Dual chargers required in NW - Seattle area?

Up in this area and especially in BC I would consider them useful. There are numerous 70A stations in this area. With Superchargers maybe less useful than in past but places like Port Angeles has a 70A station so can help a lot.

kooljack said:

This is one option i am going back and forth before confirming my S85D .. my regular commute is only 40 miles per day so not needed for that but occasional road trips 1 or 2 per year going north to Canada (BC, Whistler, Banf) or South to OR. Would like to know your recommendations / reasoning to help me close on this.

Thanks,
K

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I figure the dual chargers will be valuable when you find yourself going places using a 70A charging network, and specifically when you need to accumulate electricity during the day to continue a trip, rather than overnight. That'd mean the Canadian 70A charger network today. I also wonder how long it's going to be before Tesla builds out the SC network in Canada.

Ultimately it's only a decision you can make. When will the chargers actually make a difference to you. Overnight charging at 40A will still refill the battery fully, so not as valuable for destination charging. How often do you road trip along a path that won't include a SC along the way, but will include a 70/80A charger? And when you do make those road trips, would the presence of dual chargers translate into actually making the trip, and the absence of the dual charger (slower charging time) translate to not making the trip? That'd be the real reason in my mind to get the dual chargers - that there presence leads to you making trips that you wouldn't otherwise make.

I got dual-charger on my MS that I took delivery of about 15 months ago. My experience is that I would have done fine without dual-chargers. Reason is how rarely I found high-amp chargers in the wild and the fast build-out of the supercharger network. Even when I have found high-amp chargers (like at a Tesla location), they quality of the power supply hasn't always charged me up as quickly as the web site would have you believe. I've driven from Portland to San Francisco and Whistler, BC. I mostly look for a good place to charge at the destination - and they rarely have high-amp chargers.

That said, if the $$ isn't going to hurt, go ahead a get it.

Dual chargers are already quite useful today in Canada. Plus, it is a possibility the USA will be installing more 70 amp chargers.

the long awaited placement of sponsored Sun Country Chargers in WA state is about to be announced. I can't get into the details but OR, WA and CA have a remarkable and expanding network of HAL2 chargers that help with getting to more remote locations or even just destination charging within metro areas. to me it's not a matter of how frequently you might use them, if you will ever want to go off the super charging network, they become crucial as getting stuck even once having to charge for 20+ hours somewhere on a low amp station to get home is a super buzz kill, particularly with family and or friends on board. I highly recommend getting the dual chargers for this part of the country in particular. we have used our quite a bit over the last 1.5 years.

Starting to see a lot of 80 amp J1772 stations in my neck of the woods now.

kooljack said:

This is one option i am going back and forth before confirming my S85D .. my regular commute is only 40 miles per day so not needed for that but occasional road trips 1 or 2 per year going north to Canada (BC, Whistler, Banf) or South to OR. Would like to know your recommendations / reasoning to help me close on this.

Thanks,
K

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Also on destination charging a number of resorts and hotels are starting to install the Tesla HPWC so you are being a good user if your car can charge quickly and then it could be used by another user.

Also at resorts they tend to be centrally located and if the resort is spread out it can be quite a walk to and from the charging location. So if you can suck down the juice while you are having dinner, breakfast, etc at the central lodge then parking at your room is more palatable.

To go to Vancouver or Whistler, there's no need for dual chargers since you can use the supercharger in Burlington WA or Squamish BC.

1.5 years ago i made it from seattle to whistler with only 1 hour single charging on the way. so much easier now.

in NW area chademo seems easy to find and is much faster than dual chargers, I didn't bother with dual chargers. maybe by the time you take delivery the chademo adapter will finally exist

The Travel Bug will Bite You

The Model S is a fantastic touring car, after driving it for a few weeks the desire to tour Washington will become too strong to resist. Much of our state will not be served by Level 3 (Tesla SC/CHAdeMO) because of the high cost of installation. However, much of the area is being planted with haL2 which is 70A-80A 240V and good for a nominal 50 miles of range per hour of charge. The city of Chelan already has four haL2 EVSE and even the small spot named Mazama on Highway 20 (the North Cascades Highway) has one. We have 33,000 miles on our MS and have driven to Banff, Canada and Boise, ID. The difference between four hours and two hours at a charging stop is well worth the extra cost of adding the Twin Charger to your order. The dash shot is at the Plug-In North Central Washington haL2 at Coles Corner (59er Diner) on Highway 2.

The points about HAL2 chargers in WA are spot on. Out there on the road, the difference between 40A charging and 70/80A is huge. In addition, I find it very nice to have dual chargers and an HPWC. There have been a couple of times where i wanted quick turn around and got there a lot faster that way.

Can you get by without Dual Chargers? Sure. Is you life easier with them. Most definitely yes.

By the way, Jack, is that at the 59er? I was there last Sunday.

PhilBa said:

By the way, Jack, is that at the 59er? I was there last Sunday.

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Yes it is at the Diner. Take the cabin access road to the brown barn with the large Happy Face. The EVSE is mounted to the left of the barn doors.

JackA said:

Yes it is at the Diner. Take the cabin access road to the brown barn with the large Happy Face. The EVSE is mounted to the left of the barn doors.

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Sorry I wasn't clear, I've been using the 59er charger. I guessed because it has 240VAC. It is kind of hidden, though.

When I finished charging on Sunday, there was a Leaf with the charge port open parked next to me so I plugged it in. The person riding with me with asked if it's like a code among EVers. That kind of stopped me for a second because I just thought it was common courtesy but maybe it's not so common.