Supercharger - Childress,TX

[reddy]

Open already? Need an Amarilloan or NTX bod to christen it with the first (known) charge.

Looks like BattMobileBatteries.com gets the first photo honors on Plugshare.

The irony here is that I stopped at that Pak A Sak 2 months ago in my Model S on a trip back from Dallas. There was zero going on there as far as construction, and no hint that a supercharger was coming there.

 

[xlpro]

I've got an upcoming job in Childress of all places. I rarely go that far for a job. Now I can take the Model S! I was surprised to see how quickly this one popped up. Thank you Tesla Supercharger Team

 

[redi]

This is great, and I am surprised it popped-up on us.

I've been longing for the 287 SC route DFW <->Amarillo for as long as I have had my Tesla.

Now everyone's got their laser beams trained on the WF region to make it usable.

 

[snellenr]

EVTripPlanner makes Sweetwater->Childress look like a cinch in my P85 at 151 RM... should I be suspicious?

 

[purplewalt]

EVTripPlanner makes Sweetwater->Childress look like a cinch in my P85 at 151 RM... should I be suspicious?

151 Rated miles might be possible, but my car indicated routed Childress toward (thru Abilene) Sweetwater to be 191 miles.
Looking at map, cutting over thru Hamlin thru McCaulley and Sylvester toward 70 will be a lot more direct routing, and save you some serious miles.

My car indicated a directly routed 207 miles from Childress to Denton last night.

Easy does it.

Left Childress with 240 RM (max. charge on my Model S is 247 miles).
Drove first half of trip at a slow pace of 243 kW, about 55 to 60 mph.
There was some tail and side wind, and I also picked up about 7 miles of range.
Second half of trip increased speed 65 to 70 mph (70 is posted speed), arrived with 26 miles of range.

Going West toward Childress from Denton against the wind might be a bit more challenging.

The addition of Wichita Falls Supercharger will make 287 an easy trip, in either direction.

There are eight Supercharger Stanchions @ Childress.
Very clean and nice store.
(Bring a book, or something good to read while getting max range charge...)

Probably limited to D75s, 85s and 90s (and 100s) for now.
No way a 60 could make this distance.

 

[AlbertOnMars]

This Supercharger came online in the middle of a trip out west for me. I wasn't able to use it on the way out, but I did take advantage of it on the way home. This allowed me to avoid Oklahoma, as well as the DFW area, which is nice. I hit Amarillo, Childress, Cisco, and took 183 the rest of the way home to Austin.

 

[snellenr]

151 Rated miles might be possible, but my car indicated routed Childress toward (thru Abilene) Sweetwater to be 191 miles.
Looking at map, cutting over thru Hamlin thru McCaulley and Sylvester toward 70 will be a lot more direct routing, and save you some serious miles.

Thanks - I was actually thinking Waco->Cisco->Sweetwater->Childress->Amarillo (heading west from there). Two positives for this route are that it gets me up on the plains at Sweetwater (it's net downhill from there to Childress) and the northerly leg from Sweetwater to Childress will reduce wind loss (unless a norther blows in). Downside is that it's mostly isolated, two-lane highways to Childress -- but might be a fun drive in decent weather.

If the Wichita Falls SC pops up unexpectedly, my strategy will adjust accordingly...

 

[Bchampeau]

In real world conditions, could one make it from the Denton supercharger to Childress in a S 70?

Doubtful but possible, as I just made the trip going exactly the speed limit, in a 90 with a full charge from Denton, and arrived at 14%

 

[purplewalt]

Thanks - I was actually thinking Waco->Cisco->Sweetwater->Childress->Amarillo (heading west from there). Two positives for this route are that it gets me up on the plains at Sweetwater (it's net downhill from there to Childress) and the northerly leg from Sweetwater to Childress will reduce wind loss (unless a norther blows in). Downside is that it's mostly isolated, two-lane highways to Childress -- but might be a fun drive in decent weather.

If the Wichita Falls SC pops up unexpectedly, my strategy will adjust accordingly...

