Supercharger - Durango, CO

[dgpcolorado]

I did Montrose to Farmington a couple years ago, but with the distance, elevation changes, cold battery, cold temps, wind, extra weight, etc., it seemed to be a little more of a stretch than I was comfortable with.
Well, mostly because I didn’t want to full charge a cold battery in Montrose, and I was unfamiliar with US-550, and the wife is uncomfortable with <20% est. arrival, and i didn’t have CCS as an option then, etc. (we have lost >20% est arrival a couple times on a couple segments over the years; made things a little tense).
So, we went through Mountain Village and Telluride, which was really cool, and picked up another supercharger for my list.
I guess once Durango is in, the need for Ouray or Silverton is indeed less…

I guess I don't have the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) to deal with. My personal comfort limit is 3%, although I try to aim for 5%. 20% is leaving a huge amount of range on the table! If I see drop on the estimated percentage at destination, I adjust speed right away before it becomes a problem.

On the third week with my new car, I drove a 274 mile trip leg from my home, over the mountains, to the Milan NM Supercharger Station, from 90% to 3%, just to get a feel for the car's range. After seven and a half years of driving a short range S60, trip legs in my new Y LR feel downright easy.

My S.O. has no Tesla experience, so any trip is fun for her. Next week we are hoping to do Tucson to Holbrook, via Globe and Show Low -- that's the uphill direction -- on the way home to Ouray County. If the Nav estimate looks dicey by Globe, plan B is to divert to the Payson Supercharger Station. I'm running snow tires now so I don't have a feel for whether or not they affect range on the new car.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

Will they still put a V3 or upgrade Farmington? I know there were some site studies a while ago. I don't see why they wouldn't though. All we need now is Pagosa for that "just in case" Wolfcreek is snowing crap. I think the majority of I70 South will be covered and I will be a happy camper.

I need Pagosa Springs because it’s a little far from Santa Fe to Durango and I’d rather go via Chama.

 

[JamesEarl15]

I need Pagosa Springs because it’s a little far from Santa Fe to Durango and I’d rather go via Chama.

As of now the Chargepoint there downtown is good but that would also be a great place to put the Tesla SuC.

 

[85Drew]

I need Pagosa Springs because it’s a little far from Santa Fe to Durango and I’d rather go via Chama.

This.
Or heck, now that some of the gaps are closing up, I threw Chama on the list for the next round of Supercharger voting, the specific address is 2248 NM-17, Chama, NM 87520 if you would like to piggy-back the entry. This would be ideal for the Durango to Taos Ski Valley / Santa Fe trips - especially for the above-average winters where NMDOT simply gives up on trying to keep HWY 84 plowed and we have to detour through Antonito.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

I guess I don't have the WAF (Wife Acceptance Factor) to deal with. My personal comfort limit is 3%, although I try to aim for 5%. 20% is leaving a huge amount of range on the table! If I see drop on the estimated percentage at destination, I adjust speed right away before it becomes a problem.

On the third week with my new car, I drove a 274 mile trip leg from my home, over the mountains, to the Milan NM Supercharger Station, from 90% to 3%, just to get a feel for the car's range. After seven and a half years of driving a short range S60, trip legs in my new Y LR feel downright easy.

My S.O. has no Tesla experience, so any trip is fun for her. Next week we are hoping to do Tucson to Holbrook, via Globe and Show Low -- that's the uphill direction -- on the way home to Ouray County. If the Nav estimate looks dicey by Globe, plan B is to divert to the Payson Supercharger Station. I'm running snow tires now so I don't have a feel for whether or not they affect range on the new car.

Gutsy. (And adventurous!)
The most I have ever gotten out of my 3 LR, with 100%, and highway speeds, is about 238 miles. But, I don’t like to, nor want to, drive 5 under for a long time, and never have any extra charge for exploring, or detours, just to make an extreme segment.
I would be surprised if you can make Tucson to Holbrook, on 1 charge, starting at low elevation, over the mountains, without driving dangerously slow at times. Maybe with a fully warm battery to start with a really strong tail wind!

