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rgedad
Member
I would like to thank the Tesla User Group who took the time and effort to set up those 2 chargers on Austin St. I was down in Fredricksburg over Thanksgiving. The B&B I stayed at had only 110V 12A outlet so I was able to get some charge, but wanted a full charge for our return to Fort Worth route.
I used the MobileNow charger on Austin St. I went there very early one morning, I am one of those deplorable early risers. First time using MobileNow system - so had to read the instructions - several times. It was still dark out and could not see the CHARGER ID code, I kept trying to used the BIG 1 or BIG 2 as the location code, after awhile I found the location code, and figured out where to get the activation code from MobileNow app, and put it into the charger. then it worked fine.
The original ID Codes on the boxes are worn/faded, and somebody had re-written them with a marker code below. Will try to remember next time I go to bring my embosser & Tape to make new readable ones.
I had a discussion with the B&B owner about the lack of accessible charging stations in the area, and it might be a good selling point to have a charger capability at his B&B. Will probably recommend him adding a J1772 charger as being more universal than a Tesla charger.
I used the MobileNow charger on Austin St. I went there very early one morning, I am one of those deplorable early risers. First time using MobileNow system - so had to read the instructions - several times. It was still dark out and could not see the CHARGER ID code, I kept trying to used the BIG 1 or BIG 2 as the location code, after awhile I found the location code, and figured out where to get the activation code from MobileNow app, and put it into the charger. then it worked fine.
The original ID Codes on the boxes are worn/faded, and somebody had re-written them with a marker code below. Will try to remember next time I go to bring my embosser & Tape to make new readable ones.
I had a discussion with the B&B owner about the lack of accessible charging stations in the area, and it might be a good selling point to have a charger capability at his B&B. Will probably recommend him adding a J1772 charger as being more universal than a Tesla charger.
What was the cost of the mobilenow charger? I cant seem to find any info on plugshare or their website. I'll be there in my 70D to go to enchanted rock and leaving with a near full charge from Austin will get me to the hotel in fredericksburg there with 40%-ish
rgedad
Member
I cannot recall - but I do remember it did not seem egregious. I used it to make sure I was all topped off prior to my return trip north. I had been charging via a wall plug for several days. I wanted to go back-roads all the way to Waco - and I am still a victim of the dreaded RAS (Range Anxiety Syndrome). I have since mostly convinced my Son-In-Law to put in a charger into his B&B as a sales differentiator.
mollyshark
Member
Rgedad, am curious what your route was from FW to Fredericksburg and where you stopped? I'm doing that next week and really see myself having to go 35 through Austin even though it adds time, it is faster with supercharging along the way. And easier on my range anxiety. I can CRAWL to Fredericksburg and probably make it, but.....
rgedad
Member
On the way down I went via Waco to Austin then over to Fredricksburg. No trouble with the charger, but the traffic through Auston was atrocious. People we stayed with said they never, ever, go through Auston due to the traffic - at any time. I would now have to concur with them - probably took an addition 45 minutes to an hour to get through it.
On the way back we effectively did the back roads direct to Waco (starting with a full charge). Made it without issue or serious concern (MX 100D) - and I am somewhat of a range wimp.
On the way back we effectively did the back roads direct to Waco (starting with a full charge). Made it without issue or serious concern (MX 100D) - and I am somewhat of a range wimp.
rafacq
Member
For what it's worth i'm disappointed with the service at the level 2 charger in on Austin St. The charger worked perfectly fine but the MobileNow company they use to pay for it charged my card $20. I followed all the steps in the process and wanted to charge for 2 hours, it's a 0.35 service fee plus $2 per hour. You only have the choice of 1, 2, or 4 hours and it's prepaid. I selected 2hrs and it told me I would be charged $4.35, just enough to get me to the next supercharger. The first time I tried activating charger A and nothing happened it wouldn't actually charge the car, I then set up in the app to use charger B and it works.
I sent an email to Mobile Now letting them know of the problem and asking them to refund on of the charges I'd probably see on my card. Fast forward a fews days and I'm looking at my credit card statement and I see two charges for $20 from Mobile Now. I call the card company to see if those are place holder/pending chargers or I was actually charged $20, they said it was the latter. I got no response from Mobile Now about the first email and nothing from them about the second issue of being charged $20 instead of $4.35. I did some digging around their website and found out they run a prepaid account, so they charge your card $20 and debit your account for as you go. That's great and all for people that use that charger all the time but for one trip in the 2 years I've had the car isn't going to fly. Come to find out their main business model is running parking garages where people park daily, where this concept works better, or even if this charger was a frequent stop. With no response from Mobile Now about the charges of $20 that weren't stated at all when using the app, let alone the double charges, I called the card company back asking what to do and they said with no response from the company they'd issue a charge back.
Great concept and simple to use but charging me $20 to use $4 of electricity isn't gonna fly. I've contacted some local hotels that don't charge $250 a night (the only ones that currently have charging) to see about letting guests use outlets or installing 14-50 or even "chargers" for guests to use until a supercharger or similar charging rolls around.
