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Supercharger - Mountain Village, CO - Mountain Village Blvd

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I'm curious, can anyone explain the logic of choosing Telluride over Durango for a supercharger?
The number of Teslas visiting Telluride is already significant and it opens up the route from Montrose to Cortez (and Mesa Verde NP) via SH 145 over Lizard Head Pass.

Reaching the Farmington NM Supercharger Station, or Durango, is fairly easy from Montrose — despite the distance and elevation change the speeds are low over much of the route so it uses less energy than you might expect.
 
The local power co-op has been contacted by Tesla about a Supercharger Station in Telluride/Mountain Village. No specific location known yet. My guess is Mountain Village since Telluride is pretty tight when it comes to space and parking. Or the service station complex on the highway where the road to Telluride splits off.
Coincidental timing? Just a few hours ago someone posted on the supercharge.info forum about this location too. According to William99, it is actually under construction on level 5 of Mountain Villiage's Gondola Parking Garage:
It’s been a whisper around here, (now it’s a reality) but we have been trying to get a supercharger in Telluride, CO for a long long time. There are more Tesla cars per capita than anyplace I’ve ever been but the Town of Telluride and the San Miguel County Supervisors didn’t want “Branded” so they put J1772’s in that charge as slow as molasses. Soooo, the Town of Mountain Villiage, a gondola ride away from Telluride, has allowed Tesla to built 8 stalls in the level 5 of their Gondola Parking Garage....

No pics showing actual construction were included, though.
 
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Coincidental timing? Just a few hours ago someone posted on the supercharge.info forum about this location too. According to William99, it is actually under construction on level 5 of Mountain Villiage's Gondola Parking Garage:


No pics showing actual construction were included, though.
Interesting. I'll be working at the Courthouse in Ouray tomorrow but perhaps on Thursday I can run over to Mountain Village to take a look.
 
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Quote from the Town of MV:

Summer 2021 Construction Projects​


Tesla supercharging station installation | 0% COMPLETE

A Tesla supercharging station is being installed in Level 5 of the Gondola Parking Garage. In order to accommodate the station, utility infrastructure enhancements will begin Tuesday, July 6.

Construction activities may lead to brief traffic stops when entering and exiting the parking garage periodically throughout the day starting Tuesday, July 6 through Friday, July 9. The station will have the capability to charge up to eight vehicles will be complete by early fall (stay tuned for an announcement when it is ready for public use)
 
The local power co-op has been contacted by Tesla about a Supercharger Station in Telluride/Mountain Village. No specific location known yet. My guess is Mountain Village since Telluride is pretty tight when it comes to space and parking. Or the service station complex on the highway where the road to Telluride splits off.
I didn't have time to when I saw your message last night since I had to run to a meeting. We've known it would be somewhere in Mountain Village since the beginning of 2021: New Colorado Superchargers

Ironic timing though, as shortly after I read your message and before I could reply, @MarcoRP tweeted out the details. Thanks again, @MarcoRP!

I was chatting with someone back in January and we thought it would be closer to the Lawson Hill Park & Ride on highway 145. Guess we got that wrong. The Gondola Parking Garage location definitely caters more to ski traffic but I guess it's only a few minutes out of the way. It should be better that the Colorado Springs parking garage since parking is free during the day:

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I didn't have time to when I saw your message last night since I had to run to a meeting. We've known it would be somewhere in Mountain Village since the beginning of 2021: New Colorado Superchargers

Ironic timing though, as shortly after I read your message and before I could reply, @MarcoRP tweeted out the details. Thanks again, @MarcoRP!

I was chatting with someone back in January and we thought it would be closer to the Lawson Hill Park & Ride on highway 145. Guess we got that wrong. The Gondola Parking Garage location definitely caters more to ski traffic but I guess it's only a few minutes out of the way. It should be better that the Colorado Springs parking garage since parking is free during the day:

View attachment 682230
I think the Mountain Village parking garage is a splendid location. Take a ride on the free gondola down to Telluride. It is well worth the trip — that drop from the ridge down into town is spectacular! In summers you can hike up the ski trails. Winter and summer, I particularly like the view into Bear Creek Canyon from the top of chair six. The only problem is that you will need to remember to set your car to 100% and even that won't be long enough to explore the area, due to rapid Supercharging.

