Supercharger - Entiat, WA

[acarney]

This is a slightly weird one... I noticed another new OneCall (ticket number 20256522 ) from Blackstone for "power, new service" with work done for Tesla. It's located right on Highway 97 in the little "city" of Entiat... it looks to be at the corner of a Shell station or the empty lot right next to it. Normally Blackstone will list it as a supercharger or electric charger or something, not "new service", but it wouldn't make sense of being a Tesla store and I think if it was a destination charger the permit would have been pulled on behalf of the business, not Tesla themselves.

It does match up with a Chelan, WA coming soon location... granted it's a handful of miles south. Approx 174 miles to Spokane via Highway 2 (just doable with a SR/SR+ at highway speeds in good weather) and about 83 miles from Ellensberg which would be easy even in snowing and cold weather of winter...

I wonder if they're building out North/South along Highway 97 now...
(Also... still no Yakima!)

 

[acarney]

Sure hope you get LTE out here for premium connectivity...

 

[Raleel]

That would be a somewhat odd location I think. It’s barely 34 miles from Leavenworth, very close to ellensburg, 125 from osoyoos, and gains people going through north cascades not very much, but I’ll take it I suppose. Also, it’s still no yakima.

 

[Kuhz]

That’s is a weird location. All traffic traveling on HWY2 use HWY97 on the east side of the river, not 97A. Even north and southbound traffic prefer 97 as going via 97A is a slight detour through Chelan. Also not much at all in that little town. I’ll check it out, but as of now 97A is indefinitely closed for rock slide work.

 

[Potpourri]

Perhaps it's a destination charger. Do people need permits for those?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Perhaps it's a destination charger. Do people need permits for those?

Could be. But destination charger at a gas station doesn't seem to make much sense.

Looking on the map, it look like there are places on western bank of Lake Chelan like Lake Chelan State Park that it would serve.

So maybe Tesla got an easy agreement there and will put in something small like a 4-stall Supercharger, and then will still look to put another on the eastern side on US-97.

 

[acarney]

Could be. But destination charger at a gas station doesn't seem to make much sense.

Looking on the map, it look like there are places on western bank of Lake Chelan like Lake Chelan State Park that it would serve.

So maybe Tesla got an easy agreement there and will put in something small like a 4-stall Supercharger, and then will still look to put another on the eastern side on US-97.

Destination chargers, I think, are usually installed by the business. So Tesla would supply the equipment for free and add you to the in car navigation, but the business would hire the installer and one would think the permit would reflect that. “Doing business for: Shell station”, “add new service”, “install vehicle charger”, something like that. In addition, Blackstone has sort of been the go to guys with superchargers for the last two years in the Pacific Northwest, k think they’ve done like 10 or more...

I hope it’s larger than four, even if it’ll sit empty a lot. Five years from now you might have a lot of cyber trucks and model X towing boats up to Lake Chelan or something. Build for the future, I can’t imagine eight stalls would be a make it or break it cost compared to four. Heck, even Model Y could tow some jet skis or like a 19 foot boat. This could be a good location for a slightly modified design that allows more pull in stalls to accommodate towing and recreational vehicles...

 

[alpinehijinx]

I drive these routes twice a week for work and totally agree that it doesn't make a whole lot of sense on its face. If you're driving east-west on Highway 2 you'd have to go way out of your way; much more sensible to push it to Leavenworth. And I never ordinarily drive 97A through Entiat/Chelan unless I've got to go that way for some other reason. BUT, for the heck of it I plugged in a comparative trip into Google Maps and was surprised: Leavenworth > Omak = 109 miles and 2hr 4 min. Leavenworth > via Chelan > Omak = 109 miles and 2hr 8 min. So no difference in trip length and only + 4 minutes. What's more, there's a lot more food and interest if you want to stop in Chelan than anywhere on 97 between Wenatchee and Pateros (sometimes I divert over to Chelan at night just to grab quick burritos at any number of places). And there's far less truck traffic and is therefore safer. Only bummer with Entiat is that the best food is Tacos Chava and is a little far to walk to but there is the Entiat Pub just 3 minutes away.

