Missouri Supercharger routes

[efusco]

(mod note: split from the Watching for I-70 Superchargers from Denver to St. Louis thread)

I don't know why they can't find anyone in Columbia to accept an SC, but if they can't, Independence and St. Charles are close enough together that they could put one in Boonville instead. Columbia is the better location, but at the moment I expect people would happily trade 'ideal' for 'available now'.

The only problem there, for me and others living South of Columbia, is that it still doesn't allow me to travel to columbia and home. Perhaps dropping one in Jefferson City would be the solution for that issue. Then trips to Jeff City from just about anywhere in the state would be reasonable. Adding in the Fort Wood, Joplin and, eventually, Springfield, MO locations would, for all intents and purposes, complete Missouri. (Ok, maybe not quite as traveling East to Memphis would still be a problem. Maybe West Plains needs one too.)

 

[GRA]

The only problem there, for me and others living South of Columbia, is that it still doesn't allow me to travel to columbia and home. Perhaps dropping one in Jefferson City would be the solution for that issue. Then trips to Jeff City from just about anywhere in the state would be reasonable. Adding in the Fort Wood, Joplin and, eventually, Springfield, MO locations would, for all intents and purposes, complete Missouri. (Ok, maybe not quite as traveling East to Memphis would still be a problem. Maybe West Plains needs one too.)

I'd think Rolla, halfway between Springfield and STL (or St. Charles), would be an obvious location too. That would allow people to get to Jefferson City from the South. From STL you can make it direct to Jefferson City. If not Columbia it's Boonville or Kingdom City, or both. Google shows Boonville as having a larger selection of restaurants close to the freeway, but either could work. But there will obviously need to be one in Jefferson City at some point, so the legislators see the cars if for no other reason.:wink:

 

[basf_audio]

The only problem there, for me and others living South of Columbia, is that it still doesn't allow me to travel to columbia and home. Perhaps dropping one in Jefferson City would be the solution for that issue. Then trips to Jeff City from just about anywhere in the state would be reasonable. Adding in the Fort Wood, Joplin and, eventually, Springfield, MO locations would, for all intents and purposes, complete Missouri. (Ok, maybe not quite as traveling East to Memphis would still be a problem. Maybe West Plains needs one too.)

I've now had a lot of business happening in Memphis that I'm still renting a car from AVIS to do the trip. Would be nice to have a way to get down and back - it's a great and easy drive. There's just no direct flights with STL <-> MEM - last time flying through Minneapolis to get to Saint Louis!

(I know my message here isn't about I-70 SC access - but more about us trying to drive around Missouri now that we're basically one SC away from connecting I-70 (Saint Charles obviously already being under construction.))

 

[MrPinrel]

BASF have you looked at the Chademo option? I seem to remember there were a lot of Chademo stations in TN.

 

[FlasherZ]

BASF have you looked at the Chademo option? I seem to remember there were a lot of Chademo stations in TN.

It's tough getting into TN. I live 45 miles east of St. Louis; to get to Clarksville, TN (nearest CHAdeMO point at a Nissan dealership) is 235 miles from my home, impossible in winter and reasonably possible without wind in summer. Tesla had Mt. Vernon, IL listed as a 2014 destination, that was scrapped and pushed to 2015. The city of Paducah, KY would be a great place for a Supercharger so that the I-24 corridor could get enough coverage; the town has reached out to Tesla, but it's only on the 2016 map (which is just a big dumping ground for anyone who has shown interest, like the 2014 map was last year).

 

[jvonbokel]

It's tough getting into TN.

I can confirm. I just got back from a trip to Florida and back, and despite living some 20mi east of St Louis, I needed to stop for an hour in both directions getting to/from Clarksville, and that included a driving below the speed limit the entire time.

 

[Sudre]

The city of Paducah, KY would be a great place for a Supercharger so that the I-24 corridor could get enough coverage; the town has reached out to Tesla,.....

Maybe we need to start harassing Tesla to get one in Paducah. I agree it is a perfect location to cut the trip almost in half between St. Louis and Nashville. I made the drive to Florida last year and it was extremely difficult getting from Nashville to St. Louis in winter with no Superchargers. Paducah was one of my stops for charging at an RV spot. I swore I would never do a road trip again without Superchargers so this is key to me buying another Tesla or even trading in for another Tesla.

 

[basf_audio]

BASF have you looked at the Chademo option? I seem to remember there were a lot of Chademo stations in TN.

It's getting down to Memphis which doesn't work. Once there there are some destination chargers that would work overnight. And I'm on the fence for investing in a Chademo if there's a SuperCharger coming. But it's not even on the map until 2016. But I'll check it out on Plugshare or Chargepoint. It just looks like I-55 is a ghost town. Now that the adapter is available it's time to see about the feasibility again... Thanks for the suggestion!

 

[FlasherZ]

It's getting down to Memphis which doesn't work. Once there there are some destination chargers that would work overnight. And I'm on the fence for investing in a Chademo if there's a SuperCharger coming. But it's not even on the map until 2016. But I'll check it out on Plugshare or Chargepoint. It just looks like I-55 is a ghost town. Now that the adapter is available it's time to see about the feasibility again... Thanks for the suggestion!

