Time for an Update!
I stopped by Chiriaco Summit on my way to Phoenix. I met with Margit, the owner of the town, and she was very enthusiastic about clean energy.
Ironically, the power had just gone out when we arrived. We asked if this was a regular occurrence and they said this was the first time in 4 months that it had happened, and the last time was due to someone knocking over a power line with their car. The power was restored in about an hour while we were there, although we never found out why it went out. From the way they were speaking, there don't seem to be any issues with the grid, but even when the power does go out, it seems to be restored rather quickly.
As I mentioned, everyone in the town was extremely enthusiastic about electric vehicles and clean energy. They told us they had applied for a grant to install a charger but had been turned down, so this was very serendipitous for them. It seems they are completely on board to accept the charger once we get it, and hope to build more infrastructure as well. Margit's brother, Bob, told us they were also planning on installing solar panels, but that project is still a ways away from coming to fruition.
Regarding the town itself, it had a very charming, welcoming feel. There is a "coffee shop" which is more like a small diner. I had some excellent eggs for breakfast, and they had a pretty decent variety of food to choose from, although they don't serve espresso for the coffee snobs such as myself. There is also a Fosters Freeze, convenience mart attached to the gas station, a post office, tourism center for the area (Christopher, the man who runs it, is very eager to help anyone and loves to meet new people), and a General Patton Museum with some cool vintage tanks.
Overall, I got a good impression of the place and it seems like it will be a great place to recharge. They even had a spot picked out for the charger: in a bay at their former gas station and classic car garage, making for a fun juxtaposition of technology. We also spoke about electricity costs and it seemed like they want to charge a small fee to charge up, but they only wanted to offset the electricity costs so I suggested between $5 and $10. The charger will also be accessible 24/7.
One thing the owners asked us for help with was writing letters of support for further charging grants for the town. The main points of the letter they needed were reasons why Chiriaco Summit is well suited to receiving chargers (natural halfway point between 2 major cities, the town services 1300 cars daily and is along a major highway corridor that has 22,500 cars pass through it daily) and tons of CO2 that will be taken off the road thanks to these chargers (I'll still need to run some numbers to figure out a figure for this). It would also help to mention the increasing prevalence of electric vehicles.
If other members of this forum could write similar letters as well, we could help make our voices heard and create a new electric waypoint along the 10! The letters must be hard copies and mailed to:
South Coast Air Quality Management District Governing Board
21865 Copley Drive
Diamond Bar, CA 91765
The more letters that are sent, the better! I feel very excited at the possibility of banding together as a community and not only getting the one HPWC installed, but creating real interstate infrastructure that everyone can use!
Without further ado, here are some pictures of the town!
Here is the sign at the entrance:
The planned location for the HPWC:
The Coffee Shop:
Post Office:
Panorama from the tourist center showing the charger location, Fosters Freeze/Convenience Store, and coffee shop on the right:
Panorama from the convenience store showing, from left to right, Coffee Shop, Tourist Center, Charger Location, Gas Station:
Some promising signs in front of the museum:
And the tanks!:
Hope this was a helpful summary! If anyone reading this feels inclined, PLEASE write the letters of support, it would be a great help!
