Well this is kind of embarrassing. Out in California Central Valley there are nearly 100 stalls, & it can charge a lot of cars simultaneously. But sometimes that power source is diesel. Yikes https://cowboystatedaily.com/2023/09/30/largest-ev-charging-station-in-the-world-uses-diesel-powered-generators/ EDIT reading some of the author's other articles there seems to be giantic amount of dissonance between him & Musk so it may be that this information is dated. Especially since some of the supercharger Network now has battery backups .
Fossil Fuel is what powers America. Here is a neat graph/chart that explains that. U.S. power generation by source 2022 | Statista Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) 2017 U.S electricity generation by source: Natural gas vs coal - Washington Post Solar and wind are increasing but still lag far behind.
There are lots of possible things going on here. Perhaps the requested grid upgrades are taking longer to get installed so Tesla went ahead and installed all the approved chargers anyway. It would be rare that all of them would be in use at once, except perhaps with the upcoming Thanksgiving week peak usage. I once had to wait 30-40 minutes to get gas driving LA - SF over Thanksgiving many years ago. So using a diesel generator for a peak demand few days isn't a big deal. If it is used nearly everyday that would be different. And maybe the generator(s) were already there for emergency backup power. Too many facts that we don't know. Mike
Youtube from 2015? A sfgate article incorrectly identifying a storage building as being a diesel generator building. A guy from the truth about cars now is called an investigative journalist, while I assume he read the sfgate article and used that info without checking it out. https://thebusinessjournal.com/blog-harris-ranch-sets-record-straight-on-diesel-powered-tesla-supercharger-allegations/ There would be nothing wrong with having diesel standby generators. It appears that they are comfortable getting the power from the california grid, including the solar tesla has built and fed into it. The property owner stated last month that the information is false, and welcomed people to look at the facility, to end this false conspiracy theory. Tesla definitely has not built enough solar to offset all the superchargers. They likely have some batteries for buffering and emergencies when the grid doesn't provide enough.
I normally use PlugShare to find charging stations: https://www.plugshare.com/ So here are the shocking images: I could not find a diesel generator on the property. But there are multiple charging and fueling options. So how could the articles be so inaccurate? They must have spent too much time at the Free Journalist Bar & Pool. The Hotel at Harris Ranch. Book your stay online or call 559-935-0717. Nov 15, 2023: Voice, "Harris Ranch Reservations. May I help you?" Bob, " I'm Bob Wilson in Huntsville AL. I'm seeing articles claiming there are diesel generators powering the Tesla SuperChargers. Is that accurate?" Now wary voice, "No there is not." Bob, "Thank you." Bob Wilson
It's been years since we stopped there for an over night stay ... but having searched around for food, and noticing the local gas stations, there didn't seem to be any diesel generators going on. That doesn't mean they couldn't rush something portable out there on occasion during high traffic / holiday times. That'd be more of a plus, it'd seem. .
Wait, is someone besmirching the hard-nosed journalists of [reads the link again] "cowboy state daily" - wait, is that a real news source? Hold on a minute, is there a chance that this could be a biased website? Nah, I mean - cowboys are known for being completely honest. Why would they report something that isn't truthful against an EV company and EV/green energy in general? Oh, I see the problem here. OP misread and thought this forum was 'Prius, Hybrid, EV and Alt News'