My adapter shipped yesterday. Should you need to borrow it occasionally, let me know.

 

[jvonbokel]

There's a Nissan dealer in Marion, but so far they only have Level 2 charging. I wonder if they'll be getting a CHAdeMO station?

 

[efusco]

My adapter shipped yesterday. Should you need to borrow it occasionally, let me know.

Got mine last week, just in time for a trip to Kansas City this weekend where I noted that the new KCPL project has installed multiple Chademo chargers around the KC metropolitan area. I look forward to both my first supercharge and my first Chademo charge all in one weekend!

On another note, I think that maybe Sikeston, MO could be a bit better than Paducah, KY...at least for me and those of us more central in MO. It is also a little more direct for the STL folks. It's at the very far edge of range for me, personally (~246 miles from my home), but with a short top up somewhere it would make the trip to Memphis then points beyond all the way to Mickey Mouse's home feasable.

 

[FlasherZ]

Got mine last week, just in time for a trip to Kansas City this weekend where I noted that the new KCPL project has installed multiple Chademo chargers around the KC metropolitan area. I look forward to both my first supercharge and my first Chademo charge all in one weekend!

On another note, I think that maybe Sikeston, MO could be a bit better than Paducah, KY...at least for me and those of us more central in MO. It is also a little more direct for the STL folks. It's at the very far edge of range for me, personally (~246 miles from my home), but with a short top up somewhere it would make the trip to Memphis then points beyond all the way to Mickey Mouse's home feasable.

Sikeston is a potential location, but unfortunately the population base in Chicago would be back-tracking there. My wife lived there for a while, and Lambert's would be a great place to put the SpC.

 

[rabar10]

Sikeston is a potential location, but unfortunately the population base in Chicago would be back-tracking there. My wife lived there for a while, and Lambert's would be a great place to put the SpC.

(mmm throwed rolls...) But who would stay there for only 30-50 minutes? Would have to get up and move the car mid-feast.

 

[Sudre]

I had suggested Lambert's to the SC team long ago for the 55 route... or anywhere within a short walking distance. I am not sure if Sikeston has any 24 hour businesses around Lambert's. Bathroom access at all hours is one of the things Tesla wants at all SC.

If Elon ever gets the snake self unplugging SC, our cars (or the new ones) will be able to unplug themselves and slowly move to an empty parking spot... since parking lots are on private property.

Last I check Memphis has a lot of regular chargers that will work very nice for an overnight stay. So a SC maybe 20 miles South of Memphis would work to setup for a SC in Jackson MS which will be needed to continue further South and cover HWY 20. Looking at the 2015 full SC map I think that is close to what they are planning.

The problem seems to really be cracking the area centered in Northern Arkansas and Southern Misery (no not misspelled . A truck would definitely do that but I don't see that for several years... better yet an RV! LOL

 

[TomServo]

I'd like to know who to get from Belleville IL to Mountain View AR? Seems there is still a huge HOLE in the middle of the country.

 

[jvonbokel]

I'd like to know who to get from Belleville IL to Mountain View AR? Seems there is still a huge HOLE in the middle of the country.

There is indeed a big hole in that part of the country, and it won't be filled until 2016 according to Tesla's maps. I don't know what criteria they're using exactly for prioritization of Supercharger routes, but I'm sure it has something to do with frequency of use and concentration of existing owners.

In the mean time, PlugShare shows a couple J1772 chargers in Rolla that would enable you to make this trip, assuming you have access to destination charging of some sort.

 

[efusco]

I'd like to know who to get from Belleville IL to Mountain View AR? Seems there is still a huge HOLE in the middle of the country.

Missouri S&T has a J1772 charger in Rolla that's fairly accessible. There were some recent issues with a gasket being broken and the charger not working, but I think I saw a report that it had been fixed. It's another 172 miles to Mtn. View from there.
Frankly, though, assuming you want to do the trip in something under 18 hours, I'd find an RV park. There are a number of apps and web sites to help locate...just call ahead and make sure that they'll allow you to charge and to reserve a spot and time. You'll get nearly double the range back.

Since it's just 125 miles from Bellville to Rolla, you could probably get enough charge in about 2-3 hours on a NEMA 14-50 at an RV park, to get to Mtn. View.

 

[basf_audio]

This is one way to get from Saint Louis to Kansas City... Showing 6.2 Travel via SuperChargers! Oh Columbia... Where art thou, my Columbia... To be fair - I was calculating this with a 90% SOC... Just for fun.

Edit: Charged to 100% - still wasn't enough to make it... Guess that's why we have the West, West, West County destination gateway home charger in Wentzville. (Thanks Liz!!)

 

[jvonbokel]

"1,152mi 23hr 42min"

This is one way to get from Saint Louis to Kansas City...

I think you'd be better of having your car shipped and meeting it there by plane/train. Yeesh. You should send that to Tesla. Not that they're not already aware of the problem, but it's a pretty good illustration of how bad it is.

Edit: Makes me wonder if they've had this routing working for a while, but they wanted to wait on rolling it out until they had more Superchargers? Maybe it's been beta-tested for months in California, but of course no beta testers would tell us.

 

[Skotty]

Funny. Imagine what that route would look like if they didn't have the Omaha location.