I did take the 2,000 drop in elevation into consideration before deciding to go for it. Wasn’t much of any wind in either direction, so I don’t think that played a factor. I could have drafted behind a semi truck at the risk of glass damage / not seeing a pot hole and getting a blow out. The roads are not the best on a lot of these stretches. I figured if I ran out of battery I could always get a tow into midland and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. But I made it and I’ll never do that drive again if I can avoid it! Haha!
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Go Fund Me for EV Charging in SE NM
- Thread starter nwdiver
- Start date
I did take the 2,000 drop in elevation into consideration before deciding to go for it. Wasn’t much of any wind in either direction, so I don’t think that played a factor. I could have drafted behind a semi truck at the risk of glass damage / not seeing a pot hole and getting a blow out. The roads are not the best on a lot of these stretches. I figured if I ran out of battery I could always get a tow into midland and it wouldn’t have been the end of the world. But I made it and I’ll never do that drive again if I can avoid it! Haha!
I'm curious, if you had to do it over again, would you have decided to just go through Amarillo and stay on the supercharger highway like I recommended? I definitely think that would be the best course of action if you're just trying to get there. I do take routes like you sometimes if I'm not pressed for time, looking for an adventure, and/or tired of driving the same interstates over and over and just want to go on a new road.
Roswell is finally online! 
SPS Xcel has got to have the WORST customer service. The inspection was completed March 17th, the transformer was installed in late April and the meter was FINALLY installed on Friday. I don't understand why they can't order the meter on March 17th.... when it's clear they need one... they wait until the Transformer is installed to order the meter
My 2012 MS had some issues charging. With the pilot set to 80A it would stop charging after about 90 minutes if it started at all. It took some coaxing to get it to charge >30A. I didn't see this once I set the pilot to 72A. Don't know. May only be a problem for older cars with dual chargers.
I also discovered that the Budget Inn in Artesia has a HPWC and the owner has a Model 3. His wife was there and said guests could use it but couldn't offer any details beyond that. I recommended that they get the site added to plugshare and Tesla. It's very well hidden right now.
SPS Xcel has got to have the WORST customer service. The inspection was completed March 17th, the transformer was installed in late April and the meter was FINALLY installed on Friday. I don't understand why they can't order the meter on March 17th.... when it's clear they need one... they wait until the Transformer is installed to order the meter My 2012 MS had some issues charging. With the pilot set to 80A it would stop charging after about 90 minutes if it started at all. It took some coaxing to get it to charge >30A. I didn't see this once I set the pilot to 72A. Don't know. May only be a problem for older cars with dual chargers.
I also discovered that the Budget Inn in Artesia has a HPWC and the owner has a Model 3. His wife was there and said guests could use it but couldn't offer any details beyond that. I recommended that they get the site added to plugshare and Tesla. It's very well hidden right now.
Nice work, sir!
Regarding the Artesia Budget Inn, why not just add it to PlugShare yourself? AFAIK there's no requirement that the owners do the adding--anyone with knowledge of a working charger can do it, so long as it's intended to be for public use (or for use by guests in this case).
Regarding the Artesia Budget Inn, why not just add it to PlugShare yourself? AFAIK there's no requirement that the owners do the adding--anyone with knowledge of a working charger can do it, so long as it's intended to be for public use (or for use by guests in this case).
Thought about it; I'll give the owners a bit to figure it out. I also don't know any details of the site like how many amps, volts etc. I asked the wife if I could plug-in for a moment just to get the specs and she was nervous about even that.... odd. I'm hoping they open it to everyone and charge maybe ~$1/hr or something. Depending on the type of service the hotel is on it would cost next to nothing for someone to charge since the hotel has A TON of solar PV and Xcel pays hardly anything for monthly surplus.
Probably heat-related. Assuming a 240V nominal voltage, a 9V drop is not insignificant.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
Could be undersized wiring or a loose connection, for example. If you have no problem charging at 80A at home, it's site-specific.
SageBrush
REJECT Fascism
I actually think it was the car. It was behaving really odd. Current would climb to ~30A and it would trip. I think the car tripped before the HPWC. Then it would be 'connected' displaying voltage and the charge port was unlocked. I'd never seen that before.
The HPWC I have at home is also set to 72A. I'll try to replicate it here but I think it may have been a combination of heat and the pilot setting. I didn't have any issues when I charged in the morning only after things warmed up.
Voltage is about what I expected. Xcel was a bit cheap on the overhead lines. I might try to contact them to discuss the importance of line voltage to EV drivers. I was just happy they installed a 25kVA XFMR. I expected a 10kVA and ~2x the voltage drop.
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Should be installing the 14-50 in a week or so. Thanks for the reminder... Go Fund Me has been updated.
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Received a GoFundMe update on this and came to congratulate you and your workers for the install! I'm sure the 14-50 outlet will be appreciated as well when it goes in.
I wonder if there are any owners here on the forum who might have received a HPWC reward that they don't intend to use and would be willing to donate to the cause or maybe they have updated to the new version and have an older one unused now. I don't hang out on any other Tesla owner forum but maybe others here do and could post about the GoFundMe effort to help spread the word.
I see that Electrify America is working with Walmarts across the country to add EV charging but looks like only the western side of the state is planned for now (appears from their map to be in/near Gallup, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and El Paso across the TX border). Too bad with Roswell and the Carlsbad Caverns as being siteseeing destination spots they haven't included the Walmart in Artesia. That would be a great in between spot for both. Any chance you've spoken to the Walmart there or Walmart Corporate to see if that's a possibility, even if you don't install it but EA/Walmart does? I assume there would at least be J1772 connectors there if they do, not unlike Tesla Supercharger locations that have put in J1772s for non-Teslas.
I wonder if there are any owners here on the forum who might have received a HPWC reward that they don't intend to use and would be willing to donate to the cause or maybe they have updated to the new version and have an older one unused now. I don't hang out on any other Tesla owner forum but maybe others here do and could post about the GoFundMe effort to help spread the word.
I see that Electrify America is working with Walmarts across the country to add EV charging but looks like only the western side of the state is planned for now (appears from their map to be in/near Gallup, Albuquerque, Santa Fe, Las Cruces and El Paso across the TX border). Too bad with Roswell and the Carlsbad Caverns as being siteseeing destination spots they haven't included the Walmart in Artesia. That would be a great in between spot for both. Any chance you've spoken to the Walmart there or Walmart Corporate to see if that's a possibility, even if you don't install it but EA/Walmart does? I assume there would at least be J1772 connectors there if they do, not unlike Tesla Supercharger locations that have put in J1772s for non-Teslas.
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