Tesla’s largest Supercharger site today is at the Harris Ranch complex in Coalinga, California. There are a staggering 98 charging stalls. An interesting fact about Harris Ranch is that it was also the first and only battery swap station that Tesla tried back in 2014. While other companies like Nio have continued battery swap stations, Tesla decided to focus on charging instead.
Tesla’s Harris Ranch Supercharger will now be dwarfed by its upcoming 168-stall Supercharger in Lost Hills, California, which will span more than 30 acres.
Solar, Megapacks & Canopies
The new site in Lost Hills has been dubbed Oasis and will be able to charge a large number of vehicles daily. If every spot is filled and a vehicle takes 15 minutes to charge and five minutes to park and plug in, Oasis could charge 4,896 vehicles in a 12-hour period. That’s nearly 10,000 vehicles per day at max throughput, assuming 24/7 usage.
However, that’s not all Tesla is packing into this new Supercharger location. The site will spread across 30 acres and will be home to 11 Megawatts of ground-mounted solar, as well as canopies for a good portion of the installation. With the deployment of 10 Tesla Megapacks, there will also be 39 megawatt hours of energy storage. That storage amount is enough to charge about 650 Model Y Long Ranges by itself.
The groundbreaking crew at the Oasis site.
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Max de Zegher, Director of Charging at Tesla North America, mentioned in an article on X that Oasis needs the Megapacks to operate because the local utility wouldn’t be able to meet its power demands. Tesla is leveraging its vertical integration to address the power demand and make the charger a reality, whereas another company may simply not be able to create such a massive charging site in the area.
The Megapacks could also help Tesla offset higher energy costs during peak hours and also help provide power during short outages.
Tesla is working with the local power utility to increase its capacity. While the site will only have access to 1.5 MW at its opening, Tesla will add additional stalls as power availability increases, eventually reaching its goal of 168 stalls.
While this location will be Tesla’s largest Supercharger site in the world, it still pales in comparison to China’s 637-stall charger in Shenzhen. This Chinese charging site supports Shenzhen's all-electric taxi fleet and delivers more than 160 MWh of power daily.
However, this is a fantastic achievement for Tesla, especially when earlier this year, the future of Supercharging was uncertain. We’re excited to see all the stalls, vehicles, solar, and Megapacks around the site, not to mention the likely amenities that will be there. Tesla may also include one of its special Superchargers here, possibly one to celebrate the world’s largest Supercharger.
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Tesla recently showed off Giga Small Haus, an interesting new display project hosted at Giga Berlin. The small new house is located just outside the main entrance of Tesla’s Giga Berlin factory, with a Quicksilver Model Y parked inside.
Giga Small Haus is powered only by solar and Powerwall 3 - disconnected from the local grid and from Giga Berlin itself. It serves as a live demonstration of Tesla Solar and Tesla’s Powerwall battery backup.
Giga Small Haus
The centerpiece of the display is a Model Y in Quicksilver - a beautiful pick for a beautifully lit house. However, that’s not the real focus here - it's the Powerwall and Gateway on the wall.
The Powerwall is the focus of Giga Small Haus, and there’s a display with some additional information on the wall. Part of the display also includes a screen that displays the current output of the Powerwall itself versus the consumption of Giga Small Haus, as well as the input from solar.
The interior exhibit of Giga Small Haus
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The text on the exhibit is divided into several sections. Here’s a translated and edited version of what we can see from Tesla’s images. Some additional text is obscured. If someone visits Giga Small Haus, let us know.
Powerwall
Powerwall is a home battery system that stores energy from solar panels, the electrical grid, or during off-peak hours and powers your home during the day or during a power outage.
With Powerwall, you can use self-generated solar energy during the day and night, thus avoiding high electricity costs. You can also store excess energy produced during sunny periods for use during times of low production or power outages.
Key Features
Energy Storage: Powerwall stores excess energy from solar panels or the grid for later use or during power outages.
Backup Power: In the event of a power outage, Powerwall automatically switches to battery power to ensure continuous power supply.
Integration: Powerwall can be seamlessly integrated with existing solar systems and other power sources.
Scalability: Multiple Powerwalls can be installed to meet higher energy storage needs.
Smart Energy Management: Powerwall works with Tesla's software to optimize energy consumption and reduce costs.
How Powerwall Works
Storage: During the day, when solar panels produce more energy than needed, the excess is stored in Powerwall.
Usage: At night or during times of low solar production, the stored energy is used to power the home, reducing reliance on the grid.
Backup: During a power outage, Powerwall automatically provides power to critical circuits, ensuring continuous operation of essential appliances.
Benefits
Cost Savings: By storing and using solar energy, you can reduce your electricity bills.
Reliability: Provides backup power during outages, ensuring your home remains powered.
Sustainability: Promotes the use of renewable energy by storing excess solar production for later use.
Overall, Giga Small Haus is an interesting real-life demo of what Powerwall and Solar can accomplish. It would be neat if Tesla built more of these displays - perhaps near major Delivery and Service Centers and at Giga Texas, Fremont, Giga Shanghai, and other facilities. Many Tesla owners have yet to learn about and experience some of Tesla’s Energy products.
Tesla has added the Acceleration Boost option to the Tesla store for owners of the 2024 Model 3 Long Range - specifically owners in Australia and China. Acceleration Boost is an upgrade that provides a significant performance boost, drastically narrowing the performance gap between the Long Range and Performance versions of the same model.
This upgrade will likely become available in Europe, Canada, and the United States in the next few days as Tesla updates its shops globally.
Acceleration Boost
This new Acceleration Boost is retailing for $3,000 AUD, or approximately $2,000 USD. That’s the same price for current owners of older Model 3 or Model Y Long Range vehicles, which all have the option to purchase Acceleration Boost through the shop.
The boost provides improved 0-100km/h (0-60mph) performance, bumping the 2024 Model 3 LR from 4.4s to 3.8s. The 2024 Performance version comes in at a blazing fast 2.9 seconds, so while it isn’t equivalent to just buying a performance variant in the first place, it is still a noticeable and significant upgrade.
Performance variants also come with a different front fascia vent for cooling, performance drive units, sport seats, adaptive suspension, 20-inch wheels, and Track Mode V3. That’s a significant number of additional features in the $10,000 USD price difference between the Long Range and Performance versions.
Should You Buy It?
If you’ve purchased a Long Range model and are itching to go just that little bit faster at every red light, this is the upgrade for you. It previously came with the cost of slightly reducing vehicle range, but the Tesla store doesn’t make a note of reduced range this time around. The 2023 Model 3 and Model Y Long Range models had an efficiency loss of about 5% due to the additional always-available acceleration and cooling.
You could drive in Chill mode to mostly negate that efficiency loss, but what’s the fun in driving in Chill when you just got Acceleration Boost? Anyhow, the shop listing for the 2024 variant doesn’t include this detail, so it's possible Tesla may have worked some more engineering magic.
Overall, if you’ve got the $3,000 AUD burning a hole in your pocket, some Tesla referral credits sitting around, or just want to go faster, it's definitely an upgrade many users find valuable.
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