Supercharger - Blaine, WA

[darth_vad3r]

There are enough superchargers to accommodate the 2-3 big road trips most owners take. But daily commuting is the self described "inconvenience".

Renters will not get street parking chargers any time soon. Everybody pretty much goes grocery shopping.

If Seattle core has 800k people in a 3 mi radius that's an easy win with potentially selling 400k more cars to renters with a single location that is reasonably convenient.

If you need to travel more than 300 miles there is a good chance you'll fly. You have to make daily commuting easy though.

Elon said it himself, people aren't stupid. If they build a supercharger and a service center people buy a ton of cars. I looked at a townhouse today. Brand new construction. Street parking only. It would cost $10+ to add home charging. My office has no charging. It would cost me thousands of dollars to add that to a property I don't own. There is not enough incentive for rental owners or workplaces to spend loads of money on charging when they don't even invest in decent door knobs let alone $50k in L2 chargers.

It's far cheaper to build a $500k supercharger that serves 100 people a day than to install $50k in equipment that serves 5 people a day.

Listen, if BC can spend $3k per EV, and the feds $5k per EV, then they can also pony up some incentives AND change some rules forcing landlords and builders to include charging solutions. Home-charging solutions are the future. This is on everyone. It’s not on Tesla. Tesla can help a bit, they can’t solve it for everyone.

Some people do this thing called a “road trip” and don’t fly. Also if you have a family of 4-5, super cheap electricity is way cheaper than 4-5 fligths. We aren’t all rich entitled Tesla owners that can afford 5 flights to wherever instead of driving.

5 x 300 mile flights = $1000 to $2000?
300 miles driving = 75 kWh? ... $7.50? $10? $15-20 at supercharger rates?

It’s literally up to 100 times cheaper to drive that.

 

[Kuhz]

Both of you make good pints, but we should get back on topic. Has anyone been to the site lately?

 

[Vancity-Tes1a]

When you come back from Richmond to White Rock where you live, why do you need to Supercharge? No home charging solution?

Buying an EV and relying on only away-from-home charging is a risky bet.

Tsawassen Mills is a perfect location for people coming off the ferry terminal. It’s not needed for White Rock to Richmond trip takes takes maybe 10% battery.

White Rock East to Vancouver Island, you pass Tsawassen Mills SC.
White Rock South to Seattle or further south you pass a bunch on I-5 in WA
White Rock to Whistler you pass Squamish SC
White Rock to interior you pass Hope, Merritt, Kamloops/Kelowna SCs.

Only people who don’t charge at home want more local Superchargers. If you can’t charge at home you need to be aware of the situation and be okay with the inconvenience. I don’t want more Superchargers near home, I want more elsewhere for road trips.

We have 2 Teslas now and mostly just supercharge. Because there is only 1 30 amp charger for 2 thirsty cars.

 

[darth_vad3r]

We have 2 Teslas now and mostly just supercharge. Because there is only 1 30 amp charger for 2 thirsty cars.

Two Teslas sounds like an ideal recipe to upgrade to the Tesla chargers that intelligently can load share. You are taking all the time-saving of home-charging away vs all the time people waste going to gas stations, and making trips just to charge?

Look up the wall connector with load-sharing configuration. You’ll be able to plug both in at once when you return home and not worry about it.

Home-charging and not having to make a “fueling stop” for local driving is one of the main advantages EVs offer.

Any new Urban Superchargers will be swamped by new owners with no home-charging solutions at all because we aren’t where we need to be yet. In the future, parking meters should all have EV plugs. There should be plugs everywhere you park at night. Gas stations should start closing and become rare. Force the fossil drivers to drive across town for gas to incentivize them to switch

 

[ReddyLeaf]

Both of you make good pints, but we should get back on topic. Has anyone been to the site lately?

Thank you!!!!! Please stay on topic, there are plenty of other threads which discuss Urban vs SC vs L2 vs Home charging.

 

[PLUS EV]

Thank you!!!!! Please stay on topic, there are plenty of other threads which discuss Urban vs SC vs L2 vs Home charging.

Yes!

Come on guys. The topic of this thread is the supercharger under construction in Blaine, WA.

 

[darth_vad3r]

I agree, but perhaps this is a replacement/alternative for a Bellingham SC site that fell through. We saw the same thing with Leavenworth instead of Wenatchee. In retrospect, Leavenworth is a better location for the majority of Seattle/Everett drivers goin east, so maybe Blaine is better for Canadians heading south to Bellingham for shopping. In any case, more is better and even more will be needed as model 3 deliveries ramp up for the BC incentives.

Please stay on topic, this isn't about Blaine Supercharger. LOL.

Some mod should delete off-topic posts... otherwise we shouldn't complain about replying to the off-topic posts ourselves. If someone posts off-topic stuff we can't reply?

Small correction here. Squamish has been around longer than any of the superchargers listed. When I first drove my Tesla in BC, it was the only one "near" the Vancouver area. Other than that, Hope was the closest. Both of those opened in 2014.

