-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
yeah. perhaps "screwed" is a bit strong. Perhaps "strongly inconvenienced."
My point was that with normal driving conditions, the 85 kw doesn't have enough battery to get from L.A. to Las Vegas without stopping at the SC in Barstow. As far as I know, no one has encountered an "offline" SC in Barstow and therefore been inconvenienced. But, if and when that happens, there really aren't many alternatives. The Roadster plug at the McDonald's a few minutes away (also in Barstow) is useless to us Model S owners because unless you have a Roadster to Model S adapter, you won't be able to plug in. And it doesn't sound like Tesla is interested in selling that adapter to us Model S owners that don't own a Roadster. I know I would be interested in buying one so that I could take advantage of the twin chargers in my car. But unless someone in the forums is holding on me, I'm not sure what kind of planning I could do because the adapters aren't really available.
I must confess that I didn't do any research into Barstow charging alternatives, perhaps there is a NEMA 14-50 somewhere in town that I don't know of. Or perhaps there's a J1772 plug somewhere. But, there's up to a 10x difference between charging at a SC and a NEMA 14-50. Your 5 hour planned trip could turn into a 10-15 hour trip.
My point regarding charging on the strip is this. If you a virtual traffic jam of more than 2 other Model S owners showing up at your hotel (let's say Mandalay), and each of them needs to charge many hours that first night after coming in almost empty from the Barstow SC, you're going to have to play some serious musical chairs in order to get those cars charged. I happened to visit during the an off-peak week but I can easily imagine there being more congestion on a busy weekend or a peak week. Plus, I saw a Volt and Plug in Prius while I was there for parts of the time. Again, "screwed" was probably too strong of a term.
The solution is for many of those hotels to expand the number of charging spots available. I would venture to say that most of us that drive to Vegas do so with only one car in our party. And therefore driving to an alternative J1772 or NEMA 14-50 charging area is an inconvenience. I hope that these hotels install some HPWC at some point. This would allow those of us with twin chargers to charge up quickly and not take up the J1772 spots for long extended periods of time.
I did LA to Vegas and back in a single day last week. The Barstow charger worked fine, but I think "screwed" would be the correct term if I had to spend 4+ hours at a J1772 in Barstow. Once I got there, there were two Volts in the Venetian spots (!) so I went straight to the Clark County Government Center and took a cab back to the strip. Either the hotels need to step it up, or we need a Supercharger in Primm. I was only getting 18 mph from the J1772 and ended up leaving Vegas with 175 rated. It was pretty windy and hilly and I hit 0 rated miles when I was 2 miles away from Barstow, but still made it.
175 rated is quite brave of you. I was looking at the different changes in elevation between Las Vegas and Barstow and there are at least two peaks. I'm sure others who know the terrain will correct me further but I noted that there was a 4700 feet peak and then a drop a couple thousand feet followed by another 4300 or so peak. Then the drop in elevation again into Barstow. All of those peaks and valleys are what turn an inherently doable 160-170 mile drive into a 175-200 rated mile drive (depending on conditions/avg speed). If you consider that you'll lose 7 rated miles per one thousand foot climb but only "gain" back 4 rated miles per thousand feet drop in addition to the miles travelled, it all makes sense.
I was expecting this experience that you described, Volt, Plug in Prius, plugged in at the J1772 spots. It only takes a couple of these hybrids (ok....range extended EV) to make you switch to plan B or plan C.
I think if I was in your situation, pressed for time, I would have perhaps considered doing the KOA Circus Circus. The 9.6 kW/hour of a NEMA 14-50 would be preferable to the 6 kW/hr of the J1772. Of course, the KOA will charge you $20 but perhaps some of that would be made up by the shorter cab ride.
I hope Tesla does add a SC at Primm. But even if they don't, I hope at least some of the Strip hotels invest in HPWC. Although with all the Zappo's model S cars being added to the LV pool of cars, I bet its going to be pretty hard to find a spot to charge on the strip come next summer or fall.
The other thing that would be very helpful is to have Tesla step up and add an indicator on the Tesla app or website that indicates that status of the SC. I'm sure I'm not the first to say this (in fact I know its been said in other threads) but this kind of functionality is essential and could alter entire vacations or business trips since many of us doing these trips have the alternative of flying or driving an ICE car.
By the way, in no way should all this bitching be considered a knock on Tesla. We travelled several hundred miles during that trip to LV all powered by Tesla's free SC. So, thank you Tesla for an awesome car and supercharger network.
I've attached some pictures of the Barstow SC with the two new units that are about to come online.
Attachments
Good point. I normally don't fill out surveys but I made a point of requesting more EV chargers in the Mandalay survey, when I got their "how was your stay email".
