Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
Power Transportation

Tesla Launches Solar-Powered 'Oasis' Supercharger Station: 30-Acre Solar Farm, 39 MWh of Off-Grid Batteries (electrek.co) 117

Posted by EditorDavid from the powering-ahead dept.
"Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger," reports Electrek, "the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries." Early in the deployment of the Supercharger network, Tesla promised to add solar arrays and batteries to the Supercharger stations, and CEO Elon Musk even said that most stations would be able to operate off-grid... Last year, Tesla announced a new project called 'Oasis', which consists of a new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.

Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls. The project consists of 168 chargers, with half of them currently operational, making it one of the largest Supercharger stations in the world. However, that's not even the most notable aspect of it. The station is equipped with 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies, spanning 30 acres of land, and 10 Tesla Megapacks with a total energy storage capacity of 39 MWh. It can be operated off-grid, which is the case right now, according to Tesla.

With off-grid operations, Tesla was about to bring 84 stalls online just in time for the Fourth of July travel weekend. The rest of the stalls and a lounge are going to open later this year.
The article makes that point that "This is what charging stations should be like: fully powered by renewable energy."

Tesla Launches Solar-Powered 'Oasis' Supercharger Station: 30-Acre Solar Farm, 39 MWh of Off-Grid Batteries More | Reply

Tesla Launches Solar-Powered 'Oasis' Supercharger Station: 30-Acre Solar Farm, 39 MWh of Off-Grid Batteries

Comments Filter:
  • You can not tow a pair of Jet Skis from SoCal to Lake Havasu because between Barstow and Needles on the i40, a very challenging section of freeway, winds and terrain make crossing it nearly impossible in a standard range vehicle. I drive it in my X frequently, and I cant use it to tow my Jet Skis there, I would run out of juice. Makes the 4 supercharger stations in Barstow that are 40+ stalls seem like a slap in the face. Put some fucking stalls in Ludlow or somewhere between Barstow and needles, and some i

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      I find that surprising - I wouldn't think a jet ski would reduce range that much (to 144mi). A big trailer like a caravan or large boat, sure, that'll double your energy consumption / halve your range, but jet skis are pretty small. What version of X do you have, what sort of range reduction do you see when towing a jet ski, and how does your speed impact it? I'm quite curious.

      I would have suggested "use a 3rd party charger", but then I remembered you're in the US and 3rd party charging infrastructure suc

      • Goffs sucks because it's not compatible with a Tesla. Specifically for that one charger, I bought an adapter which works on my 2022 vehicle but not my 2018. Both Model X. If you have a standard range Model 3, you will end up arriving at the Needles charger with 2%. The elevation gains and wind will absolutely suck your battery dry on that stretch, its worse than the 10 to Indio.
        • My point was, you wouldn't see a 168 stall gas station. Tesla should be creating a 10 stall supercharger every 4 to 6 exits along these routes, rather than these mega sites. They are impractical, and I have never been to one that is that occupied. Maybe they are planning for the 4 weekends a year where everyone and their mothers are going to Vegas that weekend, but they wouldn't have that problem if they made the chargers are ubiquitous as Mobil stations. Rather than everyone pile into one exit and 168 peop
          • They are following the Buc-ees business model. A very limited number of locations which are mega-fuelling stations. It is far more efficient and easier to implement than running dozens of locations. A typical Buc-ees has between 80â"120 gas pumps, with all the recent major builds having 120. They do have a small number of smaller stores in rural communities but they are the exception. They have been very successful with this "build-big" approach. You don't have to worry about underperforming locations
            • Buc-ee's has a different goal: to be a destination where people want to stop. but if all other gas stations were gone, buc-ees aren't everywhere and it would be horribly inconvenient to have to go out of your way to plan our drive to get to just one. Telsa dont have a Mobil / Shell alternative and need their network to solve all issues. Also, they are unattended so they dont have the same operating costs.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          You sure? Plugshare says Goffs has a 16kW NACS.

