San Juan Capistrano - HELP!

mwallach_93499344

This weekend we traveled between San Diego and Los Angeles. Our Tesla navigation informed us that we would need to stop in SJC to recharge (which we had easily done more than a year ago) and we did again on Friday, March 31st at approx. 4pm. When we arrived all 7 stalls were in use and there were 3 cars waiting ahead of us. There was not a single driver in any car that was charging. There was also an attendant station this time but no attendant. 2 drivers waiting to charge were clearly upset. 1 gentleman said he had been there nearly an hour waiting. After 30 minutes the attendant returned and spoke with the upset people waiting. After almost 2 hours of waiting - it was at last our turn (keep in mind during that WHOLE time only 2 cars had moved from their stalls - 5 of the original cars that were there at the start were still there). When I plugged in, my computer told me "3 1/2 hours to complete charging". I panicked. I had an upset sister at this point and 2 upset kids as we were suppose to stop in Disneyland. The Tesla Attendant then informed me that "Tesla" had turned down the SuperChargers because they were blowing fuses and being over-used by Tesla owners. He said my best bet would be to report this to Tesla on this site. Honestly, our Friday night was ruined from not getting to complete our plans because we couldn't "SuperCharge" as we had done in the past. We also found the lack of respect by the Tesla owners practically abandoning their cars at the SuperCharger station to be extremely rude and disrespectful . The Tesla Attendant said there was nothing he could do. He said "fights" break out almost daily at this station. Needless to say our return to San Diego Saturday night (April 1st) was no better. We arrived at 9pm. All 7 stalls full. No drivers to be found anywhere. We got a stall about 50 minutes after arriving. We charged only 20 minutes with my computer saying I would have 14% battery upon arriving home since my battery was not fully charged. My sister said she is going to tell every person she can NEVER to buy a Tesla based on this experience... I was in complete tears over the stress of it all. Clearly I will not be driving my Tesla ever again to Los Angeles unless that can be fixed. More stalls. Return to actually Super Charging (3 1/2 hours is not a Super Charge) and please MORE Super Chargers along the I-5... how can Tesla find this to be acceptable??

psrenv_92947417

Could you not plan ahead enough to possibly hit the Santa Ana, Fountain Valley or Buena Park Scs? Does your Tesla not tell you how many stalls are available at all SCs? SJC is always a nightmare to charge...just plan on not using that SC and you will be fine.

Tâm

@mwallach

With today's Model S' 100D range of 335 miles, there is not need to stop in between San Diego to LAX which is about 110 miles.

mwallach_93499344

I'm not sure what one considers to be San Diego to LA but our trip from address to address was 153 miles each way. We departed San Diego fully charged at 240m and by the time we sat in heavy traffic with the air on and radio playing and reached SJC I had less than 100m showing. My car is an 85D and only 16 months old so I'm not truly ready to upgrade to a 100 model which was not available when I purchased. My car told me to recharge in SJC so we stopped. What my car failed to mention is SJC is no longer a quick 20 minute charge (as it was for us a year ago) and neither my car or the Tesla attendant communicated we could travel on north and catch another Super Charger further on... not did it mention heading southbound Saturday night. Again my car stated SJC should be my stop as there were no more Super Chargers on my south path home. The TESLA employee stated this station had a lot of issues and he asked me to contact Tesla via this site. He said the more that we speak up - the better chance we have of TESLA responding. The 2 gentlemen ahead of me Friday night were verbally upset, yelling, and extremely frustrated at all the abandoned cars in the stalls. I found the whole situation to be quite disturbing as they proceeded to yell at the attendant. Maybe a map at this station directing drivers not from the area where else they could go to charge would be helpful. Just about anything other than what I observed has got to be better. Telling me that the Tesla Designed Super Chargers were being over-used by Tesla Owners was a pathetic answer to give to someone trying to move along the freeway. I appreciate the responses but on this one I think we should band together and ask Tesla to help us all so that drivers are not at each others throats. Until then I'll stick to my gas guzzler for long distance trips. I love my Tesla but not the stress we were put through and the time we loss on our only 2 days off.

psrenv_92947417

Having had "less than 100 m showing", didn't your Tesla tell you how many stalls were open on your screen? You had more than enough mileage to hit the 3 other SCs I mentioned above. And why not "fill er up" if going on this long distance trip? Seems to me that the problem is your poor planning as well as the ridiculousness of the SJC SC.

