Supercharger - San Antonio, TX

[Purdue Mark]

The 3 largest issues are all very close to where you live!

Sorry. I meant the TX/LA largest needs. This was commententing on the AndrewTX post above it when he mentioned the manager in charge of Texas and Louisiana. For the overall needs, I’m sure there are cities that have needs, but I still feel San Antonio is the largest single need in the country based on population and highway connectivity.

Obviously this being close to me effects me more, but I thought San Antonio being the largest hole was a fairly rational opinion.

 

[plumazul]

I was never arguing that San Antonio's metropolitan area had a small population. I felt like my posts were being met with unwarranted hostility so I dropped it. But I will repeat one last time. I want there to be more superchargers and I hope San Antonio gets one, preferably soon.

Based on the way other cities in Texas have been covered San Antonio should probably have 3 by now. (But I would be very happy with just one) I included the list to show that San Antonio is truly a unique case. No other MSA above or well below is without a Supercharger at this time.

My unsubstantiated feeling is that Tesla is meeting resistance in placing a Supercharger in SA. They can either butt heads, which seems to be the plan so far, or do an end run and put SC's on the Interstates outside the city limits. But even the latest site put forth for "Boerne" is actually in the San Antonio city limits.

I think Tesla is trying to build one SC to cover both I-10 and I-35/37, and that would have to be in the city. Just give it up.

I don't know where this resistance would be coming from. It is the policy of the council and the city manager to expand EV support. Everyone in a position of authority in the city would welcome more green tech in the city. There is a fear at city hall that Austin is passing SA by. I will be contacting people I know at city hall to see if maybe the city can be more active in their support. Perhaps they should call Tesla to find out what the problem is and work together to fix it. It's worth a try.

 

[brkaus]

@plumazul tge working theory is that the dealer groups are against it. The fight to get a service center went in forever, with one location being denied due to “the hazardous chemicals in batteries causing a risk to the aquafier recharge zone” or some such nonsense.

Proven or not, that’s the theory.

 

[TexasEV]

@plumazul tge working theory is that the dealer groups are against it. The fight to get a service center went in forever, with one location being denied due to “the hazardous chemicals in batteries causing a risk to the aquafier recharge zone” or some such nonsense.

Proven or not, that’s the theory.

And we have other instances of dealers’ obstruction in Texas, so it’s not a crazy conspiracy theory. Early Tesla owners in Texas remember that a dealer blocked the original plan for a supercharger in Temple, that’s why we have the one in Waco. Dealers also obstructed Tesla in finding a location for the new service center in Austin.

 

[ℬête Noire]

I don't know where this resistance would be coming from. It is the policy of the council and the city manager to expand EV support. Everyone in a position of authority in the city would welcome more green tech in the city. There is a fear at city hall that Austin is passing SA by. I will be contacting people I know at city hall to see if maybe the city can be more active in their support. Perhaps they should call Tesla to find out what the problem is and work together to fix it. It's worth a try.

Reading between the lines of the Twitter response from San Antonio when asked directly about Tesla Supercharging, the paraphrased "EVs are great. We're planning on growing our fleet of EVs" sounds to me a lot like "As long as they are being sold by The Right People". It was a classic subject change non-answer.

Ain't no political corruption as base as small-time, local political corruption. It just takes one connected, highly motivated dealership owner calling in markers to passive-aggressively bung up the bureaucracy. That's an even cheaper project than maintaining the state level car dealerships laws if you have the right friends.

 

[VonHeinrich]

Is there money to be made creating EV charging stations along with restaurant/store business? If yes, why don't we start a consortium to open such a business? Include Tesla supercharging and other high speed EV charging make it a destination location...

 

[brkaus]

Is there money to be made creating EV charging stations along with restaurant/store business? If yes, why don't we start a consortium to open such a business? Include Tesla supercharging and other high speed EV charging make it a destination location...

I don’t see how the numbers would work. The expectation by many is free charging. However it’s $8-15 in real electricity money for a full charge, plus infrastructure, maintenance and operation cost.

People can offer l2 free reasonably easy as that’s $1 / hour electric cost and a plug.

 

[BerTX]

Is there money to be made creating EV charging stations along with restaurant/store business? If yes, why don't we start a consortium to open such a business? Include Tesla supercharging and other high speed EV charging make it a destination location...

Not sure I am understanding what is different about what you are proposing vs. how charging providers are currently operating. EVgo, ChargePoint and the like almost always have their facilities at businesses. If this were a wildly profitable venture, they would be putting them in more places instead of the very few that exist. It would not have been a "punishment" to VW for Dieselgate to have to install high speed charging locations, but an investment...

 

[ℬête Noire]

It would not have been a "punishment" to VW for Dieselgate to have to install high speed charging locations, but an investment...

That's sort of a bone of contention. It's a "punishment" they negotiated. Basically the money was going bye-bye anyway, VW steered it to where they figured would be a good place that they thought they could get a return on eventually.

Without the prodding VW probably wouldn't have done it without having got caught running afoul of the EPA but they were willing to take a flyer on this specifically. They also do seem intent on making a profitable business out of, although the wisdom on the specifics of their plan does come off a bit dubious. It is like they want to make a profit quicker rather than using it to build a customer base by encouraging BEV adoption, so they probably are going to have an issue with low volume of sales.

 

[Purdue Mark]

1 month down, 11 to go.

Any plans to build charging stations in Texas in 2019 ? (San Antonio / Austin in particular) The map shows there are several planned, but 2018 is over and none of those were built (and yes, I know there are notes for each that schedule might slip.)

