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Supercharger - Iowa, LA

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A welcome addition, but almost as off putting as Shreveport. That building, whatever the original purpose, has
not had a lot of love, looking as far back as Google Earth will go. From the street name, one guesses it had
begun as an outlet mall, but you can see evidence of swap meets, maybe even a temporary dump/storage site.
Most interesting is that there is no direct access from the highway or at least the 90 degree road.
If food/refreshments are your needs, I guess you stop on the way in.
 
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I didn’t see a permit, this one just opened out of nowhere. The city name is pronounced “eye way” It’s a few miles away from the notorious Lake Charles Supercharger that had a line through shopping center. Photo from Tesla Louisiana Owners and Dreamers Facebook page.
That's the beauty of these prefab four bangers. They go in quickly, even faster if there is a suitable 480 volt feeder handy. And in a small town/more rural area, perhaps permitting moves along that much faster.
Hmmm, maybe the local permit guy owns a Tesla...
 
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Y’all, anyone know what kind of “business” now occupied the formerly empty strip mall? I would posit US Gov and a bit secretive. Anyone have insight?

Connecting some dots.
1. Big, oddly new US flag
2. Several gov GsA plated trucks
3. I tried to use garbage can and was ushered away by aggressive, but genial, security. He wouldn’t tell me what the business was other than an “office.”
A local told me its occupied by FEMA.
 
Y’all, anyone know what kind of “business” now occupied the formerly empty strip mall? I would posit US Gov and a bit secretive. Anyone have insight?

Connecting some dots.
1. Big, oddly new US flag
2. Several gov GsA plated trucks
3. I tried to use garbage can and was ushered away by aggressive, but genial, security. He wouldn’t tell me what the business was other than an “office.”
A local at the Dollar General told me FEMA now occupies the building.
 
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Great charging here recently on a Sunday morning. No one else around at all.

Tesla labels this charger as “limited amenities” and that may even be an overstatement, ha ha. We always stop at the beautiful Louisiana Welcome Center near the TX border when driving east, so no problem for us.
 
I suppose if you always stop there and you like the stop, then no problem. But I like to combine charging stops with restroom breaks.
Yes, it’s important to know the amenities.

We often stop at non-chargers for bathroom breaks: interstate welcome centers and Starbucks with mobile order ahead are usually convenient and very fast.

So far, at the chargers often the bathrooms are quite a hike, or not available. Occasionally they are convenient.
 
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It's the downside of avoiding ice'ing. Even when they are at a good location they are often a long walk away from things.
Of course, and it’s fine with me too. Charging goes by fast enough, and we found that at times it just seemed faster, certainly more comfortable, to stop briefly elsewhere.

Target bathrooms are OK, at least they are near the front of the store instead of having to walk all the way through, but if we’re going to swing by a nearby (driving) Starbucks anyway to pick up a mobile order it’s sometimes more convenient to use their facilities.
 
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Thanks. It would be extremely unusual if they put another one so close to the existing one. Maybe it's a destination charger? Or maybe they will decommission the existing one?
Maybe someone ought to contact "Valerie" in the town of Iowa to see what's up.
The current location is "only" an 8 stall Supercharger and they have a lease. They might close it when the lease it up though.
 
Thanks. It would be extremely unusual if they put another one so close to the existing one. Maybe it's a destination charger? Or maybe they will decommission the existing one?
Maybe someone ought to contact "Valerie" in the town of Iowa to see what's up.
The new one is to be at a Pilot Travel Center according to the twitter link given above.

With different hosts interested and involved, it decentralizes location planning somewhat.
 
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Yes, it’s important to know the amenities.

We often stop at non-chargers for bathroom breaks: interstate welcome centers and Starbucks with mobile order ahead are usually convenient and very fast.

So far, at the chargers often the bathrooms are quite a hike, or not available. Occasionally they are convenient.
EV and Tesla haters always jump on this, forgetting that at many gasoline stops there are no restrooms available for the public. But since the subject revolves aound EVs in general and Teslas in particular, then that little tidbit is ignored, and gassers are therefore proved to be superior.
Ah, well - their loss.
 
We were on the way to this site, hoping to avoid the Lake Charles location. I was poking around the map looking to see if there were any other choices such as Beaumont, then the in-car map flashed a warning that the Iowa location was closed. We stopped at Lake Charles after all.

When we drove by Iowa, I couldn’t see anything at the chargers, but we were short on time and didn’t stop. In Lafayette now. The car says it (Iowa) is up and running but 2D is out of order.

Anybody have any insight?

[Edit: grammar fix]
 
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