Charging spot for Dallas / Ft Worth to Amarillo - US 287

[reddy]

Driving back this evening to Amarillo from a meeting wrapping up this evening in Southlake, I decided to make an overnight stop in Vernon rather than take the long way around via Denton / Ardmore / OKC / Shamrock.

I was pleasantly SHOCKED to find a Tesla HPWC at the Vernon Hampton Inn.

They have a well marked, non-ICED, Tesla charger (delivering only 8.25 kW / 24 mph charge) and a J1772 from GE (delivering 6kW / 20 mph charge) . Charging is free for guests.

For those traveling from DFW to Amarillo, this gives another option if you happen to need an overnight spot.

I had made a reservation at the Rocking A RV park to charge, but this made that unnecessary. Rocking A charges $10 to charge there, and this was way more convenient.

There is pizza, McD, Taco Bell, KFC within walking distance. Since I have an HHonors number, there's free WiFi as well.

This shaves about 113 miles off the DFW to Amarillo drive, and if need to overnight anyway like I did, Hampton Inn makes sense. In the unlikely event the Tesla charger is occupied, you still have a J1772 as backup.

 

[reddy]

 

[Boourns]

More business need to put their chargers in a similar location. Away from the building so it won't be ICEd.

 

[TexasEV]

Good to know, but I don't see why you would be SHOCKED as it's on both the Tesla destination charging map and Plugshare.

 

[reddy]

Good to know, but I don't see why you would be SHOCKED as it's on both the Tesla destination charging map and Plugshare.

I planned the trip and made reservations 6 weeks ago, and they weren't on Plugshare or Tesla map then.

I also corrected the Plugshare entry and added photos. The access isn't restricted, so I removed that. These are designated for paying guests, but there is no access restriction (as if they were behind a gate or inside a special parking lot).

It looks like the first entry on Plugshare was 10 days ago.

 

[kort677]

that's all great, however when I made that trip that area is not a place I wanted or needed to spend the night. I went the longer SpC route and stayed overnight in denton. hopefully at some point an SpC would be added to that route which would cut many miles off of that well used and better route.

 

[reddy]

I agree that having a supercharger in Vernon would be immensely more preferable to an 8kw evse.

Before I left the hotel, I asked the front desk about how much it gets used. The hotel is about a block away from the county hospital.They indicated that the Tesla charger installation was requested by a doctor who worked at the hospital on a contract basis. He/she stayed at the hotel for a week at a time rather than renting an apartment, and came every other week . So the charger was actually used every day when the doctor was in town. After a couple months, the doctor and the hospital apparently parted ways and the charger now rarely gets used.

 

[redi]

During the summer the Vernon stop is about all that is needed between DFW and Amarillo in an 85.

Winter might be borderline?

Sure would be simpler if a supercharger was in that vicinity.

 

[TexasEV]

What about driving DFW to Vernon to Shamrock? That should still cut some time off compared to going up I-35 to Oklahoma City and turning left.

 

[redi]

Because Vernon is so slow, DFW->Vernon->Shamrock is likely more time than the long way. Even more time if you are overnighting in the Hampton.

 

[TexasEV]

I didn't explain that I was in Austin. Thinking about driving up to Denton supercharger, then to Vernon and spending the night there, then Shamrock. Otherwise would stay overnight in Oklahoma. I have a 60.

 

[ColBatGuano]

I've been thinking that a Supercharger in Wichita Falls (possibly at the IHOP in town) and a second one in Childress (Walmart/Hampton/Holiday Inn). This would place the Childress SC 120 miles from the Amarillo SC and 110 miles to Wichita Falls. The Wichita Falls SC would be about 100 miles from the Denton SC and 125-140 miles away from the Arlington SC (coming soon) depending on your chosen route.

I think all those distances are possible for 60kW cars driving uphill to Amarillo, in the winter, in a rain storm loaded with ski gear, and winter tires. Roof racks and trailers might not make it.

What do the rest of you think?

 

[TexasEV]

Sounds good to me. We just have to convince Tesla. I think south Texas and I-10 west should have priority, though, as those areas aren't accessible at all by superchargers yet.