          A Model 3, not towing anything (US ones don't come with a tow hitch, right?), arrive with 2%? I assume you're kidding. ABRP shows a 2024 Tesla Model 3 LR with 18" aero wheels leaving Barstow at 100% arrives at Needles at 55%. This is with seasonal weather enabled, and battery degradation of 5%. Switching to the SR, it arrives at 42%.

          Let's see how bad conditions I have to choose to get it as low as you're saying. Let's try some random things.

          SR: Going 10% over

      • Unlike a normal car which by necessity needs to interrupt air (for cooling), EVs have a very low drag coefficient, meaning that any time you tow *ANY* load your consumption is disproportionately effected not by the weight but by the air restriction. In a normal car you can expect maybe 10% range drop in the city with a trailer or bicycle rack or something like that, and 20% on the highway. On an EV doing the same thing you're looking at 20-50% range loss.

        Now maybe the OP probably could make it, but they'd p

        • You have to charge to 90% to make it to needles at 10% on that drive some nights. The wind and elevation are murder. When towing, the range is about half (my Model X Plaid and my tandem Jet Ski trailer). You can not make it to Havasu with Jet Skis, unless maybe you go 55 on that long stretch which is suicide because semis pass you going 80 and get pissed.

        • Re: (Score:2)

          by Rei ( 128717 )

          First off, "normal car", please. 20% of all new cars sold worldwide are EVs now. Update your language to reflect the new reality.

          Secondly, that's just not true. Towing a heavy trailer with a truck will see its MPG drop by like half. The rule of thumb [trucksonlysales.com] is that every 100 pounds you have a truck tow drops its fuel economy by about 2%. 2500lbs = 50%. That's a very rough rule, but it gives a sense of what's normal.

          • First off, "normal car", please. 20% of all new cars sold worldwide are EVs now. Update your language to reflect the new reality.

            My language does reflect the new reality. By your own admission EVs are a minority. I'm a big fan of EVs and have one myself. But people like you got to stop being gatekeepers and shitting on everything regardless of how irrelevant. You're giving all of us a bad name.

            Secondly, that's just not true. Towing a heavy trailer with a truck will see its MPG drop by like half.

            Well yes it will, weight is an issue. I didn't say it wasn't. We're not talking weight, we're talking wind resistance. My experience is my Polestar's range drops by half. Saloomy's other reply shows his experience is towing a jetski drops his r

            • Re: (Score:1)

              by Rei ( 128717 )

              My language does reflect the new reality. By your own admission EVs are a minority.

              Would you say that white people should be called "normal people" in front of a bunch of black people in the US, because the black people are a minority?

              You talk about EVs like they're some obscure just-invented thing. They're not esoteric.

              We're not talking weight, we're talking wind resistance.

              You very much are talking both. For an extreme case, with freight trucks [volvotrucks.com], aero is only like 1/3rd to 1/2 of aero losses. And they

              • Would you say that white people should be called "normal people" in front of a bunch of black people in the US, because the black people are a minority?

                Indeed. It would be perfectly normal to see only white people in many parts of the USA. But your sorry comparison fails in that there are certain parts of America where black people are the norm.

                You very much are talking both.

                No a jetski being towed is very much just wind resistance. As are the whole 25kg of bicycles I add to my car. If you think I'm talking about both then you need to go back and read my post again.

    • How many people tow jet skis daily for this to be an issue?

      • In the area where he is towing them around?
        Plenty I would guess.

        But most of them wont use an EV, for the exact reasons he stated.

        As much as I hate the "does not work for me, because I am special" idiots: this guy has several valid points, and is not "that" special. Well, I would not like/use/need jet skies ... so, I am probably special :-P

      • How many people tow jet skis daily for this to be an issue?

        Depends, do you want people with EVs to not be able to get to the the *checks notes*, place where the activity they do is normally done?

        • Depends, do you want people with EVs to not be able to get to the the *checks notes*, place where the activity they do is normally done?

