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City of Fort Stockton informed me just now that a permit was issued, for electrical work, for Tesla, at the WalMart.
I spoke with the manager of the WalMart a few minutes ago.

His story:
A team from "Corporate" showed up and shared with him pictures and layouts of a Supercharger.
"They look like big red gas pumps".
The site is surveyed, laid out, and awaiting construction start.
Start is within 30 days.

How about that!
Maybe this news is why Walmart's stock went up so much this week!
 
Maybe this news is why Walmart's stock went up so much this week!

Lot's of Walmart's listed on the Electrify America Coming Soon list, although Fort Stockton is not mentioned.

Welcome to Electrify America | Locations

Judging by some of the locations which are already open, it looks like you'll get several CCS and a CHAdeMO.

I notice there are a couple already open in Arkansas, which might help shorter range Tesla's traverse that state.
 
JSergeant and buttershrimp: Do you really think it safe to go 60 on I-10 when everyone else is going 85?
Safe? Well, since you are asking the guy that went 45 mph for half the trip from Sweetwater to Santa Rosa, I will say, it isn't exactly safe, but I went through a lot of trouble decorating my car with reflective decals and watching my six, putting hazards on and rolling in the shoulder when the occasional car approached. I doubt I'll do it often, and I don't recommend it, I doubt anyone else is as paranoid as I am of being hit from behind while driving slower. I prefer to drive 70-90 mph autopilot hops with quick charging stops. Still, I definitely think it is good to try hypermiling in a less crowded area to learn all about the car. I never quite understood the wisdom of slower highway driving until striving for something besides time savings.
 
thenaimis: For me, the news from Walmart only complicated the sorry situation in Fort Stockton.

There is no more activity at the Flying J. The city implied that the permit for that location was not going to be issued again.
I have no idea what is going to happen there, if anything.

The Walmart/VW installation will apparently bloom into reality on November 6th. I have not seen anything specific to Fort Stockton that indicates what type chargers will be installed there. J1772 seems like good bet, but what level and what connector? Will there be a Tesla SC there also? Will there be a CHAdeMO outlet? Precedent at other VW locations may be relevant, maybe not. I have no idea.

I'll ask Walmart for some specifics.

Anybody want to try shaking the tree at Tesla?
Maybe go by the Houston office where the new SC manager is located?
 
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thenaimis: For me, the news from Walmart only complicated the sorry situation in Fort Stockton.

There is no more activity at the Flying J. The city implied that the permit for that location was not going to be issued again.
I have no idea what is going to happen there, if anything.

The Walmart/VW installation will apparently bloom into reality on November 6th. I have not seen anything specific to Fort Stockton that indicates what type chargers will be installed there. J1772 seems like good bet, but what level and what connector? Will there be a Tesla SC there also? Will there be a CHAdeMO outlet? Precedent at other VW locations may be relevant, maybe not. I have no idea.

I'll ask Walmart for some specifics.

Anybody want to try shaking the tree at Tesla?
Maybe go by the Houston office where the new SC manager is located?

Greetings this morning from the St. George, Utah SC. Which Nav can’t find worth a (censored) now due to construction, compounded by doubly-broken AP2 speed limit errors. That said, it is still adjacent to what is quite possibly the most polite and efficient Star*ucks on the continent. Which fortunately I remembered in order to find the SC because... broken Nav zoom bug.... blah. And the re-route is even more amusing.

Anyway, those are all excellent questions and my first thought would be that Mark Tolley, referenced above, should be given every and several opportunities to answer them, along with one more: What is the direct contact information for the Supercharger team rep assigned to this area, ostensibly from Houston as noted, and the contact info for his boss? Evidently the relevance and urgency of this location relative to most others not labeled capacity management has been lost.

It’s past time that Tesla start responding to these concerns like a real company and I suppose they won’t change until we continue to insist upon it. Especially with the interest and ability you’ve kindly donated to the cause - which can only make the rep’s job easier.

With regard to Houston - once I finish up north, there is a dashcam installer in Houston whose services I may want for a slightly complicated upgrade. Of course, I was waiting for For(got)t(en) Stockton to get done first as a matter of principle. Anyway, if I do decide to head into the land of humidity and smog (that being Houston, and also a wry comment for those who have been in coastal SoCal this past month), I will absolutely add a half-day to bring bagels and the intention of a discussion.

20% probability. Perhaps a kind soul nearer to Houston will beat me to it.

I was only half-joking in the past that EA would beat Tesla to FS. What an embarrassment.
 
It’s past time that Tesla start responding to these concerns like a real company and I suppose they won’t change until we continue to insist upon it.

They should be more like VW? Tao you are responsible for my biggest CoffeeSpit thus far this year.

No, no, I know what you meant.
I just can’t think of any “real company” that would be a good model for the transparency-of-our-proactive-fueling-infrastructure-expansion that you and I desire. My experience is that a real company like Ford, GM lets the one connector fall into disrepair and salespeople may or may not know where it is. Real ChargePoint or Blink may look at the subsidy cap and say “well obviously 30A is going to be enough for this round.”

Real companies are dragged kicking and screaming into this uncharted area. But tell you what, I know exactly where to get the best bagels within 500 miles of Houston and will visit the rep weekly with “these concerns” if we think that is what will help. We will chat about how people come to Texas from lands far away for competent dashcam installation, and the challenge of how best to enable them... thanks for that angle!

Cleanup on Table 5...
 
