Supercharger - West Yellowstone, MT

[GRA]

I'm not 100% sure, but this looks to me to be the first Supercharger sited to serve a National Park Service site. I.E., it's poorly located to serve long-distance traffic well, like most Superchargers. The upcoming Groveland CA site will be a gift for those who visit Yosemite, but that one is still to come.

I think that's extremely cool.

If I had the ear of the Supercharger team, I'd make a case for Supercharging the Blue Ridge Parkway/Skyline Drive and for the Natchez Trace Parkway, both of which would be a blast in a Tesla.

How about Moab UT and Arches National Park?

Moab (and Blanding) were definitely the first off-interstate SCs that served NPs/NMs (Blanding covers Canyonlands and Natural Bridges). In addition, Lone Pine and Beatty both serve Death Valley, and Lone Pine also provides access to Sequoia (Whitney Portal) and the southern part of Kings Canyon. Fresno serves Yosemite/Sequoia/Kings, although they need some closer inone closer.They still need more SCs surrounding Yellowstone, Yosemite (Groveland plus Lee Vining, as Mammoth is too far south, plus Mariposa/El Portal and Oakhurst/Fish Camp). The South Rim of the Grand Canyon needs one in Tusayan (Holiday Inn Express there), plus one more on I-40 in Ash Fork or Williams for east bound travelers. And Glacier needs at least one each east and west, plus one on I-90 that's positioned west of Superior. Crater Lake,
Rainier, Olympic, and Lassen could all use coverage, and Joshua Tree wouldn't hurt.

 

[smartypnz]

Campaign....
Discover America again - Emissions Free

 

[pdx4s]

According to the Discovery Centre staff, we're the first.
-I&WView attachment 178158 View attachment 178159

we stayed across the street at the gray wolf inn on 4/20 and walked around the discovery center few times and i would have noticed it so it must have been installed really fast after that. TM missed us by a month...Oh well next trip.

 

[* Powered]

This is a critical location if driving to Big Sky/Bozeman from Salt Lake City or Idaho Falls. I also wonder how much battery is used climbing through the Targhee Pass.

 

[txakoli]

This is a critical location if driving to Big Sky/Bozeman from Salt Lake City or Idaho Falls. I also wonder how much battery is used climbing through the Targhee Pass.

Last month, prior to the completion of the IF and W. Yellowstone Superchargers, I left IF with a full charge (260 RM), and made it to Bozeman easy peasy. Weather: 65F, partly cloudy (no precipitation), light winds. The route: US 20 (thru Targhee Pass) and US 191 via W. Yellowstone. I had a backup plan to charge at a RV Park in W.Y., but didn't need it.

Trip Stats:
Model: 85S, no AP.
IF to Bozeman: 202.2 miles
Total Energy: 51.5 kWh
Avg Energy: 255 Wh/mi

IF to W.Y. I drove approx. 60 mph as it's uphill. W.Y. to Bozeman is mostly downhill, so I drove the speed limit.

 

[* Powered]

Wow that is good to know...In my model S I avg approximately 350 Wh/mi though. In my model X I avg about 400 Wh/mi... I do drive fast but only about 10 mph over speed limit at freeway speeds.Not sure if I have the discipline to keep it at 60 mph but it does have very large impact on range for sure......Thanks for the info

 

[txakoli]

Yes, as I had not driven that route before, I took it easy. Better safe than sorry.

If I would do it again, under the same weather conditions, I would probably drive the speed limit, minimum.

It won't be a concern now with the W.Y. SC.

BTW, my lifetime avg. energy is 314 Wh/mile, FYI.

 

[PLUS EV]

This Supercharger is currently out of commission. I, rather unfortunately, was able to verify in person. Tried all 4 cabinets and nothing. The streetlight that hangs over the supercharger is also out, while every other light in the parking lot is working. I wouldn't expect this to be fixed until morning at the soonest.

There are 2 HWPCs at the motel across the street (one currently in use by another guy who was disappointed by this supercharger) and 2 more HWPCs about a mile away at the Holiday Inn. They told me one was in use by a guest when I called and they didn't seem to eager to let non-customers use them (they were sold out so no opportunity to become a customer). They did sound more open to the idea when I explained that the supercharger was out and I was in a pinch.

