Supercharger - Fort Stockton, Texas

[TaoJones]

Well crap, I just discovered that I have a previous commitment on November 3-4 and 10-11.
(Serving on a protest committee at a sailing regatta - great fun, eh? At least I get to sail first.)

Please have the celebration whenever appropriate - perhaps I can catch up with everyone when we have our first Tesla/EV rally out here.

Nerts.

And nerts a second time.

TLDR version: We've waited this long. Might as well get it right.

@charliepmayer When were you thinking the first Tesla/EV rally might be out there? Spring? I am growing increasingly concerned about scheduling any event at a relatively remotely-located SC that as yet has no power - especially in a region with a history of long delays from construction completion to activation.

If you were thinking about coordinating a regional EV rally sometime in the spring, I don't mind shelving the spikes (literally) until then. The more people and cars, the better.

In a perfect world, we would wait for this SC to get activated and then schedule the Golden Spike Ceremony for 2-3 weeks after that. However, time is passing and people's schedules are filling up. And prepending or appending a GSC to the first regional rally after the infrastructure fully exists sounds like a reasonable and prudent idea absent any time or weather pressure whatsoever.

 

[PLUS EV]

Nerts.

And nerts a second time.

TLDR version: We've waited this long. Might as well get it right.

@charliepmayer When were you thinking the first Tesla/EV rally might be out there? Spring? I am growing increasingly concerned about scheduling any event at a relatively remotely-located SC that as yet has no power - especially in a region with a history of long delays from construction completion to activation.

If you were thinking about coordinating a regional EV rally sometime in the spring, I don't mind shelving the spikes (literally) until then. The more people and cars, the better.

In a perfect world, we would wait for this SC to get activated and then schedule the Golden Spike Ceremony for 2-3 weeks after that. However, time is passing and people's schedules are filling up. And prepending or appending a GSC to the first regional rally after the infrastructure fully exists sounds like a reasonable and prudent idea absent any time or weather pressure whatsoever.

It's a good thing Interstate 10 is traversable year round!

 

[TaoJones]

It's a good thing Interstate 10 is traversable year round!

If only everyone who wants to attend lived along I-10...

 

[tmoz]

If only everyone who wants to attend lived along I-10...

I'm only 9.4 miles away from I10. It's the other 650 miles that is the pain.

 

[charliepmayer]

TaoJones: definitely after power-up. At least two of us checked it out today - no joy.
Thank you for considering a delay.

November 17 might work - but the holiday season might be pretty tough to coordinate after that. Opinions, please?

Maybe the smart thing is to delay until after the holidays. The desert gets pretty nippy in winter, but the night skies are spectacular.
Hotel Limpia has a nice fireplace in the main gathering area.

Fort Davis lightning strikes have apparently taken out the HPWCs at the Hotel Limpia - we will need these for our rally.
Working on that.............

Six new Corvettes paraded the area today - pretty sure we can do better than that. Heck, three of us were in Marfa yesterday!
(don't know who they were - maybe Alphacrux in a white 3 with Aeros ?)

 

[TaoJones]

TaoJones: definitely after power-up. At least two of us checked it out today - no joy.
Thank you for considering a delay.

November 17 might work - but the holiday season might be pretty tough to coordinate after that. Opinions, please?

Maybe the smart thing is to delay until after the holidays. The desert gets pretty nippy in winter, but the night skies are spectacular.
Hotel Limpia has a nice fireplace in the main gathering area.

Fort Davis lightning strikes have apparently taken out the HPWCs at the Hotel Limpia - we will need these for our rally.
Working on that.............

Six new Corvettes paraded the area today - pretty sure we can do better than that. Heck, three of us were in Marfa yesterday!
(don't know who they were - maybe Alphacrux in a white 3 with Aeros ?)

TLDR version:

Let's defer until after the holidays. This thread and the golden spikes will still be here.

Loquacious version:

Given the givens, and with some of the feedback very much in mind that I've received this weekend, I vote we:

1. wait until after the holidays,
2. schedule a proper regional EV rally with *plenty* of notice,
3. send invites to *all* of the Tesla Owners Clubs,
4. promote the Golden Spike Ceremony as the kickoff event for a slate of activities quite similar to what you proposed upthread, and
5. perhaps cross-promote with whatever the best event in the area is in late winter/early spring. Which is to say, not Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.

The 50 golden spikes will still be here, and now that they're painted/dipped, they won't even rust. A deferred grand opening is still a grand opening. And there's a rumor that Tesla will bring back ribbon cuttings in 2019, so there's that.

