Supercharger - Sulphur Springs, TX

[bollar]

Lots of eating establishments within easy walking distance and a nice square to hang out at as well. And plenty of friendly hospitality!

I'm sure we'll see you a week from Saturday!

 

[Electroman]

No, still not as direct as the diagonal 287 path: DFW to Wichita Falls to Childress to Amarillo, but a bit less distance than Ardmore to OKC to Weatherford to Shamrock to Amarillo.

I understand this is not the right thread, but perhaps we should start a thread titled, "When will get direct route from Dallas to Amarillo, TX?"

Your assertion that it is less distance via Cisco->Sweetwater->Lubbock->Amarillo is incorrect. See the map below:

 

[reddy]

The one thing that is absent and annoying me is a direct connection between Dallas and Amarillo, TX. This makes it easy to get to New Mexico and Colorado from Northern Texas. Otherwise it is another 100 miles extra going north to OK city and turning west.

Hey, tell me about it. Dallas to Amarillo via OKC is a drag. I've become intimately familiar with Shamrock, OKC, and Ardmore.

If you look at the superchargers surrounding Dallas, the only major route without a supercharger is going northwest on 287.

A single SC at Vernon would connect Denton to Amarillo and cut 2 hours off the drive.

 

[reddy]

I understand this is not the right thread, but perhaps we should start a thread titled, "When will get direct route from Dallas to Amarillo, TX?"

Your assertion that it is less distance via Cisco->Sweetwater->Lubbock->Amarillo is incorrect. See the map below:

View attachment 183542

I've driven all 3 of those options.

Not only is the OKC route shorter than via Sweetwater, but the traffic is a lot lighter on I40 vs I20 and the road is in much better condition on I-40 than I-20.

 

[jaysquyres]

It's open, many people stare at our "Spaceships," town folk have questions, & the restaurants are great! Here are pictures of the restaurants. I ate at Joe's German Restaurant.

 

[purplewalt]

I understand this is not the right thread, but perhaps we should start a thread titled, "When will get direct route from Dallas to Amarillo, TX?"

Your assertion that it is less distance via Cisco->Sweetwater->Lubbock->Amarillo is incorrect. See the map below:

View attachment 183542

I live a couple miles South and West of the Dallas Zoo, off of I-35.
For me, leaving my house to Amarillo the driving distance is exactly the same via OKC or Sweetwater: 274 miles (using Google maps).
And if SouthEastern NM is your destination, then Lubbock is the better, more direct drive to Riudosa, Las Cruces or Carlsbad.

My sense is that somewhere in the I-20 and I-10 direction further development is already underway than what is currently "known".

If I were heading up to Colorado (via Amarillo) from my house, it's a toss up.
It will be great to have Supercharger Options other than slow charge @ State Parks and RV Parks.


As far as the 287 route, it will take TWO Superchargers for the DFW to Amarillo trek, unless all S60 and future Model 3 owners are excluded.
There is wind, incline and distance to content with, and a single Supercharger in Vernon (190 miles to Dallas) might make for a bit of range anxiety in a 60S.

Mods:
<<<<Please see if this group of OT posts could be moved to the "Texas Supercharger Locations" threads.>>>>

 

[cqd78]

I'm sure we'll see you a week from Saturday!

Along with my Model 3 artist rendering.........

 

[KublaConn]

Hey, tell me about it. Dallas to Amarillo via OKC is a drag.

I feel your pain. Imagine how frustrating it is to have to the same thing from Houston. In fact, if you want to go anywhere out-of-state from HTX other than immediately east on I-10 or possibly Shreveport, you have to drive through DFW & OKC. Anywhere...north, northwest, northeast, west...through DFW AND OKC...that's just damn depressing.

 

[purplewalt]

I feel your pain. Imagine how frustrating it is to have to the same thing from Houston. In fact, if you want to go anywhere out-of-state from HTX other than immediately east on I-10 or possibly Shreveport, you have to drive through DFW & OKC. Anywhere...north, northwest, northeast, west...through DFW AND OKC...that's just damn depressing.

Until March of 2015, North Texas had to cross the Oklahoma Supercharger gap/moat using RV Parks in order to connect to Kansas, then on to Colorado.
Lots of baby steps were necessary getting Texas connected to the Supercharger network, first was Louisiana, then there was Oklahoma.
And then finally Amarillo connected Texas to New Mexico.

The NEW Sulphur Springs Supercharger is the first step toward connecting to Texarkana then, and eventually connecting Arkansas toward Memphis.

