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Ellensburg, WA Model S/Roadster HPC Adapter

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v12 to 12v

Active Member
Jul 10, 2012
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A Roadster HPC to Model S adapter will be installed at Ellensburg and it should be accessible around August 8th.

The adapter is on loan from the Centralia Burgerville Adapter Share group until the Ellensburg area gets their own Superchargers this fall. IIRC, Tesla is scouting Supercharger locations in the Ellensburg area at this time. After the Ellensburg Superchargers are in service the adapter will return to Centralia, unless another regional HPC is identified as a placement priority.

The adapter is very useful if you have twin chargers on board your Model S because you can get over 40 miles of charge per hour. I don’t know what you should expect at the Ellensburg 70A HPC since I have not charged there yet.

You can join the Model S/HPC Adapter Share Group for $30. PM “v12 to 12v” and “Puyallup Bill” for more information. Puyallup Bill is a team member that volunteered to cover for me when I am unplugged.

Please try to give us 72 hours notice before requesting to join and use the adapter so that we have time to process your request and get the instructions and lock box combination to you in time. We typically can turn it around more quickly but there are times when we are out of range.

Excess funds from the Adapter Share project will go towards incidental maintenance and repairs, if necessary. Beyond that any additional funds will be forwarded to the Port Angeles charging station. Once that need is met any excess funds will be forwarded to another regional project that has a need. Members of the group will be consulted when it comes to these decisions.
 
v12 to 12v,

If you don't have the twin chargers can it still be used at lower current (up to 40A), or is it just better to use one of the NEMA 14-50 outlets available in Ellensburg? I plan on heading to Olympia on the 30th.
Without twin chargers, it should give you about the same rate of charge as a NEMA 14-50 outlet (or possibly a tad faster if the NEMA 14-50 is running at 208V rather than 240V). It will be faster than a 30 amp public charger.
 
I just got word today that there was a hold-up on the installation of the adapter in Ellensburg. I just sent an e-mail to all participants regarding the revised procedure for gaining access to the adapter. If you didn't get the e-mail, feel free to PM me for a copy.
 
I used the Ellensburg charger twice today. Thanks to those generous Roadster owners for the install, to ChadS for letting my use his adaptor and v12 to v12 for getting the Centralia adaptor to Ellensburg. Of note, the Centralia adaptor is in place, in a lock box, and the combination lock works fine. It's ready for use!
 
Saving the Ellensburg HPC

In September, the city of Ellensburg installed a dedicated utility meter on the Roadster HPC charging station and found that the bill for the first month was $30. In reaction to this expense, the city decided to remove the station.

With help from our friends in Ellensburg, Steve Verhey and Richard French, we now have a plan to save the station: I take over paying the bill.

My thought is to put a sign on the station saying it costs $1.50/hour to use the station and directing users to a web page where they can send me money via PayPal. It looks like I'm also going to get hit with paying the bill retroactively. I'll ask for donations when I get the bill.

So, does this seem like a reasonable plan? How many people use the station and would like to see it stay in service?
 
Saving the Ellensburg HPC

Always wondered who picked up the tab for the electricity.

I'm in. If I am trying to make time while traveling, I'll use the Supercharger. But we often visit Ellensburg and I would rather use the downtown location for visits to The Tav and the Saturday Farmer's Market.

$1.50 an hour seems fair to me, and if you get stuck with previous and current charges, let me know.
 
In September, the city of Ellensburg installed a dedicated utility meter on the Roadster HPC charging station and found that the bill for the first month was $30. In reaction to this expense, the city decided to remove the station.

With help from our friends in Ellensburg, Steve Verhey and Richard French, we now have a plan to save the station: I take over paying the bill.

My thought is to put a sign on the station saying it costs $1.50/hour to use the station and directing users to a web page where they can send me money via PayPal. It looks like I'm also going to get hit with paying the bill retroactively. I'll ask for donations when I get the bill.

So, does this seem like a reasonable plan? How many people use the station and would like to see it stay in service?

I think it would be more fair if they metered the power usage again after the Superchargers are installed. The adapter has only been there since August. Once the Supercharger adapter is in place, and the adapter is moved to another location, usage should drop dramatically. August and September would seem to be their heaviest usage months too. It is tourism season, harvest time and the beginning of the treks for the new school year.

I was sent a few ideas about new locations for the adapter. I guess it is prime time to make an appeal for votes on ideas for the adapter migration. One idea was a Tesla friendly Hotel in northern California that has a HPC, another idea was to move it back to Centralia just in case there is congestion at the Superchargers there.

There was also the mention of an orphan HPC that might need a mate. Has there been any discussions about routes to Boise? I heard an appeal for charging in Bend, OR too. Beach areas? White Pass? Access for Mount Rainier, Mount Adams, Mount St. Helens and Yakima?
 
Tom

Sad to hear they removed the charger. I used it only once but I've used the other chargers in that lot before. Please remind your Ellensburg contacts that I shopped at many stores, ate at their restaurants, etc all for likely about $3 of electricity. I know others stay at hotels and do other business because the charger is there. Remove that charger and you lose a ton of business from some high net worth shoppers.

I'll help with the bill when it arrives.
 
Tom

Sad to hear they removed the charger. I used it only once but I've used the other chargers in that lot before. Please remind your Ellensburg contacts that I shopped at many stores, ate at their restaurants, etc all for likely about $3 of electricity. I know others stay at hotels and do other business because the charger is there. Remove that charger and you lose a ton of business from some high net worth shoppers.

I'll help with the bill when it arrives.

It appears that Tom is trying to intervene by volunteering to pay for the power usage. Maybe we can still work something out.

Perhaps individually, or as a group, we can write a nice letter to the City Council stating our intentions and expressing our appreciation and at the same time by pointing out that the high usage was a very temporary thing. Also. we could make an appeal by confirming that we do make a make an extra effort to support local businesses to express our appreciation when cities host us.
 
In September, the city of Ellensburg installed a dedicated utility meter on the Roadster HPC charging station and found that the bill for the first month was $30. In reaction to this expense, the city decided to remove the station.

With help from our friends in Ellensburg, Steve Verhey and Richard French, we now have a plan to save the station: I take over paying the bill.

My thought is to put a sign on the station saying it costs $1.50/hour to use the station and directing users to a web page where they can send me money via PayPal. It looks like I'm also going to get hit with paying the bill retroactively. I'll ask for donations when I get the bill.

So, does this seem like a reasonable plan? How many people use the station and would like to see it stay in service?
Tom, I responded in the NTOC thread, but I will repeat one suggestion here. If you could arrange to have Plug-in NCW take over the station, I believe that as a non-profit they would have zero daily service charges. And because usage will drop off substantially when the superchargers are operational, the monthly energy charges would be pretty small. You could contract with PNCW to guarantee those charges. This pretty clearly fits within their mission.
 
Tom, All
I've used the Roadster Charger several times in my S. Spokane and Grandkids would have been much more difficult without it, and as Puyallup Bill has told us, burgers and brew at the Tav are always good. I'd be happy to contribute a few dollars a month (easy with a recurring payment) to support the HPC even if I would not use it very much (or ever). I think that it's important to support the infrastructure.
Alan
 
I made the same suggestion on Facebook, but have you thought about contacting Tesla to see if they're willing to install it at the SC site? It's probably not just that simple because they'd probably have to talk about it with the lot owner but I think it behooves Tesla to help maintain the Roadster's charging capabilities.
 
It sounds like some of you really want to maintain access to The Tav. I was looking forward to trying it out.
Maybe The Tav could make an appeal to the City of Ellensburg or offer sponsorship if they knew about their Tesla customer's quandry.