          If your use case is to be hauling multiple jet skis or some big ass boat, it probably makes sense to at least have one ICE vehicle that's up to the task. The idea that EVs are the be-all and end-all of transportation misses the point that for some people, an EV will just never check all their boxes. If someone wants a gargantuan diesel pickup truck and runs it on biofuel, that option should still be available to them.

          Course, I never said anything about it being cheap to do so.

    • Dick (Score:2)

      by 0xG ( 712423 )

      So you run on silent, non-polluting battery power in order to get somewhere and engage in noisy, polluting recreation that annoys the fuck out of everyone else. Congratulations.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by Rei ( 128717 )

        If you're annoyed by jet skis, I would strongly recommend not living on the shores of Lake Havasu. Also, yes, it does take way more energy to get there than it does to jet ski around while you're there. Also, there are electric jet skis.

      • So you run on silent, non-polluting battery power in order to get somewhere and engage in noisy, polluting recreation that annoys the fuck out of everyone else. Congratulations.

        You didn't ask him if he had an electric jetski. Also if he commutes daily to work on his jetski you may have a point, but since that's unlikely to be the case I don't know what point you think you were making. I doubt he bought the EV to make the area near the lake quieter and to offset the emissions of driving a single stretch of road a few weekends a year.

  • Let's see... (Score:5, Interesting)

    by Rei ( 128717 ) on Sunday July 06, 2025 @04:13AM (#65500562) Homepage

    The solar, for a farm of this size in this location, maybe $1,20/W installed to be a bit pessimistic? But hmm, there's no AC conversion or grid connection, so maybe more like $1/W? Again, probably pessimistic, but let's go with it. 11MW = $11M

    Tesla's calculator for 38,5MWh of Megapacks is $9,7M. Reduce the cost to get Tesla's internal cost, but increase it back to an even $10M for installation.

    So total we're probably in the ballpark of $20M. Divided across 168 stall, that puts our capital cost in the ballpark of $120k per stall. V4 Superchargers are $40k per stall, so that's a total of $160k.

    Assuming 20% capacity factor, there's a mean solar production of 2,2MW (call it 2MW after losses). So there's a mean power per stall of 11,9kW (not mean charge speed, as most of the time, any given stall is idle) - let's round to 12kW. If the cost is say $0,45/kWh, then each stall is earning a mean of $5,40/hr, or ~$47k, yielding a mean payback time of 3,4y.

    This is of course a gross oversimplification - doesn't include maintenance, construction costs of other things at the site, other site revenue (convenience stores / cafes / etc), on and on and on. And per the article they also have a 1,5MW grid link, so it's not truly offgrid (just *mainly* offgrid). But the ballpark number makes this look very viable.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      There’s also the capital costs of acquiring the site itself, but I’m sure the basics are correct.

      One of the most appealing things about EV charging is that it has such a wide variety of capital costs to install depending on charge speed and existing infrastructure, so that we can see a huge range of install types. A home charger can cost literally nothing if you use an existing plug socket up to maybe a grand for a dedicated 7kW charger or maybe 7k for a three phase 22kW (in the UK). And public

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 )

      This is of course a gross oversimplification - doesn't include maintenance, construction costs of other things at the site, other site revenue (convenience stores / cafes / etc), on and on and on. And per the article they also have a 1,5MW grid link, so it's not truly offgrid (just *mainly* offgrid). But the ballpark number makes this look very viable.

      I’d say incredibly viable when you consider you haven’t added any additional revenue sources planned for these sites. Most gas stations do not survive off the few cents per gallon they make at the pump. They survive off charging $3 for 30 cents of sugar water at the Wonkavator soda dispenser. Right next to the other 99 flavors of addiction.

      • This right here. I don't understand why high speed charging isn't taking the exact same model that works for gas stations. It's even better than gas pumps...even fast EV chargers have to hang around for 20-30 minutes, so even more time to sell them shit they don't need.

