If you own a Tesla and you live on the Left Coast, there are two places that many owners feel they have to go with their cars: the Kettleman City Supercharger and the Tesla Factory Tour.
In this particular road trip, we were able to do both. We had originally planned on National Park road tripping through Yosemite, but it caught fire, so we cancelled and rebooked through Glacier, then it also caught fire. Frustrated, we decided to do Southern California, Highway 1 and Big Sur. Those placed us perilously close to both the KCSC and the Factory.
On our way down, we stopped at the Kettleman City Supercharger. It is one of the largest in the US with 40 charging stations. It also has a coffee bar and very clean restrooms. This was our first stop of the two. The KCSC is controlled access. The doors are locked and you get a door unlock code on the navigation in the car. This allows it to be open 24/7, although the baristas are only there during daylight hours. We found them friendly and had a couple of mochas during our pause. The mochas were actually, surprisingly quite good.
We had some interesting conversations with them and another couple who had just taken delivery of a new Model X and were road tripping as well. More on the conversation with the barista a bit later.
A few days later on our trip, as we approached our time in San Francisco, we detoured a bit to Fremont and the Tesla Factory. All Tesla owners can have a free factory tour and we had scheduled it in advance. It was probably one of the most fascinating experiences I’ve had. At 4.6 million square feet, the Tesla Factory is the largest footprint building in the US (third largest in the world).
The 60-minute tour takes you through the entire process from start to finish on Tesla production. Our tour guide was very informative and personable.
Every Tesla in the world is manufactured in this factory. From stamping the frame and body parts to assembly to finish, it was educational to see how the cars are made. The robots and assembly line automation were also amazing. The left side of the picture above is Brenda and me (and Scarlett) in front of the factory. That and inside the showroom are about the extent of the pictures allowed.
Now back to a conversation I had with our 20-something barista at Kettleman City. When we arrived, I mentioned how I couldn’t really decide if this Supercharger or the Factory Tour were the “Mecca” for Tesla owners. I was mostly trying to make conversation.
Her response was: “What’s Mecca?”
Face palm. California, please do a better job of educating your youth in comparative religions.