Please stay on-topic, this post wasn't about Blaine SC,

 

[darth_vad3r]

 

[PLUS EV]

Perhaps @ecarfan could be of some assistance here!

 

[dark cloud]

Well a post suggesting Tesla has updated the SC map, and I don't see Blaine on there at all; not current or upcoming ??

Visit a Store | Tesla Canada,

 

[Araman0]

^^ I didn't notice any changes to our PNW region with the recent map "update".

 

[GHammer]

Well a post suggesting Tesla has updated the SC map, and I don't see Blaine on there at all; not current or upcoming ??

Visit a Store | Tesla Canada,

The Tesla "upcomng" map has never been accurate. Sites regularly pop up that have never been on the map and others have been on the map for years that have yet to materialize. It's really more of a visual of "here's a general idea of what we would like to do"

 

[Big Earl]

I checked the Tesla Find Us map and it doesn’t appear to have changed in the past couple of months. I’m not sure what this article is talking about. Several locations, including Blaine, are not shown.

 

[mociaf9]

The supposed update is bogus. There hasn't been any significant update that I can see. If there's been any update at all, it's been limited to select regions/areas. It's not a map-wide thing. So, maybe some portions of Europe, etc. But definitely not mainland US or Canada. I think it was just a misinformed article from InsideEVs.com.

EDIT: Or, I guess, an overly broad article instead of misinformed based on what im.thatoneguy said below.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

The supposed update is bogus. There hasn't been any significant update that I can see. If there's been any update at all, it's been limited to select regions/areas. It's not a map-wide thing. So, maybe some portions of Europe, etc. But definitely not mainland US or Canada. I think it was just a misinformed article from InsideEVs.com.

Not to get too far off topic but it should have read "Tesla adds Poland to their map of future superchargers and opens service center." The story looks more like expansion into northern eastern Europe not a "Updated Maps!"

 

[geoc]

Both of you make good pints, but we should get back on topic. Has anyone been to the site lately?

As of today, I suspect in addition to missing pedestals, there may still be some conduits/connections needed at the main transformer area immediately adjacent to Jack in the box.

 

[darth_vad3r]

I checked the Tesla Find Us map and it doesn’t appear to have changed in the past couple of months. I’m not sure what this article is talking about. Several locations, including Blaine, are not shown.

The supposed update is bogus. There hasn't been any significant update that I can see. If there's been any update at all, it's been limited to select regions/areas. It's not a map-wide thing. So, maybe some portions of Europe, etc. But definitely not mainland US or Canada. I think it was just a misinformed article from InsideEVs.com.

EDIT: Or, I guess, an overly broad article instead of misinformed based on what im.thatoneguy said below.

I dunno, I wouldn’t say it is bogus. I don’t remember when Princeton and Osoyoos BC and a bunch more in Canada got added. I don’t remember seeing them on the map before.

Maybe “White Rock” pin on the map is “Blaine”. They are literally 10 miles apart and serve people travelling on a road trip rather equally I would say. You could argue about chewing power while stuck in line at the border, but that’s poor planning IMO. Are there other Superchargers around this area only 10 miles apart?

What are the odds when Blaine goes live, White Rock pin disappears and becomes Blaine?

 

[Vancity-Tes1a]

Two Teslas sounds like an ideal recipe to upgrade to the Tesla chargers that intelligently can load share. You are taking all the time-saving of home-charging away vs all the time people waste going to gas stations, and making trips just to charge?

Look up the wall connector with load-sharing configuration. You’ll be able to plug both in at once when you return home and not worry about it.

Home-charging and not having to make a “fueling stop” for local driving is one of the main advantages EVs offer.

Any new Urban Superchargers will be swamped by new owners with no home-charging solutions at all because we aren’t where we need to be yet. In the future, parking meters should all have EV plugs. There should be plugs everywhere you park at night. Gas stations should start closing and become rare. Force the fossil drivers to drive across town for gas to incentivize them to switch

Sadly our 150 Amp home panel is full. Perhaps to charge the Teslas I can sacrifice the hot tub 50 Amp breaker.

 

[darth_vad3r]

I checked the Tesla Find Us map and it doesn’t appear to have changed in the past couple of months. I’m not sure what this article is talking about. Several locations, including Blaine, are not shown.

Here’s the new map update ... showing White Rock - Blaine pin:

FULL-DISCLOSURE: This has not been photoshopped, except for a hyphen

Actual map, searched for White a Rock, zoomed out a tad: Find Us | Tesla

“White Rock” and “Blaine” are the closest two place names on the map.

 

[Vancity-Tes1a]

Here’s the new map update ... showing White Rock - Blaine pin:

View attachment 433261

FULL-DISCLOSURE: This has not been photoshopped, except for a hyphen

Actual map:
Find Us | Tesla

I think the White Rock - Blaine argument could be similar to this Sault Sainte Marie situation. Where Tesla is building two charges one across another from the border.

Any other possible ideas guys?