Teslas keeping me in business

[Tom]

A few years back, Innspired by postings here, I asked Tesla for a destination charger: free plus $200 to install. Cool factor for sure. We routinely got 6 to 12 Teslas a year in the course of normal business. Now, 4 out of the last 10 guests -- all I've had in two months! -- have found me from the Tesla destination web site. Amazing. In most cases, these folks were travelling for family medical or job change, so being on the road was unusual, but here we are. Maybe they felt safer not being at a chain hotel. Not much personal interaction as before, so don't get to learn such subtleties.

 

[Arks]

I'm also getting a LOT more people using my chargers than a few years ago. I guess it's mainly because there are a lot more Teslas on the road, especially the less-expensive Model 3, and because I'm an oasis in the desert. Unless you want to drive hundreds of miles out of the way to enjoy the supercharger network, I'm the only place you can charge between Little Rock and St. Louis, and between Branson, MO, and Nashville or Memphis.

 

[gillumhouse]

Unfortunately 2 or 3 superchargers (Sheetz) have gone in in the last couple years along I-79. I think Morgantown has 2 (one on i-68) and Fairmont 1. IFthey have one in Weston (south of me) there are 4

 

[Tom]

Indeed, lots of Model 3. And even other automakers are providing longer range travel so I've installed a J1772 charger as well, I've had 2 Bolts. I was planning to put in solar to power all these .. and I probably will, but the economic uncertainty of recent times has put a damper on my plans.
There is a supercharger only 7 miles from me, so the Teslas are staying to get off the road and charge for free over night. I gather that recent sales like the M3 don't have free super charging. The typical charge when staying here is about 70 kW-hr; with the going Tesla charge rate of $0.28/kW-hr, that's about $20 and a half hour wait they can save. For me it costs $6 -- about the same as a glass of the local pinot noir I offer.
Just looked at map; there is still only one other destination charger -- a Hilton Garden -- in a college town of 300,000 persons on a busy Interstate.

 

[GoodScout]

I have to say installing a J1772 charger in my little Vermont mountain town has been a bit of a bust. I've gotten maybe one customer a year taking advantage of it.

 

[Innkeep]

I have to say installing a J1772 charger in my little Vermont mountain town has been a bit of a bust. I've gotten maybe one customer a year taking advantage of it..

Darren, you might consider listing your charger on PlugShare.com. It’s one of the oldest and frequently used place where drivers go to find places to charge. You should be able to specify for guests only, or set a fee for those who don’t stay if you want to recoup your expenses.

 

[Arks]

I have to say installing a J1772 charger in my little Vermont mountain town has been a bit of a bust. I've gotten maybe one customer a year taking advantage of it..

Darren, you might consider listing your charger on PlugShare.com. It’s one of the oldest and frequently used place where drivers go to find places to charge. You should be able to specify for guests only, or set a fee for those who don’t stay if you want to recoup your expenses.
.

Darren, you might consider listing your charger on PlugShare.com.

I was checking PlugShare just yesterday. I'm wanting to make a trip in my Tesla that will require me to stop mid-way to pick up about 150 additional miles of charging. I could stop at the Little Rock supercharger and get that much charge in about 30 minutes, but Little Rock is about 90 minutes out of my way.
So I went to PlugShare looking for a place to charge that's on my route. I found about 8 charging stations in the right location, but they're all 240V chargers that give you about 17 miles/hour on the charger. I'd have to sit there 9 hours to pick up 150 miles!! Needless to say, I'll be swinging by Little Rock on this trip, coming and going!

 

[Tdblanchard]

How did you go about this?
We’ll definitely be installing a charger (we have a Tesla). If we can somehow take advantage of a partnership program, that’d be great!

 

[gillumhouse]

How did you go about this?
We’ll definitely be installing a charger (we have a Tesla). If we can somehow take advantage of a partnership program, that’d be great!.

