Nine years after Tesla flipped on its first Supercharger, it looks like Merced, California will be joining the list of supercharger locations ready for Tesla owners. According to a building permit issued earlier in January that was brought to light thanks to members of TeslaMotorsClub.com not only is the permit already approved, construction is well underway.
Merced’s Tesla Supercharger address is at 1425 Martin Luther King Jr. Way, just off of Highway 99.
There are no exact specs but educated guesses and details from supercharge.info list this as a 250 kW V3 Supercharger, the latest version capable of charging at a rate of 15 miles per minute.
While construction of the actual superchargers takes around three weeks, coordinating with the City of Merced, installing the transformer, and running Tesla specific tests can take double or even triple overall construction times.
Tesla’s Charging App says they aim for a Q2 2021 opening.
I estimate Merced Tesla Supercharger station to be fully operational by the first week of April 2021.
Located across from a Smart and Final grocery store and the Merced Casino, it’s not the most ideal Supercharger location but with plenty of shade, space, and adjacent to Highway 99, it’s as close to perfect as it’s going to get in Merced.
Merced’s Tesla Supercharger is also within walking distance to Taco Las Dos Hermanas Mexican Food Truck, In-N-Out, Popeyes, Tacobell, and Starbucks so there’s plenty of food, drink, and restroom options for travellers and commuters.
A Tesla Supercharger station in Merced will significantly ease any range anxiety for Tesla owners driving up to the Bay Area and back from Fresno as they now have an additional charging option of Highway 99. The same logic goes for anyone traveling down to Southern California from the Modesto area or anyone in the Los Banos Area headed up to Merced or even further up to Yosemite.
This is a win for the Tesla community in the Central Valley and should be an overall net positive for surrounding businesses.
