Superchargers, Solar and Storage Are a Natural Combination
Tesla has, for years, been teasing that its vertical integration makes it a natural to build superchargers augmented by solar panels and battery storage. This is particularly useful along rural stretches of an interstate where there may not be enough grid power to support a supercharger installation, or where they want to install a location sooner than the utility can bring additional power. It took a while, but we are finally starting to see this.
The biggest example that we are aware of (and reportedly the largest in the world) is the Lost Hills location, called the Oasis, in Southern California, which has 168 superchargers, 11 MW of ground-mounted and canopy solar and 39MW of Megapack storage. Tesla broke ground at this location in October, 2024 and PlugShare lists it as coming soon. It also will feature pull-through spaces for vehicles towing trailers.
Lost Hills is an unincorporated town in Kern County, CA with a population 1,861. So, yeah, rural. But it is along the busy I-5 corridor connecting Los Angeles and San Francisco. Tesla reported that there was only 1.5 MW of grid power available, but they acquired 30 acres of land to build this large installation. With solar plus storage, this is a micro-grid that can function should the power go out.
Willington CT Tesla Supercharger with Solar and Storage
It looks like we are getting something similar in CT, albeit on a more modest scale. The photos at the top of the post and below are of an under-construction supercharger site in Willington off I-84 in the rural northeastern part of the state. In a notice dated from February 2024, the site owner mentioned a lease arrangement with Tesla for 16 chargers.
The chargers appear to be V4, numerous ground-mounted solar panels are installed, and the various pieces of equipment look to be transformers and storage.
This site is near a truck stop. It would be interesting to see if they install a MW charger for their semi, but perhaps it is early for that. The photo doesn’t appear to show such a stall.
The location nicely fills in the gap on I-84 between superchargers in Vernon and Sturbridge, MA.
This can be placed in the larger context of EVs and the grid. EV owners who have home charging can daily charge during off-peak times. But if you’re on the road, you need to charge when you need to charge. This is an obvious way to mitigate stressing the grid.
We have not seen a date when this will be placed in service. Even when construction is finished, there sometimes is a lag as the facility awaits a grid connection.
If anyone has more updated information, please tell us in the comments.
Photos courtesy of Peter Millman