Supercharger - St. Charles, MO

[cpa]

If you're planning an overnight stay around that time, why not push a little further to Columbia, park on the Level 2 charger overnight while you sleep, and then wake up with a full charge? This would shorten the amount of time you spend charging at both Independence and St Charles.

That is a good suggestion, Jvon, but we are starting the day near Denver, so will likely be ready to eat and relax by the time we reach Independence. If my son feels like going further, by all means your suggestion will be implemented! Thanks again! :smile:

 

[Roland]

I hit the button to navigate to the St. Charles Supercharger this morning (I don't leave until noon though) and the NAV directed me to the Independence charger! Thought maybe I hit the wrong button so I tried again with the same result. Then I manually typed in the Supercharger's street address...and still got routed to Independence...and not to the St. Charles charger via Independence, just to Independence as a final destination!
What the heck?

This is the Trip Planner in 6.2. You have to touch trip at the bottom. The directions will flip over. Then push "remove all charging stops". Now it will take you to St Charles.

It drove me nuts on my last trip

 

[efusco]

This is the Trip Planner in 6.2. You have to touch trip at the bottom. The directions will flip over. Then push "remove all charging stops". Now it will take you to St Charles.

It drove me nuts on my last trip

I eventually sorted that out, but it was not intuitive.

 

[Bottesini]

Hello,
This is my first reply so please be patient with me if I'm in the wrong thread!
I'm planning a trip from Cincinnati to Denver at the end of May via I70 and am excited to see that the new Supercharger in St. Charles is now available. My question is: has anyone made the trip between Superchargers in St. Charles and Independence directly? It looks like it should be doable - 220 miles - but since I don't know the terrain I'm wondering if anyone who has actually done it has any words of wisdom!
Thanks!

 

[ruby110]

I'm going from Independence tomorrow. I'll let you know. I went the other way with help from Liz & Brian. It was easy but shorter and with a following wind.

 

[ruby110]

I made it from Independence to St. Charles with 12% remaining. The prediction had been 13%. Drove at or below the speed limit until the last 50 miles. Wind was light until Columbia then picked up but was from the north. Had been NE.

 

[Bottesini]

Thanks for the info Ruby. So I guess it should be OK as long as I keep the speed within reason. I've got plenty of music & audio books to keep us entertained so it shouldn't be too much of a chore!

 

[purplewalt]

Hello,
This is my first reply so please be patient with me if I'm in the wrong thread!
I'm planning a trip from Cincinnati to Denver at the end of May via I70 and am excited to see that the new Supercharger in St. Charles is now available. My question is: has anyone made the trip between Superchargers in St. Charles and Independence directly? It looks like it should be doable - 220 miles - but since I don't know the terrain I'm wondering if anyone who has actually done it has any words of wisdom!
Thanks!

Hi Bottesini,
Welcome to the forum.

Sharing a couple of thoughts for your upcoming trip:

Most of the other posts are from drivers headed East, and they probably enjoyed a tailwind.

Since your route has you heading West, prevailing headwinds will impact your range.
** Pay attention to the the amount of wind and slow down to offset its impact. You cannot stop the wind, the single most important thing you can control is your driving speed. Consider driving 55-59 mph (60 mph average) for the first half of the trip, then check remaining battery level, re-evaluate and adjust your driving speed based on how much you range you have left. Much less chance of range anxiety to arrive with 30 miles of range than to run out short of your next charging station.
** Depending on temperature and weather conditions (precipitation) you may consider driving with A/C off and windows slightly cracked.
** Drive with Range Mode ON.
** Drive effectively. Do not use cruise control, instead adjust your driving speed with the terrain, easing off throttle going up hills and slightly picking up speed going downhill. Latest firmware updates have comments that will advise you to adjust your speed if its projects has you running into negative range.

A couple more notes:
** Driving in the rain reduces your range due to extra friction.
** Remember Zero means Zero.
** If worse comes to worse (weather, wind, temperature, etc.) consider pulling off the road and getting a supplemental 30 miles of charge @ an RV park.

Enjoy driving your car at a relaxed rate of speed.
Most of your route (Cincinnati to Denver) will not require any adjustments to your driving style as you go from Supercharger to Supercharger, but the distance from St. Charles headed West warrants a bit of care and adjustment.

 

[jvonbokel]

** Remember Zero means Zero.

I hate to say it, but sometimes even 7 means zero. I attempted this trip a few months ago and my car shut down with 7 miles remaining on the dash. Hopefully that was a rare fluke, and possibly influenced by the cold, snowy weather (maybe excess wind as well), but for now I don't count on anything below 10.