Definitely. All major highways in Texas will have Superchargers, all the way to Brownsville & across Mexico.

Though in everyone's defense, maybe I-10 and I-35 aren't 'major' highways anyways.

 

[stakker]

Just had my MS' drive unit replaced last week and I got a supercharging notification through the Tesla app. I don't remember a confirmation of a supercharger in the SC in this thread so yeah there is a supercharger in the service center if your car is in for a service.

 

[ℬête Noire]

Yes, Service Centers have a charger pair inside (I don't know if any have extra pairs). There's a few kinds of repairs that really need that sort of thing, unless you're willing to wait several hours on an AC charge, and that'd be taking up their floor space and customer time.

You'll also potentially get a "you might get idle charges" notice if the car hits its set point, which worried me out a little when I got that. I was a good distance away and at first thought they'd rolled it outside to the regular SC in front of the North Houston SC and were expecting me to pick it up from there.

 

[Purdue Mark]

2 months down, 10 to go...

But good news, California had 5 new supercharger stations open because heaven forbid you have to drive 10 miles or wait in a line to use a supercharger around San Diego (cough, Austin, cough) without running in to a new one.

And before PlusEV tells me I'm only concerned with the area near Houston; New Mexico (I-25), Utah, Idaho, Wyoming (I-25), Colorado, South Dakota (I-90), Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma (I-40), Arkansas (I-40), Texas (I-10 & I-35), Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee all have had nothing done this year (even a permit submitted), to make no mention of North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota (I-94) gap. Is anyone getting a sense of, you only drive in Florida, California and New York and fly over all the states listed above from Tesla this year?

 

[PLUS EV]

2 months down, 10 to go...

But good news, California had 5 new supercharger stations open because heaven forbid you have to drive 10 miles or wait in a line to use a supercharger around San Diego (cough, Austin, cough) without running in to a new one.

And before PlusEV tells me I'm only concerned with the area near Houston; New Mexico (I-25), Utah, Idaho, Wyoming (I-25), Colorado, South Dakota (I-90), Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma (I-40), Arkansas (I-40), Texas (I-10 & I-35), Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Tennessee all have had nothing done this year (even a permit submitted), to make no mention of North Dakota, Montana, Minnesota (I-94) gap. Is anyone getting a sense of, you only drive in Florida, California and New York and fly over all the states listed above from Tesla this year?

Glad to see you're still thinking of me!

 

[Purdue Mark]

Glad to see you're still thinking of me!

We just really want a supercharger (or maybe even 2) in San Antonio. The who deserves it more will always be an opinion, but I think most of us here think the city has a strong case for why it should be a higher priority than it seems to be with Tesla.

 

[PLUS EV]

We just really want a supercharger (or maybe even 2) in San Antonio. The who deserves it more will always be an opinion, but I think most of us here think the city has a strong case for why it should be a higher priority than it seems to be with Tesla.

I never disagreed with that and I agree with most of your previous post. I do think San Diego was a poor counter-example however, as that area was desperately in need of superchargers (and could probably still use some more).

I mostly want the interstate gaps filled and then my next priority would be extremely rural dead zones such as Burns OR, Ely NV, Dodge City KS, etc. You know, stuff for long distance travel. Next priority would be places like San Antonio and south side of Seattle, urban areas with large holes relative to Tesla ownership. My last priority would be keeping enough stalls in places like LA and the Bay Area so people aren't waiting in line at peak times. I don't feel too badly for those people as I think they could plan their (often local) charging times better, but I think it's a bad look for the company to have long queues form.

 

[plumazul]

I never disagreed with that and I agree with most of your previous post. I do think San Diego was a poor counter-example however, as that area was desperately in need of superchargers (and could probably still use some more).

I mostly want the interstate gaps filled and then my next priority would be extremely rural dead zones such as Burns OR, Ely NV, Dodge City KS, etc. You know, stuff for long distance travel. Next priority would be places like San Antonio and south side of Seattle, urban areas with large holes relative to Tesla ownership. My last priority would be keeping enough stalls in places like LA and the Bay Area so people aren't waiting in line at peak times. I don't feel too badly for those people as I think they could plan their (often local) charging times better, but I think it's a bad look for the company to have long queues form.

That would be I-10 and I-35 through San Antonio. Both have 200 mile gaps. A lot of Teslas can't do a 200 mile gap.

 

[Graffi]

As one who lives in San Diego, and has FREE Supercharging, I plan to NEVER have to use one of these, except for the one time so I can count them on Superchargers Visited. An hour or so of my time is worth more than the couple of dollars I would save off my home electricity bill.

However, since we love to do road trips in our Tesla we are excitedly waiting on one in the San Antonio area so we do not have to take a detour while driving I-10.

 

[PLUS EV]

That would be I-10 and I-35 through San Antonio. Both have 200 mile gaps. A lot of Teslas can't do a 200 mile gap.

More histrionics from the San Antonio crowd.

The San Marcos detour literally adds 8 miles to the I-10 crossing.

I'm not under the impression that many Tesla owners are driving from Austin to Laredo, but if you are, you'd want a new supercharger in Dilley, not San Antonio.

So back to my point, the San Antonio supercharger would be useful for serving a metro area for trip to SA and back. But it isn't really needed for cross country interstate travel.

 

[plumazul]

When asked on Twitter if he would personally expedite a Supercharger in San Antonio, Elon answered with an "Ok". I'm not expecting anything, but a phone call from Elon just might be enough to get things moving. Time will tell. Perhaps a V3??