Lord knows that heading West (from Houston) toward El Paso and on toward New Mexico and connecting Arizona via I-10 and I-20 routes are still in its infancy.
TMC members have identified both Sweetwater and Cisco sites which are under construction, but there really aren't any good specific KNOWN additional Supercharger sites.
Maybe Tesla Motors has currently has some new SpC sites brewing heading East from Tucson area toward New Mexico and El Paso?
Who knows?

Having said all the above, any Supercharger access to out-of-state locations is better than Level 2 re-charging @ RV Parks and State Parks.
Now THAT is frustrating.

 

[cqd78]

Ribbon cutting today! Nice turnout by North Texas Tesla owners! There was even a Model X.

 

[Electric700]

Awesome news and photo!

 

[bollar]

One thing we learned today is that 24 hour bathrooms are available at the police department (directly behind the Superchargers) and the famous Glass Bathrooms, one block away on the town square.

 

[cab]

So I was at this location today and I think the original plan called for them to redo that entire lot. This was in addition to the tesla specific spaces. It appears they have now started to do exactly that. Depending on how they do it, they may end up blocking access to the charging spots at some point during construction. The turn in off the side street was open, and you could get to the Tesla spots but a large section of the rest of the lot is now all torn up with construction equipment in the lot. Just a heads up. As the police station is right there, if you are counting on this location for a trip in the next few weeks you might be able to call them and just ask if the spots are accessible before you head out...they might do you a favor and let you know.

As an aside, we ate at the Red Neck Bar & Grill for lunch and we both enjoyed our meals. The chicken fried chicken was good....not "good for sulphur springs" but good, period. A pleasant surprise.

 

[cab]

Here are some pics showing the aforementioned construction...

They APPEAR to be doing a "strip" at a time, perhaps to leave access to some parking, but who knows. Since the strip of lot in front of the Tesla parking spaces isn't in great shape either, I would assume they are going to re-pave it as well....hard to believe at least some SCs won't be blocked during a portion of that at some point.

 

[Softwizard]

As an aside, we ate at the Red Neck Bar & Grill for lunch and we both enjoyed our meals. The chicken fried chicken was good....not "good for sulphur springs" but good, period. A pleasant surprise.

We ate at Arturo's Wood Fired Pizza, it was good thin-crust handmade pizza. Note that one does not feed a family of four - you really need two.

 

[Rockster]

We ate at Arturo's Wood Fired Pizza, it was good thin-crust handmade pizza. Note that one does not feed a family of four - you really need two.

This reminds me of the joke "What's the difference between a large pizza and a math degree? A large pizza can feed a family of four."

 

[cab]

Oh and Lou Viney's (restaurant) is now closed...lost their lease or something.

 

[bollar]

FYI, we get regular updates on construction on the groups's Facebook page. Note this advisory for August 11, 2016:

Due to utility construction in the area, the roads to the Sulphur Springs SC will be closed tomorrow, Thursday 8/11/16. If you need to get in, let one of my workers on site know, and we can let you through the road blocks. The construction will not be physically blocking access to the SC, but for the safety of my workers, and to keep traffic flowing around us, the whole area will be closed. Please bear with us, and i apologize for any inconvenience.

 

[Fluxed]

FYI the last three times I have stopped at Sulphur Springs TX supercharger (over the last two weeks), the charging has been super slow. Yesterday was the worst. When I plugged in, the car/app told me it would require 25 minutes of charging before I had enough to continue my trip. But it would charge for about 10 minutes or so, before dropping down to zero, and then staying in the 0 to 10kW range. At this rate, it would take hours to charge up. Last night I was stuck there for hours with two young kids and two adults, and the only place open was a raucous sports bar (Dallas Cowboys football game...). When I called Tesla, they said it was a known issue that all bays had "reduced capacity" and that it was on their todo list. What I discovered was if I connected to a new bay I could get a fairly quick +10 miles before it slowed down to a trickle. So I spent most of my time running back and forth changing bays so that I could "trick" it into providing enough charge for me. After two hours, we finally had enough to make it back to Dallas, although not at full speed: we were forced to draft at 60-65mph behind big trucks just to make it home (the interstate has a 75 mph posted speed limit there).

I would recommend avoiding until it is sorted out! There has been so much construction in that location recently, obviously something has happened that needs to be fixed.

 

[sublimaze1]

Thoughts about getting from the Sulphur Springs Charger to Texarkana and back without destination charging? I have to pick something up from there (in the city) and head back to Dallas some day. I know it is about 199-201 round trip. I have an 85 ... but it has almost 90K miles on it, so I am sure there is a dead cell or fifty ... Speed withstanding ...