 

[paco3791]

I hate to say it, but sometimes even 7 means zero. I attempted this trip a few months ago and my car shut down with 7 miles remaining on the dash. Hopefully that was a rare fluke, and possibly influenced by the cold, snowy weather (maybe excess wind as well), but for now I don't count on anything below 10.

Wow, that must have been exciting! I've been below Zero a couple times out of necessity/poor planning, as recently as this last February. Usually the best indication of impending shut down is the gradual fall of the power limit line with the go/no go cut off some where around 30kW as reported by @islandbayy in one of his (mis)adventures. Do you recall where your power limit dashed line was when the car died?

 

[rabar10]

Moved some posts to their own thread topic: Wind forecasting/visualization, range impact

 

[FlasherZ]

I had a meeting in Maryland Heights yesterday, and headed out to St. Charles during the lunch break to plug in while we had a break. I grabbed a Smash Burger (the St. Louis is DELICIOUS) and spent some time talking to people who were looking at the car. I talked to the manager and a couple of the employees at Smash Burger and when I asked how many Tesla customers are coming in, they said "more than we thought".

If you love big thick juicy hamburgers, they're delicious. Be sure to tell them you're a Tesla-owning customer - perhaps they'll put a Tesla deal together.

I met another couple who were driving through to Omaha for Berkshire-Hathaway's meeting and stopped to top up. The wind was up a bit yesterday, so I gave them some advice to start out slow so they'd make it to Independence, and I think they were aware of the hotel in Columbia.

 

[efusco]

I had a meeting in Maryland Heights yesterday, and headed out to St. Charles during the lunch break to plug in while we had a break. I grabbed a Smash Burger (the St. Louis is DELICIOUS) and spent some time talking to people who were looking at the car. I talked to the manager and a couple of the employees at Smash Burger and when I asked how many Tesla customers are coming in, they said "more than we thought".

If you love big thick juicy hamburgers, they're delicious. Be sure to tell them you're a Tesla-owning customer - perhaps they'll put a Tesla deal together.

I met another couple who were driving through to Omaha for Berkshire-Hathaway's meeting and stopped to top up. The wind was up a bit yesterday, so I gave them some advice to start out slow so they'd make it to Independence, and I think they were aware of the hotel in Columbia.

Love Smash Burger, get the rosemary fries (maybe Smashfries?)...super good. and the Truffle Mayo goes great on anything.

 

[JKerensky]

I talked to the manager and a couple of the employees at Smash Burger and when I asked how many Tesla customers are coming in, they said "more than we thought".

Half of them were probably me. I've been there a bunch over lunch, shown off the car to coworkers, showed how easy the chargers work, etc. May have gotten at least one or two of them thinking of getting a Tesla of their own. Most of the time I'm there, lots of people have checked out my car as it charges, even a few took pictures.

I've only seen one non-Tesla park in those spots. I thought for sure it was going to be an issue.

 

[FlasherZ]

Half of them were probably me. I've been there a bunch over lunch, shown off the car to coworkers, showed how easy the chargers work, etc. May have gotten at least one or two of them thinking of getting a Tesla of their own. Most of the time I'm there, lots of people have checked out my car as it charges, even a few took pictures.

I've only seen one non-Tesla park in those spots. I thought for sure it was going to be an issue.

Two are marked 30 minute general parking; I grab one of them if possible to leave the dedicated spots open for other Teslae.

 

[Liz G]

It's on the way home for both myself and my husband. So we've recently started doing most of our grocery shopping at the Dierberg there.

Filling up our pantry and our cars.

 

[MyJoule]

I charged here on Sat 5-9-15 It was a busy parking lot ..

When I arrived, a Volt had one spot- EV parking -- but obviously not charging.
A few minutes after I arrived, a second car pulled into one of the spots, but I was in the restaurant. and didn't run out to say anything

Another Model S showed up so now 4 of the 5 spots are occupied.

Then after the volt left and I had returned to my car, I saw no less than 3 other cars attempting to park in these spots- Each time they pulled in read the sign then pulled out after I just shook my head- I never said a word or even got out of my car- but I think this is going to be a location that could use cones or heavy parking lot paint as more owners start taking long road trips- This is especially true here since you need a full charge to make it to Independence.

 

[ruby110]

Was it lunch time? It's a very small lot right next to Smash Burger and very convenient to park there to get a hamburger. I also saw several cars enter the area and make a U turn narrowly missing my car.

 

[MyJoule]

It was about 1:00pm on a Saturday- so yes, I guess it could be considered lunch time..

 

[FlasherZ]

It was about 1:00pm on a Saturday- so yes, I guess it could be considered lunch time..

At least 2 of the spots are labeled "30 minute general parking" (1A/1B). I don't recall if the others are.