Reading this, I was going to ask if you were the guy I was talking about... I contacted one of the fruit places and the fruit stand may not be open this fall. It's been a hard year for them between the virus causing their normal summer wedding business going away, and the area had an ice storm just as the fruit set which destroyed half the crop. In 2016 when I was down in California on a trip I met an electrician working on a supercharger in Manteca. He had just been up in Vancouver, WA because Tesla was moving him there. Up to that point the superchargers in the NW were maintained from California, but they were opening a new center in SW Washington that was going to service the entire NW. If your current gig goes south maybe you can get hired on with Tesla's NW supercharger support office and get paid to fix superchargers.
Aww That’s meee! Anyways, the supercharger location seems to be back online. Tesla says it’s on “limited service” and many people on PlugShare say 2 stalls are open. Although, Tesla’s Trip Planner avoids the Dalles location.
That is really sad about the fruit. :-( I had been looking forward to it. I think doing some Tesla work on the side would be fun, but my $dayjob building datacenters is too lucrative to consider a change. :-( Someone beat me to installing a Wall Connector at one of the places we stopped last year on the club tour! I had aspirations of adding some NEMA 14-50’s just for fun to a power pedestal they had sitting in the open.
Currently at this supercharger at the dalles, the tech has just finished fixing all 5 stalls. He said a windstorm knocked a tree into a powerline in a nearby lot, and the resulting electrical problem fried all the circuit boards in the gear. All stalls are now available.
The stands will probably be back to normal next year. I suggested Mt Hood Organic put in a destination charger, but they said they didn't want people dropping in when they're doing weddings. Somebody should put one in around there though. Tesla gives them away to businesses and then they are advertised in the Tesla app. I've picked places to stay on road trips because of destination chargers. My degree is in Electrinic Engineering, but I generally stay in my lane. I've heard horror stories about engineers who thought they knew what they were doing with electrical wiring and screwed everything up. I've done some minor stuff, but don't want to create a fire hazard.
Isn't the saying "If a problem does not exist, an engineer will create one?" I've done a few private installs for coworkers and the like, but each time I've had everything signed off by a CE before we turn anything on. Perhaps I'm too paranoid... but I've had one too many near-misses with "totally legit" wiring that DID NOT get signed off. Glad to see this station up and running. I'm still keeping my fingers crossed for a larger station between PDX and the Tri-cities next year, though. I've had to wait here a couple of times while trying to travel out and visit family. No way I can see the fam with COVID about, though, so here's hoping it's not clogged up for the folks who need it right now.
Some engineers can create problems where there were none. A wise engineer tries to limit this. Oregon in general has lagged other high number Tesla states in superchargers. Until quite recently eastern Oregon had large areas with no coverage. For example going south to California or Nevada on US 395 was impossible unless you wanted to charge on AC somewhere. It's better, but SE Oregon is still poorly covered. You can get somewhere on I-84 or I-5, but there are choke-point superchargers that only the longest range Teslas can afford to skip. There are some superchargers being added on I-5 now that will help, but there is still a long stretch between Springfield and Grants Pass. The Dalles is one of those choke-points on I-84 and it's also a very small supercharger installation. Tesla needs one on the outskirts of Portland such as Troutdale, one around Hood River to back up the Dalles, and one between the Dalles and Hermiston, but there is very little civilization along that stretch of road. If they put one in Hermiston at least it could serve as an alternate for Kennewick and Pendleton. Sandy is there, but it's too far from I-84 to be useful unless you're desperate.
definitely. Hood River would let west bound stretch a bit, and Boardman or Biggs Junction would let North/south do bend, as well as cover kennewick to bend. That would take a load off of the dalles, as right now, you have to stop in the dalles if you are heading from north to south into bend
Maybe.... but 7/14, I left Kennewick at 7:20 AM in my M3 with full charge (312 miles charge showing, no detectable wind), arrived in Bend with 51 miles left. Kept at speed or higher across I-84 turned south onto US 97 at Biggs Junction. No hurry from that point - let maybe 2 dozen vehicles pass me. Nice drive, stopped a few times for pix. Backup plan was to use the free level 2 chargers in Madras... but was unnecessary. Total odometer was 240 miles - time used 5 hours 6 minutes (not sure about time zone crossing). Still, avg with stops just around 50 mph. Point is, although doable, I'm sure weather can throw that plan out the window. But, a SpC in Biggs Junction (which seemed an ideal location able to support a SpC) would solve that AND help the Dalles. Plus I did keep an eye on usage before turning South. As I said, Madras was my go to - but Dalles was my last desperate go to if Madras looked unreachable.
That would still make it a little tight in the winter for standard range vehicles heading to Tri Cities area and anyone towing. My SR+ hit 300wh/mi easy with standing water, hard rain, and low temps last February. That means ~165 mile range from 100-0% and Biggs is 130 mile. Hood River and Boardman would be ideal. It’s 101 miles between those two locations, doable in the worst conditions even at 70% charge (which keeps you in the quicker charge range) and ~63 miles from Portland and 70 miles to Boardman from Tri Cities or 50 miles to Pendleton. If the Dalles was down from either direction you would be able to make it with those two locations, further, if one of them was down you would be able to make it still with the Dalles (though tight if standard range or towing and weather)
Awesome that you made it. We rarely go in that nice of weather, but It gives me confidence! Where I the free level 2 in madras?
Easiest way to find is PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You then type in Madras, Or If doing this, pick a place to grab lunch or a snack. Shouldn't take long - only about 45 miles to Bend.
Yeah - that's why I was sure to include my weather during that run (which from what I have read here is kinda rare).
Fascinating. On my iPad using the plugshare app, it doesn’t show up, but it clearly shows up on the website. What’s more, the map itself on the app shows the charge station, but the plugshare app won’t recognize it.
Yeah, I've also had weird issues recently with the PlugShare iOS app. Lost of stations not showing up. The website and Android app have no issues.