        I've seen a few Tesla Supercharger stations. Impressive. But it's just a bunch of chargers stuck in a parking lot somewhere. Desolate as hell. Who would do that with gas pumps? Nobody would. The gas pumps are at the service station, underneat
  • Yay, let's all go hang out at the "oasis" and charge our cars. Sounds like the place to be.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tailhook ( 98486 )

      That's the idea. Get this system fully optimized and serialized, we can develop all the farm land into thousands of cute little off-grid gated exurbs. Everything needed to protect ourselves from the hoi polloi when we outlaw their fossil fuel.

    • Yay, let's all go hang out at the "oasis" and charge our cars. Sounds like the place to be.

      Future charging stations will be defined by their charging capability about as much as the average person shops for a phone today based on making phone calls.

      You won’t mind hanging out so much when you’re getting a massage, watching a movie, eating a good meal, or playing a game with friends and family. In a world full of attention-addicted narcissists, entertainment options are plentiful. Especially when Greed knows you’ll pay handsomely for it. Pay a couple of supermodels to come

      • Future charging stations will be defined by their charging capability about as much as the average person shops for a phone today based on making phone calls.

        People don't care about the charging stations, people care about not having to waste time in one. The appropriate analogy here is "Future cars will be defined by their driving features about as much as the average person shops for a phone today based on making phone calls"

        And you can see how fast this falls apart.

      • Re:Yay (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Rei ( 128717 ) on Sunday July 06, 2025 @06:33AM (#65500654) Homepage

        You won't be "hanging out" - your car will be ready to leave before you are. By the time you go in, use the restroom, buy a drink or a snack, and get back to your car, you'll have already added the range you need to go to the next site.

        Unless you need to get really full because you're in a charging desert (charging slows near the upper end), it basically is this way already, if you have a fast-charging EV and a powerful charger. And speeds just keep rising.

        • "buy buy buy" Christ why can't Americans see what the problem is. How many plastic wrappers will they sell alone?

          • Re: Yay (Score:4, Insightful)

            by Rei ( 128717 ) on Sunday July 06, 2025 @11:40AM (#65501058) Homepage

            Do you drive long distances without stopping to get food and drinks?

            If so: please stop that.

            • I don't go places where I am buying things specifically to entertain myself.

              • I don't generally consider bathroom breaks, basic food and drinks to be entertainment myself. If you consider modern 70% charging times (From ~15% to ~85%), that's about the mandatory 15 minutes break period mandated in various places for continued good performance.

                By the time somebody has plugged in their car, walked to and finished visiting the restroom including washing hands, gotten a drink and a snack, and walked back (actual order optional), it's quite likely that around 15 minutes has passed.

                Maybe i

                • Ok but you are buying "a drink and snacks" because you stopped there. If you did not stop there then you wouldn't have bought anything.

                  • You're supposed to take a break every two hours anyways, that can include a meal, snack, and hydration.
                    If you stock up and have a case of drinks, that is why I suggested a walk as an alternative.

                    • Every two hours, lol. It already takes 8 days to drive across Canada, don't need it to be 12.
                    • This.y ICEV can drive 550 miles between fill ups. I can go 8 hours without stopping. Even better with dynamic cruise control and lane keeping assist. If you haven't checked out the Travel John, it really helps. Basically a bag you can urinate in, with a polymer that absorbs the liquid. Perfect fkrnlong drives.

                    • A 15 minute break every 2 hours won't increase driving time by 50%. Worst case it'd change 8 days into 9, and that's only assuming that the breaks cut into driving time.
                      Meanwhile, driving without breaks and proper rest increases the chances that you will never make it, like the family that was coming to join my unit.
                      50 miles outside of town, crossed the median and hit the front end of a semi. All 4 in the car perished.
                      No drugs in the driver's system, all we could presume was that he fell asleep at the whe

                    • And that's a very dangerous way to drive. We lost an incoming member and his family 50 miles outside of town because he presumably fell asleep at the wheel, crossed the median, and hit a semi front-end. All 4 in the car died.

                      Taking proper breaks isn't that hard and increases the chances you'll actually make it.

