Supercharger - Alice, TX

[AudreyHTX1]

Oh yes - I am used to that on the McAllen-Three Rivers run. Always have lots of juice left upon arrival.

We had a very good run from McAllen area to Three Rivers today. Arrived with more charge than expected. Supercharger worked very well. But man oh man was the Three Rivers travel center super busy crowded!

Unfortunately then we then turned around and headed to Corpus.* There must have been some headwind. Plus it was really hot 99+. I drove a little faster 75 instead of 70. And we used way more energy than expected.

*This was a test run to get a better understanding of how the Model X performs on long trips. So we were not running the more direct route to Corpus.

 

[Guacahummus]

@corywright @Big Earl @Chuq

 

[Big Earl]

Wow, so much discussion about other things that we completely missed this site being under construction.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

Seriously!?! Wow, fantastic!

And great news for me. I’d just as soon skip the cramped Three Rivers supercharger.

 

[Guacahummus]

We should've seen this coming lol

Streetview May 2022:

 

[AudreyHTX1]

And it beat Harlingen for coming online!

We drove past Alice on US281 around June 20, and didn’t go look assuming it hadn’t started yet. It must have started at least ground prep by then.

 

[Electroman]

Is this a better route to go to South Padre/Boca Chica from North Texas? Austin -- Alice -- McAllen -- Brownsville ? And not going via Kingsville ?

 

[AudreyHTX1]

Is this a better route to go to South Padre/Boca Chica from North Texas? Austin -- Alice -- McAllen -- Brownsville ? And not going via Kingsville ?

No, generally it’s better to go down US 77 which meets I-37 coming from San Antonio. You have Kingsville, then Harlingen soon, then SP100 going to South Padre Island. If going to Boca Chica you’ll go through or around Brownsville.

From Austin we usually took US183 or 123/181 through Seguin south to hit I-37 near Corpus, bypassing San Antonio. There are Superchargers on I-35 at San Marcos and New Braunfels, so maybe this gives you enough charge to get to Kingsville supercharger.

 

[pb2000]

Alice is a bit of a detour off the main road, so any time gained from V3 chargers would just be a trade off unless Kingsville is really busy. Even then, you would jump back over to 77 at Kingsville anyways and skip McAllen.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

We should've seen this coming lol

Streetview May 2022:
View attachment 839576

And it beat Harlingen for coming online!

We drove past Alice on US281 around June 20, and didn’t go look assuming it hadn’t started yet. It must have started at least ground prep by then.

Duh! And now I see the fencing in the background of the street view photo from May 2022. Darn it! We should have stopped!

 

[Cigar Man]

Homero89 beat me to it! About two hours ago, I was in a parking lot, waiting on the wife. Out of boredom, I clicked the Supercharger button on the nav system - and there was Alice. I wondered if it a mistake, and very happy it’s open.

 

[Twiglett]

Wow, so much discussion about other things that we completely missed this site being under construction.

that almost never happens

 

[pb2000]

that almost never happens

That part of the world is the equivalent of a flyover state, so combined with the bypass, not a huge surprise.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

281 (future I-69C) bypasses Alice now. The old highway still exists as the business route, and you would take that road in/out, instead of the highway 44 interchange, giving you a route shorter NB by 0.1 miles (SB is .3 miles longer), but 15 minutes instead of 8.

Double-checking I can see the mapping on OSM is currently messed up as it doesn't have the gas station entrances mapped.
Adjusting for that I now get

I-69C

From: Start (I-2/US-83 Pharr, TX) - 108.8 miles
To: End (George West, TX) - 41.1 miles
Diversion: 0.4 miles

Looks like the best nearby option for real food is a Mexican restaurant. Downtown locations can be diversions, but help you get away from chains.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

A nice thing about the Alice supercharger location is that if you are heading north to San Antonio, you can then take 359 up to Mathis and get on I-37 earlier which lets you avoid having to drive through both downtown George West and downtown Three Rivers - which is my least favorite part of that stretch.

You can also take a right at the first light when you reach George West and take the quick jog on US59 over to I-37. A lot of truck traffic does this.

 

[get-atty]

Is this a better route to go to South Padre/Boca Chica from North Texas? Austin -- Alice -- McAllen -- Brownsville ? And not going via Kingsville ?

That's a good question and it would probably depend on traffic/time of day and such. At some point you have to drive the 20 miles or so east from US 281 to US 77. Alice to Kingsville might be a good option, as you could top off at the Kingsville Supercharger for 5-10 minutes for the final stretch. As it is 75 mph south of Kingsville with no traffic and assuming you like to go a little faster than the posted speed limit, you'd have a little more range protection. The South Texas combo of high speed, high wind and and high temperatures can take up a lot of battery power.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

It could be, but if you’ve opted to come down I-37 from San Antonio, then the Three Rivers supercharger is right on I-37, and you don’t need to charge at Alice.

It’s only 88/89 miles from Three Rivers TX to Kingsville TX Supercharger. Both routes involve jogs, but the I-37 to US77 route is faster because you don’t have to drive through the middle part of Three Rivers, George West, and Kingsville, and only 1 mile longer.

Regardless there are options.

 

[Guacahummus]

@Big Earl

The Nav and Tesla site shows 11 stalls. I'm unable to verify that tho. Not sure its worth an update until someone can confirm.

https://www.tesla.com/findus/location/supercharger/alicetxsupercharger

 

[Electroman]

11? what an odd prime number.

Monk would skip this one for sure

 

[pb2000]

Looks like there are 12 parking stalls there, but one was probably taken up by cabinets or the transformer and everything else is fire lane or space for garbage trucks to access the dumpsters.