 

[dgpcolorado]

Gutsy. (And adventurous!)
The most I have ever gotten out of my 3 LR, with 100%, and highway speeds, is about 238 miles. But, I don’t like to, nor want to, drive 5 under for a long time, and never have any extra charge for exploring, or detours, just to make an extreme segment.
I would be surprised if you can make Tucson to Holbrook, on 1 charge, starting at low elevation, over the mountains, without driving dangerously slow at times. Maybe with a fully warm battery to start with a really strong tail wind!

Much of the route was slow speed roads. I certainly couldn't do 274 miles at 80 on an Interstate highway. One reason I went down to 3% was that I was driving about 5 over the limit for much of the route and had to slow to the limit to make it. Altitude helps, wouldn't be possible at sea level.

I'll have to see about Tucson to Holbrook. The distance is only 236 miles and the elevation gain is about 3000 feet. If I can't make it northbound I'll have to do it southbound next time through. I've been waiting for a Supercharger Station in Globe for years but it never happens. Even an accessible L2 would help but Plugshare has nothing useful. Free L2 charging is very common in Colorado but not in most other states IME.

 

[AudreyHTX1]

That’s very interesting. Our last trip to southwest CO, lots of mountain driving, we got amazing mileage. Yeah air density and speed matters. I notice also poor mileage driving through heavy rain.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Much of the route was slow speed roads. I certainly couldn't do 274 miles at 80 on an Interstate highway. One reason I went down to 3% was that I was driving about 5 over the limit for much of the route and had to slow to the limit to make it. Altitude helps, wouldn't be possible at sea level.

I'll have to see about Tucson to Holbrook. The distance is only 236 miles and the elevation gain is about 3000 feet. If I can't make it northbound I'll have to do it southbound next time through. I've been waiting for a Supercharger Station in Globe for years but it never happens. Even an accessible L2 would help but Plugshare has nothing useful. Free L2 charging is very common in Colorado but not in most other states IME.

Yeah, I have been hoping for Globe for a few years now. We had to do PHX to Globe to Show Low, and back, plus exploring, in the gas car 3 years ago. (Salt River canyon is pretty cool to see.) But now we will do this again in the next month or 2 since having the CCS adapter makes this pretty easy now in the Tesla (aside from the normal stress about reliable CCS charging). It did work fine for me in Durango last month.

 

[Sparky1]

Much of the route was slow speed roads. I certainly couldn't do 274 miles at 80 on an Interstate highway. One reason I went down to 3% was that I was driving about 5 over the limit for much of the route and had to slow to the limit to make it. Altitude helps, wouldn't be possible at sea level.

I'll have to see about Tucson to Holbrook. The distance is only 236 miles and the elevation gain is about 3000 feet. If I can't make it northbound I'll have to do it southbound next time through. I've been waiting for a Supercharger Station in Globe for years but it never happens. Even an accessible L2 would help but Plugshare has nothing useful. Free L2 charging is very common in Colorado but not in most other states IME.

Superior, AZ has a Tesla destination charger and 3 J1772 plugs on Main Street. A Globe SC would be ideal, but these L2's in Superior provide a decent backup plan if just a little juice is needed to get back to the east valley. Superior is about 45 miles east of the SC on US60/Stapley Rd.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Superior, AZ has a Tesla destination charger and 3 J1772 plugs on Main Street. A Globe SC would be ideal, but these L2's in Superior provide a decent backup plan if just a little juice is needed to get back to the east valley. Superior is about 45 miles east of the SC on US60/Stapley Rd.

I'll be coming directly from Tucson, so Superior is rather out of the way. If it doesn't look doable by Globe, the diversion to Payson Supercharger Station should work well enough. Only forty miles extra on the route to Holbrook and just a few minutes stop in Payson.