If you want to save a bit more time, you can make it from Cisco straight (??) to Childress.
Just drive 65 mph first part of trip, and gauge how you need to drive fro the second half of the trip.
Google maps shows this to be 191 miles, should not be much of a problem unless there are tremendous headwinds.

Enjoy your drive!!!

 

[HillCountryFun]

Very nice Supercharger at the Pak a Sak!

 

[TodMichael65]

I'm going to probably try this route on the way back from Vegas in two weeks. Rather than the previous I40 to I35 and down to DFW/Plano, it looks like i should be able to make the gap from Amarillo > Childress (full charge my S70D) and then drive cautiously perhaps at 60mph to Denton. That's roughly 208 miles -- I really should be able to make that unless it gets supremely cold or I have a huge breeze from the SE. I figure I can always adjust near Wichita falls and gap over to Ardmore, OK which would then make the route like 188 from Childress>Ardmore. But it adds more time on than just slowing down. From what you indicated, it looks like I should get about same type of behavior -- I'd be starting with about 236 rated miles at full charge.

Anyone else made the jump from Childress to Denton and how many kW did it take?

151 Rated miles might be possible, but my car indicated routed Childress toward (thru Abilene) Sweetwater to be 191 miles.
Looking at map, cutting over thru Hamlin thru McCaulley and Sylvester toward 70 will be a lot more direct routing, and save you some serious miles.

My car indicated a directly routed 207 miles from Childress to Denton last night.

Easy does it.

Left Childress with 240 RM (max. charge on my Model S is 247 miles).
Drove first half of trip at a slow pace of 243 kW, about 55 to 60 mph.
There was some tail and side wind, and I also picked up about 7 miles of range.
Second half of trip increased speed 65 to 70 mph (70 is posted speed), arrived with 26 miles of range.

Going West toward Childress from Denton against the wind might be a bit more challenging.

The addition of Wichita Falls Supercharger will make 287 an easy trip, in either direction.

There are eight Supercharger Stanchions @ Childress.
Very clean and nice store.
(Bring a book, or something good to read while getting max range charge...)

Probably limited to D75s, 85s and 90s (and 100s) for now.
No way a 60 could make this distance.

 

[purplewalt]

I'm going to probably try this route on the way back from Vegas in two weeks. Rather than the previous I40 to I35 and down to DFW/Plano, it looks like i should be able to make the gap from Amarillo > Childress (full charge my S70D) and then drive cautiously perhaps at 60mph to Denton. That's roughly 208 miles -- I really should be able to make that unless it gets supremely cold or I have a huge breeze from the SE. I figure I can always adjust near Wichita falls and gap over to Ardmore, OK which would then make the route like 188 from Childress>Ardmore. But it adds more time on than just slowing down. From what you indicated, it looks like I should get about same type of behavior -- I'd be starting with about 236 rated miles at full charge.

Anyone else made the jump from Childress to Denton and how many kW did it take?

@TodMichaels65:
You should be able to make it Childress to Denton.
Easy does it.

Bring a good book to read, as you will need to leave Childress with a nearly full pack.
If you need just a tiny bit of charge during the journey, or time and sleep pattern works out, there is a hotel in Vernon (about mid-way to Wichita Falls) that will let you charge if you spend the night.
Leaving Vernon headed to Denton with a fully charged pack would be a cake-walk.
It will show up on you car's Nav system as a grey Charge location icon.

Winds in that area generally come from the West/Northwest, but in Texas, the Weather changes every 15 minutes.
Sometimes winds come from Southwest.

Safe travels!!!
**(And hurry up Wichita Falls Supercharger)

 

[TodMichael65]

@purplewalt

Thanks for the reassurance. We'll be just passing through mid day but that should be perfect time for a long stop and able to have a relaxing lumch. We're leaving Albuquerque at morning at 5:00 am. I'm expecting to be in Amarillo around 11:00 local time and then arrive Childress around 1:20 to 1:30 -- so we'll grab a bit at either Pizza Hut or Thai Kitchen and hopefully be ready to head out before 3:00. That should put us in Denton before 6:30. That'll then be just a quick power up as Denton's only about 40 miles from home. Definitely prefer that route -- if I take the one over to OKC and then down, looks like that's 90 minutes longer drive.