As for myself, I ended up leaving town as I had just enough range left to make it to Idaho Falls (just plugged in with 5 miles remaining). So not a disaster, but definitely inconvenient and caused me to change my plans quite a bit. It could have been much worse.

Oh and I forgot to mention that I got the notification that the supercharger was down at the worst possible time, just after I had driven the Beartooth Highway from Billings and had arrived at the eastern entrance of the national park. That being said, getting the notification was much better than not getting it as it allowed me to plan appropriately. Had I not known I likely would have put many more miles on in the park, but as it was I drove straight through to preserve the battery. Fortunately I topped up completely at Red Lodge before hitting the Beartooth, otherwise I'd have had no choice but to stay the night in West Yellowstone.

 

[Bighorn]

I was only able to get one pedestal of eight to work this past winter when it was 26 below.

 

[chargeshare]

Wow, this has to be frustrating!

 

[PLUS EV]

I must be the most unlucky Tesla owner on the planet. Was en route to SLC supercharger today and it flashed to "temporarily closed" as well. Was able to limp back to Tremonton with no a/c, but had to change plans again.

I guess I'm lucky that I'm flying solo and not in much of a hurry, otherwise these last couple days would have been a disaster.

 

[Fiver]

If you can get to park city I've got a charger and a couch for ya. Send a PM if you're in a pinch.

 

[PLUS EV]

If you can get to park city I've got a charger and a couch for ya. Send a PM if you're in a pinch.

I'm good man. Sitting in Tremonton as we speak. Thanks.

 

[Fiver]

Worse comes to worse there are 80 amp chargers at our gym in kimball jct just off I 80 on the outskirts of town. Available 24/7. They should show up on the nav.

 

[PLUS EV]

Spoke again with Roadside Assistance and they seem to think this supercharger will be out for a few days. They didn't say what exactly was wrong with it, but said that someone would be out there to work on it tomorrow.

 

[Missile Toad]

@PLUS EV , this issue fascinates me, and can only get worse as Tesla has more infrastructure -- since I suppose that each stall/port has an equal chance of having an issue, as does the overall transformer that feeds an entire site. Can you tell me, you said you intended a more meandering route around Yellowstone -- was the Nav in operation guiding you? I'm curious, since if the site-outage warning only comes up if the SuperCharger is set as destination, then it seems we lose an important safety mechanism if we are taking the scenic route without Nav assistance.

 

[ccutrer]

I must be the most unlucky Tesla owner on the planet. Was en route to SLC supercharger today and it flashed to "temporarily closed" as well. Was able to limp back to Tremonton with no a/c, but had to change plans again.

I guess I'm lucky that I'm flying solo and not in much of a hurry, otherwise these last couple days would have been a disaster.

Too late now, but could you not make it to Tooele? Depending on how far past Tremonton you were, Tooele may be less of a detour. But maybe not enough range - if you were trying to get to SLC, and left from West Yellowstone, I presume you hit Pocatello, but were skipping Tremonton? I do SLC to Boise quite often, and I can never skip Tremonton (or Twin Falls, headed in either direction) in an X 90D. Just too much wind at 80mph+ and up-and-down, coupled with the higher consumption of an X. And I've got a full car with wife, 4 kids, and a dog, so I'd rather have an extra pitstop than have them all cooped up for longer stretches of time driving at 55.

There are also several Chademos in the Salt Lake Valley if you have the adapter. I used two of them last week in my Leaf after my kids distracted me from plugging in when I got home the day before.

 

[PLUS EV]

@PLUS EV , this issue fascinates me, and can only get worse as Tesla has more infrastructure -- since I suppose that each stall/port has an equal chance of having an issue, as does the overall transformer that feeds an entire site. Can you tell me, you said you intended a more meandering route around Yellowstone -- was the Nav in operation guiding you? I'm curious, since if the site-outage warning only comes up if the SuperCharger is set as destination, then it seems we lose an important safety mechanism if we are taking the scenic route without Nav assistance.

