Service in ABQ Seems to be Improving

[km-nm]

I've been having better luck lately with Tesla service in Albuquerque. Parts that were on backorder for months finally arrived and were installed by Mobile Service. Follow-ups for additional work are being proactively handled. Until this month I kept feeling like work was "falling through the cracks," unless I drove the process. But lately Tesla seems to be on top of things.

Anyone else see an improvement?

 

[tbleakne]

I've been having better luck lately with Tesla service in Albuquerque. Parts that were on backorder for months finally arrived and were installed by Mobile Service. Follow-ups for additional work are being proactively handled. Until this month I kept feeling like work was "falling through the cracks," unless I drove the process. But lately Tesla seems to be on top of things.

Anyone else see an improvement?

This post is 8 months old. I am disappointed you got no responses.

I am planning to drive my 2018 MS from Los Angeles to Albuquerque in late May or early June 2020. Since I will be talking to friends and family about Tesla, I am interested in hearing from Tesla owners in the Albuquerque area about the quality of Tesla service in your area in 2020. I understand that NM is now one of only 3 states that prohibit Tesla from opening Service Centers; the other two being South Carolina and Alabama. If you need service that cannot be handled by Mobile Service, your choices appear to be the Denver area or El Paso.

Do you know whether Tesla has to dispatch Mobile Service from out of state, or do they have some kind of local shop for parking the vans and storing parts?

 

[wreighven]

This post is 8 months old. I am disappointed you got no responses.

I am planning to drive my 2018 MS from Los Angeles to Albuquerque in late May or early June 2020. Since I will be talking to friends and family about Tesla, I am interested in hearing from Tesla owners in the Albuquerque area about the quality of Tesla service in your area in 2020. I understand that NM is now one of only 3 states that prohibit Tesla from opening Service Centers; the other two being South Carolina and Alabama. If you need service that cannot be handled by Mobile Service, your choices appear to be the Denver area or El Paso.

Do you know whether Tesla has to dispatch Mobile Service from out of state, or do they have some kind of local shop for parking the vans and storing parts?

Whoah I had no idea NM does allow Tesla to open even a Service Center?!?! That’s insane.

 

[Taber]

This post is 8 months old. I am disappointed you got no responses.

I am planning to drive my 2018 MS from Los Angeles to Albuquerque in late May or early June 2020. Since I will be talking to friends and family about Tesla, I am interested in hearing from Tesla owners in the Albuquerque area about the quality of Tesla service in your area in 2020. I understand that NM is now one of only 3 states that prohibit Tesla from opening Service Centers; the other two being South Carolina and Alabama. If you need service that cannot be handled by Mobile Service, your choices appear to be the Denver area or El Paso.

Do you know whether Tesla has to dispatch Mobile Service from out of state, or do they have some kind of local shop for parking the vans and storing parts?

The service tech is in Albuquerque, but his parts come from El Paso usually. It is ridiculous that we don't have at least a service center in Albuquerque. In fact, Albuquerque has 1 million people, and only a single Supercharger. This is a pretty massive Tesla fail.

 

[PLUS EV]

Supercharger coverage in NM is pretty decent in my opinion. At least relative to the amount of Teslas in the area. I'd like to see one bet built in Grants, another to fill the gap between ABQ and TorC, and maybe a couple some day in SE NM, but overall I'd say the coverage is okay at the moment.

 

[Taber]

I would disagree. I have plotted areas I can drive in this massive state from my home in Los Alamos, and it is very few. For instance, there are more than 40 Teslas in Los Alamos, but the nearest Supercharger is in Santa Fe, 45 miles away. For me to drive to Albuquerque and back, I will just make it if I charge at home, 216 miles round trip with no driving around. Since there is only a single set of charges down by the Big I, I will have to drive over there to use them. Santa Fe has one set down by I-25, so you you have to charge on the south side of town to go north. Las Cruces, a pretty large city has none, so I don't see many people buying them there unless they have home charging. None in Carlsbad, Roswell, Carrizozo mean you cannot access any of the entire eastern part of the state. For that matter, nothing but I-10 or i-40 means that the entire western part of the state to the middle of Arizona is also inaccessible. You cannot drive north to Durango, Salida, or anything up the million dollar highway because there isn't one in Chama, Pagosa Springs, Durango, Silverton, or any town north. The one coming to Taos will help, but still barely within range of most areas. I love my Model Y, but it will be a local commuter for quite some time, and I will have to keep my truck for anything like a real road trip to the outdoor destinations I go to. Most national parks in the west are out of range for our Teslas. And there are a huge number of Teslas in NM comparative to the population. The easy answer here is to team up with Walmart and Kroger to install Superchargers at all store locations. This would make them almost as common as gas stations, and the store already have the infrastructure to do it easily.