@TodMichaels65:
You should be able to make it Childress to Denton.
Easy does it.

Bring a good book to read, as you will need to leave Childress with a nearly full pack.
If you need just a tiny bit of charge during the journey, or time and sleep pattern works out, there is a hotel in Vernon (about mid-way to Wichita Falls) that will let you charge if you spend the night.
Leaving Vernon headed to Denton with a fully charged pack would be a cake-walk.
It will show up on you car's Nav system as a grey Charge location icon.

Winds in that area generally come from the West/Northwest, but in Texas, the Weather changes every 15 minutes.
Sometimes winds come from Southwest.

Safe travels!!!
**(And hurry up Wichita Falls Supercharger)

 

[ThisIsTrue]

In real world conditions, could one make it from the Denton supercharger to Childress in a S 70?

I had this very question -- except I have a 75D. I found this thread when I searched Google for this question.

The answer: yes, for me. There was a little range anxiety involved, in that at Childress, charging to 100% gave the predicted buffer of 8% on arrival at Denton. So what we did was travel at about 5 below the limit, had Range Mode "on", didn't use AC until it got uncomfortably hot (mid 80s), had very little wind, and drafted trucks for about half the time (with the follow distance set at "7"). We arrived with a 13% buffer.

So YES "if" you're pretty conservative about it, which I was willing to do to save 100 miles of driving and another charge (read: several hours). But: a little iffier in a 70.

 

[Electroman]

What was your Wh/mile for that segment between Childress and Denton ?

 

[ThisIsTrue]

I didn't write it down, but IIRC, 298.

 

[bollar]

I had this very question -- except I have a 75D. I found this thread when I searched Google for this question.

The answer: yes, for me. There was a little range anxiety involved, in that at Childress, charging to 100% gave the predicted buffer of 8% on arrival at Denton. So what we did was travel at about 5 below the limit, had Range Mode "on", didn't use AC until it got uncomfortably hot (mid 80s), had very little wind, and drafted trucks for about half the time (with the follow distance set at "7"). We arrived with a 13% buffer.

So YES "if" you're pretty conservative about it, which I was willing to do to save 100 miles of driving and another charge (read: several hours). But: a little iffier in a 70.

Welcome to Texas and congratulations on successfully running the gauntlet presented by the "Supercharger to Nowhere." The return from Denton to Childress is also possible, but can be more challenging due to the winds. We've had 85s report having to be 10-15 under the posted speed to make it successfully.

 

[BerTX]

Welcome to Texas and congratulations on successfully running the gauntlet presented by the "Supercharger to Nowhere." The return from Denton to Childress is also possible, but can be more challenging due to the winds. We've had 85s report having to be 10-15 under the posted speed to make it successfully.

The "Supercharger to Nowhere" is wonderful if you live in Nowhere. I go north 90 miles to the Junction SC, up to Sweetwater, then to Childress and Amarillo.Cuts almost a full day off of the previous route, detouring through "Somewhere" and OKC.

 

[ThisIsTrue]

Welcome to Texas and congratulations on successfully running the gauntlet presented by the "Supercharger to Nowhere."

Heh! Thanks. First Tesla trip to Texas. I'm appreciating the mild weather, though I'm still sweating having enough charge to get out of Dallas (next stop, Bryan). Found a level 2 nearby at Whole Foods, near a bunch of restaurants, so will go there for a long dinner if all else fails -- the hotel (here for a conference) has no charging available.

 

[TexasEV]

Tesla must really be having a problem getting a site in Wichita Falls. BerTX's routing notwithstanding, it makes little sense to have a supercharger in Childress without one in Wichita Falls to make it stress-free to travel on US 287 (the hypotenuse of the DFW-OKC-Amarillo triangle).