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Supercharger - Haubstadt, IN

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The lack of this supercharger is forcing me to hang onto an ICE vehicle. With family in the area, I need to not just pass through Evansville, but wander off into the surrounding area. Even with an absolute top-up at Mt. Vernon, I can barely tag the exchange at Evansville and have enough to return.

I did manage to find a EV charger at a Nissan dealer that gave me enough (SLOWLY) to top up and make it back on one trip, but at the moment it's either take the ICE or sit around for hours. Evansville is what I think of as "drive over country." There are enough superchargers on the interstate to drive through it -- so long as that's all you do.
 
The Tesla map now shows this SC is supposed to be installed at the Target in 2019.

There are no Target stores currently in Elberfeld.

There are 2 Target stores in Evansville though...
I really hope no one ever invites you to go target shooting. :D

Tesla means 2019 is when they are aiming to have it open, but it's not a reliable indicator of when the supercharger will actually begin construction. Which is not to say that the supercharger couldn't eventually end up at the Target store in Evansville, just that that's not what Tesla's map means.
 
The lack of this supercharger is forcing me to hang onto an ICE vehicle. With family in the area, I need to not just pass through Evansville, but wander off into the surrounding area. Even with an absolute top-up at Mt. Vernon, I can barely tag the exchange at Evansville and have enough to return.

I did manage to find a EV charger at a Nissan dealer that gave me enough (SLOWLY) to top up and make it back on one trip, but at the moment it's either take the ICE or sit around for hours. Evansville is what I think of as "drive over country." There are enough superchargers on the interstate to drive through it -- so long as that's all you do.

The Elberfeld site and the one in Bloomington have been on the map for years. But no action AFAICT. My guess is it will eventually be closer to I-69/64, that whole area is considered "Elberfeld." Over by US41 would seem to make more sense to me. But those locations have Evansville mailing addresses. These two locations would open up southwestern Indiana to day trips from the rest of the state. Not really viable today.
 
It just seems odd that Telsa ignores a 192-mile GAP in their SC network along a major east-west highway. This site was originally projected to be in place by 2018, then it slipped into 2019 and 2019 is now about to become 2020.

Not sure why this one is taking so long.
 
Yes, this missing supercharger still means that both southern Indiana -- and anywhere to the east -- are really out of range for my SR+. Theoretically I could top off at Mt. Vernon and get to Louisville, but doing so would mean driving along at low speed and hoping for both good weather and no issues. Too much of a risk.
 
3 years ago I made a Tesla road trip from Phoenix to New Orleans and then from New Orleans to Cleveland.

The PHX-NO route went through Flagstaff and Oklahoma City.

The NO-CLE route went through Atlanta.

Just a little perspective :D
 
I've been eye-balling this spot since I got my Model S 75 back in October '17. A buddy of mine from the Navy was a recruiter station in Kansas City, MO and made this stretch in his Sep 2018 MS75 a couple times. He has the patience of a saint and doesn't mind drafting (at a safe distance) behind semis doing 65-70. The first time, he stopped at the Louisville charger before continuing down to where I was living in Shepherdsville. On his return trip, he left my house and topped off to 100% at the Louisville charger, then arrived in Mt Vernon with about 12% to spare. Since then, he'd visited a couple more times and skipped the Louisville charger, leaving my house with 100% each time.

Until one fateful day... It was December 30th, around freezing temperatures. He had made the drive in the cold before, so that wasn't quite a concern. The big difference this day was that he faced a 15-20 mph headwind almost the entire way. Tesla routed him up through Indy, which he ignored. He blew past the Louisville charger, as he'd done many times before, and head west on 64. A good ways past Santa Clause he noticed he wasn't "regaining" the estimated percentage on arrival like he normally would and started getting worried, but was confident that hyper-miling, slower speed, drafting, etc. would get him there.

Long story a little bit shorter, he didn't. He ran out of range 3 miles from the Mt Vernon supercharger. He was stuck there for hours with a state trooper as they waited for a tow truck to come from a city 45 minutes away because none of the local companies wanted to deal with a Tesla. To make matters worse, his 12-volt died while he was waiting, meaning he couldn't get the computer to turn on in order to enable tow mode, so they had to drag the car onto the flat bed of the truck, then "shake" it off the truck at the supercharger. One of the other Tesla owners at the charger gave him a lift to a nearby store to pick up a set of jumper cables, the hotel maintenance guy brought his truck around to boost his 12-volt alive, and he was finally able to get the supercharger connected and charging.

We've since learned that there's a couple places on plug share that spending about 30 minutes there would have saved him hundreds of dollars, hours of time, and a nasty gouge on his front fascia from where the tow eye pushed into the bumper as it was being drug onto the bed without tow mode engaged.

TL;DR SUMMARY
1. That stint from Mt Vernon to Louisville is doable in a dual motor, air suspension, range mode enabled MS75 from 2018 with conservative driving practices, but you have to have a certain level of risk tolerance to even consider it.
2. Tesla routing may be overly conservative SOMETIMES, but it's usually on-point enough that if you deviate from it too much, you're asking for trouble. (Use tools like abetterrouteplanner if you insist on not following Tesla's route)
3. In the event you do run out of range, always make sure you have the following equipment: Jumper cables (to boost your own 12-volt if it dies), wheel chocks (so you can put it into tow mode immediately upon the car becoming undriveable, BEFORE the 12-volt dies)

They'll get the Elberfeld/Haubstadt charger built someday. I don't even live in KY anymore, I've since moved up to northern Indiana, but I still keep eagle-eyeing that open gap on the map every Monday when Tesla Time News does their "New superchargers this week" and I see there still isn't a blue dot in that gaping hole... But at least eastern Louisville is getting a second charger. :p
 
Well here it is Nov 2020 and still no activity, so it looks like 2018 slipped to 2019, then 2020, and now to 2021.

I don't understand why this hole hasn't been plugged yet. It's a major east/west highway that experiences major temperature extremes, have seen 100+ degrees in summer months and below ZERO in the winter. Not a very EV friendly stretch of highway.

Elon please plug this hole.
 
I was at the Indy service center recently and one of the sales people told me they were building a supercharger in Seymour, IN next. I told him that made no sense, that route of I65 seems covered enough, especially when compared to I69/I64 through Evansville. Don’t know why they lack the urgency to plug this obvious gap.
 
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I was at the Indy service center recently and one of the sales people told me they were building a supercharger in Seymour, IN next. I told him that made no sense, that route of I65 seems covered enough, especially when compared to I69/I64 through Evansville. Don’t know why they lack the urgency to plug this obvious gap.
Seymour cuts a 125 mile gap between superchargers. I think it makes sense to put one there!