Status of Vegas?

[mrbry]

Hi everyone,

P85 here, what's the status of LA->Vegas. Is there still only a Barstow SC and scrounging around for some charge while in LV? Deciding between the ICE or the Tesla for this weekend and I'll only be there for one night.

 

[Lump]

Use Barstow then charge at the hotel, look at the recargo lists for hotels, I am staying at Palazzo on Jan 2nd & from what I understand valet should handle charging etc.. Recargo

 

[CalDreamin]

I did a SF Bay Area to Las Vegas round trip in my MS 85. Stayed at the Vdara Hotel -- very nice. The valet at the Vdara charged it at 110V, which is fine if you're staying at least a few days but not for a one night trip. For a faster top off before going home, I moved the MS a short distance to Shops at the Crystals, where the valet charged it on their J1772. A J1772 should work for an overnight trip.

home --> Harris Ranch --> Tejon Ranch --> Barstow --> LV and back worked fine. Gave myself ~40% extra rated miles at each stop to account for elevation changes, headwinds, 70-80 mph speed, and I like to arrive at each destination with plenty of miles to spare. No regrets about taking the MS 85 and leaving the ICE at home.

 

[markb1]

Use Barstow then charge at the hotel, look at the recargo lists for hotels, I am staying at Palazzo on Jan 2nd & from what I understand valet should handle charging etc.. Recargo

Just beware that some of those locations have a Roadster HPC and you have to supply your own adapter. I see that it says Palazzo provides the adapter, but then some of the comments contradict that. Perhaps the adapter is a recent addition, but it's also possible the information is just incorrect.

 

[Kraken]

Did sf to Vegas a week and a half ago. Barstow to Vegas is fine... Even back again, after a range charge in a 85, I had 90 miles left. The weather was favorable though.

The Venetian has 4 hookups and a roadster hookup. They let me charge all weekend. Charging and parking were free. 40a was possible, but I went slower. The spot I got was right next to the elevator by itself, so my car was on display all weekend. I didn't stay there, just parked and charged. They directed me to the chargers on the 6th floor or fifth floor.

 

[Lump]

Just beware that some of those locations have a Roadster HPC and you have to supply your own adapter. I see that it says Palazzo provides the adapter, but then some of the comments contradict that. Perhaps the adapter is a recent addition, but it's also possible the information is just incorrect.

I have read the comments but crossing my fingers valet will have the adaptor, if they don't looks like Palazzo has a charepoint in self parking & if that fails head over to the Venetion or the other spots on the strip, next option would be the Vegas service center or last resort the charpoints at Whiskey Creek (I could drop of the family at the outlet mall across the freeway prior to charging), rumors of that "Zappos" supercharger being completed soon is also a possability.

My wife buying another overpriced purse or me getting crushed at the tables worries me more then finding a place to charge.

 

[capt601]

Did sf to Vegas a week and a half ago. Barstow to Vegas is fine... Even back again, after a range charge in a 85, I had 90 miles left. The weather was favorable though.

The Venetian has 4 hookups and a roadster hookup. They let me charge all weekend. Charging and parking were free. 40a was possible, but I went slower. The spot I got was right next to the elevator by itself, so my car was on display all weekend. I didn't stay there, just parked and charged. They directed me to the chargers on the 6th floor or fifth floor.

Hopefully it was actually charging all weekend and not just sitting plugged in and doing nothing? Vegas is very busy for chargers and especially the Venetian chargers. I've given up on there chargers because too many people plug in and never leave even though they do no need any more charge.

 

[mrbry]

Thanks for the info everyone. I ended up having the gf drive in her ICE. It sounds like not much has changed for charging options (few slots at Venetian). The SC rollout map looks like there'll be a SC installed at Vegas or at the border anytime now...

For everyone that did the roundtrip Barstow <-> LV in an 85, how is that possible? It's around 150+mi each way according to Google Maps. What sort of mi/Wh were you getting?

 

[MikeC]

FWIW, I did a trip to Vegas and back in the same day with my 85. I charged for probably 9-10 hours at the Clark County government building J1772s and ended up leaving Vegas with only 175 rated miles. At the time, I didn't know that wasn't enough because of the two hills and headwinds on the way back. Ended up hitting 0 rated miles when I was two miles from Barstow, so I just made it - I was going 55-65 most of the way and down to 45 mph toward the end.

If staying overnight, just valet at Aria, Palazzo, or the Shops at Mandalay Bay. Too bad you ended up taking the ICE.

 

[Kraken]

Hopefully it was actually charging all weekend and not just sitting plugged in and doing nothing? Vegas is very busy for chargers and especially the Venetian chargers. I've given up on there chargers because too many people plug in and never leave even though they do no need any more charge.

