Superchargers in VA

[Cottonwood]

South Hill is a crummy little town of nothing. But its a good location to facilitate travel from Raleigh to Richmond. There are also a lot of rich retired folks and vacation homes on nearby Lake Gaston.

Oh, be more kind. I spent the first several years of my life in that part of Virginia riding around a tobacco farm with my grandfather in his pickup truck. Appreciate a little bit of rural, southern culture... :wink:

 

[Transepoch]

WTOP was saying yesterday that Woodbridge has been turned on. Any local confirmations?

 

[kendallpb]

WTOP was saying yesterday that Woodbridge has been turned on. Any local confirmations?

I got an e-mail from Tesla a day or two ago saying that the Woodbridge location's open. ;-) Hopefully that's confirmation enough.

Now, I wonder how long before the Bethesda one is retired (it was planned to be temporary, IIRC).

 

[chickensevil]

WTOP was saying yesterday that Woodbridge has been turned on. Any local confirmations?

yeah, it has been open since the 2nd. Been on the map since the 3rd.

 

[jthompson]

Ladies & Gents: Throwing this out there for comment (and perhaps to start a new thread). I went to the Tesla supercharger location website (Supercharging) and input the following:

"I propose Tesla speak with the Food Lion folks ((540) 464-5026) about setting up a supercharger in their parking lot in Lexington VA. This location is 171 miles south of the Hagerstown MD supercharger. It will allow people from the Washington DC area to get to areas such as Natural Bridge, Roanoke, Blacksburg (home of Virginia Tech), Radford (home of Radford University). Folks from the Virginia Beach & Norfolk area (in southeast Virginia) can, after charging at Glen Allen VA, get to the Lexington location. There is plenty of open parking in the Food Lion parking lot, and a Mcdonalds, Papa John's pizza, Hardees, and Pizza Hut nearby."

I recommend others, if you have not, please submit your recommendations to Tesla at Supercharging. After emailing the Supercharger team, they said that is the best way to help them focus on additional locations that are needed.

Also, attached a screen shot with proposed location for the SC stalls.

 

[techmaven]

"I propose Tesla speak with the Food Lion folks ((540) 464-5026) about setting up a supercharger in their parking lot in Lexington VA. This location is 171 miles south of the Hagerstown MD supercharger. It will allow people from the Washington DC area to get to areas such as Natural Bridge, Roanoke, Blacksburg (home of Virginia Tech), Radford (home of Radford University). Folks from the Virginia Beach & Norfolk area (in southeast Virginia) can, after charging at Glen Allen VA, get to the Lexington location. There is plenty of open parking in the Food Lion parking lot, and a Mcdonalds, Papa John's pizza, Hardees, and Pizza Hut nearby."

Interesting. I was trying to find a place in Staunton primarily because it would serve people going in any of the 3 directions, but nothing stood out as a great place to put a Supercharger. I was thinking somewhere on Route 250. Certainly I-81 needs a few Superchargers.

Lexington is the right distance from Glen Allen Supercharger - 134 miles. Staunton is only 105. On the other hand, Hagerstown, MD to Staunton is about 140 miles, which is about as far as you want apart. I was thinking the next one would be Dublin, near Radford which is 125 miles from Staunton and before the I-77 interchange going south. The next one south is likely in TN. But actually finding the right places is tough.

 

[chickensevil]

171 miles from hagerstown is a bit much isn't it? I mean it is doable, but I thought they were trying to stay under 150 miles? And going through there, you are starting to hit mountainous areas which really starts to hit on the range. I suppose they could still put one there, but they would then also need to eventually put one in the middle between the two.

Glen Allen is a pretty good distance though, so I do like the location. Also, forward thinking a bit here. They have already marked off Charleston, WV as a future site I would think Beckley, WV and Wytheville, VA would also be the next logical steps in after Lexington. I would say going north, Strasburg might be the only logical city to put one between Lexington and northern VA/MD. Anyway... just my thoughts... I think those 3 VA and 1 WVA location should round out both of these states quite nicely

Just my two cents.

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I was thinking the next one would be Dublin, near Radford which is 125 miles from Staunton and before the I-77 interchange going south. The next one south is likely in TN. But actually finding the right places is tough.

