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What a waste

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I was at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI this weekend. I drove my Model S. There is a TESLA labeled charger, but guess what? Only works with a Roadster :cursing:. I have never seen a Roadster in Southeastern Wisconsin. I am sure they exist. There were two Model S autos at Road America this weekend. Neither one of us could use the 70 kW charger! I wonder how many other Roadster only chargers exist that never get used anymore?

roadamerica charger.JPG
 
We got a few local Model S owners together and we created a Roadster HPC to Model S adapter share group. We pooled some money for an adapter, a locking NEMA box and the contributing members have the combination to the box.

We got permission from the property owner to mount the box at their facility and sought out the owner of the HPC for permission. No one admitted to being the owner and the person who owned the property thought that the charger was provided by Tesla. (I'm pretty sure that it was a generous Roadster owner though.) The property owner did the original HPC install to draw customers to their restaurant and volunteered to mount the adapter box too. Once Superchargers were put in service close to the Roadster HPC we moved the adapter to another HPC location that was in need of an adapter.

You might consider doing the same. A few of the adapter share people ended up getting their own adapters once they realized what they were missing.
 
Multiply our frustration by the number of current and future SuperCharger plugs and you get an idea of what the true "early adapters" (Roadster owners) feel like!

+1 from a Roadster owner

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Most Roadster HPCs have been donated by Roadster owners. Not a waste. You're welcome to buy an adapter and use part of the infrastructure that we helped to put in. It's not all about Model S. :)

You're welcome.

+2!!
 
thank you to all the Roadster owners for "paving the way", we all owe you big time!!! We need more of this "pay it forward" spirit with the new S owners. the early Tesla highway on the west coast made it possible to take the family to Santa Cruz this summer, pre super chargers with a borrowed adapter. having those stations as back up will surely prove valuable in a myriad of ways even after the SC network is fully in place!
 
We got a few local Model S owners together and we created a Roadster HPC to Model S adapter share group. We pooled some money for an adapter, a locking NEMA box and the contributing members have the combination to the box.

We got permission from the property owner to mount the box at their facility and sought out the owner of the HPC for permission. No one admitted to being the owner and the person who owned the property thought that the charger was provided by Tesla. (I'm pretty sure that it was a generous Roadster owner though.) The property owner did the original HPC install to draw customers to their restaurant and volunteered to mount the adapter box too. Once Superchargers were put in service close to the Roadster HPC we moved the adapter to another HPC location that was in need of an adapter.

You might consider doing the same. A few of the adapter share people ended up getting their own adapters once they realized what they were missing.

Way to go!
 
I was at Road America in Elkhart Lake, WI this weekend. I drove my Model S. There is a TESLA labeled charger, but guess what? Only works with a Roadster :cursing:. I have never seen a Roadster in Southeastern Wisconsin. I am sure they exist. There were two Model S autos at Road America this weekend. Neither one of us could use the 70 kW charger! I wonder how many other Roadster only chargers exist that never get used anymore?

View attachment 33621

I'll dig up more information on this charging station. I did find out is is very infrequently used. I'm thinking of 2 possible solutions. 1, convert to J1772, or 2, see if they would be willing to just pop a NEMA 14-50 in next to it :)
 
We got a few local Model S owners together and we created a Roadster HPC to Model S adapter share group. We pooled some money for an adapter, a locking NEMA box and the contributing members have the combination to the box.

We got permission from the property owner to mount the box at their facility and sought out the owner of the HPC for permission. No one admitted to being the owner and the person who owned the property thought that the charger was provided by Tesla. (I'm pretty sure that it was a generous Roadster owner though.) The property owner did the original HPC install to draw customers to their restaurant and volunteered to mount the adapter box too. Once Superchargers were put in service close to the Roadster HPC we moved the adapter to another HPC location that was in need of an adapter.

You might consider doing the same. A few of the adapter share people ended up getting their own adapters once they realized what they were missing.

+1 great idea. As someone within driving distance of Road America, this would be a great idea and I would be willing to contribute.

P.S. Big Thanks to the trail blazing Roadster owners!
 
Before you guys switch it over for your own use, you might want to make sure that the Roadster owners who likely donated it to the current location are somehow notified and have an adapter.

There were some Roadster owners stranded last year when the HPCs at Rabobanks were converted unexpectedly to J1772. They were counting on it for their trip and had no way to charge.

better to make an adapter available to Model S owners, IMO. Then everyone is happy.
 
We got a few local Model S owners together and we created a Roadster HPC to Model S adapter share group. We pooled some money for an adapter, a locking NEMA box and the contributing members have the combination to the box.

We got permission from the property owner to mount the box at their facility and sought out the owner of the HPC for permission. No one admitted to being the owner and the person who owned the property thought that the charger was provided by Tesla. (I'm pretty sure that it was a generous Roadster owner though.) The property owner did the original HPC install to draw customers to their restaurant and volunteered to mount the adapter box too. Once Superchargers were put in service close to the Roadster HPC we moved the adapter to another HPC location that was in need of an adapter.

You might consider doing the same. A few of the adapter share people ended up getting their own adapters once they realized what they were missing.
Regarding the underlined...

In my original skim wasn't sure if you were talking about the Centralia or Ellensburg Roadster HPC. Upon reread, I presume you meant Centralia.

I have a vague recollection that the Ellensburg Roadster HPC was Tom Saxton's doing. But my memory is quite imperfect.

I don't recall hearing a name put to the Centralia Roadster HPC.
 
Tesla didn't provide any of the HPCs directly, as far as I know. There was a program in place where if a Roadster was purchased as a result of another Roadster owner's referral, that Roadster owner was given an HPC. Most were donated to help build the Tesla Highway and some were installed in other places. ChadS was instrumental in finding many of the locations along the West coast. In other cases, Roadster owners funded HPCs in beneficial locations for their road trips.

It's unlikely any of the installed locations would know who specifically donated the HPC. They see the name 'Tesla' on the box and assume that Tesla put it there.
 
Being a Wisconsin resident, I too would like to see this station be of use to more than just the roadster. I wanted to participate in the Kettle-Call event in Elkhart Lake a few weeks ago, but couldn't find adequate charging. Also TRACK DAYS!! At Road America would be fun. I would help pitch in for a roadster to Model S adapter, Nema 14-50 outlet, or possibly J1772 EVSE. Perhaps we should also consult the folks at Road America to see how they feel about us doing this stuff.