 

[Sparky1]

I'll be coming directly from Tucson, so Superior is rather out of the way. If it doesn't look doable by Globe, the diversion to Payson Supercharger Station should work well enough. Only forty miles extra on the route to Holbrook and just a few minutes stop in Payson.

Makes sense. For some reason I thought the route would take you through Florence to the 60, but that is clearly a backtrack when I look at the map. It adds close to 40 miles and the stop would be much longer w L2 vs. SC in Payson. My bad!

 

[phxazcraig]

More than just a station in Durango is needed to open up southwest Colorado, especially from the south. Cortez is needed as much as Durango.
I've been looking at the lack of charging in northwest Arizona, and it can't be an accident that there isn't a single charger (even destination) in the entire Navajo reservation. (Moenkapi is on Hopi land, and Gouldings is on private land.) Cameron, Tuba City, Kayenta and Teec Nos Pos all need chargers, and more. I'm wondering if the Nation has decided they are better off if all the EV drivers just stay away. I love driving 160, especially considering going up through NM, but I don't think I can do it in my MYP.

 

[JamesEarl15]

More than just a station in Durango is needed to open up southwest Colorado, especially from the south. Cortez is needed as much as Durango.
I've been looking at the lack of charging in northwest Arizona, and it can't be an accident that there isn't a single charger (even destination) in the entire Navajo reservation. (Moenkapi is on Hopi land, and Gouldings is on private land.) Cameron, Tuba City, Kayenta and Teec Nos Pos all need chargers, and more. I'm wondering if the Nation has decided they are better off if all the EV drivers just stay away. I love driving 160, especially considering going up through NM, but I don't think I can do it in my MYP.

I would think that the Tesla would've given them a good offer for the Navajo nation such as they did for the Sandia in NM and the nation in CT. I'm also pretty sure that the Navajo wants every perk they can get. They know they hold the bottleneck to literally connecting 2-3 states. I hope they can work out something.

 

[electrons4u]

Keep voting for Kayenta AZ. It's now #9 on the Supercharger Voting leaderboard for North America.

Maybe the Navajo could agree to some Superchargers on their land provided Tesla makes them 100% solar powered with batteries. Years ago Elon commented that the ultimate plan was for all stations to be solar powered.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Gutsy. (And adventurous!)
The most I have ever gotten out of my 3 LR, with 100%, and highway speeds, is about 238 miles. But, I don’t like to, nor want to, drive 5 under for a long time, and never have any extra charge for exploring, or detours, just to make an extreme segment.
I would be surprised if you can make Tucson to Holbrook, on 1 charge, starting at low elevation, over the mountains, without driving dangerously slow at times. Maybe with a fully warm battery to start with a really strong tail wind!

I made the Tucson to Holbrook trip, 237 miles, about 3000 feet of elevation gain, 99% to about 13%. Wet roads about half the distance. Very light traffic on a Wednesday in December, so I was mostly able to pick my speed. Stopped for lunch in old town Globe. Lots of passing lanes from about Salt River Canyon to north of Show Low. Well before Show Low, it was obvious that I was going to make it with ease, so I could drive as fast as I wanted without concern. ABRP wouldn't even plot the route, no matter how I tweaked the conditions. I find that app pretty much useless.

Salt River Canyon was lovely, want to go back to explore it. Highly recommended!

^ Part of Salt River Canyon Rest Area. This picture doesn't begin to capture the beauty of the area!

 

[DeepBlueMN]

I made the Tucson to Holbrook trip, 237 miles, about 3000 feet of elevation gain, 99% to about 13%. Wet roads about half the distance. Very light traffic on a Wednesday in December, so I was mostly able to pick my speed. Stopped for lunch in old town Globe. Lots of passing lanes from about Salt River Canyon to north of Show Low. Well before Show Low, it was obvious that I was going to make it with ease, so I could drive as fast as I wanted without concern. ABRP wouldn't even plot the route, no matter how I tweaked the conditions. I find that app pretty much useless.

