West Lebanon--> Saturday 20 January 2024

On a very cold day (air temp in the teens) I decided to head to the second farthest Supercharger from my house out north and west along I-89, near the Vermont border, in West Lebanon, NH.  

From the app:  150kW, 8 superchargers, plus 250kW, 8 superchargers, with Food, WiFi, shopping, coffee, and restrooms.

One thing I was excited about was the fact that this is, by far, the largest collection of superchargers in the state, with 16 superchargers—this must be a site that started with 8 150kW chargers, that then decided to upgrade with 8 more 250kW chargers.  I was amused when I drove up, because six of the sixteen stalls were taken, and three of the cars were hooked up to the slower 150kW chargers.  I’m surprised that Tesla owners would not know the difference, though as I have reported before, the 150kW chargers are not that slow, so long as you are not sharing a charge with a neighbor.  If there are reasons why one would opt for 150kW when the faster chargers are available, I’d be interested to understand why.

So yes, on the plus side, there are plenty of supercharging stalls here.  That said, I did not find this to be a good site (at all) with respect to food.  The superchargers are in the parking lot of a WalMart plaza, though the WalMart is at least a 5-minute walk as it is on the far side of the lot.  The two closer stores are a Price Chopper grocery store, and a Michaels.  I did not notice any eating options in this plaza.  The road leading to the chargers is typical suburbia, with a number of choices, though these would take 5 minutes (plus) to walk to…Applebees and a local seafood chain (Weathervane) were somewhat close, but not particularly convenient.  These are also both primarily sit-down restaurants, which is not ideal for a quick bite while charging on a roadtrip.

This is an important station for those traveling up to/through Vermont on Interstate 89, as it is the only option for quite a distance.  The closest charger south is all the way down in Hooksett NH, while if you continue on I-89 north into Vermont, the next available stop is up in Montpelier.  Not ridiculous, as West Lebanon is roughly in the middle of this 120-mile stretch, but depending on charge levels, I imagine quite a few people stop here on their I-89 road trips.

As for aesthetics, yuck, tucked away on the side of the grocery story, nothing to see but a brick building.  I realize that seeking beauty at Tesla supercharging stations is unlikely to yield much fruit, but hey, Ashland was nice!  Not sure what the WiFi connection would be, and the bathrooms must be in the Price Chopper?  I availed myself of neither.