I do not believe they are still offering the partnership program - there are so many Supercharger stations now - there are 3 quite near me now. In July 2015 when they gave me mine, there was nothing within 150 miles of me. THAT has changed! They did the partnership because who is going to buy a "status car" if they cannot drive it some place other than the nearby town. So Tesla seeded chargers - at B & Bs, hotels, State Parks to give Teslas "fuel" to take a trip. Most of the newer Sheetz stations around here have superchargers. BUT I did find out recently that the non-Tesla electric cars cannot use the supercharger - only a J1772.

 

[Arks]

What Gillum said. The "destination charger" program gave free Tesla wall chargers to inns all over the country, and in some cases even paid for installation, in order to get charging points in places distant from the supercharger network. That was a few years ago. They don't much need destination chargers anymore.
I was luckier than Gillum. She's near the interstate system so superchargers are becoming plentiful there. I'm in a Tesla desert, so the one they gave me is the only charging point between St. Louis and Little Rock, and the only place to charge between Branson, MO and Nashville, so I have a lot of people stop for a charge.
Some even book a room for the night. I'm also a Tesla owner, so I decided to help people out by letting them charge free even if they don't book a room. It's the one good deed I do for humanity!

 

[GoodScout]

How did you go about this?
We’ll definitely be installing a charger (we have a Tesla). If we can somehow take advantage of a partnership program, that’d be great!.

I do not believe they are still offering the partnership program - there are so many Supercharger stations now - there are 3 quite near me now. In July 2015 when they gave me mine, there was nothing within 150 miles of me. THAT has changed! They did the partnership because who is going to buy a "status car" if they cannot drive it some place other than the nearby town. So Tesla seeded chargers - at B & Bs, hotels, State Parks to give Teslas "fuel" to take a trip. Most of the newer Sheetz stations around here have superchargers. BUT I did find out recently that the non-Tesla electric cars cannot use the supercharger - only a J1772.
.

They ended the program three years ago - about the time I tried to sign on.
I feel I'm better off putting my own J1772 in -- this way both Tesla and non-Tesla owners can use it.

 

[gillumhouse]

How did you go about this?
We’ll definitely be installing a charger (we have a Tesla). If we can somehow take advantage of a partnership program, that’d be great!.

I do not believe they are still offering the partnership program - there are so many Supercharger stations now - there are 3 quite near me now. In July 2015 when they gave me mine, there was nothing within 150 miles of me. THAT has changed! They did the partnership because who is going to buy a "status car" if they cannot drive it some place other than the nearby town. So Tesla seeded chargers - at B & Bs, hotels, State Parks to give Teslas "fuel" to take a trip. Most of the newer Sheetz stations around here have superchargers. BUT I did find out recently that the non-Tesla electric cars cannot use the supercharger - only a J1772.
.

They ended the program three years ago - about the time I tried to sign on.
I feel I'm better off putting my own J1772 in -- this way both Tesla and non-Tesla owners can use it.
.

In 2015 they gave me one of each and paid the installation - it cost me nothing.

 

[GoodScout]

Had another call today:
"I'm staying at the place across the street from you and the owner there said I should call you about using your car charger."

My response:

 

[gillumhouse]

I had a call this afternoon asking how this worked with the Tesla charger. He was at my driveway. My car was in the driveway - told him I will be right out to move it. Nice bit of money for me today - unexpected. Jut getting a "fill-up" but maybe a room another time.

 

[GoodScout]

Gil, you and I have discussed this, and agree that we have different philosophies on giving away/selling amenities for paying guests to non-guests.
I'm curious what you charge for a fillup/charge. Since you have a high-speed charger, it makes more sense for you to help out your competitors than me with my Level 2, which takes 6 hours or so to fully charge a vehicle.
That said, there's a good case for using it to give guests a taste of your place (what else is there to do while you're charging but give them a tour!). For me, letting a non-guest tie up my charging spot for six hours while they're giving an AirBnB their money makes no sense for me.
I also won't be letting nearby Air guests use my hot-tub or wifi.

