Supercharger - Tempe, AZ

[MarcoRP]

Looks like Mesa isn't the only Supercharger Tesla is planning in the East Valley.

A new location is coming to Arizona Mills Mall!! I'm kind of strapped on details but I do know the valuation which is around 160 grand.

Tesla seems to have snuck this one by me during the planning phase but I'm lucky to have caught it in the permit phase. Thanks team!

 

[araxara]

Looks like Mesa isn't the only Supercharger Tesla is planning in the East Valley.

A new location is coming to Arizona Mills Mall!! I'm kind of strapped on details but I do know the valuation which is around 160 grand.

Tesla seems to have snuck this one by me during the planning phase but I'm lucky to have caught it in the permit phase. Thanks team!

View attachment 793363

615 sq ft area does not seem very large - maybe for 6 stalls?

 

[Sparky1]

615 sq ft area does not seem very large - maybe for 6 stalls?

I wonder if the listed size is just for the area with the pedestals. The parking stalls are already existing, in theory. Supercharge.info says 12 stalls.

 

[tynamic]

Another!? How cool! AZ is getting a good number of chargers this year!

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Cool! Looks like there already is an Electrify America charging station there at the Arizona Mills mall, so adding a supercharger shouldn’t be too difficult. Odd that this location and the new Mesa supercharger location are only 10 miles apart (Especially after years of supercharger drought in the East valley.)

 

[jcaruso]

@MarcoRP @corywright Can you update supercharge.info to point to this page? It looks like the forum link is broken.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

615 sq ft area does not seem very large - maybe for 6 stalls?

It's the _addition_ space, which probably excludes the parking spaces.

Standard parking space is about 180 sq ft, so wouldn't be enough for that.

IF it's not spaces, then the additions are stalls and slabs. That wouldn't need much.

 

[azred]

615 sq ft area does not seem very large - maybe for 6 stalls?

If it was 8 years ago when 6 stalls at Casa Grande came online, maybe, but that would be really odd these days.

 

[azred]

The central I10/Superstition Freeway intersection location seems logical but the last time I looked that mall was fading fast and it is in a very sketchy section of Baseline Road. After writing my initial comments here, I was curious if the mall had been revamped since my last visit a couple years ago and indeed some people raved online about how great it is today. Others online said the parking lot was a haven for the homeless and the bathrooms were filthy. The last time I was there I though it was a dirty pit so I suspect the current five star reviews are inflated a bunch.

Hopefully Tesla didn’t make a huge mistake as they could have gone a few miles further South on I-10 to Chandler Mall area. I wonder if they actually have their own staff visit the neighborhoods before deciding.

 

[UAnicka]

Cool! Looks like there already is an Electrify America charging station there at the Arizona Mills mall, so adding a supercharger shouldn’t be too difficult. Odd that this location and the new Mesa supercharger location are only 10 miles apart (Especially after years of supercharger drought in the East valley.)

It’s not odd. 5th largest city with high concentration of Teslas. That require more chargers. Look at Denver they have four times as many per capita.

 

[Sparky1]

The central I10/Superstition Freeway intersection location seems logical but the last time I looked that mall was fading fast and it is in a very sketchy section of Baseline Road. After writing my initial comments here, I was curious if the mall had been revamped since my last visit a couple years ago and indeed some people raved online about how great it is today. Others online said the parking lot was a haven for the homeless and the bathrooms were filthy. The last time I was there I though it was a dirty pit so I suspect the current five star reviews are inflated a bunch.

Hopefully Tesla didn’t make a huge mistake as they could have gone a few miles further South on I-10 to Chandler Mall area. I wonder if they actually have their own staff visit the neighborhoods before deciding.

The Chandler Mall is near the 101/SanTan 202 interchange. Something a few miles south would make sense, maybe as far as the Gila River Casino/Wild Horse Pass area. It is right off the freeway and has 24/7 amenities. In addition, I agree that the Mills mall has a definite level of undesirables, especially at night. I'd keep an eye on my surroundings at night, especially if charging alone. The mall loop used to be home to several average food options, but many of them have closed over the years.

I always thought something around San Tan Village (SE valley off of SanTan 202) or Tempe Marketplace (101/Red Mtn 202) would be solid locations, with both freeway interchanges and access along with decent amenities.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

It’s not odd. 5th largest city with high concentration of Teslas. That require more chargers. Look at Denver they have four times as many per capita.

Well, it is odd that Phoenix is kind of in a supercharger drought, then Tesla plunks down 2 new ones almost walking distance apart. It is not odd at all that they are adding more; that makes perfect sense.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

The Chandler Mall is near the 101/SanTan 202 interchange. Something a few miles south would make sense, maybe as far as the Gila River Casino/Wild Horse Pass area. It is right off the freeway and has 24/7 amenities. In addition, I agree that the Mills mall has a definite level of undesirables, especially at night. I'd keep an eye on my surroundings at night, especially if charging alone. The mall loop used to be home to several average food options, but many of them have closed over the years.

