Supercharger - Centralia, WA

[ecrsail]

Maybe they chose Longview to better support visits to Mt St Helens. Every time I go up to Johnston Ridge Observatory, I have to charge in Castle Rock before returning home.

Castle Rock would make more sense than Longview for St Helen visits (IMO), but either would be welcome from the perspective of visiting Mt St Helens from Portland.

I recently returned from a day trip to Johnston Ridge Observatory, leaving my hotel in the Pearl District in downtown Portland with my P90D X fully charged thanks to a destination charger. Despite driving at moderate (55-65 mph) freeway speeds on the way there, by the time I reached the Johnston Ridge parking lot, the onboard navigation was predicting I’d arrive at Centralia (currently the closest supercharger) with only 3% reserve. Since my ultimate destination for the day was Hood River and not the hotel in Portland, I opted to drive very slowly (~40 mph) down from the observatory and reached Centralia without incident, but boy did that take extra time.

For those contemplating the trip, I highly recommend a visit to Johnston Ridge Observatory. Plan to spend the day hiking around, dress for wind and varying temps, and hope you have relatively clear skies!

 

[MikeBur]

curious if anyone has tested out if there is a charge rate (speed) difference between the original and new pedestals?
Or if the original ones were upgraded at all when the new went in? I've seen some posts on some of the other 2013ish Superchargers being upgraded to keep up with the new locations (maybe this previously happened at Centralia).

I am still a few months away from using any Supercharger, but with Portland:Seattle my most common road trip, Centralia will be where I am for most SCg I expect.

The older stalls were upgraded at Centralia a while ago, though a quick browse through my TeslaFi logs for the SpC sessions can not determine any significant change in charge rates.. ie I couldn’t tell you when they were upgraded by the recorded data.

 

[wdolson]

Castle Rock would make more sense than Longview for St Helen visits (IMO), but either would be welcome from the perspective of visiting Mt St Helens from Portland.

I recently returned from a day trip to Johnston Ridge Observatory, leaving my hotel in the Pearl District in downtown Portland with my P90D X fully charged thanks to a destination charger. Despite driving at moderate (55-65 mph) freeway speeds on the way there, by the time I reached the Johnston Ridge parking lot, the onboard navigation was predicting I’d arrive at Centralia (currently the closest supercharger) with only 3% reserve. Since my ultimate destination for the day was Hood River and not the hotel in Portland, I opted to drive very slowly (~40 mph) down from the observatory and reached Centralia without incident, but boy did that take extra time.

For those contemplating the trip, I highly recommend a visit to Johnston Ridge Observatory. Plan to spend the day hiking around, dress for wind and varying temps, and hope you have relatively clear skies!

I haven't been to Mt St Helens in my S 90D yet, but I've been to Parkdale, OR and back twice. That's only ~2000 ft, but we live about an hour from Hood River. We made it back home with over 100 miles range.

Having to limp north to Centralia is both out of the way if your going back south, and a bit far from Mt St Helens. I figure I could probably make the round trip from home to Mt St Helens and back, but a smaller battery car might be a bit tight. The supercharger at Longview should be good enough.

I think Tesla screwed up putting the Sandy supercharger as far away from I-84 as they did. I know it was put there to help people get to the ski area at Timberlane Lodge on Mt Hood (6000 ft), but if it had been closer to I-84 it would have helped people leaving Portland who were at low charge or passing through Portland.

 

[mooner]

Driving from Seattle to Portland today - got really worried as the navigation was showing the entire Centralia supercharger as out of service. Fortunately arrived with all the newer stalls operational (freeway side). Looks like they are upgrading or replacing the charger / rectifier cabinets for the older side.

 

[mooner]

Update: all stalls now appear to be operational again

 

[GTKAZ]

Man hope you’re right. Saw it was “reduced service” in the Model S nav. Picking up the Model 3 in Portland tomorrow so banking on using the Centralia supercharger

 

[Kuhz]

They did the same update to Burlington chargers

 

[PLUS EV]

Those two superchargers were some of the oldest superchargers in the world. It looks like they were the 12th and 13th to open back in July of 2013. So it makes sense that they would need some updating.

 

[MikeBur]

Anyone know if these pedestals are being swapped out? As crazy as it might seem, I’m trying to pick up a couple...

 

[badronald]

Found this on 5B (I think). Used it anyway.

 

[Kuhz]

I use a napkin when handling a gas pump for my ICE. Same applies to supercharger handles.

 

[ChrisH]

Does anyone know if these are flooded out with the current weather and flooding conditions?!

 

[MikeBur]

Does anyone know if these are flooded out with the current weather and flooding conditions?!

Don’t know, though in many years of using Centralia I’ve never once had it washed out / unusable… even when the i5 was in places ;-)

 

[wdolson]

The outlet mall where the superchargers are is over 1000 ft from the river with a park between it and the Chehalis River. If the river is flooding it's got a ways to go before the outlet mall starts to get submerged.

Looking at a topo map of Chehalis is also looks like the river bank on the town side of the river has a bit of a bank which means the river is more likely to flood southward, away from town. The Skookumchuck River joins the Chehalis south of the outlet mall, but it also looks like it has a bank going through town and is a smaller river.

 

[ChrisH]

The outlet mall where the superchargers are is over 1000 ft from the river with a park between it and the Chehalis River. If the river is flooding it's got a ways to go before the outlet mall starts to get submerged.

Looking at a topo map of Chehalis is also looks like the river bank on the town side of the river has a bit of a bank which means the river is more likely to flood southward, away from town. The Skookumchuck River joins the Chehalis south of the outlet mall, but it also looks like it has a bank going through town and is a smaller river.

Thanks. I remember years ago when I5 was covered with FEET of water but I’m not sure what specific area that impacted.

 

[wdolson]

Thanks. I remember years ago when I5 was covered with FEET of water but I’m not sure what specific area that impacted.

I believe it was south of Chehalis. There is a stretch there that is fairly low and is prone to flooding. That part of Washington between northern Clark county to Thurston county and west of the Cascades is a giant slab of lifted sea floor. It's the largest contiguous slab of sea floor lifted above sea level in the world.

Geologically Oregon and Washington are and odd patchwork quilt and the eastern 2/3 of both states got the patchwork buried under 2000 feet of lava when a hot spot formed in SE Oregon. Due to the movement of the continent with respect to the hot spot, the spot is now moved to the east on the Wyoming/Montana/Idaho border and is a national park: Yellowstone.

 

[pdxrajiv]

FWIW, I can confirm that the SCs are working and the access is clear.

 

[MarcoRP]

Supercharger - Chehalis, WA

Not gonna lie, I didn't see this one coming. H/T to Drive Tesla Canada for letting me know about this Original article https://www.chronline.com/stories/new-tesla-charging-stations-coming-to-chehalis,286321 Subsequent DTC post...

teslamotorsclub.com

8 new stalls coming soon just 4 miles south of here.