Tesla Launches Solar-Powered 'Oasis' Supercharger Station: 30-Acre Solar Farm, 39 MWh of Off-Grid Batteries (electrek.co)
- Reference: 0178292304
- News link: https://hardware.slashdot.org/story/25/07/06/0440235/tesla-launches-solar-powered-oasis-supercharger-station-30-acre-solar-farm-39-mwh-of-off-grid-batteries
- Source link: https://electrek.co/2025/07/03/tesla-launches-oasis-supercharger-with-solar-farm-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 [2]new model Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage enabling off-grid operations in Lost Hills, California.
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> 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.
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> 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."
[1] https://electrek.co/2025/07/03/tesla-launches-oasis-supercharger-with-solar-farm-off-grid-batteries/
[2] https://electrek.co/2024/10/23/tesla-unveils-oasis-supercharger-concept-solar-farm-megapacks/
Re: (Score:1)
Are you serious bro? Step 100 miles out of your Metropolis. Half the US is a sparsely populated.
Even Tesla owners go on vacation.
Even when Elon takes a break from interfering in federal politics people pile on, go figure.
Let's see... (Score:5, Interesting)
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)
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:2)
> 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.
Yay (Score:1)
Yay, let's all go hang out at the "oasis" and charge our cars. Sounds like the place to be.
Re: (Score:2)
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.
A trip through the Australian outback (Score:2)
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 an
This is great but misplaced (Score:2)
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)
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
Re: This is great but misplaced (Score:1)
Anyone who buys an EV in North America is screwed for at least the next 20 years.