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Tesla Is Rethinking the Rest Stop For California Road Trips (bloomberg.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the fun-for-the-whole-family dept.

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Bloomberg: In-N-Out Burgers has some new competition for attracting drivers on two heavily traveled stretches of California freeways that help link Los Angeles to Las Vegas and San Francisco: Tesla's biggest Supercharger stations yet. The charging stations in Kettleman City, off Interstate 5, and Baker, near Interstate 15, each have 40 stalls, making them the largest among more than 1,000 in North America, according to an emailed statement Wednesday. If filling up your Tesla takes half an hour, you might as well get comfortable. The Kettleman City station north of Bakersfield has a play wall for kids, a pet relief area and outdoor space for families. It's open round-the-clock, there's wi-fi and there will be food as well. But if you want to stretch your legs, the nearest In-N-Out is just across the street. And there are inevitable Tesla touches at both: solar-covered parking and Tesla Powerpacks.

2 of 111 comments (clear)

  1. Brilliant by goose-incarnated · · Score: 1, Troll

    That's 80 fill-ups per hour. Truly, we are ready for a population using 90% electric cars.

    --
    I'm a minority race. Save your vitriol for white people.
    1. Re:Brilliant by GuB-42 · · Score: 0, Troll

      There is a whole bunch of problems to fast charging.
      For now, current battery chemistry (LCO) typically require 3h for a full charge. Going faster require means you are not using the full battery capacity. You may even damage it. That's why fast charge is typically only available for the first 50% or so. There are other battery chemistries (ex: LFP) that charge faster but you pay the price in term of energy density.
      There is also the issue of heat. If you dump a megawatt of power into something relatively small like a car, the tiniest inefficiency is going to produce a lot of heat you have to deal with.
      And finally, there are all the usual issues dealing with high power. If you increase the voltage, you need to invest more into safety and insulation, if you increase the current, you need thicker wires

      To put things into perspective, considering a typical flow rate of a gas pump and its energy density, a gas car "charges" at around 20MW. Assuming electric cars are 4 times more efficient, one would require 5MW of charging power to achieve parity, 40 times more than superchargers. It won't happen anytime soon.