Manchester--> Monday 25 December 2023

By far the closest supercharging station to my house is the one in Manchester, NH.  Let’s test out the “24/7” feature of the Tesla superchargers by visiting this one on Christmas day.  My daughter is a nurse, and must work today, so we had our main family celebration yesterday.  This leaves me open to zip to Manchester this morning to give Sparky some holiday juice.  It is a mere 4.2 miles from my house.

From the app:  250kW, 8 superchargers, with food, coffee, and restrooms.

First off, of course it is open, as the Tesla superchargers need no humans to operate on a day-to-day basis.  Drive up, plug in, and let it do its thing. 

While this location is convenient for locals, it feels to me that it is a bit off the beaten track for travelers.  (The small sample of superchargers I have used so far have all been conveniently located just off the highway.)  If someone was traveling north or south on I-93, this supercharger would add at least 10 minutes of round-trip driving, as first you need to take the I-293 spur for a mile or so, and then take busy South Willow Road through a few traffic lights to get to the supercharger.  Not a game breaker, but it’s definitely not what I would call “right off the highway”.  South Willow St is a typical busy urban street, with many food and shopping options, so that could be useful for travelers.

As expected, I was the only one charging at 8:00 am on Christmas day.  The chargers are in the parking lot of a standalone restaurant, which in turn is located in the parking lot of a strip mall.  This site has not been kind to restaurants so far, as it has recently hosted restaurants named “British Beer Co” and “Flight Center”.  Now a new franchise restaurant is going in, “Dave’s Hot Chicken.”  I’m a bit surprised that Tesla was able to put in a supercharging station here, as the eight stalls are to the side of the restaurant in a busy parking lot, taking up some prime parking real estate for the restaurant. 

If hot chicken is not your thing, there is a Starbucks and a Five Guys in the strip mall, and Dunkin Donuts and Taco Bell within a block as well.

250kW superchargers are, of course, great, and this one is convenient for me (though generally I expect I will be charging from home, especially once my free supercharging incentive ends, and I have to start paying for superchargers.)  So mostly good impressions here, with the caveat that if you are traveling, and need only stop to charge, I’d aim for any of the chargers north of Manchester, since they will be a much quicker stop.