Supercharger - Fargo, ND

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

This situation is definitely one of Tesla's larger failings. The future chargers map has continually claimed there would be chargers on this route starting in 2016 or earlier. What makes it worse is Elon claimed last year that you can reach anywhere in America on the supercharger network. That's a flat out lie unless he's trying to spin it by assuming you're using a 100kWh battery and you only want to reach some area and then be stranded or wait for an overnight charge. In my MS 60 there are lots of areas I can't reach around North Dakota and northern parts of states to the west of there. Love Tesla, but mad about this ongoing situation.

I also wonder if oil-infested North Dakota government is putting up as many roadblocks as possible.

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by ... current cost-control measures combined with Tesla trying to get all of its ducks in a row before building out a large string of Superchargers.

Tesla's had a whole bunch of setbacks this year, so you can pretty much bet that any of the major Supercharger developments will be on hold. Maybe next year. Maybe.

 

[Fulkth]

2015 was the original date. Missing Jamestown originally. Myself and a Minot owner (we didn't know each other yet) wrote detailed letters to Tesla bout why Jamestown was required on i-94.

The other "worse" part is Elon Tweeted we would have them in 2018 directly! Elon Musk on Twitter

Oil has nothing to do with it. The permit was silky smooth in Dickinson, heck it's completed and ready for pickup by Tesla (even paid for). The spot is ready to go and the Mall is disappointed they are not putting it in this summer(or year).


Alexandria is the reason for the whole i-94 hold. I really wish they would have just skipped them when it went South and put it somewhere that would appreciate the increase in business/travelers.

As far as population and location don't forget about Medora, that's a huge tourist area with the Medora Music, Pitchfork Fondue, and TR National Park (South unit) being right at Medora. Medora is 35 miles from Dickinson and has friendly EV campgrounds.

The campground "Minot / Swenson RV KOA Journey" was super friendly when I called to see about "what if I was in an emergency situation needing charging" and they wanted to discuss how they could be "the" Tesla charging point as far as 40Amp camper plug options are concerned. Just call around on campgrounds and typically you find multiple good ones in ND for that. The trouble is finding one in the winter that is open or having to reserve a spot way out if you want to go during the fair. The other option is of course contacting owners which most people don't want to do for the hassle of both parties, but if it isn't constant it's enjoyable and most of the people who will go out and travel like that are super friendly and fun.

EST ND Teslas : 30
Knowing incoming Model 3s to Dickinson alone, 2.

You raise a good point, Alexandria should have just been skipped and the rest of I-94 fleshed out. Fargo to Clearwater is only 180 miles and they aren't even producing the SR Model 3 yet, all currently produced models (besides the S 60) can easily make that trip without pushing the limits of the battery pack. Can't believe something not necessary held all this up

I always forget about camping spots for charging too, guess they appreciate the light business as long as they aren't busy! I could see having to reserve way out for the fair, otherwise you end up parking far away.. and now have no car to actually get to the fair! I'll keep them in mind for the future if the family doesn't want to spend the night up there when we go in the future and we need emergency charging. Wish they had a destination charger though up there. With the fair, train station, Norsk Høstfest, and a population of almost 50,000 with no supercharger in sight it would be a good candidate for one.

And oil is definitely not a huge player, even in the west. Dickinson was a decent established city before the Bakken boom, and the closest drilling activity outside of a couple outlier rigs right now is almost 2 hours north of town. Although the Bakken edge is just outside (literally just outside) of Dickinson, the wells are horrible producers and I don't see any future drilling activity this far south outside of mandatory lease holding requirements. Glad Dickinson didn't get hit by the oil activity like the other towns did

I'll just stay hopeful for an early 2019 I-94 Supercharger install.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I'll just stay hopeful for an early 2019 I-94 Supercharger install.

You mean "early after the thaw", right?

 

[Fulkth]

You mean "early after the thaw", right?

Hah of course! Which obviously means no earlier than June even with a miracle!

 

[lightfoot3b]

You raise a good point, Alexandria should have just been skipped and the rest of I-94 fleshed out. Fargo to Clearwater is only 180 miles and they aren't even producing the SR Model 3 yet, all currently produced models (besides the S 60) can easily make that trip without pushing the limits of the battery pack. Can't believe something not necessary held all this up

I always forget about camping spots for charging too, guess they appreciate the light business as long as they aren't busy! I could see having to reserve way out for the fair, otherwise you end up parking far away.. and now have no car to actually get to the fair! I'll keep them in mind for the future if the family doesn't want to spend the night up there when we go in the future and we need emergency charging. Wish they had a destination charger though up there. With the fair, train station, Norsk Høstfest, and a population of almost 50,000 with no supercharger in sight it would be a good candidate for one.