I always thought something around San Tan Village (SE valley off of SanTan 202) or Tempe Marketplace (101/Red Mtn 202) would be solid locations, with both freeway interchanges and access along with decent amenities.

San Tan Village and Tempe Marketplace would be wildly popular and well used options for superchargers, same goes for Chandler Fashion Mall.
San Tan Village has a horrible EVGo DCFC 50kW single charger with a Tesla connecter that has a charging cord that is so twisted it looks dangerous. I was there a week ago and saw at least one Tesla every minute while walking around there; they were everywhere. Instead of STV mall, a supercharger in Queen Creek would be great to better open up the San Tan Valley and Florence areas.
Tempe Marketplace has great food choices, shopping, and a Target, but freeway access is fairly challenging from some directions.
The outlet mall just south of AZ 202 and I-10 would have been a great daytime supercharger location, but would have sucked at night. But, there is a casino right there that would have been a great 24/7 location.

 

[azred]

As several of you have noted there are several great sites near freeways in the East Valley that also have excellent facilities. I will probably use the new site for a quick charge occasionally but doubt I will venture outside my car except to plug in/out. Glad we have two options though … finally!

 

[BenBethel]

Well, it is odd that Phoenix is kind of in a supercharger drought, then Tesla plunks down 2 new ones almost walking distance apart. It is not odd at all that they are adding more; that makes perfect sense.

Agreed... I've been tweeting to Elon and Tesla for years with a map of Phoenix showing what's truly just one supercharger (101 and 17) in the core of the entire metro area... For the 5th largest city and 10th largest metro with a very high number of Tesla's and high amount of miles driven per Capita. I don't count new river or the one way out west as being in the core, and don't count Biltmore or Scottsdale as they're not considered superchargers in my book, too slow. Biltmore might not be there soon either, there are talks of the mall being razed and becoming multifamily with more commercial development on the east end. It's a money losing retail site, a lot of tenants are there at zero cost or zero cost plus percentage of sales leases. Macy's owns their building though so they'll hold for a while. I'd like to see something near downtown by the airport for sure, like Washington or Jefferson around 20th street (easy on and off) and another around 202/143, another near south Scottsdale, another near 17/10. We should see rapid deployment of more superchargers in Phoenix especially as Texas is cranking out a lot of vehicles and Tesla leasing and insurance combos will bring overall costs to insanely low prices compared to gas vehicles.

 

[azred]

Agreed... I've been tweeting to Elon and Tesla for years with a map of Phoenix showing what's truly just one supercharger (101 and 17) in the core of the entire metro area... For the 5th largest city and 10th largest metro with a very high number of Tesla's and high amount of miles driven per Capita. I don't count new river or the one way out west as being in the core, and don't count Biltmore or Scottsdale as they're not considered superchargers in my book, too slow. Biltmore might not be there soon either, there are talks of the mall being razed and becoming multifamily with more commercial development on the east end. It's a money losing retail site, a lot of tenants are there at zero cost or zero cost plus percentage of sales leases. Macy's owns their building though so they'll hold for a while. I'd like to see something near downtown by the airport for sure, like Washington or Jefferson around 20th street (easy on and off) and another around 202/143, another near south Scottsdale, another near 17/10. We should see rapid deployment of more superchargers in Phoenix especially as Texas is cranking out a lot of vehicles and Tesla leasing and insurance combos will bring overall costs to insanely low prices compared to gas vehicles.

Your comment about the dubious future of Biltmore Mall Supercharger could probably be applied to many of the mall-located Superchargers everywhere. Large malls in general seem to be living on borrowed time. Anchor stores like Penney’s, Wards, etc are either closing many sites at the big malls or gone altogether. Others like Macy’s with Backstage and Nordstrom with Rack and Last Chance.seem to be focusing on a discount store/online merchandiser model as they shutter their traditional stores at big malls.

I don’t have a great solution as Tesla adds Supercharger locations but if fading Arizona Mills Mall was the best Tempe/Mesa/Chandler site available, I don’t see a bright future for these mall Supercharger sites. But I believe there is a strip club and pot shop right across Baseline from the existing non-Tesla chargers site. Assuming Tesla will be nearby, perhaps they are targeting sites with more mature distractions while adding electrons

 

[asimo3089]

I've charged at this location with Electrify America and it's not ideal.

Many homeless roaming the area and we had an old Honda pull into a charger next to us, reverse at high speed, and speed out with the tires turning. Just doesn't feel safe.

Still thrilled to see another option that implies skipping Casa Grande!

 

[MarcoRP]

Tempe is under construction

33.3807, -111.9630

 

[Limited]

Some pics from today

 

[Sparky1]

This looks to be on the SE side of the mall, inside of the AZ Mills Cir loop road. Bathrooms inside the mall during business hours, or maybe 100 yard walk south to a Holiday Inn Express, if they allow non-guests access to the lobby bathrooms. The only non-mall food inside the parking lot area is an El Pollo Loco, otherwise you have to cross Priest or Baseline to hit a Circle K, Popeyes, McDonalds, Carls Jr. Not great options, unless comparing to places like Gallup....