4 Corners EV Charging

[Cottonwood]

Wow, peak of Aspen color, and a discount on a stay in Pagosa Springs. What a deal. I am in. Lunch and perhaps a sample of gin at Wood's Mountain High distillery on our way to Boulder sounds fun too. I didn't get a P85 to hypermile.

We would like to see Mesa Verde NP on our way. Am I being overly optimistic to leave Farmington with a full range charge, to Mesa Verde overnight, then to Pagosa? Maybe stop in Durango for lunch and a bit of a charge on the way to Pagosa? Please excuse my newbie questions. We pick up our P85 at the factory on 9/27, and this will be our first road trip. Any assistance would be greatly appreciated. May I PM you if I have more questions?

With a 99%, range charge, you can probably do it. Durango for lunch is good insurance. Use EV Trip Planner and give yourself 15-30% on top of its realistic numbers. Make sure you have that calculation for the Durango to Pagosa run and you will be fine.

Here is another idea; take a look at Mesa Verde RV Resort, Mancos Colorado; they have 2 cabins and 14-50's. Stay there and you would not have to do a range charge in Farmington (save 45-60 minutes there) and you could then get an overnight 14-50 charge at the RV park. With that plan, you can drive like the wind.

Remember that Wood's Distillery is closed on Sunday; the J1772 is inside the door there.

Happy EV adventuring in the beautiful 4-corners region!

 

[AndyHSoCa]

With a 99%, range charge, you can probably do it. Durango for lunch is good insurance. Use EV Trip Planner and give yourself 15-30% on top of its realistic numbers. Make sure you have that calculation for the Durango to Pagosa run and you will be fine.

Here is another idea; take a look at Mesa Verde RV Resort, Mancos Colorado; they have 2 cabins and 14-50's. Stay there and you would not have to do a range charge in Farmington (save 45-60 minutes there) and you could then get an overnight 14-50 charge at the RV park. With that plan, you can drive like the wind.

Remember that Wood's Distillery is closed on Sunday; the J1772 is inside the door there.

Happy EV adventuring in the beautiful 4-corners region!

Great recommendations. Thanks for your help.

 

[cjc9er]

Another good option for Tesla owners passing through Durango is our brand new zero net energy rental home in the north Animas Valley - Risco Rojo. There's a 14-50 outlet in the garage, and all those electrons are coming from photons!

 

[JorgeNM]

Any recommendations for an overnight charge (and stay) in Taos or Ojo Caliente?

Thanks,
Jorge

 

[Cottonwood]

Any recommendations for an overnight charge (and stay) in Taos or Ojo Caliente?

Thanks,
Jorge

In the off season, I used Taos Valley RV Park Campground. They were reasonably friendly and gave me two days of in and out charging only (I was staying at a hotel in town) for one day of RV rate. This is high season, so who knows.

Good Luck!

 

[Cottonwood]

I arrived into Pagosa from the Santa Fe, NM direction on Friday. The weather ranged from 14˚-32˚ F., -10˚-0˚C. with some light snow. I had not done this direction before in a Model S. EV Trip Planner was spot on as was the car's energy prediction at about 65% SoC used for the trip in my P85D. I am sure a strong contributing factor to those estimates being correct was that I timed my overnight charge to complete at departure with the cabin preheated to warmer than normal on shore power. I charged and heated with "range mode" off then turned range mode on for the trip. I was being extra careful, but this is an easy hop for an 85 or 90. Santa Fe has a few hotels with destination charging, several public 30 Amp J1772's, and two CHAdeMO charging stops, so it is a great stop before the drive into Pagosa from that direction. After driving 750 miles from DFW, a night at the Inn and Spa at Loretto with a 40 Amp HPWC was very welcome; I recommend this hotel.

I have now done three major EV approaches into Pagosa: from Tesla Supercharger - Farmington, NM, from the 70 Amp J1772 at Woods High Mountain Distillery, and from Santa Fe. All are pretty easy.

Wolf Creek Resort has had 270" of snow so far this year, has a 99" base, and is easy to access from Pagosa Springs, where you can enjoy the hot springs in the evening. Incredible Pagosa Vacation Rentals hosts the 70 Amp J1772 in Pagosa and has some wonderful, unique western-style homes for rent that are an easy walk to the hot springs and restaurants. Two of those rentals are in the picture behind my P85D, charging at 70 Amps.