And oil is definitely not a huge player, even in the west. Dickinson was a decent established city before the Bakken boom, and the closest drilling activity outside of a couple outlier rigs right now is almost 2 hours north of town. Although the Bakken edge is just outside (literally just outside) of Dickinson, the wells are horrible producers and I don't see any future drilling activity this far south outside of mandatory lease holding requirements. Glad Dickinson didn't get hit by the oil activity like the other towns did

I'll just stay hopeful for an early 2019 I-94 Supercharger install.

We were major hit by the oil. It was an almost typical boom and bust that is slowly trickling back. Huge infrastructure debt to upgrade sewer/water/roads for the giant influx of people/building. Rents in the top 10 highest in the nation (I think Williston was top 5), major drug escalation issues (that never left with the last bust it seems. So unfortunately we had a lot of negatives being the only "close" city that had at least reasonable services to begin with. Where were lucky is the corporate office was put here even if they had a few more people in Williston simply because of our Community Center being a major positive for the executive type employees.

I dyno'ed the P85 right in the middle of the Boom on a day I drove back from Rapid City SD (charged for 3 hours before going to dyno) and was the only car there (a bunch of modded pickups were there) and the best part was this crew couldn't figure out how to measure torque on a car without an OBD2 so it showed 10,000ft/lbs of torque and boy oh boy did those diesel owners eyes get big when they saw that combined with me breaking the tires loose on the dyno runs

I am surprised there isn't a destination charger (or 3) in Minot as well. I did speak with the Souris Valley Suites in Minot about adding 14-50Nema to two of their block heater boxes they have around the whole hotel (nearly 80 block heater pugs in pairs). The manager was quite interested even before she saw the car.

 

[azred]

Never attribute to malice that which can be explained by ... current cost-control measures combined with Tesla trying to get all of its ducks in a row before building out a large string of Superchargers.

Tesla's had a whole bunch of setbacks this year, so you can pretty much bet that any of the major Supercharger developments will be on hold. Maybe next year. Maybe.

I think you are correct. It appears new SC construction has really slowed the past few weeks even though one would think summer would be peak construction.

 

[XHabjab]

Out of the area, but I think it might be relevant here... Eastern Canada has been encouraged by some SC activity in Quebec and the Maritime provinces (NS, NB, PEI). Aulac NB was just brought online, with tales of the work crew heading to Enfield NS next (probably there now). There are claims of a series of chargers being installed in Quebec:

Supercharger - Yamachiche, QC

that will connect to NB et al. If this plan comes to completion this year, it will likely link Maritime Canada with Quebec, Ontario, Maine, New Hampshire. Ontario is the biggest Canadian market for Teslas (like California in the US), but I would be surprised if there is any significant SC activity there in the near future. The Ontario government has killed off EV rebates per:

Ontario EV Rebates Cancelled July 11, 2018

and Tesla is suing them:

Tesla Sues Ontario Government

which will be held up in the courts for a while. I'd predict that Ontario will sell fewer Teslas and get fewer new SCs for a while. Winnipeg MB through to Calgary AB or Edmonton AB might get some activity.

... which leads me to the point of this message. I haven't figured out if I should be encouraged or discouraged by all of this in the context of North Dakota. Either Tesla will build something from MN, IA, SD through to Winnipeg ... or they won't build anything. This is August, and the summer construction season is not over yet. I think that we all know that they won't just build one solitary disconnected Supercharger. If we see any activity anywhere (talking to you Fargo ND), we might see a string on either I-94 and/or I-29 get built this year. Despite seeing a slowdown in overall SC builds, the apparent pending activity in Eastern Canada is encouraging to me. I haven't given up on Fargo for 2018 yet.

 

[MarcoRP]

Hey guys there is a new fast charger coming along, and it’s only 500 meters from Fargo. Does this count as ND’s first fast charger?

 

[lightfoot3b]

Hey guys there is a new fast charger coming along, and it’s only 500 meters from Fargo. Does this count as ND’s first fast charger?

No, but if I buy/borrow a chademo adapter, sure If it is completed in the next 3-4 weeks I could possibly utilize it for a MSP trip to pickup a Model 3... but the chademo doesn't work for the 3... so dang, maybe only for the way down to pickup the 3.

 

[EkBuZ]

No, but if I buy/borrow a chademo adapter, sure If it is completed in the next 3-4 weeks I could possibly utilize it for a MSP trip to pickup a Model 3... but the chademo doesn't work for the 3... so dang, maybe only for the way down to pickup the 3.