Greenee

Wow, surprised at the harsh comments directed at mwallach! Yes, there are ways to plan but Tesla tells us to trust the Tesla program, which this driver did. I think this may be an indicator of what may arise once the Model 3 is introduced.

mwallach, sorry for your experience. It would be hard for those of us that love Tesla but for non Tesla lovers a total fiasco.

Tâm

@Greenee
@mwallach


The reality is in front of our eyes: There are so many gas stations in so many intersections but there are hardly any Superchargers for comparison.

So to catch up with the convenience of gasoline station availability, it's a huge problem.

Tesla has continuously tried hard to solve that problem but it is still a work in progress.

However, in the mean time, what can owners do?

1) Write comment on Tesla Contact page and suggest another location for Supercharger.
2) If you have resources, trade in for a highest range you can which was 85, 90, now 100 kWh, and higher in future.
3) Plan your Supercharging stops prior to your trip.
4) Check Supercharging Status on your 17" display during the trip.

JAD

Or just drive to the San Diego SC which is only 50 miles from SJC, easily within your range. It is also busy, but much larger so the wait, if any, is much less. 5 new San Diego SC are planned for this year, so problem should be solved by Tesla shortly.

Surf

I don't think you need to throw the baby out with the bath water. It is pretty obvious that the number of Tesla drivers has overwhelmed the supercharger stations in certain locations. SJC is long known for this problem. Other than stop by a different charger my advice is to take a different car. When Disneyland or something equally time sensitive is at risk like a sporting event or concert, I would just remove the supercharger traffic from the equation. Not ideal, but still not a deal breaker for such an amazing car.

Sam_S

OP said his estimated charge time was 3.5 hours which is abnormally long.

So maybe the owners who didn't return as quickly as you would normally expect were simply waiting for their charge to complete versus being discurteous to those waiting.

Regardless, this is known to be one of the most congested SC locations so be forewarned.

Bluesday Afternoon

Waiting 3.5 hours to charge in San Juan Cap is simply hard to swallow! ;-)

UnshodBob

Do those birds still return every year? The swallows? To San Juan Capistrano? I thougt the restoration had discouraged them or destroyed their nesting sites or something like that. Good pun, @Simply Red.

Bluesday Afternoon

@UnshodBob

Yes, they are returning to the stabilized mission. It's great to see California wild life recovering from sea otters, sea lions to swallows. Now, if we can just keep the WH from mucking it up!

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-swallow-capistrano-20170602-htmlstory.html

UnshodBob

@SimplyRed - thanks for the link! Good to hear that they are making a comeback.

robert.s.bjekich_523585

A permit has been taken out for a 16 stall Tesla Super Charger in the parking lot at The Outlets in San Clemente. Help will soon arrive.

wildcatzoo

Glad you brought it to the attention of all. Tesla used to route all North and South bound traffic to the Supercharger at Tejon Ranch, but now they almost never route anyone there it seems. They opened up a couple of others near that location that they now direct that traffic to. It sounds like they need to do the same with this location. If you had options and did not realize it, that is in part on you. Tesla the corporation or employees won't know the details of your life. Disneyland has destination chargers, and so some of the issues we all need to overcome is learning how to make this transition work, rather than just accepting what a computer tells us. I can understand your frustration, but I would not have done the same thing you did. I have skipped the Tejon charger by simply driving efficiently from Atascedero home instead of taking the rest break that comes with a free charge and a little higher speeds. Learning the car will make you the decision maker, as you are when you drive a gas car. A gas car does not tell you where to refuel, and I think you took the suggestion the car made on this trip a tad too literal. You had a lot of options, and if you have access to a CHaedmo adapter your trip would have been completed with less stress and even more options. You likely learned to change your oil and take care of your gas car, so this is pretty easy compared to that. If you are not aware of EV trip planner and plugshare, now would be a good time to take a look.

