Tesla appears to be doubling down on its new “Oasis” Supercharger station concept, which consists of larger stations powered by solar and a microgrid battery system.
Although, this new one is a bit less ambitious.
Last month, Tesla announced its “project Oasis” (pictured above), which should become one of Tesla’s largest Supercharger stations with several pull-through stalls for trucks and trailers, but the real differentiating factor is a large solar array and battery system that enables the charging station to operate off-grid mostly.
CEO Elon Musk has been saying that the goal of the Supercharger network is to be powered by solar and batteries and mostly off-grid since 2016, but Tesla has yet to make this common.
The announcement of the Project Oasis gave us some hope that it might finally happen, and now it looks like Tesla is planning a mini Oasis.
Marco RP, who tracks Supercharger projects, reported on the new construction plans submitted for the Coalinga, California station:
A massive new Supercharger is coming soon to Coalinga, California!!
Permits have been filed for a 168-stall station in a vacant plot of land located right off Interstate 5 at W Jayne Ave.
The site will also include restrooms, as well as a large solar array and battery storage. pic.twitter.com/dV2o1NL1Ut
— MarcoRP (@MarcoRPi1) November 2, 2024
The project is about 50 miles north of Project Oasis – also on Interstate 5 between Los Angeles and the Bay Area.
We call it a “mini Oasis” not because it has fewer charging stations than Oasis; it actually has the same number of planned stalls, 168 stalls, but because it doesn’t have as much solar and batteries to enable off-grid use.
Oasis has 11 MW of planned solar power and 39 MWh of energy storage.
This new project in Coalinga has less than 1 MW of solar and 15.5 MWh of energy storage. In the case of Oasis, the grid complements Tesla’s microgrid, and in this new project, it’s Tesla’s microgrid that complements the grid connection.
But Tesla could eventually expand its solar array and battery storage system at the new station.
This new station also includes restrooms, which Tesla has sometimes deployed at bigger stations.
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