Tesla has started construction of a new Supercharger in Bakersfield, California, located at 10565 Copus Road.
The Supercharger site looks to have 20 stalls and construction looks well underway, as discovered by ‘DonCali’ from the TMC forums on Monday, June 14.
The permit for the site was found in the Kern County system. It shows Tesla applied for the permit on May 3, signed off by the company’s Senior Project Manager – Supercharger, Jia Liu, and was approved on June 10 by the county.
Fast forward four days after the permit approval, and the image above shows individual charging stalls set up, but still on an unpaved site. Tesla may have started construction well before the permit was approved.
The odd location off I-5 is in the middle of nowhere, surrounded by citrus tree orchards. The seemingly random location is not mentioned on Tesla’s website as a Supercharger site coming soon.
As for how this site was spotted? ‘DonCali’ explained, “Simple. I was driving from Tehachapi. The navigation system took me through Arvin to Wheeler Ridge Rd. to David Rd. that turns into Copus Rd then left on Old River Rd. to HWY 166 to Santa Maria.”
“The site is about 150 yards west of I-5 and about 3 miles west of Hwy 99. I had it wrong last night. It is located on the south side of the road. This site is very rural. There are no current restaurants or any other facilities near the site. The coordinates are approximately: 35.09045, -119.041349,” added ‘DonCali’.
You can see where the site is located compared to the main area of Bakersfield:
As for other amenities, a new permit application shows a “new store and truck stop” for the site, applied for by Aaron Koop, representing Gilmore Construction.
Tesla has other large Superchargers off I-5 at Kettleman, Firebaugh, Harris Ranch and Tejon Ranch, but this one is being around zero amenities (unless you want to do a citrus U-pick?).
Thanks Han