 

[PLUS EV]

I would disagree. I have plotted areas I can drive in this massive state from my home in Los Alamos, and it is very few. For instance, there are more than 40 Teslas in Los Alamos, but the nearest Supercharger is in Santa Fe, 45 miles away. For me to drive to Albuquerque and back, I will just make it if I charge at home, 216 miles round trip with no driving around. Since there is only a single set of charges down by the Big I, I will have to drive over there to use them. Santa Fe has one set down by I-25, so you you have to charge on the south side of town to go north. Las Cruces, a pretty large city has none, so I don't see many people buying them there unless they have home charging. None in Carlsbad, Roswell, Carrizozo mean you cannot access any of the entire eastern part of the state. For that matter, nothing but I-10 or i-40 means that the entire western part of the state to the middle of Arizona is also inaccessible. You cannot drive north to Durango, Salida, or anything up the million dollar highway because there isn't one in Chama, Pagosa Springs, Durango, Silverton, or any town north. The one coming to Taos will help, but still barely within range of most areas. I love my Model Y, but it will be a local commuter for quite some time, and I will have to keep my truck for anything like a real road trip to the outdoor destinations I go to. Most national parks in the west are out of range for our Teslas. And there are a huge number of Teslas in NM comparative to the population. The easy answer here is to team up with Walmart and Kroger to install Superchargers at all store locations. This would make them almost as common as gas stations, and the store already have the infrastructure to do it easily.

There are so many lies, half-truths, and exaggerations in this post that I don't even know how to respond.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Supercharger coverage in NM is pretty decent in my opinion. At least relative to the amount of Teslas in the area. I'd like to see one bet built in Grants, another to fill the gap between ABQ and TorC, and maybe a couple some day in SE NM, but overall I'd say the coverage is okay at the moment.

In addition to Grants and Soccoro I'd like to see a Supercharger Station in Cuba, not that it will happen. (My short range car has trouble with Farmington to Albuquerque, although I expect that most Teslas have no difficulty with that trip leg.)

Does NM still restrict Tesla sales? That might affect the possibility of a service center in Albuquerque someday. Mobile service can't do it all and having to go to El Paso or Denver is rather inconvenient (something I'm familiar with, since I live 300 miles from the nearest service center).

 

[Taber]

In addition to Grants and Soccoro I'd like to see a Supercharger Station in Cuba, not that it will happen. (My short range car has trouble with Farmington to Albuquerque, although I expect that most Teslas have no difficulty with that trip leg.)

Does NM still restrict Tesla sales? That might affect the possibility of a service center in Albuquerque someday. Mobile service can't do it all and having to go to El Paso or Denver is rather inconvenient (something I'm familiar with, since I live 300 miles from the nearest service center).

Yes, NM still has an auto franchise law on the books that restricts sales or service in the state. I would agree that one is needed in Cuba as well.

 

[Taber]

There are so many lies, half-truths, and exaggerations in this post that I don't even know how to respond.

Really? Point out one lie.

 

[PLUS EV]

Really? Point out one lie.

You literally said the entire western part of the state doesn't have superchargers and the entire eastern part of the state is inaccessible. That's the entire state! Yet there are currently 9 superchargers in New Mexico.

 

[Taber]

Read what I wrote and pull up the Supercharger map. I said other than I-10, I-25, and I-40. You could not drive from anywhere north to Silver city as an example. You could not drive down to Carlsbad caverns without plugging into a wall charger for 12 hours somewhere. I just drove a loop up to Tres Piedras and back to the house, and I only had 23mi left on the battery. Nowhere near any of the highways I drove was a Supercharger. Stop making excuses for the multi-billion dollar manufacturing company and tell them to get their *sugar* together, they have had 10 years to do it. All they have to do is partner with Walmart and Kroger and the entire country will have charging just about everywhere. They have no excuse.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Read what I wrote and pull up the Supercharger map. I said other than I-10, I-25, and I-40. You could not drive from anywhere north to Silver city as an example. You could not drive down to Carlsbad caverns without plugging into a wall charger for 12 hours somewhere. I just drove a loop up to Tres Piedras and back to the house, and I only had 23mi left on the battery. Nowhere near any of the highways I drove was a Supercharger. Stop making excuses for the multi-billion dollar manufacturing company and tell them to get their *sugar* together, they have had 10 years to do it. All they have to do is partner with Walmart and Kroger and the entire country will have charging just about everywhere. They have no excuse.

No excuse? I don't think that's quite fair. Tesla barely breaks even as a company (and that was before manufacturing and sales were shut down by the coronavirus) and Supercharger Stations are very expensive to build and maintain. Once they covered the major Interstate highways, the focus has been on building the Supercharger Stations where the cars are, to reduce overcrowding and wait times.

Putting expensive Supercharger Stations on lightly traveled secondary highways in thinly populated parts of the country is a lower priority. As someone who lives in a thinly populated part of the country, I can understand and accept that.

 

[wreighven]

@Taber FYI I love the look of your Model Y and your MTB setup, but I agree with others on this thread. I even frequent NM and am helping support @nwdiver's efforts to build out charging stations in SE NM. There just isn't critical mass yet to really blanket parts of NM and even parts of Texas (other places where I travel and have property).

 

[km-nm]

I think it's a crying shame that NM hasn't removed the restrictions on sales and service. Especially since the big car dealers are owned by out-of-state entities (I'm thinking of Larry Miller). But mobile service in ABQ has been pretty good, and I'm amazed at what the mobile service expert can do just using jack stands. For example, he replaced my front sway bar without a lift!

As far as getting around the state goes, sure it could be better. But I don't think it's Tesla's job to wire up the whole state. Check out PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You. You'll find that there are decent options in lots of places. For example, Las Cruces has (non-Supercharger) Tesla chargers for free downtown in the govenment center parking lot. I'm hoping that the new chargers that @nwdiver installed in Roswell -- and soon in Artesia -- will make Carlsbad accessible. I do wish Tesla had a more liberal destination charger policy, like in the old days, for sparse areas like NM.