Supercharger - Alexandria, MN

[XHabjab]

Bad news. It is now confirmed that Alexandria has been holding up the show. And odds are since nothing is happening there it will go somewhere semi nearby.

Worse news: Because it's already mid-summer Tesla has scrapped the i-94 plan for this year under the assumption they won't complete it before the snow flies so they aren't even going to try until next spring.

Worst News: Assuming that's all true we were lied to by Elon directly now that i-94 would go in this year as he tweet that i-94 would be this year and Tesla has showed coming soon or some other similar language since 2015.

Another long cold ND winter with only an EV. This really annoys me since I bought being told SCs were going in sometime in 2015. As did my parents with their Model 3 this fall.

I think that this is bad news beyond your worst bad news here, for at least a couple of reasons.

(1) In the big picture, addition of Superchargers *anywhere* has almost ground to a halt. If you check with supercharge.info, there was a flurry of openings on July 1, and only several between then and now (July 17). My guess is that Tesla's drive to be profitable in Q3 has severely slowed down things that cost the company with no direct short term revenue. Each car that is sold essentially pays for a portion of a supercharger, and slowing that or stopping for a while might be a means of picking up short term revenue that is invisible to analysts who are focused on cars produced. I think Q3 might sadly show a drought in infrastructure spending.

(2) For those people who are not that familiar with Tesla or what it stands for, Elon's very stupid "pedo guy" tweet this week is very harmful. I suspect that "non-EV" people that we depend on to help support us with installing destination chargers and superchargers are going to see that news story and withdraw any support for adding a charger to their property. No chamber of commerce or company like Wal-mart or Flying J will want to associate with this type of political incorrectness. I think the general public is insufficiently sophisticated to separate Elon from Tesla and likewise Elon/Tesla and EVs in general. I have a gut feeling that this will affect public perception of all EVs, not just Teslas, and it will be a world wide effect, not just a problem in the USA.

For the purposes of the discussion here, I think we will see long term reluctance to install superchargers, destination chargers and J1772 chargers on private property long after the "pedo guy" problem is resolved or forgotten. Maybe we'll see some closed.

 

[lightfoot3b]

1. Yes, but the ND money was already allocated. So could go either way.

2. No for the most part. Most people aren't engaged enough to even know about it. Then they have to inseparably link Elon and Tesla. Then they actually have to link the whole thing to what they are doing. Way too many logic steps to be a huge fallout. Yes it was stupid and beyond that (the tweet). To link to all EVs, no chance.

They have leases, I exceptionally highly doubt anyone will break one over this. None of those people worked with Elon, they worked with a supercharger (dedicated) team.

 

[VIKING26]

For me, like having a Model T in any color as long as it is black, SCs are any direction as long as it is East.

This is not only disappointing to me personally, but I'm seeing or hearing about more and more Teslas in ND. This is starting to affect more and more people. It's hard to talk people into buying a product that doesn't allow you to use a major selling point. People don't want to be inconvenienced by waiting for long periods of times at odd places charging a car during a road trip. If someone in ND is seriously considering an EV over an ICE, why would they not just buy a Bolt? I know the look is hideous in my opinion compared to the M3, but a major selling point on the M3 for me was that I no longer need an ICE car because of the SC network. Without access to the SC network, especially in the Western part of ND, it's much harder for people to justify only owning EV.

So to Tesla, finish what you promised lightfoot3b so long ago. Finish what you to promised current Tesla owners. Finish what you continue to promise pending/future Tesla owners. Finish the I-94 SC network this year. Not next year or the next year or the one after that. Make Elon's statement from 2017 true...You can now drive anywhere in the US (except N Alaska), most of Europe, China & Japan using the Tesla Supercharger network!

Rant over. Thanks for listening.

 

[XHabjab]

...
So to Tesla, finish what you promised lightfoot3b so long ago...

I suppose this applies to my first point above, but my second point suggests that a string of SCs requires input and commitment from non-Tesla non-EV people who will support us.

And that seems to be the problem in Alexandria... which is the I-94 problem (that you care about)... which is the I-29 problem (that I care about)... which is the Winnipeg problem (that millions of hockey fans care about).

I don't know what happened in Alexandria but it has affected a lot of people badly.

 

[CarpetMan]

This is deeply disappointing news. I wish they would just skip Alexandria for now and finish the I-94 and I-29 routes as they've promised.
Finish Alexandria (or nearby) later when they get things sorted out. At least this way would make travel possible for us in North Dakota who have been waiting for years.

Travel from Fargo to Clearwater would be inconvenient for a while (there is a goodwill in Alexandria for charging), but at least it wouldn't be IMPOSSIBLE, like it currently is driving across ND in a reasonable amount of time.

 

[lightfoot3b]

This is deeply disappointing news. I wish they would just skip Alexandria for now and finish the I-94 and I-29 routes as they've promised.
Finish Alexandria (or nearby) later when they get things sorted out. At least this way would make travel possible for us in North Dakota who have been waiting for years.

Travel from Fargo to Clearwater would be inconvenient for a while (there is a goodwill in Alexandria for charging), but at least it wouldn't be IMPOSSIBLE, like it currently is driving across ND in a reasonable amount of time.

Exactly. That's their next year plan to skip them. Way too long.

 

[Ledge]

Bad news. It is now confirmed that Alexandria has been holding up the show.

Where did you get that confirmation, out of curiosity?

 

[PLUS EV]

I think that this is bad news beyond your worst bad news here, for at least a couple of reasons.