Yes, I was warned of the supercharger outage only when I routed to the supercharger in the Nav. I routed to the supercharger before I left Billings and it was operational. Then I routed to Red Lodge. And then in Red Lodge, I routed to Cooke City. Then in Cooke City, I routed to the supercharger and that's when I got the bad news. I can't remember but I probably routed to the supercharger when I was in Red Lodge too just to check on the mileage. So I guess it went out at some point while I was on the Beartooth Highway. When I stopped at the supercharger, another Tesla owner came up to me and we chatted for a bit. He said it had gone out a few hours earlier while he and another driver were both plugged in. So this timing jibes with the fact that it stopped working while I was on the Beartooth.

 

[PLUS EV]

Too late now, but could you not make it to Tooele? Depending on how far past Tremonton you were, Tooele may be less of a detour. But maybe not enough range - if you were trying to get to SLC, and left from West Yellowstone, I presume you hit Pocatello, but were skipping Tremonton? I do SLC to Boise quite often, and I can never skip Tremonton (or Twin Falls, headed in either direction) in an X 90D. Just too much wind at 80mph+ and up-and-down, coupled with the higher consumption of an X. And I've got a full car with wife, 4 kids, and a dog, so I'd rather have an extra pitstop than have them all cooped up for longer stretches of time driving at 55.

There are also several Chademos in the Salt Lake Valley if you have the adapter. I used two of them last week in my Leaf after my kids distracted me from plugging in when I got home the day before.

I was actually coming in on I-80 from Wyoming. I was originally shooting for Tremonton anyway, but I was driving aggressively figuring that if it looked like I would come up short, I could just charge at the SLC supercharger. Then I got the message that it was closed and all of a sudden Tremonton was my only option so I had to go into hypermile mode. I didn't have to slow down much but I killed the a/c and sweated it out and made it to Tremonton with 5 miles. Actually I just looked and driving to Tooele would have been 9 miles shorter than Tremonton, so I guess that would have been an option if I were absolutely desperate, but I was headed north on I-15 so obviously that would have been a huge diversion (SLC already would have been a small diversion). Lastly, I hit a huge downpour in Echo Canyon and had driven through some construction area on some rural Wyoming highway earlier in the day that left a coat of tar on my tires (no idea why that road was open in that condition lol). Both of those hurt my mileage, which is why the original plan of charging in Tremonton became a situation of cutting it close. Even then, I wasn't too worried about it since I had SLC as backup, but then it ended up being closed. Truly a triple whammy.

 

[PLUS EV]

Too late now, but could you not make it to Tooele? Depending on how far past Tremonton you were, Tooele may be less of a detour. But maybe not enough range - if you were trying to get to SLC, and left from West Yellowstone, I presume you hit Pocatello, but were skipping Tremonton? I do SLC to Boise quite often, and I can never skip Tremonton (or Twin Falls, headed in either direction) in an X 90D. Just too much wind at 80mph+ and up-and-down, coupled with the higher consumption of an X. And I've got a full car with wife, 4 kids, and a dog, so I'd rather have an extra pitstop than have them all cooped up for longer stretches of time driving at 55.

There are also several Chademos in the Salt Lake Valley if you have the adapter. I used two of them last week in my Leaf after my kids distracted me from plugging in when I got home the day before.

RE: Twin Falls to Tremonton... I have driven all over the west and plugged in at nearly every supercharger (every one but West Yellowstone, dammit!) and that is the worst interstate stretch I have seen in terms of range. I drove it in late January with temperatures ranging from 0F-10F and going my usual 10 over the speed limit which is 90mph in these parts. Despite range charging to 280+ rated miles in Twin Falls, I actually got nervous during the 2nd half of the trip and had to turn off the heat intermittently (I had bundled up in Twin Falls just in case!). I couldn't turn off the heat completely because the windshield would start to fog up. I was in a hurry so didn't want to slow down, but obviously that would have done the trick as well. I ended up making it with like 25 rated miles so I'm sure I would have made it anyways but better safe than sorry. I remember my average W/mi during the first half of that trip being >500. Just crazy that a fully charged S90D with just the driver and little extra weight could struggle to make that leg. The addition of Burley can't happen soon enough.