March/April sounds pretty much perfect, and with that said, I'm open to whatever ideas the group has.

So, if there are no strenuous objections, I do vote that we defer this little shindig until *after the holidays*.

 

[TaoJones]

I'm only 9.4 miles away from I10. It's the other 650 miles that is the pain.

Hehe. I'm about the same distance from I-10 and yeah, it's the other 1100 miles each way that require a bit of scheduling sometimes.

Fortunately, at least we generally don't need snow tires nor chains, nor are they almost ever required.

With that said, it's been nifty to see interest from all over the place/continent in a par-TAY to celebrate, finally after years of perplexing delay, the completion of what will be the safest year-round transcontinental route that yet exists in the world. Hopefully everyone and then some can make it in the spring.

 

[JSergeant]

TLDR version:

Let's defer until after the holidays. This thread and the golden spikes will still be here.

Loquacious version:

Given the givens, and with some of the feedback very much in mind that I've received this weekend, I vote we:

1. wait until after the holidays,
2. schedule a proper regional EV rally with *plenty* of notice,
3. send invites to *all* of the Tesla Owners Clubs,
4. promote the Golden Spike Ceremony as the kickoff event for a slate of activities quite similar to what you proposed upthread, and
5. perhaps cross-promote with whatever the best event in the area is in late winter/early spring. Which is to say, not Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.

The 50 golden spikes will still be here, and now that they're painted/dipped, they won't even rust. A deferred grand opening is still a grand opening. And there's a rumor that Tesla will bring back ribbon cuttings in 2019, so there's that.

March/April sounds pretty much perfect, and with that said, I'm open to whatever ideas the group has.

So, if there are no strenuous objections, I do vote that we defer this little shindig until *after the holidays*.

If you delay it until March/April, I might even drive out there. Maybe we can get all the leaders of the Supercharger Challenge to show up:
@Bighorn, @PLUS EV, @Darren S
Superchargers Visited

 

[Alphacrux]

TaoJones: definitely after power-up. At least two of us checked it out today - no joy.
Thank you for considering a delay.

Six new Corvettes paraded the area today - pretty sure we can do better than that. Heck, three of us were in Marfa yesterday!
(don't know who they were - maybe Alphacrux in a white 3 with Aeros ?)

No. We came back east after a few weeks in San Diego.

 

[jbcarioca]

It's 1800 miles for me, so I'll probably continue afterwards to make it coast-to-coast I-10. Delaying until March/April will make it very likely that i'll be there in my P3D+.
After all this time, Fort Stockton certainly is the most important US opening, from my perspective anyway. I'll probably stop at Iraan anyway, for nostalgic value.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

TLDR version:

Let's defer until after the holidays. This thread and the golden spikes will still be here.

Loquacious version:

Given the givens, and with some of the feedback very much in mind that I've received this weekend, I vote we:

1. wait until after the holidays,
2. schedule a proper regional EV rally with *plenty* of notice,
3. send invites to *all* of the Tesla Owners Clubs,
4. promote the Golden Spike Ceremony as the kickoff event for a slate of activities quite similar to what you proposed upthread, and
5. perhaps cross-promote with whatever the best event in the area is in late winter/early spring. Which is to say, not Nov/Dec/Jan/Feb.

The 50 golden spikes will still be here, and now that they're painted/dipped, they won't even rust. A deferred grand opening is still a grand opening. And there's a rumor that Tesla will bring back ribbon cuttings in 2019, so there's that.

March/April sounds pretty much perfect, and with that said, I'm open to whatever ideas the group has.

So, if there are no strenuous objections, I do vote that we defer this little shindig until *after the holidays*.

Shouldn't an I-10 ceremony be held in the middle of winter? End of January/Beginning of February. Feb 2/3 2019 is closest.
The shouting about I-10 is that it's important for winter travel.

 

[tmoz]

Shouldn't an I-10 ceremony be held in the middle of winter? End of January/Beginning of February. Feb 2/3 2019 is closest.
The shouting about I-10 is that it's important for winter travel.

Important for winter so that you don't have to spend extra time there (-:
This thread should hit 100 pages for sure by then. Have any other threads hit that?
And yes, I'd be really tempted to go to a March ribbon cutting. I definitely can't make a 2018 event.

 

[kavyboy]

By March, I'll probably be an extra 1300 miles away. I'll still try to make it.

