Epsom--> Monday 10 March 2025

First up in the mini-quest to visit the new NH superchargers was a trip to Epsom, NH.  My wife and I bought our first house in Epsom, so it was fun to return.  Epsom is in the middle of the State, East of Concord, and off of the major interstates.  It is known locally as having a major traffic circle, where two numbered state highways intersect with each other.  The Tesla supercharging station is in a prime spot, on the south-eastern quadrant of the traffic circle.  This is actually another advantage to Tesla superchargers over the non-Tesla charging stations…the superchargers tend to be placed in convenient spots, while the non-Tesla chargers are much more likely to be off the beaten path.

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

The chargers are in the parking lot of a gas station, with a McDonalds a short walk away down the busy road without needing to cross the street.  This does not sound too exciting, but I was delighted to see a huge deli counter in the gas station, housing another Common Man Roadside site.  I grabbed a sandwich to take home for lunch, and enjoyed it.  This is a perfect spot to pick up food if one was wandering through Epsom on a road trip.  (You may recall that Common Man Roadside is also available at the two Hooksett rest area superchargers on I-93).

The v3 superchargers are always nice to see, although something I have learned in the last year is that the old v2, 150 kW chargers are not as slow as one might think as compared to the v3, 250 kW chargers.  The reason is that Sparky’s “charging curve” only allows speeds over 150 kW when the battery is less than about 35% charged.  Once the charge gets to that state, then it does not matter if I am at a 150 kW or 250 kW station…they both charge at slower than 150 kW.  So yes, I do get higher speeds at a v3 charger for the first part of the charge, if I pull in with the state of charge under 35%, but since they are equally fast after getting to 35%, the difference is not as dramatic as the difference in the max speeds of 150 and 250.  All that said, I still strive to find v3 chargers on road trips because the v2 chargers split the charge if you are charging next to another car, while the v3 chargers never split the charge.

(I will report on the new v4 chargers soon, as two of the new supercharging stations in NH are v4s.)

All in all, this is a great stop, with the Common Man Roadside serving good local food, convenience at the traffic circle, and v3 chargers.