Salt River Canyon was lovely, want to go back to explore it. Highly recommended!

^ Part of Salt River Canyon Rest Area. This picture doesn't begin to capture the beauty of the area!

Nice!
I am still a little surprised (and impressed). You must be REALLY gentle on acceleration and speed. There is no way my 3 would make that with 13% left; maybe -3%!
It takes me 80%, minimum, to go from Phoenix to Holbrook (through Payson), 186 miles, and that is in perfect conditions. (232 miles max range calculated)
Granted, Tucson starts at almost 1000’ more elevation than Phoenix, but you did have to cross over 6,300 ft going through Show Low.

 

[dgpcolorado]

Nice!
I am still a little surprised (and impressed). You must be REALLY gentle on acceleration and speed. There is no way my 3 would make that with 13% left; maybe -3%!
It takes me 80%, minimum, to go from Phoenix to Holbrook (through Payson), 186 miles, and that is in perfect conditions. (232 miles max range calculated)
Granted, Tucson starts at almost 1000’ more elevation than Phoenix, but you did have to cross over 6,300 ft going through Show Low.

My Y LR still has new car range (I've put 5000 miles on it in a month and a half). Might be harder in a year or two. I will definitely be taking that route southbound but we REALLY need a Supercharger Station in Globe! Although I'd settle for one in Show Low.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

My Y LR still has new car range (I've put 5000 miles on it in a month and a half). Might be harder in a year or two. I will definitely be taking that route southbound but we REALLY need a Supercharger Station in Globe! Although I'd settle for one in Show Low.

How come you don’t use the CCS chargers in Globe or Show Low?
They are nice and fairly new equipment, not that ancient EVGo crap (around the Phoenix area) that I would not trust.

 

[dgpcolorado]

How come you don’t use the CCS chargers in Globe or Show Low?
They are nice and fairly new equipment, not that ancient EVGo crap (around the Phoenix area) that I would not trust.

I don't have the CCS adapter. I have Free Supercharging on my Y LR and don't see the point in paying for charging when Supercharging is free and covers almost anywhere I want to go.

The Free Supercharging transfer offer is why I was enticed to trade in my 2014 S60 (164,000 miles) for the Y (5000 miles in a month and a half), at long last. The majority of my miles are long road trips (22 states, 2 provinces, and 442 different Supercharger Stations visited).

 

[DeepBlueMN]

I don't have the CCS adapter. I have Free Supercharging on my Y LR and don't see the point in paying for charging when Supercharging is free and covers almost anywhere I want to go.

The Free Supercharging transfer offer is why I was enticed to trade in my 2014 S60 (164,000 miles) for the Y (5000 miles in a month and a half), at long last. The majority of my miles are long road trips (22 states, 2 provinces, and 442 different Supercharger Stations visited).

Impressive stats… (I am a little envious)

I am still trying to get my 100th unique supercharger (across 13 states and close to 300 total supercharging sessions), but I really have not made much effort to get to superchargers not on my primary travel path. (With just 90+ unique superchargers, I look like a beginner here with you and @PLUS EV and others running around!)

Makes sense on the free supercharging, but… You should still reconsider the CCS adapter…

Having an extra DCFC option (now that you have a Y) is great when you really want to explore around places like Globe, Show Low, Prescott, Lake Havasu City, Durango, Pagosa Springs, etc. and not have to watch that declining SOC forcing you to plan your route back to a genuine supercharger before nightfall! Yeah, overnight L2s can really help, but I have found them a bit unpredictable at times. Plus, I have also been surprised with a couple unexpected 15%+ SOC road detours where an extra charging option could have been critical. Luckily I have only had 1 seriously de-rated supercharger site experience where the CCS adapter would have been really handy. I really think that adapter is worth its weight in gold (or maybe just in “convenience”).