                      If I'd tried to submit a travel plan with your proposal as junior enlisted, I'd have been told to redo it.

                    • Does everyone drive on the highway themselves? My wife and I stop on the shoulder and switch off if we are tired.
                    • How am I charging at night? No hotel I have every stayed at has had chargers.

                    • Did you miss that it was a family of 4? The wife was in the passenger seat. As they all died, we don't know if they were switching off or not.

                      Breaks to get out and walk around a bit are still good for health benefits.

                    • You must not have traveled much in the last decade or so then.
                      Chargers are becoming more and more frequent. Though often they're not advertised outside of the charging apps, so they aren't super obvious unless you know what to look for.
                      That said, I didn't mention charging at night here.

                      70% charge@15 minutes ~ 210 miles = ~3 hours of driving @ 70mph. You could theoretically keep it up 24x7.
                      A nice long slow charge at night would help the battery, of course, and make it easier.

                    • Well.. I understand that I am in the minority, but we usually take two large dogs with us wherever we go. So generally we are pulling out where there is a grassy area for them to relieve themselves and we walk them around a bit. But we can't really walk them in a populated area with a lot going on because they will ignore natures call.

                      I'm not going to change my driving habits because one family of 4 got into an accident. Maybe there was a reason why they got no sleep the night before. Maybe someone to
                    • I also do not like to install a lot of apps on my phone. It took two years of my wife nagging me to install my banking app. I don't use any program or plan that requires an app. The way to advertise your business is a 100-foot high sign that is lit and spins.

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by Rei ( 128717 )

                      When I road trip, I just plug into the wall (though we are 230V). Gives like a half charge overnight (and because you're not arriving on empty, you leave at somewhere between 2/3rds and completely full). Also, when traveling to see sights, there's (at least where I am) commonly chargers at the parking lot, so while you're out doing whatever for X minutes/hours, your car is also getting charged.

                      A couple years ago I drove around Iceland (one of the least densely populated countries on Earth) in my Tesla whi

                    • Re: (Score:2)

                      by Rei ( 128717 )

                      My car has a built in charger map; you don't need an app. And for at least their own network, Tesla payment on Superchargers is the simplest thing imaginable: just plug in whenever you want and disconnect whenever you want, without doing literally anything else. All chargers should work this way for all EVs (with credit cards / apps only as a backup).

                • If you don't consider bathroom breaks to be entertainment, you're doing something wrong in there.

            • Do you drive long distances without stopping to get food and drinks?

              I have had numerous journeys of 1700+ miles. Thankfully, I do not need to do any of those anymore. If you think I am going to turn a 24 hour journey into a week-long journey, you and the people who pay me will have to fight it out. I am going to do the journey in under 24 hours. Electric is not viable for these kinds of journeys.

              • Re: (Score:2)

                by Rei ( 128717 )

                Please demonstrate how using the bathroom and buying a snack / drink turns a 24 hour journey into a week-long journey.

                Quite the opposite, not taking rest breaks can very readily turn a 24 hour journey into an eternal journey, when you die in a car accident.

                • Re: (Score:2)

                  by Rei ( 128717 )

                  And the worst thing is not you dying, but the fact that you'll probably be killing someone else who was being a responsible driver, and possibly their entire family, in the process.

    • Exactly. Why would this be different than "hanging out" at a gas station for thirty minutes?

  • A trip through the Australian outback (Score:5, Interesting)

    by thegarbz ( 1787294 ) on Sunday July 06, 2025 @05:55AM (#65500618)

    A friend of mine recently took a trip all around Australia including outback roads through the desert in a BYD Atto 3. Some of the things she came across:

    Fast chargers powered by solar + batteries.
    Fast chargers powered by generators running from left over cooking oil - usually attached to outback restaurants and you need to go to the bar to get them to start it for you.
    Fast chargers powered by small windmills + batteries.
    Fast chargers with diesel gensets behind them.

