Oregon Superchargers (location speculation, discussion)

[Mehdi]

All model 3 cars use Intel chipsets/CPUs for their MCU and these are starting to show up on some model S/X built after mid-February. Here's more details:

Tesla confirms recently updating Model S/X media computer, results in faster and smoother experience

By the way, I did not pay attention and thought you will getting a model S. All model 3's have the Intel MCU which is faster than the Nvidia modules in the model S/X.

 

[Kipp]

All model 3 cars use Intel chipsets/CPUs for their MCU

Thanks. That is what I thought.

 

[Ruffles]

Anyone have any update on the 4 Portland superchargers? The one in Tigard was supposed to be completed last year but now says by the end of 2018. I drove out to the location on the map and couldn't find anything that looked like a supercharger under construction.

 

[PLUS EV]

Anyone have any update on the 4 Portland superchargers? The one in Tigard was supposed to be completed last year but now says by the end of 2018. I drove out to the location on the map and couldn't find anything that looked like a supercharger under construction.

That map is just aspirational and the points they use are just the city center, so that's not at all indicative of where the supercharger will be built. Get directions to Tigard, OR on google maps, and then zoom in on the end point and you'll see what I mean.

 

[josher32]

Anyone have any update on the 4 Portland superchargers? The one in Tigard was supposed to be completed last year but now says by the end of 2018. I drove out to the location on the map and couldn't find anything that looked like a supercharger under construction.

Construction has started but it’s at the Washington Square mall in same garage Tesla uses for test rides currently. There is another thread with photos.

 

[TechVP]

Washington Square: New photo today in the location specific thread. At least 10 back in Urban Charger spots.
-TechVP

 

[totoro722]

I notice that the new Tesla map no longer shows a planned supercharger in Roseburg, but does show one in Sutherlin. I guess that is spaced better between Eugene and Myrtle Creek. Anyone know anything more about this planned supercharger?

 

[bruce4000]

Roseburg is a natural place for us so would have preferred but must not have been able to get a host. Also noticed there is now a coming soon on the Tesla map in Harrisburg north of Eugene but we’ll off of I5 which seems odd. Of course the pin isn’t always exactly where the location is.

 

[totoro722]

Also the Newport Oregon Supercharger has been moved to 2023. Expected bummer.

 

[totoro722]

Roseburg is a natural place for us so would have preferred but must not have been able to get a host. Also noticed there is now a coming soon on the Tesla map in Harrisburg north of Eugene but we’ll off of I5 which seems odd. Of course the pin isn’t always exactly where the location is.

Saw that Harrisburg coming soon. That is a bit of a puzzle to me.

 

[Nani]

I notice that the new Tesla map no longer shows a planned supercharger in Roseburg, but does show one in Sutherlin. I guess that is spaced better between Eugene and Myrtle Creek. Anyone know anything more about this planned supercharger?

Heard this is going to be the largest in NW, Good days, Stay tuned.

 

[Oldrocky]

Hi all,
What am I missing here? I live North of Seattle. I need to go to Corvallis, Ore. and then to
McMinnville, and then to Clackamas. By my research the nearest chargers to Corvallis are in
either Salem or Springfield. Even the Portland area seems to lack the typical density of
charger locations.
If you are traveling up and down I-5 (passing thru Oregon) things are just fine. But it looks
to me like if you are not doing that ... the convenience level goes way down. Where is the
supercharger in Albany, Corvallis, McMinnville, etc.?
There seem to be many more destination chargers in Oregon. I've avoided those because
they are slower and many (most/all?) require using the location (such as staying a night or
at a minimum having a meal in their restaurant).
Is there some kind of 'law' (or practice) in Oregon that makes destination charging more
readily available? (Still have the problem of slow charging rate.)
Is there some kind of 'history' that I don't know about with respect to Tesla and Oregon.
Or EV charging in general and the State of Oregon?
- Jim in the PNW

 

[gglockner]

As best as I can tell, Oregon seems fine for freeway Superchargers, but lacks options in the towns and cities. You should have no problems getting to Corvallis and your other locations; if you're staying anywhere overnight, then a destination charger should be easy to find.

IMHO, in-town DC charging is generally unnecessary, except for people who live in apartments.

P.S. PlugShare shows plenty of CHAdeMO chargers in Oregon, if you have access to an adapter.

 

[Oldrocky]

As best as I can tell, Oregon seems fine for freeway Superchargers, but lacks options in the towns and cities. You should have no problems getting to Corvallis and your other locations; if you're staying anywhere overnight, then a destination charger should be easy to find.

IMHO, in-town DC charging is generally unnecessary, except for people who live in apartments.

P.S. PlugShare shows plenty of CHAdeMO chargers in Oregon, if you have access to an adapter.

gglockner,

What you are missing about the need for Superchargers is that people driving Teslas are going to be in
locations where the locals don't need it (they have home charging) ... but people visiting that area are
not going to be staying with those people - they are going to be using hotels, etc. And, just like I did,
there will be there for several days.
I was able to solve my own problem - by stopping in Salem before going to Corvallis and then going
back to a supercharger on my way back North. That "worked" (sort of).

