Monday, January 5, 2015

The Culver City, CA SuperCharger and my first "real" commute in LA traffic

Much different than the Hawthorne SuperCharger experience. 12 bays in a mall parking lot just off the 405 near Culver City. Easy access. A short walk to the mall yielded lots of opportunities for coffee, food, etc. 

However, the best part of today was my first full traffic commute in LA traffic using the HOV lane. Probably saved me 30 minutes x2 today and the experience between the smooth ride and the seamless phone and Internet podcast integration made everything almost enjoyable.  And very productive. 

Loving this Tesla. Wednesday I am planning to drive it to CES. 

Sunday, January 4, 2015

My First Tesla SuperCharger Experience

I picked up my Tesla from Van Nuys, CA, on NY's Eve, so the opportunities to get out on the road to put some mileage on the car have been slim. However, my daughter has a volleyball tournament today about 2 miles from the Hawthorne SuperCharger location (near the Space X facility) which provided the perfect opportunity to try it out.

First, it was not easy to find. It is literally in the middle of the industrial Space X complex. Even the sign by the guard shack told me to take a different entrance, but the guard thankfully came running out before I could reverse to tell me to come thru anyway.

I had some trouble getting the Supercharger nozzle into my port (turns out I was just pushing strong enough), but it gave me the opportunity to try to roadside service number. The person on the phone was extremely helpful to the point of even suggesting nearby places to eat, etc.

The weekend guard (it is Sunday) opened up the facility a little late (about 0920), but was friendly and courteous. Clean bathrooms, Tesla merchandise, the Tesla Model X on display, and a vending machine for drinks. It looks like there would be coffee but the guard says that is only during the week (odd decision).

The charger was pushing about 180 miles of rated charge per hour, so I only need to kill about 20 minutes before I was ready to get back on the road (enough time to right this blog and check my email on my iPad).

While I think they experience can and should be better, I am pleased. Looking forward to trying the one near the mall in Culver City next week...







@ChuckParkerTech

Location:W 126th St,Hawthorne,United States