See I think Dublin would be a bit too out of the way for someone going down 77. Which is why I was suggesting Wytheville

Growing up in Ohio, it seems we always ended up stopping at Wytheville when going south. It is a pretty huge travel hub for truckers and such already. They have a rather large Flying-J there and everything (24/7 truck stop). It might not be a bad idea to win over the truck-stop type locations in our battle to take over the transportation market, since eventually trucks will go electric too, I assume. Those truck stops won't go away, and it would show them that they can transition into the future.

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This is the Flying J I am specifically referring to: https://www.google.com/maps/place/Flying+J/@36.945323,-80.9457583,18z/data=!4m2!3m1!1s0x0:0x4cc7ca4e5103bb2c

It is technically in Max Meadows, VA. There is a handful of fast food places right there within walking distance, and of course the services of the truck stop itself.

I don't know why, even though there is another Flying J one exit up... this was always the one we stopped at in our yearly trip to FL.

 

[scaesare]

Interesting timing... I just drove from Ashburn VA to Roanoke & back last weekend... I had to take our SUV, as there were no fast charging options.

Given that I-81 is a relatively major corridor, I was surprised to see that there are no plans though the end of the 2015 Superchager rollout for superchargers along that route.

I'd wholeheartedly support a location there...

 

[jthompson]

Good comments guys (techmaven & chickensevil)! Please input your thoughts via the Supercharging website so we can get Tesla thinking about this. When last I emailed the Supercharger team regarding a Supercharger on I81, they said they were starting this year to look at the I81 corridor.

 

[chickensevil]

Good comments guys (techmaven & chickensevil)! Please input your thoughts via the Supercharging website so we can get Tesla thinking about this. When last I emailed the Supercharger team regarding a Supercharger on I81, they said they were starting this year to look at the I81 corridor.

I did send them comments along with the site location for the Max Meadows location recommendation, along with my thought process on why I chose that site, so we shall see. There is definitely a giant hole on the map for this whole area of the highway system so it does look like they are in dire need of help here haha!

- - - Updated - - -

Also to point out about the prime location there on the Max Meadows, going south, that is around 130 miles to make it to the Burlington, NC SuperCharger and 158 miles to the heart of Charlotte, NC. So depending on where they put the Charlotte one, This might be just barely within a decent range for those directions.

 

[tomp]

There appear to be plans for a South Hill supercharger. There is even a placeholder website for it: South Hill Supercharger | Tesla Motors

 

[jthompson]

@tomp: How did you find that? I don't see it on the Tesla supercharging main page yet - you must have a secret!

 

[emupilot]

Here is a list of sites with a TM "Coming Soon" page (except Nephi, Goodland, and Hays are now live). There are no links to these pages - they were found by trying URLs for cities at/near the Coming Soon dots on the Tesla supercharger map.

 

[Cottonwood]

@tomp: How did you find that? I don't see it on the Tesla supercharging main page yet - you must have a secret!

South Hill makes a lot of sense for the I-85 route to Atlanta, and there is a red dot seemingly at South Hill on the "Coming Soon" map at Tesla Motors Supercharger Page.

 

[Todd Burch]

@tomp: How did you find that? I don't see it on the Tesla supercharging main page yet - you must have a secret!

I thought this has been common knowledge for months?

 

[DFibRL8R]

I thought this has been common knowledge for months?

Certainly has been speculation but nice to see more confirmation of likely location. Also very interesting that the link says "Charging Stalls - 1" which would be a significant change from the multiple chargers installed at most other locations.

 

[emupilot]

Certainly has been speculation but nice to see more confirmation of likely location. Also very interesting that the link says "Charging Stalls - 1" which would be a significant change from the multiple chargers installed at most other locations.

The "Charging Stalls - 1" is just a place holder until they actually customize the page for the site when construction is almost done.

 

[techmaven]

I drove through South Hill, VA yesterday and I did a little scouting. I did not see any signs of a Supercharger. I had spoken to the South Hill Town Manager, Mr. Kim Callis in April. I'll reach out to him again and see if he knows if there has been any progress.

 

[techmaven]

I just heard that the South Hill Supercharger contract is out for bid...

 

[iadbound]

I just heard that the South Hill Supercharger contract is out for bid...

You must have good sources. :wink: