Far West Texas Charging

[charliepmayer]

Greetings all,
Thought I would start a list to inform the Charging Infrastructure folks our thoughts on charging in Far West Texas.
I agree with Firewired, this needs to get outside the Fort Stockton SC thread - some overlap, sorry.

I listed my candidates in order of importance below. Please add to or modify the list and we'll see if we can make some progress out here. IMHO there's no way Tesla can do this without boots on the ground - I think that will have to be our boots. No problem - we can do this.

Supercharger sites:
Fort Stockton (process started - progress unknown)
Del Rio (nothing started yet)

Destination chargers:
Fort Stockton (need backup HPWCs for the future SC - some progress )
Balmorhea (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made)
Fort Davis (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made)
Alpine (at least 3 14-50s there now, but we need at least a couple of HPWCs)
Marfa (done: El Cosmico has two destination chargers)
Terlingua or Lajitas (nothing started yet - Lajitas Resort? Terlingua site?)
Marathon (nothing started yet - Gage Hotel?)
Sanderson (nothing started yet)
Uvalde (nothing started yet)
Del Rio (need backup HPWCs for the future SC - no progress yet)

Your thoughts, please?
Charlie

 

[LCR1]

I think balmorhea could be a supercharger site as well.

 

[tmoz]

Greetings all,
Thought I would start a list to inform the Charging Infrastructure folks our thoughts on charging in Far West Texas.
I agree with Firewired, this needs to get outside the Fort Stockton SC thread - some overlap, sorry.

I listed my candidates in order of importance below. Please add to or modify the list and we'll see if we can make some progress out here. IMHO there's no way Tesla can do this without boots on the ground - I think that will have to be our boots. No problem - we can do this.

Supercharger sites:
Fort Stockton (process started - progress unknown)
Del Rio (nothing started yet)

Destination chargers:
Fort Stockton (need backup HPWCs for the future SC - some progress )
Balmorhea (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made)
Fort Davis (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made)
Alpine (at least 3 14-50s there now, but we need at least a couple of HPWCs)
Marfa (done: El Cosmico has two destination chargers)
Terlingua or Lajitas (nothing started yet - Lajitas Resort? Terlingua site?)
Marathon (nothing started yet - Gage Hotel?)
Sanderson (nothing started yet)
Uvalde (nothing started yet)
Del Rio (need backup HPWCs for the future SC - no progress yet)

Your thoughts, please?
Charlie

Nice start! Thanks for taking the initiative.

 

[pnungesser]

Lets not forget Wichita Falls for those heading west from DFW. With Arkansas still a wasteland west of Little Rock, one has to go through DFW. Wichita Falls would be a real time saver and allow avoiding Oklahoma City. Maybe one could reach Childress from DFW, but I wouldn't want to try it without local knowledge.

 

[charliepmayer]

Thanks everybody - keep it up please.

 

[namlio]

We stayed at the Quarter Circle 7 hotel in Alpine in late January. I spoke to the manager about the Tesla Destination Charging program and they seemed interested. In fact, they were on the Tesla website seeking information less than 10 minutes after our discussion. They are planning an expansion, which would make adding the chargers almost cost free if the connection is in the original plan.

The 14-50 plugs at The Stable Performance Cars are listed as available only during business hours and I was told they are closed on the weekend. I called to see if I could get access on a Saturday, was told I would be contacted by the manager, but never heard back. I have since seen a post where someone said they were available 24 hours a day. I’m not sure if that is true for everyone though.

The only other 14-50 is at a rental house and available to renters only.

Because I would only be assured of access to a 120 outlet, and we were not going to be there that long, we took the ICE instead.

A follow up with the hotel sometime in the future might be worthwhile.

 

[charliepmayer]

namlio: I'll check with the Quarter Circle 7 tomorrow. Do you have the manager's name, please?

 

[charliepmayer]

14-50s at The Stable are indeed open 24-7. I tried to talk to them yesterday in person, but they were all on the phone - I got tired of waiting and left. They don't return my calls either.

 

[Firewired]

I sure would like to be able to drive and visit Big Bend. There is a listed 14-50 charger in Study Butte, at the Big Bend Resort. It would be great if the National Park Service would do what they have started doing at some other parks and put chargers inside the park.

Electric Car Chargers Are Coming to 100 National Parks This Year

 

[namlio]

namlio: I'll check with the Quarter Circle 7 tomorrow. Do you have the manager's name, please?

Sorry Charlie, I don’t.

 

[charliepmayer]

I went to the Quarter Circle 7 Hotel in Alpine this afternoon and had a nice chat with them.
I passed the info to Charging Infrastructure at Tesla.

I really hate to further the painful and inaccurate stereotyping we "normal" Texans endure, but sometimes........well, here 'ya go:

The Quarter Circle 7 Hotel in Alpine Texas is next to a Mexican food restaurant, a Texas-style barbecue restaurant, directly across the street from a brewery, and, hold on ---------------- wait ------------------------ a short walk to a shooting range.

Great place for a destination charger, eh ?!

 

[Graffi]

Load your Tesla while unloading your guns. Got to love it. As long as there is somewhere for Californians to buy ammo. Since we are now restricted in our ammo purchasing here in CA we would like it a lot if we do not have to remove any of it from CA. And then, we would have to shoot it all up before leaving as we can not bring it back into CA. I guess that all those Agricultural Inspection Stations will now be converted into Ammo Inspection Stations since it is illegal to import ammo into CA.

 

[tmoz]

I went to the Quarter Circle 7 Hotel in Alpine this afternoon and had a nice chat with them.
I passed the info to Charging Infrastructure at Tesla.

I really hate to further the painful and inaccurate stereotyping we "normal" Texans endure, but sometimes........well, here 'ya go:

The Quarter Circle 7 Hotel in Alpine Texas is next to a Mexican food restaurant, a Texas-style barbecue restaurant, directly across the street from a brewery, and, hold on ---------------- wait ------------------------ a short walk to a shooting range.

Great place for a destination charger, eh ?!

What! No brothel? (-;

 

[charliepmayer]

To get from the SpaceX site in Boca China to points west, we'll need more Superchargers.

Revised list here:

Supercharger sites (need destination chargers here too - as backup for SCs):

Fort Stockton (process started - progress unknown)
Marathon (nothing started yet)
Terlingua (nothing started yet)
Sanderson (nothing started yet)

Uvalde (nothing started yet)
Del Rio (nothing started yet) (south and west link up here)
Eagle Pass (nothing started yet)
Laredo (done - 8 Superchargers)

Destination chargers (as backup at all above, plus):
Balmorhea (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made - SC?)
Fort Davis (need a couple of HPWCs - contact made)
Alpine (at least 3 14-50s there now, but we need at least a couple of HPWCs - maybe SC?)
Marfa (done: El Cosmico has two destination chargers)

Long way to go.
What do you think?
Charlie

 

[tmoz]

To get from the SpaceX site in Boca Chica to points west, we'll need more Superchargers.

Revised list here:

Supercharger sites (need destination chargers here too - as backup for SCs):

Fort Stockton (process started - progress unknown)
Marathon (nothing started yet)
Terlingua (nothing started yet)
Sanderson (nothing started yet)

Uvalde (nothing started yet)
Del Rio (nothing started yet) (south and west link up here)
Eagle Pass (nothing started yet)
Laredo (done - 8 Superchargers)

Long way to go.
What do you think?
Charlie

From Boca Chica to points west,
I like Uvalde and Del Rio, but Eagle Pass looks like it would be low on the priority list.

 

[charliepmayer]

tmoz: agreed, only 135 miles from Lareo to Uvalde, I guess Eagle Pass is unnecessary, anybody see why we need EP?

 

[charliepmayer]

Alpine Supercharger site?

Hwy 90 just east of Sul Ross. 4 hotels, diner, pizza joint.

See map: penny's Diner
Google Maps

Any thoughts?

 

[TX-T3sla]

Lets not forget Wichita Falls for those heading west from DFW. With Arkansas still a wasteland west of Little Rock, one has to go through DFW. Wichita Falls would be a real time saver and allow avoiding Oklahoma City. Maybe one could reach Childress from DFW, but I wouldn't want to try it without local knowledge.

+1 for a Supercharger in Wichita Falls. It's been "Coming Soon" for years. I'm not sure where the hold up is. I wonder if Tesla and the city can't settle on a location.

 

[PLUS EV]

I did a fairly thorough search of both Pecos and Fort Stockton a couple days ago (basically drove through the parking lot of every gas station and hotel) and found zero signs of construction.

Pecos seems nearly hopeless. Every hotel has a small parking lot that is clogged with work trucks and even the truck stops did not seem to have much extra space. Also the pavement/infrastructure is just terrible everywhere, but no one seems to care since basically everyone is driving a monster truck of some sort, many of which were provided by their work. Driving a new Tesla around that town was somewhat stressful. Also the town seemed to be booming. It was crowded everywhere at 10pm on a weeknight. I guess it's just all the oil workers or whatever. All in all, it was one of my least favorite places I have ever visited in this country.

Fort Stockton shows some more hope. Wasn't nearly as crowded and basically all of the hotels at exit 257 would have enough room for a supercharger. Fairfield, Candlewood, Hampton Inn, Best Western. And many of those have been host locations in other cities (Hampton Inn in Van Horn for example). I wonder what is taking them so long.

All the driving around forced me to make a stop in Iraan. I kind of wanted the Iraan experience that I have read so much about anyway. As usual, the charger there worked great. The only problem the Iraan stop created was having to drive through a sea of white-tail deer from Iraan to Ozona. I have literally never seen so many deer in my life. They also are much more skittish and prone to jumping out into the road than the ones I am used to back home. I must have seen a thousand of them and I had to go 40mph just to be sure I didn't hit any.

 

[charliepmayer]

PLUS EV: Thank you for your report. The area is indeed hard to describe unless you have spent some time out here.
Seattle? Why are you out here in no man's land?