I've skied all of the more than two dozen ski areas in Colorado, and dozens more in most of the other western states, and I consider Telluride to be the most scenic. They also have three single black diamond runs that they groom in rotation with winch cats (too steep for regular snowcats), turning parts of them into black diamond cruisers (still plenty of bumps for those who enjoy them). I stopped skiing some years ago because they raised the price, even for locals, beyond my willingness to pay. But it's still a beautiful place and far enough from any major metro area that it doesn't get the crowds found in so many other places.

My disappointment is that there still is no Supercharger Station planned for Cortez, gateway city to Mesa Verde National Park, or Kayenta AZ, the direct route to Flagstaff AZ. However, the Mountain Village Supercharger Station will open up SH 145, the route over Lizard Head Pass, and a very scenic loop will be practical: Montrose, Ridgway, Dallas Divide, Mountain Village/Telluride, Lizard Head Pass, Dolores, Durango, Silverton, Red Mountain Pass, Ouray, Ridgway, Montrose. Many variants and side trips are also possible, of course.
 
I’ll take a SC in Mountain Village (aka Telluride), but honestly I’m bit disappointed they are putting a SC here before Kayenta or Cortez, either of which would be much more useful for improving popular regional travel routes. I do the Telluride-Flagsaff trip many times a year (as do many Tesla owners I know).

Don’t get me wrong the Telluride area is in need of more charging, but not necessarily a full blown SC before they fill the Kayenta and Cortez gaps. Most people traveling to Telluride do so to spend multiple days in which case destination charging would be fine until we fill the more important gaps to actually get to and from here. Snowbird has destination chargers in their parking garage and they work well even for a day trip. Plug in, ski all day then come back to a full battery.

Where this region NEEDS SCs is Kayenta and Cortez. These are important regional links for those trying to get between Telluride or Montrose and many important locations in Southern CO (Durango, Pagosa Springs) as well as Northern and Central AZ (Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, north Phoenix). Right now the AZ trips require significant detours to Gallup or Blanding instead of fastest routing via Cortez and Kayenta. Furthermore even the detour routes are impractcal in most Teslas with skis or mountain bikes mounted outside, which is what many of us bring to the mountains! Kayenta and Cortez would solve these problems.

Kayenta had been on the “coming soon” map for years and was recently removed to the disappointment of many AZ and CO Tesla owners. Hopefully someone at Tesla will soon make these important locations a priority.
 
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I’ll take a SC in Mountain Village (aka Telluride), but honestly I’m bit disappointed they are putting a SC here before Kayenta or Cortez, either of which would be much more useful for improving popular regional travel routes. I do the Telluride-Flagsaff trip many times a year (as do many Tesla owners I know).

Don’t get me wrong the Telluride area is in need of more charging, but not necessarily a full blown SC before they fill the Kayenta and Cortez gaps. Most people traveling to Telluride do so to spend multiple days in which case destination charging would be fine until we fill the more important gaps to actually get to and from here. Snowbird has destination chargers in their parking garage and they work well even for a day trip. Plug in, ski all day then come back to a full battery.

Where this region NEEDS SCs is Kayenta and Cortez. These are important regional links for those trying to get between Telluride or Montrose and many important locations in Southern CO (Durango, Pagosa Springs) as well as Northern and Central AZ (Flagstaff, Prescott, Sedona, north Phoenix). Right now the AZ trips require significant detours to Gallup or Blanding instead of fastest routing via Cortez and Kayenta. Furthermore even the detour routes are impractcal in most Teslas with skis or mountain bikes mounted outside, which is what many of us bring to the mountains! Kayenta and Cortez would solve these problems.

Kayenta had been on the “coming soon” map for years and was recently removed to the disappointment of many AZ and CO Tesla owners. Hopefully someone at Tesla will soon make these important locations a priority.
@SnowFlyer knows exactly what he is talking about regarding the state of charging in the 4 Corners region. I simply can't improve on his post.