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Tesla should surround destination cities with superchargers

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I love the recent expansion of the supercharger network along Hwy 101. I just wish that Tesla would place superchargers outside of city limits so day trips from out of towers would be more convenient. For example, when I travel to Portland and either stay overnight at a hotel without charging or just do some day shopping; I have to drive to Woodburn (an extra 64 miles round-trip) to have enough charge to reach Centralia without range anxiety. A supercharger in Hazel Dell, like at the Fred Meyers would literally change my life. This would allow me to make trips to Portland without planning to stay the night and would make it optional to stop in Centralia and make it more convenient for other MS, MX and future M3 drivers to reach other superchargers with anything less than a 85 kWh battery pack. This strategy would also discourage local owners from using the superchargers since they would be close, but too far to be convenient for local use.
 
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The current layout isn't going to be perfect for 100% of people. I've read many examples like yours. Given there are SCs just south and east of Portland there is no doubt going to be one just north in the works. Tesla have to balance this with building out the areas that are completely unreachable by superchargers.

I notice there are a few destination chargers in Portland but all in the same area. Surprised they aren't spread around a bit more...
 
I love the recent expansion of the supercharger network along Hwy 101. I just wish that Tesla would place superchargers outside of city limits so day trips from out of towers would be more convenient. For example, when I travel to Portland and either stay overnight at a hotel without charging or just do some day shopping; I have to drive to Woodburn (an extra 64 miles round-trip) to have enough charge to reach Centralia without range anxiety. A supercharger in Hazel Dell, like at the Fred Meyers would literally change my life. This would allow me to make trips to Portland without planning to stay the night and would make it optional to stop in Centralia and make it more convenient for other MS, MX and future M3 drivers to reach other superchargers with anything less than a 85 kWh battery pack. This strategy would also discourage local owners from using the superchargers since they would be close, but too far to be convenient for local use.

There are two factors that prevent out-of-town Superchargers:
(1) They need suitable sites.
(2) They try to place Superchargers near intersections.

But really the key to what you wrote was "when I travel to Portland and either stay overnight at a hotel without charging". If long-distance BEVs are successful (whether Tesla or another company), and maybe if PEVs are successful then hotels will have overnight charging, and there will be more destination charging. Tesla has a destination/hotel charging program to deal with the separate problem you had. In the meantime you could try to choose hotels with charging.

In the longer term, Tesla's network would expand and fill in, but for now, it has to prioritize, and it prioritizes long-distance coverage.
 
I love the recent expansion of the supercharger network along Hwy 101. I just wish that Tesla would place superchargers outside of city limits so day trips from out of towers would be more convenient. For example, when I travel to Portland and either stay overnight at a hotel without charging or just do some day shopping; I have to drive to Woodburn (an extra 64 miles round-trip) to have enough charge to reach Centralia without range anxiety. A supercharger in Hazel Dell, like at the Fred Meyers would literally change my life. This would allow me to make trips to Portland without planning to stay the night and would make it optional to stop in Centralia and make it more convenient for other MS, MX and future M3 drivers to reach other superchargers with anything less than a 85 kWh battery pack. This strategy would also discourage local owners from using the superchargers since they would be close, but too far to be convenient for local use.
exactly for your reasoning, I suggested to Tesla the shopping center at the 78th street exit that's undergoing a major redevelopment right now (Hazeldell Marketplace I think is it's name). Salmon Cr FM would be great too since Tesla has already been working with FM on other locations, but not quite as direct to get on and off the freeway. It's an easy on/off I-5 and has tons of options during the day and still some after hours and would make sense for people coming into portland, but not going beyond to Woodburn. I think something south of Seattle would be great too - maybe around 320th or JBLM.
 
Where are you travelling from to get to Portland?
Do you have a Chademo adapter?

I have every adapter know to mankind. I even have a 10 ft j1772 extender so that I don't have to park backwards at electric avenue and get ticketed.

My one-way trip from Olympia to Portland is about 125 miles. This leaves me enough range that I have to charge around 2 hours at a Blink station to safely make it back to Centralia without my wife white knuckling the last 10 miles. If I go to Beaverton or anywhere else in the metropolitan area, I'm now looking at 3-4 hrs on a level 2. I could charge at one of the Chademos, but their placement in Portland is really inconvenient if I want enjoy any shop or restaurant not located in downtown or next to Lloyd center or the Fred Meyer just south of NE Broadway. SE Portland is a wasteland for level 2 charging as well and that's where many of the places that make Portland such a great town are located.

I even installed a Jukebox at my friend's house in Vancouver so I could crash at his place and charge. Fortunately/unfortunately he recently married and now I don't feel comfortable staying there too often for fear of overstaying my welcome. I like staying at the Westin and appreciate their HPWC but I'm not thrilled about paying $300-400 per night to have drinks at Halle Pelle.

I get that these are trivial problems in the grand scheme of things, but I'm a surgeon that takes 2-3 weeks of ER call every month so my free time (when I can have it) is very precious to me. Anything that decreases my stress on my days off would be a blessing.
 
Seems that you would only need 30 minutes of free chademo charge at electric avenue, to make the 180 mile round trip from Centrailia to downtown Portland comfortable (what battery do you have?). In 30 minutes you should be able to get at least 15kWh of juice. That is about 45 extra miles of distance. I would just charge for free for 30 minutes at electric avenue then go where ever you want. Alternatively, I would hit any of the chademos north of Portland but south of Centrailia on the way back.

BTW, have you ever heard of people getting ticketed for parking backwards at electric ave? I was warned once by a meter person not to back in. I pulled in head first and had to use the Charger to the left of my parking spot to reach the back left of my model S. Very poor setup for Teslas.
 
Thank you for posting this and starting this thread. Been meaning to do so myself after attempting a day trip from Seattle to Portland (Hillsboro) and discovering that it is impossible to make it from the Centralia Supercharger to Hillsboro and back without some charging along the way (at least, it's impossible in a P85D with 21"s, even with Range Mode on).

Yes, I have the Chademo adapter and thankfully had the foresight to remember to bring it, but it's big, expensive, and unwieldy to use. Plus, Chademo stations are single head and run a high risk of leaving you high and dry if they are occupied or out of service and you have to juggle 4 different network fobs or payments. All in all, they suck. Not the effortless travel experience afforded by Superchargers.

Tesla needs a Supercharger in Longview, WA to both enable round trip Portland drives, as well as start to open up the Washington coast.
 
I like staying at the Westin and appreciate their HPWC but I'm not thrilled about paying $300-400 per night to have drinks at Halle Pelle.

I assume you mean Hale Pele. (Which is one of the great places for drinks in town.)

If you let me know the next time you are planning a trip down I would be more than happy to run your Tesla down to the Woodburn SpC charge it up for you and bring it back. ;) (I wouldn't even charge for the service.)

I agree a Supercharger North of Portland, but South of Centralia would be great.

Who knows maybe the new Tesla SvC in SW Portland will have a few Supercharger stations available, that would probably make things a little easier. (Even if it isn't exactly on the beaten path.)
 
They can put one by La Center once they new casino is up and running. That is far enough outside of the suburb area of Vancouver but way before Centralia.

Someone should get the address to the casino and submit to Tesla. I did that for the Tanger Outlet Mall in Lincoln city. Not sure how many did the same thing I did but that was after the Model 3 unveil.