bodega Bay and Hwy 1 north of that, and is about 85 miles from someone living in San Jose, who isn't going to stop at Fremont to charge - people in the East Bay aren't going to charge in Fremont either. And there are lots of people who drive to Petaluma and then spend the day biking in West Marin. I imagine that the majority of people heading up 1 or 101 North are doing a day or weekend getaway from the Bay Area, as opposed to tourists coming down from the PNW.
Exactly. I don't know why people seem to be obsessed over charging when it's not necessary. When I go camping in pinnacles (about 80 miles from me) I pass right by the Gilroy superchargers but never stop. Not charging at all is still more convenient than a supercharger.
I was going to say that some of the cities are pretty tiny but then the Detroit, OR SC came to mind. so I guess that doesn't matter too much
Albion, Pt Arena, and scotioa/rio dell I think are not ideal. Eel river brewery in Fortuna!!! ideal North coast brewery Fort bragg, ideal...wait, don't drink and drive ( these would be really good 14-50 stops)
very tasty bar food, especially eel river.(stay away from Lost Coast though, crappy beer)
Arcata and crescent city make sense
there are supposed to be 13 charge stations going in between Scotia and Trinidad in the next couple of years. so you can piddle your way through the area.
Willow creek could use a charger too if any 60 kW cars plan on ever running over 299, A 'Bigfoot' charger ;>
You've got an 85, and the SC network should be designed for 60s and the Gen 3 cars. Re Petaluma, yes, it's doable round trip in _good_ conditions with a 60 assuming a straight out and back and no local driving, but who assumes that conditions will be good or that you'll never make any detours when touring? Petaluma is unquestionably a bit more south than it needs to be for people intent on heading up 101, but as I said it provides good access to 1, so it all depends what kind of access you want to the coast for a day trip.
About the furthest north you'd want the first SC on 101N would be Cloverdale: 131 miles from San Jose via 880/580/101; 122 from Livermore via 580. I think Geyserville would provide better spacing, especially if you put the second SC in Leggett: 122 miles from San Jose, 105 miles to Leggett, another 90 to Eureka or 98 to Arcata (where an SC should be), and it's only likely to get foggier/windier the further north you go. This also provides good access to Albion and Ft. Bragg.
With those sites I think you need/want an SC in Jenner too (122-129 miles from S.J.depending on route), as that will also cover people coming all the way up 1 from the GG Bridge, and with a little care will allow you to reach Leggett (140 miles) via 1 - you won't be driving fast, but you may well be fighting a headwind and/or using heat/defrost. The only downside of these locations is that they provide no practical SCs for people coming over from I-5 via Hwy 20.
BTW, I've looked in Settings and My Profile, and haven't found where I can add a sig. Where are the instructions?
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