jvonbokel
John VonBokel
Sounds like a cover-up... just kidding.
Bummer. I guess they just got the address wrong on the permit application.
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Supercharger - Columbia, MO
- Thread starter NevadacityMark
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- Midwest & Great Lakes USA
Sounds like a cover-up... just kidding.
Bummer. I guess they just got the address wrong on the permit application.
Father Bill
Member
I just talked with my SA at the St. Louis service center. I told him how happy I was that the Knoxville SC was coming online this week. He then mentioned that Columbia had frozen Tesla out. He stated that the next possible location is Kingdom City. Sorry for the folks hoping for Columbia.
Got this from city hall at Kingdom City today... Not sure here this leaves us???
"Mark,
Tesla was interested in Kingdom City as a site but they may have decided 20 miles west from here in Columbia.
We would have liked to had them here. If you are interested in that maybe your club could contact them if you had a preference in location.
Sincerely,
Curt Warfield
Kingdom City, MO"
"Mark,
Tesla was interested in Kingdom City as a site but they may have decided 20 miles west from here in Columbia.
We would have liked to had them here. If you are interested in that maybe your club could contact them if you had a preference in location.
Sincerely,
Curt Warfield
Kingdom City, MO"
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
It's a race of two tortoises. Which will open first, a Supercharger near Columbia, MO completing I-70, or one near Gillette, WY, completing I-90?
I wonder what went wrong in Columbia. Why would any city thwart a magnet for drawing people to it?
Well, the mystery deepens. I just got off the phone with Jim Ganz - The "Economic Development" official at Boonsville. He stated that Boonsville would love to have a supercharger and would even share in the development cost, but has never been contacted by Tesla. He even asked me how to contact TESLA. Furthermore, he is on the Univ of Mo faculty at Columbia and asked around his contacts there and has heard no word about Tesla applying for a Supercharger there in Columbia. He says he still has a few feelers out and will get back to me if he hears anything.
So WTF???
So WTF???
jvonbokel
John VonBokel
I'm originally from Jeff City, MO and can speak firsthand to the fact that the dealerships there have more power there than anywhere else I've been. They have many friends on politics and i know of at least one that is a congressman himself. That being said we are heading to Jeff City tonight so any areas we should check on the way down?
TomServo
Active Member
The knuckleheads. I live in southern Illinois (about 20 miles from St Louis) and retired USAF of the 4 places we need to travel to visit distant family I need the I-70 route to Denver completed, else a 60k Tesla is not feasible (fixed income limited budget). The other location is Mt View Ark. So I'm in a holding pattern until they plug those holes.
i'm sure they will because if they hope to sell the Model 3 in the numbers they say, they will need SC'ers every 110 to 120 miles along the major interstates. I-64 needs work, but I can get to my daughter/son-in-laws house in St Leonard MD via I-70.
KCMOP85D
Member
...as well as the Nissan dealer with good PlugShare feedback (Joe Machens Nissan | Electric Car Charging Station | PlugShare), although it will be slower and only during business hours. That might be enough to alleviate fears to make it to Independence or STL.
Karl
Just got off the phone with Todd, a Gerbes supermarket manager at 1729 W. Broadway in Columbia. He says that they are indeed putting in an "electric charging station" in the parking lot along with the new construction of a gas station.... That construction is supposed to be done in August. He thought it was a "generic" charging station but was not sure. He asked me about Tesla charging and I explained. He offered to find out the scoop this coming week and we'll talk again.
purplewalt
Active Member
You might consider keeping your approach a bit low key.
It is always easier to catch flies with honey than with vinegar.
From following this thread, Columbia may not be the location of the next Superchargers due to the influence of a local (multi) car dealer.
The alternate scheme of both Kingdom City and Boonville may be the next best plan, and may already be in the works.
Skotty
2014 S P85 | 2023 F-150L
If they don't put one in Columbia, and instead put one in Kingdom City, I'll be pretty bummed. That would ruin the practicality of my regular business travel to Columbia from KC. My first thought was that this would cause me to not get a Tesla, and instead get something else. But if this happens, I want to know if it was dealership politics in Columbia that caused it. Because if so, my not buying a Tesla would be exactly what the dealerships wanted. And that completely changes my attitude towards the problem. If that scenario were to come to pass, and I had evidence of dealership involvement, I probably wouldn't be able to fund it entirely myself, but I would look to organize a crowd funded charging solution in Columbia myself, and still buy a Tesla. Because I'm all about giving folks who want to "drink my milkshake" the middle finger. This could be anything from an out of the way pair of J1772 chargers (if I have to fund it myself) up to a full Supercharger site in a convenient location (if heavily funded).
Not sure you would want one in Columbia for your situation. Maybe 30 - 50 miles out.
roblab
Active Member
Having lived in Columbia 20 years, I would say you need one in Columbia. And of course it's Joe Machens dealers who are blocking it.
If you are traveling from Kansas City to Columbia for business and then had to drive 20 miles further to Kingdom City to charge, that is not practical. If you travel from St. Louis to Columbia for business and then had to travel 20 miles to Boonville, that's dumb. If you have to use 63 to go to the airport or head north, you can't be doing a 40 mile detour. Columbia has the highest concentration of intelligent people per population that anywhere else in MO, with 5 colleges / universities, and 5 medical centers.
I would dearly love to see Joe Machens change his mind, but there is some other prejudice here. I wonder if Tesla could put in maybe two "boutique" SCs at both Kingdom City AND Boonville / Midway? That seems to be the only solution I can see. And it would bypass Joe and companies.
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