 

[Behind]

I have been following this thread for a while. Decided to go ahead and sign-in and post. Love all of the recent updates (photos of the charging station and the unpowered meter) and hope you keep them coming. I am going to Midland before Thanksgiving and would love to go over to Fort Davis area to relive childhood memories or just make some new ones with our bicycles. Traveling before it is very cold, not too hot, but maybe with less flood / wind warnings would be cool, fingers crossed, for the week of November 17, 2018. As a side note, would Mountain Inn be just as good a place to stay as Hotel Limpia? Whenever the West Texas Tesla Road Rally/ Golden Spike Ceremony is set I would love to participate.

 

[charliepmayer]

Note: Hotel Limpia HPWC operational again.

 

[MP3Mike]

Note: Hotel Limpia HPWC operational again.

Do you know what had to be done to get it up and running again?

 

[Alphacrux]

Note: Hotel Limpia HPWC operational again.

Excellent! Thanks! Btw, what is the charge rate on these?

 

[Behind]

So Hotel Limpia has a destination charger? That was why its mentioned as a place to stay, it is good for an overnight charge? I remember reading the Fort Davis library had one as well?

 

[Graffi]

WAIT!!! WHAT??? FORT STOCKTON IS NOT LIVE YET???

I was there yesterday, Sunday, October 7, 2018 at about 5:30 pm and plugged in for about 25 minutes to get enough extra electrons to make it to Van Horn. I even have Photographic Evidence to prove it, taken at 5:40 pm.

And now you tell me that it was not LIVE??? Then how did I make it from Ozona to Van Horn in a Model S 75D???

Actually it was simple:
*Got 100% charge at Ozona. 242 RM
*Easy Driving and acceleration onto I-10W up to 55 mph
*About 2 miles down the road got behind Semi driving 71 mph all the way to Fort Stockton. He actually also pulled into the Flying J in front of me.
*Easy Driving and acceleration onto I-10W up to 55 mph
*Less than 1 mile got behind Semi driving 75 mph until he pulled off about 20 miles from Van Horn.
*Got behind another Semi also driving 75 mph until he pulled off in Van Horn one exit before Supercharger.
*By this time Tessi showed 0% at arrival and 1 mile remaining. Drove 50 mph to next exit. Showed 0 miles remaining before exit.
*Drove VERY slowly with almost no acceleration from exit ramp stop sign and two other stop signs before arriving at Supercharger.
*VERY SLOW charging up to 20%.
*Moved to another slot and received full charge rate (96 kWh) until ramp down.

Here are stats: 229.0 miles, 65.2 kWh used, 285 Wh/mi.

Question: What happened to the other 10 kWh? I know that a small number is unavailable, but not all of it. Could I have driven another 20 to 25 miles? During our Cross Country trip last year we ran the battery down and ended up driving 35 mph for more than a few miles after the dash showed 0 miles remaining, all the while thinking it would die before we got to the Saint Augustine, FL Supercharger. In that case we made it. Now that I know that we went from full to empty using only 65.2 kWh I am thinking that our MS is like our 2013 Nissan Leaf and has hidden "Safety Miles" when it shows empty. Any thoughts???

Even though we made good time and a good energy usage, there was a strong quartering cross and tail wind to Ft Stockton and about half-way to Van Horn. The other half was a quartering head-wind to direct head-wind. It was nice drafting behind the Semi as it broke up ALL the head-wind.

Also the faster speed on second leg (from 71 mph to 75 mph) caused a reduction in efficiency. I forgot to look at it in Ft Stockton, but the overall average of 285 was a mix of the lower FS leg and the Van Horn leg with an efficiency of 296 Wh/mi. Also the elevation gain to VH ate up more energy.

My next trip through Fort Stockton will be in the middle of January, 2019. Charlie, please make sure this Supercharger is LIVE by then. just saying ....

 

[charliepmayer]

The Friends of the Jeff Davis County Library were instrumental in getting the locals to support EV charging in Fort Davis.
The chargers ended up at the Hotel Limpia after the owner offered space there.

Several weeks ago the Hotel Limpia activated two HPWCs sharing a 100 amp breaker and a Clipper Creek J1772.
After a rather spectacular series of lightning storms last week both of the HPWCs stopped working, but one still had illuminated leds.

Today the hotel tech disconnected the dark HPWC and reconfigured the other one as a stand-alone charger, 100 amp breaker.
Indicator lights indicate all is well, but no car was available to test it - need a volunteer to report, please!

The Clipper Creek (J1772) was not affected (40 amp breaker - delivers 32 amps).

More here: Far West Texas Charging