Electric vehicle owners traveling to Ocean Shores will no longer have to deal with “range anxiety” since a new Tesla Supercharger station went live in the town Oct. 10.
The station, which is located in the parking lot next to the city’s convention center, features eight white and red charging ports drawing power from the Grays Harbor Public Utility District. Joining another in Aberdeen, the station is the second Tesla charger in Grays Harbor County.
That’s out of about 500 to 600 in Washington state, said Theresa Ramsdell, president of Tesla Owners Washington. She said looking at whether or not a city has a charging station plays a big role in deciding where to take a road trip.
“When we see superchargers go into places, we tend to visit them more often,” Ramsdell said.
According to Ramsdell, most electric cars will be able to use the station with the right adapters. Washington State Department of Transportation officials told Reuters in June that the state plans to require all EV charging stations to incorporate Tesla’s plug, the North American Charging Standard, at federally and state funded charging sites, although the decision is not official.
In August the state Department of Commerce announced a $64 million grant program for charging stations, which was followed by an announcement of $1 billion in federal funding for WSDOT for upgrades to state highways, bridges and new EV charging infrastructure in October.
The charging station in Ocean Shores was funded by Tesla at no cost to the city, according to Ocean Shores Mayor Jon Martin. He said the city has tentative plans for another charging station near the Ocean Shores library.
“This is pretty impressive for a little town like ours,” he said.
Ocean Shores resident and Tesla owner Darrel Prowse said he can charge his car by simply plugging it into a normal wall outlet, however the rapid charging stations can resupply a vehicle in 30 to 60 minutes, providing hundreds of miles of range.
“Range anxiety, which used to be a real thing, is pretty much gone now,” Prowse said on Saturday.
Contact reporter Clayton Franke at 406-552-3917 or clayton.franke@thedailyworld.com.