Are you trading the P85? It was the first Tesla I rode in and contributed to there being a 3 in my garage right now and a buddy having an S85 in his. What's the current recommended route/charging stops across ND? I'd like to make a trip between Fargo and Dickinson, but have to convince the other half and have an expected travel/charging time.

 

[lightfoot3b]

Are you trading the P85? It was the first Tesla I rode in and contributed to there being a 3 in my garage right now and a buddy having an S85 in his. What's the current recommended route/charging stops across ND? I'd like to make a trip between Fargo and Dickinson, but have to convince the other half and have an expected travel/charging time.

No, keeping mine, parent's are weeks away from picking up the 3 in MSP. Same way I have a P85 (drove an early one in Bismarck).

i-94 charging at public L2 or owner's homes. If you come this way you are welcome to use my 14-50Nema in the garage for max L2 speed. There is also an EV friendly campground now listed on plugshare (I worked with them and they are nice) in case I would be out of town or that works better for you. Jamestown actually has quite a few L2 scattered around, Bismarck is a little tougher, but if you need Tesla owner contacts there I can arrange that too!

 

[EkBuZ]

I was going to say it would be sad to see yours go before it ever got to supercharge in ND. Fingers crossed for 2019. I had always said I was waiting for those chargers and that's why I didn't buy an S. Didn't want to lose the tax credit so jumped on the 3 when I could. It's the Bismarck and Jamestown (middle of the state) area I guess I was wondering about. Glad to hear Jamestown has some verified options. Also wondering if you take I-94 or hop off onto a slower road for efficiency and/or time savings when taking charging into account.

 

[lightfoot3b]

I was going to say it would be sad to see yours go before it ever got to supercharge in ND. Fingers crossed for 2019. I had always said I was waiting for those chargers and that's why I didn't buy an S. Didn't want to lose the tax credit so jumped on the 3 when I could. It's the Bismarck and Jamestown (middle of the state) area I guess I was wondering about. Glad to hear Jamestown has some verified options. Also wondering if you take I-94 or hop off onto a slower road for efficiency and/or time savings when taking charging into account.

I'll sometimes take areas of old highway 10 to go slower and be out of the way.

Confirmed, Sept 11th Model 3 pickup

 

[SparkyM3]

Looks like Alexandria will be operational in 2019.

Electric car owners to power up in Alexandria

 

[casinoman]

I'm jumping into this thread a little late (just ran across it searching for something else). I just wanted to pass on this info for the good of the order. I work at Prairie Knights Casino in Ft Yates, ND (about 45 miles south of Bismarck/Mandan). This fall we installed 4 Tesla destination chargers and 2 universal chargers. 2 of the Tesla and one universal are in our covered parking area of the hotel parking garage. You are all welcome to come charge for free and check it out!

It was a project that we simply wanted to do, so we continued with it even after Tesla said they were no longer able to help with install costs. I'm sure that's part of the reason you have seen several tentative locations fizzle out this summer.

 

[casinoman]

I should also say:
(opinions expressed are mine alone and not necessarily those of my employer)

 

[VIKING26]

I'm jumping into this thread a little late (just ran across it searching for something else). I just wanted to pass on this info for the good of the order. I work at Prairie Knights Casino in Ft Yates, ND (about 45 miles south of Bismarck/Mandan). This fall we installed 4 Tesla destination chargers and 2 universal chargers. 2 of the Tesla and one universal are in our covered parking area of the hotel parking garage. You are all welcome to come charge for free and check it out!

It was a project that we simply wanted to do, so we continued with it even after Tesla said they were no longer able to help with install costs. I'm sure that's part of the reason you have seen several tentative locations fizzle out this summer.

Nice work casinoman!! My parents are taking delivery of a Model 3 this weekend in Mandan and have been known to visit Prairie Knights from time to time. You've made it easier for them to drive there. I reached out to the casinos in Hankinson, ND and Mahnomen, MN a while back requesting that they do the same thing. I didn't get much traction. It makes sense to put in an EV charger as people generally have to drive a longer distance to get there and also spend a few hours there.

 

[Swamey1]

**UPDATE** Nw permit has been pulled and work to be started on 12.5.2018 anyone confirm? @BlueShift Search and Status
Search and Status

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

**UPDATE** Nw permit has been pulled and work to be started on 12.5.2018 anyone confirm? @BlueShift Search and Status
Search and Status

That says it's "boundary location" permit.. So, marking, not indicating construction has begun.
I note it's a Scheels, as in Springfield, IL.

 

[MarcoRP]

This was not the original location though. At the beginning, it was supposed to be located at West Acres Mall