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Supercharger - Van Horn, TX - Broadway Street
- Thread starter Guacahummus
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- supercharger Texas
Can't say I understand this, but congratulations to those of you passing through.
Van Horn, TX: 20 stalls
Houston, TX inside the loop: 8 stalls
San Antonio, TX inside the loop: 0 stalls
Van Horn, TX: 20 stalls
Houston, TX inside the loop: 8 stalls
San Antonio, TX inside the loop: 0 stalls
I do understand it, makes perfect sense. the original premise for superchargers was to support intercity travel with the expectation that we would charge at home when not travelling. Van Horn is on Interstate 10 which is massively used by cross county traffic and needs good SC access. Ozona also needs a better SC. FWIW I live in the Houston area and travel to San Antonio about once a month. Most of Houston is not inside the loop and there are superchargers in almost every direction. You may know that the new Yale street SC in Houston is almost complete. Two new inside the loop SCs coming in San Antonio. New superchargers coming in Converse and Luling will help a lot re Houston-SA travel.
All 20 stalls are outside the Van Horn Loop however.
Don't get what you do not understand about this situation because this makes perfect sense. Van Horn is used for all passing traffic that comes from both San Antonio and Dallas since it is the first location that occurs after I-10 and I-20 merge. So it will get very congested right in Van Horn especially during high travel times. So this addition was sorely needed. Additionally, Houston is simply bigger and more important than San Antonio which is why Tesla has prioritized installing SC in Houston first over SA. With that said, there are 28 SC stalls still planned for inside loop 410 in San Antonio.
The word 'planned' is doing a lot of heavy lifting in that last sentence. They have had a supercharger coming dot of one kind or another in central San Antonio since at least 2018. I didn't have a Tesla before then, so I can't speak to how much sooner it may have been, but 5 years and counting on that one.
As for gbrgbr's comment: "New superchargers coming in Converse and Luling will help a lot re Houston-SA travel." again, planned chargers near San Antonio. I wouldn't hold my breath on any of those being open before Christmas 2023.
I also understand the I-10 & I-20 merge being busy, but you can't possibly tell me that's a more traveled section than Houston to San Antonio on holiday weekends. There are 6 chargers in Columbus and 8 in Flatonia between those 2 population centers of millions of people. And please don't tell me Katy has 36 charging stalls, I'm aware, but being 30 miles in to your trip is not a great time to charge when leaving from Houston.
Anyways, this is way off topic for this board, and as my previous post said, I'm glad that Van Horn now has a second location, I just wish Tesla wouldn't also forget the other, slightly more populated areas getting their first.
I, for one, am glad to see this addition. There needs to be more redundancy along I 10. If you are west bound from Junction and you get to Ozona, only to find out the SC is doesn’t work, you’re hurting, unless you have a CCS adaptor and can use the Electrify America site.
Besides, the original SC has no eating choices at all, and now the hotel won’t let drivers use the restrooms.
Besides, the original SC has no eating choices at all, and now the hotel won’t let drivers use the restrooms.
Depending on where in Houston you're coming from, but it can easily be over 80 miles before reaching Katy. And that's assuming people leave Houston for a high SOC. I've personally stopped at Katy many times on my way to SA since I was at a low SOC. But in the end even though you don't like it, Tesla is simply installing SC first where their cars are going since they have all that data. Planning is a whole other issue that sometimes is out of Tesla's control which has already been very well known here. So at least you can say Tesla is at least trying with their planned sites that may frustratingly take months to years to finally be built. Hopefully that doesn't happening with Luling or the two San Antonio SC inside loop 410 so we will see.
Couldn't agree more. We do need more redundancy along I-10 as the largest gaps in that network from Los Angeles to Jacksonville are:
*El Paso, TX to Van Horn, TX - with it's new now 20 stalls (130 miles)
*Van Horn, TX to Fort Stockton, TX (121 miles)
*Ehrenberg CA to Buckeye, AZ (116 miles)
*San Antonio, TX to Flatonia, TX (103 miles)
Looks like we are back to my original point about the east side and downtown San Antonio.
As for @electricgliders comment: "Tesla is simply installing SC first where their cars are going since they have all that data. " - no they aren't.
As this article demonstrates <Tesla offers free Supercharging to encourage off-peak charging during travels for holidays> Tesla had to offer free supercharging in off peak times less than a year ago, and have since added 0 stalls along this route because they know they are WAY behind on this stretch.
Anyways, glad to see Van Horn got more stalls, and have an wonderful Memorial Day weekend to all traveling through this location.
That EP to Van Horn stretch is about to shrink with a new supercharger on the eastside of El Paso. Also a new one in Las Cruces will give people more options in that corridor with 3 options between Deming and Van Horn.
Did they take out the supercharger located in the hamption hotel in Van Horn? Tesla no longer has it listed, but other sites do. Why did they take it out?
houstonian
ಠ_ಠ
No idea but the other Van Horn thread suggested the host was less then enthused to have Tesla drivers on the premise.
Tyl
Active Member
Tyl
Active Member
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
There's an old, sort of historic hotel called El Capitan that my roomate stayed at a while back and said it was pretty neat. Other than that I think it is the normal highway stop chain stuff. I stayed a night a few years ago at the hotel where the supercharger used to be (Hampton inn) and it was ok - nothing to write home about but the room was fine. Was there to go up to do the Guadalupe Peak trail, which was great!
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
We will give El Capitan a try on the way out there. Sounds like an experience not to pass up. The chains are mostly boring and can be experienced anywhere. Quaint hotels like these are usually pretty cool, but once in awhile you get a dud. This one doesn't look to be a dud.
tmoz
S85D, Y LR, ex Prius PiP
We stayed at the Hampton only because we couldn't get two rooms at El capitan. Many restaurants were closed on Tuesday. Cattleman's had a 90 minute wait, but we wanted to give el capitan a try. Went there and were delighted. Food was great and they did a great job handling the crowd. They were swamped. Got a bottle of wine and nursed it while waiting for our table. I'd try to stay there again if passing through there in the future.
Side note: talked to 4 cybertruck owners during our eclipse trip. They were all thrilled with it. I was envious.
Side note: talked to 4 cybertruck owners during our eclipse trip. They were all thrilled with it. I was envious.
Too bad you did't get to stay, but glad you were able to check it out! Looked like superchargers were pretty busy for those couple days along I-10 out there!!
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