- - - Updated - - -
capt601: I was looking at some old pictures (for instance, check out the old pictures on plugshare.com) from when there were only two units, and those stripes are from that time. I think when they installed the two new units, which are staggered between the two old units, they didn't bother to erase the painted lines on the pavement. While standing in front, it didn't strike me as though the last unit was any more narrow so perhaps some of that is due to distortion in the photograph from the point of view. I'm pretty sure a car will be able to fit to the right of that fourth unit. I think that one thing to remember is that if you want to maximize the charge, and you have a choice, it makes sense to pick the unit that isn't "sharing" power. So in this case, 1 and 3 are the old units and will likely continue to share and the 2 and 4 units will likely also share.
As far as I can tell, you have to bring your own Roadster to Model S adapter. I don't own one and those that do I'm sure aren't going to be very willing to part with such a scarce, difficult to acquire adapter. Then again, if someone knows where I can get one, let me know. But otherwise, most Model S owners would not be able to benefit from any of those Roadster 70A chargers - both in Barstow or in the several Las Vegas strip hotels that have them.
"Brave" is a generous way to put it. If I had to do it again, I'd definitely use the KOA NEMA 14-50. Not planning on doing it again in one day, though!
Great move.
At every hotel desk and every store I ask where the chargers are. Asking for management or concierge when I can. That combined with the Volt girl asking the same question the next day, etc., etc, is how we get it done.
You could ask to borrow a Roadster to MS adapter for a trip. This is why we have a club, to help our friends.
Bound466
Member
It may have already been mentioned, but I "discovered" two Tesla Roadster charging stations at the Venetian while I was looking for the Charge Point stations. They are located on level P1 under the Venetian, where the valet attendants park their cars and the taxi's line up before getting to the front area outside the lobby. All underground, covered parking.
The parking guards sent me down there first, when I asked about the charge-point stations. Since I don't have a Roadster, I didn't have an adapter. I hear they are very hard to get. But hopefully they will get them on the store soon, as they have added the other adapters and plugs over time.
The parking guards sent me down there first, when I asked about the charge-point stations. Since I don't have a Roadster, I didn't have an adapter. I hear they are very hard to get. But hopefully they will get them on the store soon, as they have added the other adapters and plugs over time.
I appreciate your generous offer regarding the adapter.
I must also acknowledge that at least there is a supercharger in Barstow for us to talk about. Much of the country is still waiting for their chance to try these awesome stations.
And as you said earlier, the supply and demand for charging stations of all kinds will eventually balance out.
- - - Updated - - -
That's good to know. I only saw the Tesla Roadster station on the 6th floor, next to the Chargepoint J1772.
Just curious, are the j1772 plugs all on the 6th floor of the self parking garage at the Venetian? Easy to find them? We are heading to Vegas this weekend and will charge up at one point to get back home.
And I have already been hounding TI to put J1772 plugs in their garage or at least offer 110volt outlets for use over the weekend. No luck so far.
And I have already been hounding TI to put J1772 plugs in their garage or at least offer 110volt outlets for use over the weekend. No luck so far.
I just made reservations at the Aria for June. I called and asked if they had any charging units available either j1772 or telsa hpwc (wishfull thinking). They transferred me to the valet and they said they have 4 14-50 nema outlets in the north valet (enter harmony street). They made it clear that we have to BYO mobile connector. Will find out when i head there in June, but has anyone else discovered this or charged there? I believe this is where Motor Trend stopped when they did there test.
wraithnot
Model 3 VIN #2942 Model S VIN #5785
My wife and I are heading to Vegas tomorrow- we'll be there from Thursday evening until Sunday morning. If anyone else will be there over that time period and wants to coordinate charging at the Venetian or exchange intel on when the spots are vacant, PM me and try and we can figure out the best way to share information.
Yes. finding the two 6th floor Venetian J1772 was very easy. Should not be a problem.
- - - Updated - - -
Wow. If that turns out to be true, 4 NEMA 14-50s, that will be like finding gold. Those are certainly not listed on Plugshare or Recargo (or I would have looked for them). I saw the J1772 that is in the valet in the CityCenter underground parking lot, which should be accessible from Aria.
- - - Updated - - -
The Venetian J1772 are on Plugshare or Chargepoint app. You can just see if its open with the apps. Or at least if its charging (I suppose you wouldn't be able to tell if someone ICE'd the spot).
The Mandalay PEP chargers are NOT on Plugshare
Yes, if that's true I will be staying at Aria from now on. In addition to the faster recharge rate, these spots won't be Volt'd. Would love if someone could confirm this.
wraithnot
Model 3 VIN #2942 Model S VIN #5785
The charger at the Venetian Palazzo is listed on charge point, but as far as I can tell, the two GE durastation (J1772) chargers on the sixth floor of the main Venetian self parking garage are not listed on charge point. These two GE chargers are listed on plugshare and recargo, but recargo displays "no in use info" for them and I think the plugshare entries are confusing the Palazzo valet and Venetian self park chargers. In any event, as of 11 pm on Thursday, my car was happily charging from one of the 6th floor GE chargers and the other GE charger was empty.