I sent an email to Mobile Now letting them know of the problem and asking them to refund on of the charges I'd probably see on my card. Fast forward a fews days and I'm looking at my credit card statement and I see two charges for $20 from Mobile Now. I call the card company to see if those are place holder/pending chargers or I was actually charged $20, they said it was the latter. I got no response from Mobile Now about the first email and nothing from them about the second issue of being charged $20 instead of $4.35. I did some digging around their website and found out they run a prepaid account, so they charge your card $20 and debit your account for as you go. That's great and all for people that use that charger all the time but for one trip in the 2 years I've had the car isn't going to fly. Come to find out their main business model is running parking garages where people park daily, where this concept works better, or even if this charger was a frequent stop. With no response from Mobile Now about the charges of $20 that weren't stated at all when using the app, let alone the double charges, I called the card company back asking what to do and they said with no response from the company they'd issue a charge back.
Great concept and simple to use but charging me $20 to use $4 of electricity isn't gonna fly. I've contacted some local hotels that don't charge $250 a night (the only ones that currently have charging) to see about letting guests use outlets or installing 14-50 or even "chargers" for guests to use until a supercharger or similar charging rolls around.
XHabjab
TSLA Bull
Most (all?) of the Tesla chargers at central Texas Best Western locations do/did not work correctly. The ones I am familiar with (Fredericksburg, Llano, Burnet, Lampasas, Johnson City, others...) are a double post install with single J1772 and Tesla HPWC/Destination charger. In all cases, the J1772 works fine but the Tesla charger does not. It acts as if the installing electrician did not bother to adjust the correct current setting at installation. The green light is "on" but it will not charge the car. I also don't know if the hotels have the same "don't care" ownership or they were installed by the same "don't care" electrician. Either way, their presence is a negative to Tesla owners and Tesla wasted their money on these dest chargers. I've talked to front desk people about these chargers at half of the above list and got "oh well" answers. I reported 2 of them at the Tesla black hole email addresses and got no response.
To repeat myself, note that the J1772 chargers work fine. Use your adapter.
I've used a couple and found that the Tesla chargers worked, but the rest of your post exactly matches my experiences. In one case, Floresville, they just needed to be turned on. It's been a while, though, and maybe they have largely fallen into disrepair. Johnson City seemed friendlier and more EV-friendly than the rest, IMO.
The Mobile Now chargers that were there are useless since the company went bankrupt. Apparently the city is “working on a resolution.” about time tesla set up some superchargers there even if it’s 4 urban style ones to run on a single cabinet.
Just returned from Fredericksburg. Still no SC. Attempted to charge at Austin St. Liberty PlugIns has taken over from MobileNow. Used their app, and location code on top of charger. $4-5 for 2 hrs. Got green charging light on charger, but vehicle did not charge. Perhaps it was my adapter. Contacted Liberty and they seem responsive in terms of looking into it.
Well crap, I was kinda hoping that the Fredericksburg SC was up and running. I'm heading to Harker Heights from Junction in a few weeks, 160 miles, but the topography is hilly, which means more consumption. My SR+ could do it under ideal conditions, but that's pushing the limit. The only alternate route is southern down through Austin, but that's 280 miles, four SC's, and another 3 to 4 hours of drive time.
I think you've made a mistake in your routing. To my mind, the drive from Junction to Austin isn't really "southern" since it's almost directly east. And going that way to Harker Heights is only about 215 miles total, not 280. Maybe you meant you'd have to go through San Antonio, too? If you don't need that much added range to make the long legs--either on the direct route from Junction at ~160 mi or to skip San Antonio and go from Junction to the Austin supercharger at ~147 mi--you're probably better off doing a bit of L2 charging somewhere to give you the range bump you need instead of going through San Antonio. According to Plugshare, along the direct route from Junction to Harker Heights there are 8kW chargers at the Best Westerns in Llano (free) and Lampasas (at least $10 for non-hotel guests). For the route through Austin, the Best Western in Johnson City also has a free one. Exactly how the times would work out would depend on your car's range and how comfortable you felt with having fewer fall back options when driving with a low SOC.
I would have to go down to San Antonio, and it is south, because there aren't any SC on route 290/1 to go east to Austin and I'm not going to use an 8kw charger. So plot it again, Junction to San Antonio to Austin and then up to Harker Heights; SC's only since I have free SC....
Why is it that some people come on here to (what seems like) solely prove people wrong? Opens with "I think you've made a mistake in your routing"... No, I didn't! My mistake was posting here...
rgedad
Member
I did one 2 hour charge at charger on West Austin street when I got there - but mostly I plugged it into the wall at the house we were staying at. We were there for a week and at 3-4 miles per hour charge rate - over the week (including local trips - and the couple of hours at the street charger - I was at 100% when i pulled out of the driveway.
I had just convinced my Son-In-Law to put in a level 2 charger at his B&B (where we stayed at) - but then the Virus hit and that was all put on gate back burner. I had shown him the maps and lists of chargers in the area and convinced him it would provide a great marketing notice to have a level 2 charger - even if it was just a 220V outlet.
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