So my conclusion is that this makes a lot more sense for north-south travelers when you actually do the math, and it allows Hwy 97 travelers to not have to deviate west to Leavenworth (and deal with the often horrible traffic). I still think an Omak SC is still necessary and I REALLY want to see the Osoyoos site get started. We go to Penticton a lot and don't want to have to deviate north to Kelowna to charge before driving back home. Osoyoos or Omak prevents us from having to do this. Entiat doesn't help us per se, but I can see it being sensible for a lot of folks.

 

[Kuhz]

Stopped by today. Some utility markings by the road, but no actual construction.

 

[boiler81]

So if Entiat get's a supercharger, does this mean Chelan's get's dropped? I agree with others that this site doesn't make much sense, and would Tesla arrange to use the less than first class bathrooms at the Shell?

 

[DSolie]

Blackstone has to be suitcase GC'ing these projects. They have numerous starting at the same time across the state. They are not that big of a company.

 

[acarney]

So if Entiat get's a supercharger, does this mean Chelan's get's dropped? I agree with others that this site doesn't make much sense, and would Tesla arrange to use the less than first class bathrooms at the Shell?

Most likely, a handful of locations that were on Tesla’s coming soon map instead showed up within 20 or 30 miles and “replaced” the coming soon one.

 

[floatplane]

There are lots of people from Seattle area and especially the eastside (Bellevue etc.) who take family vacations on Lake Chelan, north of Chelan itself, for water sports and the warmth. Often they bring a boat with them. Given that, could this Entiat site be designed to help them recharge their Tesla batteries while recharging their mental batteries on vacation?

 

[alpinehijinx]

Stopped by this Shell station yesterday to see if there was any evidence of activity on-the-ground. On the north side of the parking lot (at the edge of the gravel lot) there was indeed a utility locate painted on the asphalt. Interestingly, it said "BSC"--Blackstone Construction? It seems to have been at least a few weeks since the weeds had grown over the spray paint. Also asked the clerk in the store if she was aware of a Tesla charging station being considered. She said "no, and I'd be surprised given the owners. They didn't even want to put in a pay phone in the parking lot before." Money talks though and given the locate request, I'm guessing this has a better-than-average chance of being true?

 

[wycolo]

Tesla figured out that users from Skagit/Watcom counties might want to take Rt20 east from Burlington SuCh, (summer only) over the pass, eventually becoming Rt153 onward to Chelan, total 198 miles. A long day at the beach for sure but by golly no use of Rt2 required.

If the charger ends up at Entiat it would be 218 miles. Been hoping to make this trip for 2 years now.
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[Kuhz]

Tesla figured out that users from Skagit/Watcom counties might want to take Rt20 east from Burlington SuCh, (summer only) over the pass, eventually becoming Rt153 onward to Chelan, total 198 miles. A long day at the beach for sure but by golly no use of Rt2 required.

If the charger ends up at Entiat it would be 218 miles. Been hoping to make this trip for 2 years now.
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outside of Sunday afternoon/night in the WB direction , US2 is not that bad

 

[wycolo]

As viewed from Mars maybe. My dream is that Rt20 is not the endless claustrophobia that is Rt2.
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[PLUS EV]

Tesla figured out that users from Skagit/Watcom counties might want to take Rt20 east from Burlington SuCh, (summer only) over the pass, eventually becoming Rt153 onward to Chelan, total 198 miles. A long day at the beach for sure but by golly no use of Rt2 required.

If the charger ends up at Entiat it would be 218 miles. Been hoping to make this trip for 2 years now.
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I highly doubt the purpose of this supercharger was to enable a 200 mile leg.

 

[floatplane]

They didn't even want to put in a pay phone in the parking lot before."

That's scarcely surprising,as you can't make any money off of payphone service anymore. The only place I have seen public payphones recently is on South Whidbey Island where Whidbey Telecom still keeps a few working around the area as a community service.

 

[wycolo]

> I highly doubt the purpose of this supercharger was to enable a 200 mile leg. [Plus EV]

But since TM's SuChging Team, in their infinite wisdom, are fulfilling only my personal, specific dream of conquering the Eastern Cascades Loop, which is as of yet, the only logical use for such a SuCh location that anyone here can figure out, I feel I can lay claim to that SuCh as being *dream specific*. At least for the time being, until new logic ensues.

We can run ralleys each summer as the pass is plowed open starting at the Burlington SuCh and doing 'The Loop' to tell the EV_World that yes indeed there is a real purpose for such a charging location and by golly we are going to maximize it. No 'short range' Teslas need apply.
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