Come visit EV friendly Pagosa, a winter and summer wonderland!

Full disclosure: I helped set up the 70 Amp J-Plugs in Salida and Pagosa and have become friends with the both owners, but have no financial interest in either location.

 

[Panoz]

Cottonwood, I need to get to know you. You travel right where I want to start going in my MS90D. I have family in Farmington, NM and have never driven in a Tesla over a mountain pass - namely, Wolf Creek. I'm thinking of asking an Alamosa, CO business to participate in the Telsa Destination Charger program, would love your opinion on that. Alamosa is dead-center of my travels to Farmington from COS, and I calculate just an hour or so at 80-amps would get me to the Four Corners area. What do you think?

By the way, great Photoshop job. Your Tesla is sitting in snow but is spotless.

 

[Cottonwood]

Cottonwood, I need to get to know you. You travel right where I want to start going in my MS90D. I have family in Farmington, NM and have never driven in a Tesla over a mountain pass - namely, Wolf Creek. I'm thinking of asking an Alamosa, CO business to participate in the Telsa Destination Charger program, would love your opinion on that. Alamosa is dead-center of my travels to Farmington from COS, and I calculate just an hour or so at 80-amps would get me to the Four Corners area. What do you think?

By the way, great Photoshop job. Your Tesla is sitting in snow but is spotless.

PM me, and we can chat.

If you can find a business that would host a Tesla Destination Charger in Alamosa, that would be a wonderful addition to the San Luis Valley. Use this form to for contact with Tesla about Destination Chargers: Destination Charging Contact Form

I did a little investigation, and the route via Salida and Pagosa is not too bad for getting from Colorado Springs to Farmington. See below for results from EV Trip Planner.

While the Alamosa route is a little faster (0:26), it is more road miles at higher speed uses more rated miles (18 rated miles). In terms of charging time plus driving time, those almost cancel out. While the J-Plugs in Salida and Pagosa are 70 Amps vs the 80 Amps of an HPWC, both locations have nominal 240 Volt power rather than the more typical nominal 208 Volt connection at many commercial operations; once again almost a wash. I assume that you have dual chargers to make full use of 70 and 80 Amp chargers.

If I were doing this trip, I would do a 100% charge timed to finish an hour or so before departure, range mode off, turning cabin heat on for the last 30-60 minutes before departure to preheat the cabin, then turn range mode on for maximum driving efficiency, and head off to Salida. Plan on an hour or so of charging there, drive to Pagosa, charge another hour or so, and head on to Farmington.

In my opinion, both Salida and Farmington are much more interesting places to spend an hour or so than 2+ hours in Alamosa.

Except for very big dumps (once every few years), when the west side of Wolf Creek Pass can be closed for avalanche control, Wolf Creek Pass is a pretty good all weather route. Poncha Pass is no big deal, I have not driven La Veta Pass in a long time, and have no experience on La Manga Pass. Of course, put on good winter tires. I strongly recommend the Nokian Hakka R2's.

Here are a couple of other EV Trip Planner runs that I did in this research.:

BTW, not PhotoShopping... Here is a cropped part of that picture showing more detail of the car. I guess that gun metal gray does a pretty good job of hiding winter road muck. Look at the icicles around the wheel wells and the darker grey road muck on the lower side panels.

 

[Panoz]

Sent you a PM. I wanted the grey, it wasn't available when I got blue. I hope all road grime is blue now so *I* can post a photo of my car in the Winter and have it be spotless. Or, just use Photoshop.

I might go to Santa Fe this weekend, am doing some EV trip planning....sure wish I knew someone who has traveled there from Colorado...

 

[Cottonwood]

Sent you a PM. I wanted the grey, it wasn't available when I got blue. I hope all road grime is blue now so *I* can post a photo of my car in the Winter and have it be spotless. Or, just use Photoshop.

I might go to Santa Fe this weekend, am doing some EV trip planning....sure wish I knew someone who has traveled there from Colorado...

Good Luck!

Santa Fe is easy; just follow the chain of Superchargers down I-25 from Colorado Springs. I liked the The Inn and Spa at Loretto that has a 40 Amp HPWC and a 32 Amp J-Plug. Look on PlugShare, there are many public charging points and 2 public CHAdeMOs in Santa Fe.

Enjoy the drive!