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The electrify America chargers at 350/150 kW CSS and 50 kW CHAdeMO. There are certainly times I’d take a pay fast DC charge over a free slow charge... Don’t really care to buy a CHAdeMO adaptor though lol.
Walmart in Austin TX has Chademo chargers that used to be free. I charged one time after they started charging and it was $7.50 for 1/2 hour of charging. That was the last time I charged there. Since I have solar panels at home I can charge for free.
 
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Walmart in Austin TX has Chademo chargers that used to be free. I charged one time after they started charging and it was $7.50 for 1/2 hour of charging. That was the last time I charged there.
I would never pay to charge locally. I don’t even bother with free charging locally.

But if I was on a trip and there were no alternatives I would pay and find it very helpful.
 
Heard from both Walmart and Electrify America:

The Walmart sites will feature ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. Charging capabilities (kW) will vary from site to site.
This info may be wrong, and it may change, but that's what I was told this afternoon.
According to both sources cited above, there are no Tesla Superchargers associated with the Walmart sites.
EA suggested I contact Tesla. HA!

I can find no documentation anywhere to support this, but Walmart is a big, segmented company. It is quite possible that Tesla has arranged SC installations co-located at some Walmarts independently from the Electrify America effort. My hope, anyway.

TaoJones: yep, it looks like VW will complete the southern link before Tesla does.

This should be quite embarrassing for Tesla, if you could find someone who cares.
 
Heard from both Walmart and Electrify America:

The Walmart sites will feature ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. Charging capabilities (kW) will vary from site to site.
This info may be wrong, and it may change, but that's what I was told this afternoon.
According to both sources cited above, there are no Tesla Superchargers associated with the Walmart sites.
EA suggested I contact Tesla. HA!

I can find no documentation anywhere to support this, but Walmart is a big, segmented company. It is quite possible that Tesla has arranged SC installations co-located at some Walmarts independently from the Electrify America effort. My hope, anyway.

TaoJones: yep, it looks like VW will complete the southern link before Tesla does.

This should be quite embarrassing for Tesla, if you could find someone who cares.

So does this mean that a Tesla Supercharger IS NOT likely in Ft Stockton anytime soon?
 
Heard from both Walmart and Electrify America:

The Walmart sites will feature ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. Charging capabilities (kW) will vary from site to site.
This info may be wrong, and it may change, but that's what I was told this afternoon.
According to both sources cited above, there are no Tesla Superchargers associated with the Walmart sites.
EA suggested I contact Tesla. HA!

I can find no documentation anywhere to support this, but Walmart is a big, segmented company. It is quite possible that Tesla has arranged SC installations co-located at some Walmarts independently from the Electrify America effort. My hope, anyway.

TaoJones: yep, it looks like VW will complete the southern link before Tesla does.

This should be quite embarrassing for Tesla, if you could find someone who cares.
I've charged at Walmart sites in Iowa, Missouri and (I think) Minnesota, which had J1772 service (only?). One charged me $$$, the others were free to use. Their pedestals looked like ChargePoints but they had another brand name that I don't recall.

[P.S. still can't PM you, I just wanted to say that I would offer to subsidize your Limpia Hotel costs or equiv.]
 
Heard from both Walmart and Electrify America:

The Walmart sites will feature ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. Charging capabilities (kW) will vary from site to site.
This info may be wrong, and it may change, but that's what I was told this afternoon.
According to both sources cited above, there are no Tesla Superchargers associated with the Walmart sites.
EA suggested I contact Tesla. HA!

I can find no documentation anywhere to support this, but Walmart is a big, segmented company. It is quite possible that Tesla has arranged SC installations co-located at some Walmarts independently from the Electrify America effort. My hope, anyway.

TaoJones: yep, it looks like VW will complete the southern link before Tesla does.

This should be quite embarrassing for Tesla, if you could find someone who cares.
Why all this focus on Walmart when we know the superchargers will be built at the Flying J? Last week there were dig requests for the Flying J in Ft. Stockton and Pecos to install car charging stations for Tesla.
 
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Heard from both Walmart and Electrify America:

The Walmart sites will feature ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO connectors. Charging capabilities (kW) will vary from site to site.
This info may be wrong, and it may change, but that's what I was told this afternoon.
According to both sources cited above, there are no Tesla Superchargers associated with the Walmart sites.
EA suggested I contact Tesla. HA!

I can find no documentation anywhere to support this, but Walmart is a big, segmented company. It is quite possible that Tesla has arranged SC installations co-located at some Walmarts independently from the Electrify America effort. My hope, anyway.

TaoJones: yep, it looks like VW will complete the southern link before Tesla does.

This should be quite embarrassing for Tesla, if you could find someone who cares.


"ONLY CCS and CHAdeMO" <---Well that's helpful for those of us with Model3's. =/
 
TexasEV: Thank you for finding that. I quit watching the dig site when the Walmart manager said he had Tesla on the way.

The amount of misinformation from the City of Fort Stockton has just astounded me - well, maybe not.

Work on the SC was to have started on the 16th. I didn't see anything when I whizzed by there yesterday at 85, but I
didn't look very hard.

The Walmart contact was quite helpful, but he was dispensing the company line about the EA chargers being able to serve any EV with a very short charge time. I don't think the VW sites are all that helpful to us, but I'm glad to have an alternative charging network.

So that brings up a question: which EVs can actually make it to the Fort Stockton Walmart in November of 2018, when the site opens?