 

[JimBoone]

Gil, you and I have discussed this, and agree that we have different philosophies on giving away/selling amenities for paying guests to non-guests.
I'm curious what you charge for a fillup/charge. Since you have a high-speed charger, it makes more sense for you to help out your competitors than me with my Level 2, which takes 6 hours or so to fully charge a vehicle.
That said, there's a good case for using it to give guests a taste of your place (what else is there to do while you're charging but give them a tour!). For me, letting a non-guest tie up my charging spot for six hours while they're giving an AirBnB their money makes no sense for me.
I also won't be letting nearby Air guests use my hot-tub or wifi.

GoodScout I have mixed views on having a charger.

Company - initial contact was a good people person, later when I had an issue and made contact again I was met with an attitude of “don’t bother us with your problems“, I sort of lost interest.

Guests - except for one who left the connecting cord laying in grass/puddle each charge an then complained about how it worked, they all seemed nice folks.

Public - most connected without asking and seemed to think a free charge was owed to them and I was unreasonable to ask a fee.

 

[Morticia]

GoodScout I have mixed views on having a charger.

Company - initial contact was a good people person, later when I had an issue and made contact again I was met with an attitude of “don’t bother us with your problems“, I sort of lost interest.

Guests - except for one who left the connecting cord laying in grass/puddle each charge an then complained about how it worked, they all seemed nice folks.

Public - most connected without asking and seemed to think a free charge was owed to them and I was unreasonable to ask a fee.

We didn’t get the charger back when it was free from Tesla. Our neighbors did. Because they needed to add a new line they have a separate breaker for the charger. This has come in handy for those folks who think electricity is free. They just keep the breaker off unless they have guests who need it or people have called from the road and are willing to pay.

This is after multiple times finding strange cars pulled up and no one around. And then speaking with the car’s owner when they finally returned after going out for dinner or whatever. Most were highly indignant that payment was expected. And showed no remorse over driving into private property to steal.

There is now a supercharger station in town so there is less of that happening.

 

[gillumhouse]

Gil, you and I have discussed this, and agree that we have different philosophies on giving away/selling amenities for paying guests to non-guests.
I'm curious what you charge for a fillup/charge. Since you have a high-speed charger, it makes more sense for you to help out your competitors than me with my Level 2, which takes 6 hours or so to fully charge a vehicle.
That said, there's a good case for using it to give guests a taste of your place (what else is there to do while you're charging but give them a tour!). For me, letting a non-guest tie up my charging spot for six hours while they're giving an AirBnB their money makes no sense for me.
I also won't be letting nearby Air guests use my hot-tub or wifi.

It takes (I am told - I do not know for sure, that it takes 4 hours for a full charge (40 minutes at a supercharger). A fillup is $20. It was $15 but I do not always have $5 for change and that was back in 2015, upped it this year. I am the only B & B in the County so if someone is staying with AIR I would not know. He was parked in my driveway most of the night - he had a friend in the area because when I returned from my Council meeting he and the friend were walking down the alley. (He did also ask to use the facilities which I granted but did not give a tour.)

 

[GoodScout]

I can throw the breaker to prevent power filching (it's in the back of my property, so not obvious to people on Main Street.
Only reason I don't is that my particular model has a wifi component that puts it on the ChargePoint network, so people on that network can find me on their phones/computers when they're searching for chargers. If I cut the power, it shows my charger out of service.
I can always park my car in the spot to prevent power theft, but it really isn't a problem here.

 

[gillumhouse]

I can throw the breaker to prevent power filching (it's in the back of my property, so not obvious to people on Main Street.
Only reason I don't is that my particular model has a wifi component that puts it on the ChargePoint network, so people on that network can find me on their phones/computers when they're searching for chargers. If I cut the power, it shows my charger out of service.
I can always park my car in the spot to prevent power theft, but it really isn't a problem here.

Himself wanted me to throw the breaker when it was not in use. However, I felt that Tesla invested in me with it so I have always left it on. In 2017 while I was in Finland it saved a lady who was almost on meltdown almost out of battery. I was able to text her to my place.I did not even mention the fee. Was just glad I had the sense to leave it on. I may have felt differently if I had to have paid for the chargers AND the electrician to install them.