    Now granted these are all small volume and won't work if everyone has an EV, but I'm genuinely surprised at the ingenuity of some of these systems, especially given that most commercial fast chargers have battery systems internal to them already to prevent a demand spike on the upstream grid. - Yes chargers aren't just rated in kW when you buy them, they are rated in kW for a given time and then a different kW rating beyond that.

    • This is interesting. It feels like a trip in a Model T across the US in the early 20th century...
      Though chargers with a diesel genset is abomination for recharging EVs...

      • Though chargers with a diesel genset is abomination for recharging EVs...

        While that may be the case, the diesel was only as a backup for otherwise chargers with solar panels on them. The reality is when you're not only out of the city, but in the middle of fucking nowhere away from any form of civilisation no one will give a hoot about being green if you're stuck without power in an emergency.

        In the country without a grid, diesel backup has been the norm for many decades, as has solar power (though back in the day people had entire rooms full of led acid batteries to keep the li

      • They work for the occasional "blue moon" charging, I think. It'd be like having a house that is solar + battery also having a generator for "just in case", allowing the house to still have power during that week long storm front, an inverter failure, or even just the annual family visit where the place has 10X the normal people there.
        Especially if the genset is already there for things like transmission line failures.
        IE use the genset to allow EVs to get there to begin with, then upgrade to solar one they'

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by Jeremi ( 14640 )

      "Mad Max" seems to have seriously underestimated the creativity of Australians regarding energy production :)

      • I feel like we could take all the kangaroos and put them in one place and use the force of their jumping to power everything!

    • So how fast were these fast chargers.
    • Elon not good..

    • Re:But ... but ... (Score:5, Informative)

      by Tough Love ( 215404 ) on Sunday July 06, 2025 @08:31AM (#65500798)

      Yes.

    • Re: (Score:1)

      by Shmoe ( 17051 )

      Yes, Fuck Elon. Done with Tesla until the board does the needful.

    • Yes. He’s an OLD (as in one of the four Olds Mao came up with). So are JK Rowling, the founding fathers, and MLK. Their blind justice focus, plus their valuing the sanctity of individual life and dignity, and especially their free speech advocacy, has revealed them ALL to be counter-revolutionaries.

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Anonymous Coward

        It is objectively hilarious to hear you say that Musk and Rowling value “the sanctity of individual life and dignity” and engage in “free speech advocacy”, when they’ve worked exceptionally hard to strip dignity from many individuals over the years, from cave divers to footballers to ex-spouses to offspring.

        They are nasty pieces of work and so, of course, are you

        • So, you're intentionally conflating the "sanctity of individual life and dignity" with conflicts between individuals? Are you saying that criticizing one person is the same as criticizing all people? That's objectively idiotic and you should be ashamed.

  • ... But it seems to me that being able to deploy a "fueling" station that requires no grid connection, not that much space (and what you're using for the panels is still technically available ground, if shaded) is a rather good thing.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by shilly ( 142940 )

      If you come to the point when you’re more actively considering buying an EV, feel free to ping me with any questions. I’ve been driving them for 10 years (in the UK)

      • Re: (Score:1)

        by Shmoe ( 17051 )

        Same here.. going on 6 years now. Dual EV household. Just traded in my Model 3 for an F-150 Lightning and my wife has a Rivian R1S.

        Love talking EVs. Love convincing people even more -- but usually a tour and a test drive accomplishes that without words :P

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Rei ( 128717 )

      Yeah. Even here in Iceland, which isn't exactly a solar paradise, these would be really useful in some places. Though realistically your best option would be a mix of solar and wind.

  • Do not want. Also, the idea is sort-of obvious and does not need Tesla to do it.

  • 30 (Score:2)

    by groobly ( 6155920 )

    We promise everyone 30 acres and a mule, er, a Tesla.

  • Your average truck stop is 5-18 acres, and that's mostly parking.

Slashdot Top Deals

Disraeli was pretty close: actually, there are Lies, Damn lies, Statistics, Benchmarks, and Delivery dates.

Close