Charging in Pittsburgh

jayman said:

I noted on plugshare that there is a HPWC mentioned at the Westin but when I called them about it they had no idea what I was talking about. They didn't seem to care either by the way. Anyone know if there is a HPWC there and if there is, is it accessible. I'm gonna be spending a couple of nights there in December and wanted to know my best options.

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paulkva said:

Depending on how much local driving you plan to do and your overall travel plans, you might not even need much (if any) destination charging in Pittsburgh. If you're coming from I-76, the Cranberry supercharger is only ~20 miles from downtown. If you're coming from I-70, the Tridelphia supercharger is only ~50 miles from downtown. Either way, if you plan your trip such that you leave the last supercharger with close to a full battery, you'll almost certainly have enough energy remaining to get back to the nearest supercharger.

If you do still need destination charging, I can second the recommendation for CMU's Electric Garage, which is less than 5 miles from downtown and allows you to park & charge for free up to 4 hours at a time. I've used the HPWC and the J1772 plugs there in the past.

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maddog1762 said:

If you are coming from the South, I79 your hosed! No way to get through West Viriginia to Pittsburgh. Got to spend the night at Greenbrier Hotel as they only allow charging for customers...... However those chargers may not even working after reviewing plug share comments.

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paulkva said:

True, if you're in the Charlotte / Rock Hill area, there's no good Tesla route to Pittsburgh yet. Google says 475 miles direct (77-79), which means you'd likely have to stop and charge overnight, plus once more (given terrain and possible weather). And the supercharger route (85-95-495-270-70-76) would be an extra 200 miles or so.

It'll get better when Tesla completes the I-81 corridor (which is supposedly in the early planning stages according to other posts on TMC); at that point the supercharged route would "only" be 100 miles longer than direct.

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paulkva said:

Actually, taking a closer look at Tesla's new 2015 map, it looks like they're planning superchargers in or near Statesville NC, Charleston WV, and Morgantown WV... with the caveat that their future maps can have a large margin of error, both for location and timing.

If the map is accurate, then only the ~225 mile leg from Statesville to Charleston would be difficult (especially in winter). But if the I-81 corridor eventually includes a supercharger near the overlap with I-77 (i.e. Wytheville or Fort Chiswell), then Charlotte-Pittsburgh would be easy.

No guarantees of course, and I have zero inside information. But I'd be optimistic that your direct route will be supercharged within a couple years. If you drive this route frequently (I don't), I'd recommend sending specific site suggestions directly to Tesla's supercharger team:
Supercharging

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