However this trip is challenging me about charging. Let's just follow what I did yesterday and laste
night ... I started out yesterday in Sequim, Wa. The Holiday Inn Express had a charger in its lot - so I
charged up before I left. Then I drove to Bellevue, Wa. traveling via Tacoma. I get to the hotel in
Bellevue and then, because I need to drive quite a bit tomorrow, wanted to charge.
So I made a special trip out in the evening to get charged. I picked what I thought was the best
option ... only to discover that the charger in downtown Bellevue required going into paid parking
that started at $7 for the first hour. Perhaps I could have gone somewhere in town and had a beer
or something and gotten validated but the point is the only Open charger was in paid parking. So
I ended up driving about 9 miles to the nearest charger ... and sitting in the parking lot at Fred Meyer
in order to charge (over an hour, long story, but not directly relatedn- see my post on charging I'm
going to do after I send this one).

The point is that I was in Bellevue, Wa. and had to drive to find a charger - which means that the
charging was not convenient. Look up Bellevue on Google Maps/Earth and you will see that it is a
large suburb of Seattle. And there are lots of Teslas here. Finding charging should NOT be a big
deal.
The point of this long post is ... that if you are driving out here in the PNW and you are not
"traveling thru" (such as going somewhere on I-5) then you are likely to find charging a bigger
deal than you might expect. Phooey.
- Jim

 

[Yapa Drive]

Corvallis is an obvious choice for Tesla because of Oregon State University. Basketball, football & to a lesser extent baseball all bring many fans to the college town. Many drive long distance to attend events. OR 34 between I-5 & Corvallis is a very busy highway. Even students could use a convenient place to charge as many rent housing or stay in dorms that aren’t set up for EV’s. In addition Building along OR 99W would make the drive between McMinnville & Eugene less stressful & open up a large part of the Willamette valley. US20/OR 34 is a major route to the Oregon coast & while there’s a planned suprecharger for Newport in 2023, ???, it won’t help you when you need a charge in the valley. I know the supercharger development team has to balance many factors but a location in Corvallis seems like a big plus for Tesla.

 

[Mockingbird]

There are other fast chargers.

Albany has an Electrify America charging station and an ECVS charging station.

McMinnville has an ECVS charging station.

There is no need to have Superchargers everywhere.

 

[Oldrocky]

Mockingbird,
I haven't ever used one of the "other" chargers ... I know I would have to first create
an account with them and then log in to that charging network and then charge - it's
just so much easier to simply plug in - without even having to figure out which
adapter to use. I guess I'm just too "lazy" to go to all that extra effort. *W*

BTW - I learned last weekend at the Burlington Charger Chat that the supercharger
in Hillsborough, Ore. is just 17 cents. I'm guessing that the city is still trying to
encourage EVs ... and that's a good thing.
- Jim in the PNW

 

[Rocky_H]

I haven't ever used one of the "other" chargers ... I know I would have to first create
an account with them and then log in to that charging network and then charge - it's
just so much easier to simply plug in - without even having to figure out which
adapter to use. I guess I'm just too "lazy" to go to all that extra effort. *W*

This seems like a response that misses the point somewhat. Yes, of course IF there are already Superchargers in the locations where you are traveling, then of course they would be the preferred choice. But some routes just DON'T have the Superchargers. So you can't just shrug and say, "I'll just use Superchargers."

Every time Tesla owners need to drive between Boise and Winnemucca, it's this level of stress of plans and fallback plans of how to get across that 250+ mile gap that doesn't have Superchargers. Take a few hours at Jordan Valley RV park? Try to find someone with a CHAdeMO adapter I can borrow? Hope that the Greenlots station in McDermitt will stop throwing errors and will activate on the 6th or 7th try? (happened to me in September)

 

[Mockingbird]

Mockingbird,
I haven't ever used one of the "other" chargers ... I know I would have to first create
an account with them and then log in to that charging network and then charge - it's
just so much easier to simply plug in - without even having to figure out which
adapter to use. I guess I'm just too "lazy" to go to all that extra effort. *W*

BTW - I learned last weekend at the Burlington Charger Chat that the supercharger
in Hillsborough, Ore. is just 17 cents. I'm guessing that the city is still trying to
encourage EVs ... and that's a good thing.
- Jim in the PNW

Let me get this straight:

You want Tesla to spend millions of dollars installing new charging stations because you are too "lazy" to create accounts to use existing charging stations.

 

[Rocky_H]

Let me get this straight:

You want Tesla to spend millions of dollars installing new charging stations because you are too "lazy" to create accounts to use existing charging stations.

But that's not correct either. Those other stations have a choice of either CHAdeMO or CCS-- NEITHER of which Tesla sells an adapter for now. So it's not lazy. It's the unavailability of the actual equipment to be able to use those stations.