(1) In the big picture, addition of Superchargers *anywhere* has almost ground to a halt. If you check with supercharge.info, there was a flurry of openings on July 1, and only several between then and now (July 17). My guess is that Tesla's drive to be profitable in Q3 has severely slowed down things that cost the company with no direct short term revenue. Each car that is sold essentially pays for a portion of a supercharger, and slowing that or stopping for a while might be a means of picking up short term revenue that is invisible to analysts who are focused on cars produced. I think Q3 might sadly show a drought in infrastructure spending.

(2) For those people who are not that familiar with Tesla or what it stands for, Elon's very stupid "pedo guy" tweet this week is very harmful. I suspect that "non-EV" people that we depend on to help support us with installing destination chargers and superchargers are going to see that news story and withdraw any support for adding a charger to their property. No chamber of commerce or company like Wal-mart or Flying J will want to associate with this type of political incorrectness. I think the general public is insufficiently sophisticated to separate Elon from Tesla and likewise Elon/Tesla and EVs in general. I have a gut feeling that this will affect public perception of all EVs, not just Teslas, and it will be a world wide effect, not just a problem in the USA.

For the purposes of the discussion here, I think we will see long term reluctance to install superchargers, destination chargers and J1772 chargers on private property long after the "pedo guy" problem is resolved or forgotten. Maybe we'll see some closed.

Agree with you on number 1. Disagree on number 2.

 

[lightfoot3b]

Where did you get that confirmation, out of curiosity?

Source at Tesla, my contact, then me. So second hand info from the most reliable second hand source a person could have. All info has been impeccable up to this point. I can even say that this person's source changed since the 10% downsizing. So that happened.

 

[Fulkth]

Bad news. It is now confirmed that Alexandria has been holding up the show. And odds are since nothing is happening there it will go somewhere semi nearby.

Worse news: Because it's already mid-summer Tesla has scrapped the i-94 plan for this year under the assumption they won't complete it before the snow flies so they aren't even going to try until next spring.

Worst News: Assuming that's all true we were lied to by Elon directly now that i-94 would go in this year as he tweet that i-94 would be this year and Tesla has showed coming soon or some other similar language since 2015.

Another long cold ND winter with only an EV. This really annoys me since I bought being told SCs were going in sometime in 2015. As did my parents with their Model 3 this fall.

Well this sucks. Just got back from a long vacation visiting family in MN and WI and come back to bad news after my first test drive in a Tesla I was all ready and hyped to configure my Model 3, probably going to hold off until next year now with the bad news. Guess I'll likely have the ability to configure with standard range + PUP & EAP if I want to by then.

 

[lightfoot3b]

Well this sucks. Just got back from a long vacation visiting family in MN and WI and come back to bad news after my first test drive in a Tesla I was all ready and hyped to configure my Model 3, probably going to hold off until next year now with the bad news. Guess I'll likely have the ability to configure with standard range + PUP & EAP if I want to by then.

Call your local service center/gallery and let them know this. I don't know how else to get their attention.

 

[Zythryn]

Well this sucks. Just got back from a long vacation visiting family in MN and WI and come back to bad news after my first test drive in a Tesla I was all ready and hyped to configure my Model 3, probably going to hold off until next year now with the bad news. Guess I'll likely have the ability to configure with standard range + PUP & EAP if I want to by then.

Please let Tesla know this. Heck, I’d Tweet a message to Elon as well.
I hope Tesla can get this started nearby, and soon.

 

[glenhurst]

I see ZEF Energy has announced 50kw Chademo/CCS chargers in St. Cloud, Alexandria, and Fergus Falls, plus one coming soon in Fargo, according to Plugshare.com. I wonder if they'll beat Tesla in getting them all installed.

 

[Schoms]

My folks have a place up in Alexandria, so naturally, this is going to be an exciting add for me. During my visit to the Tesla store, I inquired about this, and they mentioned that (at least currently), it's planned to be finished in November, FWIW. That would seem to be a fairly aggressive timeline, given it generally takes a few months to finish the entire thing (mostly waiting for the transformer hookup by the local utility), but the guy knows his stuff. We'll see!

 

[VIKING26]

My folks have a place up in Alexandria, so naturally, this is going to be an exciting add for me. During my visit to the Tesla store, I inquired about this, and they mentioned that (at least currently), it's planned to be finished in November, FWIW. That would seem to be a fairly aggressive timeline, given it generally takes a few months to finish the entire thing (mostly waiting for the transformer hookup by the local utility), but the guy knows his stuff. We'll see!

I wouldn't expect the Alex SC anytime soon. I'd estimate spring of 2019 best case, but maybe I'll be surprised.

 

[Schoms]

Super excited for this SC site, no doubt, as I'm a regular visitor to Alex.

However, there's no real chance of being surprised though, Viking -- everything regarding this SC is a go (plans approved, permit application is in, etc.), but unfortunately it is slated to be a Spring 2019 project, barring some major last-minute initiative by Tesla to adjust their timing upward

 

[lightfoot3b]

Super excited for this SC site, no doubt, as I'm a regular visitor to Alex.

However, there's no real chance of being surprised though, Viking -- everything regarding this SC is a go (plans approved, permit application is in, etc.), but unfortunately it is slated to be a Spring 2019 project, barring some major last-minute initiative by Tesla to adjust their timing upward

Recently? Or am I missing something since I called around the town and no one knew anything?

 

[Schoms]

Recently? Or am I missing something since I called around the town and no one knew anything?

Yeah, I got the info and typed it out here the very same day. The location seems to be a bit of a "secret" though... not sure why.

Alexandria is excited to have a SC though -- that's what I got out of it. I don't believe it's a Alexandria holdup... I do think it's Tesla that is holding this up, sadly.

 

[Vexar]

Superchargers are on hold until the end of this quarter or the next quarter by Tesla so they can show profitability. Heard that from my internal source/employee.

 

[meanwhileinND]

Well if they can get started Oct. 1. They should be able to plop that in before the snow flies.