 

[radrays]

I've been thinking that a Supercharger in Wichita Falls (possibly at the IHOP in town) and a second one in Childress (Walmart/Hampton/Holiday Inn). This would place the Childress SC 120 miles from the Amarillo SC and 110 miles to Wichita Falls. The Wichita Falls SC would be about 100 miles from the Denton SC and 125-140 miles away from the Arlington SC (coming soon) depending on your chosen route.

I think all those distances are possible for 60kW cars driving uphill to Amarillo, in the winter, in a rain storm loaded with ski gear, and winter tires. Roof racks and trailers might not make it.

What do the rest of you think?

Completely agree. Wichita Falls / Childress Supercharger combo would great for vacations to New Mexico and Southern Colorado for central Texas. This would also put a Supercharger on I 44, even though this is low volume traffic interstate. Maybe after I 10 is complete?

In Wichita Falls near the Cracker Barrell / Wal Mart off of Airport Drive may be a good spot. Another spot would be near Loves on 287 south of downtown. Many restaurants are located off of Kemp, but that may be a little far from the 287 / I 44 junction.


Last winter took a ski trip to Red River, NM from Keller, TX (Near DFW airport). Overnight range charged at my parent's house in Wichita Falls with plans of catching the Supercharger in Shamrock. Leaving out hit the perfect EV travel storm between Wichita Falls and Shamrock. Temperature dropped 30 degrees, had a 30 mph headwind, and it had snowed 4 or 5 inches by Shamrock. Was watching predicted range progressively drop. So slowed down, turned off heat with about 40 miles to go. At the Shamrock city limits predicted range dropped to '0'. Made it to the Supercharger with the only real range anxiety I have had in my 85D.

Veron is about 30 miles closer to Shamrock, but just something to keep in mind for those taking this path to New Mexico or Colorado during the winter.

 

[purplewalt]

Sounds good to me. We just have to convince Tesla. I think south Texas and I-10 west should have priority, though, as those areas aren't accessible at all by superchargers yet.

Bingo.

Let's be patient until I-10 AND I-30 completed, then fill in South Texas, Lubbock, Wichita Falls // Childress route to Amarillo.
Parts of Deep East Texas still need better access to Superchargers too.

Still vast areas in Texas remain to be served with Superchargers, how else will people near Cuenavaca be connected to the Supercharger network.

 

[ColBatGuano]

Looking at a closeup of the 2016 Supercharger plan I'd say that Tesla has planned a SC for every important route in Texas. The one hole I see in the plan is no DFW - Amarillo via the route that saves 3 hours compared to DFW-OKC-Amarillo.

One of the key reasons I bought my Tesla was to take road trips. Whether for business or pleasure there is a need to have a route out of Texas or between cities in Texas that doesn't require a 3-6 hour destination charge in the first 3 hours of a trip.

I have spoken to several people in the Supercharger program and they have suggested that what they need is a contact name at a business that preferably has been spoken to and is considered willing to have a charge location on their premises. Without these contacts Tesla is left making hours/days of cold calls and making very little headway. This is something that we as a community can do to help the expansion of electric transportation. We are the ones who know our towns and our travel routes. If we can distill this data and give it to Tesla, they can concentrate on negotiations of permits and all the other tedious work that has to be done to complete the job. Or we can sit and wait for Tesla to do all the leg work, place a charger in an inconvenient location, and then complain about the result.

 

[ReddyLeaf]

^^^Agreed! In the past year, I've suggested several non-interstate locations (WA, OR, & BC), including scouting them out, with names/numbers. I don't know if they've been contacted, but at least we can try. I've driven the Amarillo-Denton route many times in years past and would definitely recommend first Wichita Falls (end of I-44). Of course, this would be after I-10 & I-20 are finished, probably not until 2017. Finally, it's a toss up between Lubbock (end of I-27, which also connects Sweetwater and Midland/Odessa) and Childress. The distance from Dallas to Albuquerque is nearly the same distance & time on either route (suburb location specific), so again, it's a toss up.

 

[TMC Bubba]

During the summer the Vernon stop is about all that is needed between DFW and Amarillo in an 85.

You just need the P100D upgrade. That'll git 'er done!

 

[Chris TX]

Nice! We stopped at that exact HI a few years ago, pre-Tesla coming back from a trip to CO.

 

[astrowunder]

Replying to this post. These chargers have been out of order for a year as of feb 2019 and the owner has no interest in repairing