Supercharger - Susanville, CA (LIVE 29 Sep 2021, 8 V3 stalls)

[PLUS EV]

Interesting article in the NYTimes about Susanville. I wonder if all this had something to do with the supercharger being located in this out of the way place, and in an Indian casino. I did wonder about the location. It's a very much needed charger, and it worked out well as far as I'm concerned, but it did seem a bit odd. Maybe there's some generalized opposition to EVs, or maybe it had nothing to do with politics, and was just a convenient location.

‘Nothing Will Be the Same’: A Prison Town Weighs a Future Without a Prison

After a decade of efforts that sharply reduced inmate populations, California is closing prisons. One town at the edge of a valley in remote northeast California whose economy is built on incarceration is waging a legal battle to keep a prison open.

www.nytimes.com

The casino is somewhat out of the way for some routes, but it isn't that bad. It's also one of the few 24/7 venues in Susanville, which may not be worth much to some people, but it's pretty vital to the supercharging community as a whole. I would have preferred the Safeway parking lot or somewhere near there (even though there is probably no afterhours restroom within walking distance), but the casino probably would have been my 2nd choice. And as said previously, it's likely that they just got a better deal at the casino, or they were met with complete opposition from Safeway or whoever owns that parking lot.

I didn't read the article yet either, but if the prison shuts down, Susanville will become a quasi ghost town in short order.

 

[smartypnz]

Haha.... doesn't NYT have it in for Tesla?? I'm not saying this isn't a fair article, but didn't NYT's source purposely run a battery down and then write badly about it back in 2013 ?
Susanville. I have no issue with that location - there are a lot better and some worse - but as far as I understand, they do try to put them in the 'perfect' place. I mean, after all, wouldn't it be ridiculous to do otherwise when trying to establish and maintain an innovative product bucking a strong market for ICE vehicles (whose latest innovation is a tailgate to put things on) ???

 

[mociaf9]

Here's the NYT article, but not behind a paywall: https://archive.fo/JW5ab

 

[smartypnz]

Here's the NYT article, but not behind a paywall: https://archive.fo/JW5ab

Thank you for that !!!

 

[DenMan98]

The Susanville City Council did finally approve some standards for EV charging but after dragging their feet for like 2 years. Knowing these small rural towns, my guess is it was very political and the Casino welcomed them with open arms on their land to get the extra restaurant traffic. The location isn't bad, just a lot of turns to get back to the Red Bluff/Redding/Mt. Shasta end of town, but I just follow the nav and it's easy. They have clean restrooms 24/7 which is a huge plus. Also very happy they installed 2 free Level 2 chargers.

 

[Fnlrun]

There is also a Private Tesla Owners entrance into the Casino from the Chargers. Can't miss it, big T over a door

 

[bb95570]

Stopped here to charge in early June on a very long road trip (heading from Eureka CA to Winnemucca NV that day). The out-of-the-wayness of the location is a bit of a pain, as is the route to get there from the West. Partner and I found the casino to be the typical smoke-filled palace. We were curious about the restaurant so we went in and asked, and they did say they have a separate, smoke-free room, but I suspect you would still be chewing cigarettes so we decided not to eat there. We didn't check out the coffee shop/smoke shop on the far corner of the parking lot, but it's on our radar for the future. Coming from Weaverville SC and doing the climb to over 5000 ft we had a long wait to charge here and it was one of our least favorite SC stops on our 3500 mi trip, so much so that we chose to charge in Reno and Red Bluff on our way home and take a completely alternate route to avoid it. I know having a SC here is critical for the quickest West-East route from I80 to N. Cali, but I think in the future I would either avoid it or only stop here going West-bound with the descent so the charging time needed to get to Cottonwood or Weaverville is minimal.

 

[RonAz]

Susanville Supercharger should have been in the mall bt McDonalds, Starbucks, Safeway, and others. The casinos probably pay towards the installations. Not very pleasant stops though.

 

[bmah]

Moderator note: A few posts discussing possible Supercharger sites in the area have been moved to this thread:

Superchargers in Northern California (location speculation)

Bruce.

 

[Fnlrun]

Susanville Supercharger should have been in the mall by McDonalds, Starbucks, Safeway, and others. The casinos probably pay towards the installations. Not very pleasant stops though.

Agreed, Do NOT like where it is.