SF eyes new charging rules following mayhem at Tesla charging lot

San Francisco is cracking down on a problematic Tesla charging lot in Cow Hollow, making changes on-site and pushing for new citywide restrictions. After months of disruption and complaints from neighbors, the city has installed a chain-link gate preventing access to the lot from a narrow back alley. Officials also introduced new legislation that would regulate all future charging locations.

It’s been a messy road to get here.

Prior to 2026, 1965 Lombard St. was just a parking lot: an unremarkable place for Hotel Del Sol’s guest vehicles. That all changed following months of construction, when the lot was reborn as a 16-stall Tesla Supercharger hub operating 24 hours a day, unmanned.

The chaos was swift. Neighbors raised countless quality of life concerns, ranging from cars in the lot blasting bass at all hours of the night and streams of vehicles blocking garage entrances for long periods of time to other unexpected consequences, like drivers relieving themselves on surrounding buildings while their vehicles charged.

Now, the city is cracking down even more.

In early March, a gate was installed on the Moulton Street side of the lot where residents’ garages were being blocked in order to redirect traffic to the Lombard Street entrance. Jack Hebb, the communications director for District 2 Supervisor Stephen Sherrill, shared during a phone call with SFGATE that “residents are hesitantly optimistic” about efforts to improve issues around the lot. 

Hebb’s sentiment was echoed by a neighbor on a recent Wednesday visit, who was outside with his grandkids. He said that since the gate went up, no one has urinated on his garage. (The streaks from previous incidents are still visible on his garage floor.)

While the gate addresses one of the issues, Hebb acknowledged that there is more to be done and that the supervisor’s office is working on “the other public nuisances,” including the late-night mayhem.

Problems at the lot have also spurred new legislation. 

At a Board of Supervisors meeting on Tuesday, Supervisor Sherrill introduced legislation that would require unattended electric vehicle charging locations that operate overnight to obtain city approval before opening. The conditional use zoning controls would last 18 months and include a set of “Good Neighbor Policies” that cover noise, queue management and a community liaison for any locations that do not have staff on-site.

The legislation targets what made the Lombard lot so contentious: Unlike a gas station where filling up takes just a few minutes, charge times for the Superchargers can take 15 minutes or more, creating lines and backups.

Sherrill said the legislation isn’t meant to be anti-EV. “This is about the noise, and this is about the bad behavior — it’s nothing more than that,” he said during a phone call with SFGATE. 

He added that early feedback from both colleagues and environmental groups has been positive. If meaningful progress is going to be made, “we have to ensure that residents’ quality of life is prioritized,” he said.

The legislation will now sit for 30 days before going to committee. “We want businesses here to be successful and to thrive, but they’ve got to be good neighbors, and that’s the way that we grow and we move forward as a city together,” Sherrill said.

Not everyone is as subtle.

Laurel Calsoni, the most outspoken neighbor near the lot, didn’t mince her words. “If this lot was under those arrogant Tesla executives windows, they would have closed the lot down by now,” she wrote in an email to SFGATE.