A_SHAIKH787_93524392

I stopped by San Juan Capistrano supercharger yesterday and it was charging at 84 miles per hour, fortunately i needed 20 mile charge to get back to LA

Its good to see number of tesla on the road but its very disappointing that people do not respect other travelers on the road and use tesla supercharger as parking spot and do not move the car as soon as it charged.

I believe its time for everyone to start sending email to testa to solve the supercharger issue and start charging idle time to ignorant peoples.

Thank you

A_SHAIKH787_93524392

https://www.change.org/p/tesla-motors-sign-a-petition-for-tesla-to-start-charging-idle-time-at-super-charger?recruiter=752109166&utm_source=share_petition&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=share_email_responsive

Tâm

@A_SHAIKH787

I thought Tesla has $0.40 idle fee per minute since December 16, 2016.

https://www.tesla.com/blog/improving-supercharger-availability


http://i.imgur.com/f7p0olh.jpg

I agree with @mwallach that the long term solution is to size the capacity for peak time.

mydi142002_312574

I've heard there are problems with not enough chargers in San Diego so, yeah, that's not good -- but first thing I would say if you are EVER in that situation again, is to call Tesla's Roadside Service - 24 hour line. I believe there are a number of new hire attendants who know nothing about how to handle these situations. Second thing is, a good alternative to superchargers, if you are ever in a big bind, is Mobile campgrounds -- they have about 1/2 the charge of a supercharger -- also Disneyland has electric car charging so an alternative is to just go to Disneyland, park in the preferred up-front parking they give to Electric Car owners, and plug in while you enjoy! I probably could come up with more ideas, but it's late. Sorry you had that experience. (PS even though my name on here is TeslaChick - I am not affiliated with Tesla - I just own a company that sells waterless car wash under that name, that's why I use it).

mydi142002_312574

I've heard there are problems with not enough chargers in San Diego so, yeah, that's not good -- but first thing I would say if you are EVER in that situation again, is to call Tesla's Roadside Service - 24 hour line. I believe there are a number of new hire attendants who know nothing about how to handle these situations. Second thing is, a good alternative to superchargers, if you are ever in a big bind, is Mobile campgrounds -- they have about 1/2 the charge of a supercharger -- also Disneyland has electric car charging so an alternative is to just go to Disneyland, park in the preferred up-front parking they give to Electric Car owners, and plug in while you enjoy! I probably could come up with more ideas, but it's late. Sorry you had that experience. (PS even though my name on here is TeslaChick - I am not affiliated with Tesla - I just own a company that sells waterless car wash under that name, that's why I use it).

rxlawdude

San Juan Capistrano was the poster child for local users simply hooking up their S and driving home with their hubby/wifey. I truly believe these inconsiderate louts are not traveling at all, but too freakin' cheap to pay for their electricity.

I get that SJC is serviced by SDGE, the most expensive utility on the US mainland, but still. Inconsiderate a-holes should be prohibited from owning Teslas.

iefbr14

Check out the new superchargers down the road from SJC at the San Clemente Outlet Mall. It's an awesome spot, easy off/on from the I-5.

vp09_98036927

A year later what is the SJC situation?

I went there one or two times and will avoid it forever.

Are there folks who still use the charging stations as parking spots?

Have the idle fees eliminated the freeloader problem?

guydude

I too experience horrendously slow charging times at San Juan Cap this weekend. Absolutely miserable!!! Charging at 35kw max the whole time. Killed my morning

JimMartin

Best to just pretend that the SJC supercharger doesn't exist. I've tried to use it a couple of times without success. From what I can tell, the locals that have free lifetime supercharging have effectively taken it over. Every time I look at it on the map, it's either full or has 1 stall open. The folks that live around there are pretty affluent, so the idle charges probably don't matter to them.