It was charging most of the weekend, though I gave it a little bit slower charge and gave it the spa treatment. I drove the car once and the replenished that lost amount. There was an open charger next to me all weekend (though, my car didnt like it, so maybe it didnt work). I don't think I could have legally driven the car to move it the rest of the weekend!

 

[mrbry]

If staying overnight, just valet at Aria, Palazzo, or the Shops at Mandalay Bay. Too bad you ended up taking the ICE.

Yeah, the situation was a bit more complicated since we were also giving other people rides and we were all staying at a hotel off the strip. Didn't have much downtime as everyone also wanted to leave early Sunday morning to avoid traffic back to LA. Just wanted to minimize any timing drama since it was more than just me. I can't wait till that "coming soon" LV SC is up and running.

 

[Crispix]

That middle charger at the Venetian has been broken for several weeks. I've emailed them twice and even told the front desk, sounds like it's still down. Best to move your car when it's done charging, or at least leave a cell phone number on your dashboard so you'll know if anyone is waiting for the spot.

Slow charging and taking up the only working spot for a whole weekend without leaving a number isn't cool. How would you feel if you were the one waiting to charge? Vegas gets a lot of Model S traffic; please at least leave a note.

 

[reach]

Recargo shows the Bellagio valet has a Tesla Model S HPWC.

 

[AMPd]

Hotels should look at charging stations as an investment.

 

[xray]

Recargo shows the Bellagio valet has a Tesla Model S HPWC.

We stayed at the Bellagio back in late October/early November and the valets were very familiar with the Model S. The were able to plug into 120V if you bring your UMC. This will give you enough charge to get around town but not enough to get back to Barstow and certainly not in a 24 hour turn around. As far as I know, they didn't have a Tesla HPWC at that time, perhaps this is a new addition which would be great.

 

[markb1]

We stayed at the Bellagio back in late October/early November and the valets were very familiar with the Model S. The were able to plug into 120V if you bring your UMC. This will give you enough charge to get around town but not enough to get back to Barstow and certainly not in a 24 hour turn around. As far as I know, they didn't have a Tesla HPWC at that time, perhaps this is a new addition which would be great.

I don't trust Recargo/PlugShare at all, if there are no check-ins. Next door at The Cosmopolitan they have a 70A Roadster HPC, which I've used, but you have to bring your own Roadster to Model S adapter. (I had borrowed one.)

 

[mrbry]

Heading to Vegas this weekend for a bachelor party. This time I'm bringing the Tesla and will keep all your suggestions in mind and report back! I'm coming from SD instead of LA this time around. So my trip will be LA -> SD (overnight @ Hotel La Jolla) -> LV (weekend) -> LA.

 

[mrbry]

Status update on my LA -> SD -> LV -> LA trip this weekend.

LA->SD (Fri 1/17): I stayed at Hotel La Jolla which had 2 blink chargers. I was charging at 10mi/hr and was able to get enough charge by the morning. Blink cost for me was $1/hr and the hotel valet rate was $14/day. Before arriving at the hotel, I was a bit worried due to the history of Blink chargers melting and getting recalled so I had a plan b and plan c. Plan B - I called SD Service Center the day before asking if I could come in to charge if needed Saturday morning, and they said sure, swing on by, they open at 8am. Plan C - Was a person on plugshare that lived nearby my hotel.

SD->LV (Sat 1/18): First time going to Barstow Superchargers, wasn't sure what to expect. I arrived and bays 1A and 1B were occupied and I pulled into 2A to fill up while we grabbed some lunch at the Chili's. When we finished, my car was the only one so it wasn't crowded at all. Going to LV, I had some ideas lined up on where I could get charge based on this thread. We stayed at the Trump International Hotel which is valet only. When I dropped off my car, just asked them about charging and low and behold, they have an outlet with NEMA 14-50 connectors. Sweet! Valet was able to get the UMC out of my trunk and plug in overnight for 25mi/hr charge while I was there. I asked them how often they see Model S's and they said currently about once a month. One time they did get 3 at once, but the owners were able to switch off between themselves since there's only one NEMA 14-50 outlet and another 110V.

LV->LA (Mon 1/20): Pretty uneventful back home. However, when at the Barstow Superchargers, a couple pulled into the 1B spot while I was finishing up at the 1A spot (no one else was there). I went over to talk to them and let them know about the two chargers being shared between the 4 stations setup and how 1A/1B were on one and 2A/2B were on the other one. When I unplugged, they were still getting a low rate of charge so I told them to unplug and replug and I think that worked. Barstow -> LA is pretty awesome, I typically average in the mid 300W/mi but on that drive, I got 250W/mi due to all the downhill.