Today I headed to the Seacoast, to the new v4 superchargers
that have been installed in “Seabrook, NH – New Zealand Road”. The v2s that I reviewed last year are still at
a different site in Seabrook, and this new station is only about one mile
away. That said, the new station has a
very different feel than the older station…the v2s are in a Walmart Plaza with
lots of places to choose from for a quick bite.
By contrast, the new v4s are in the parking lot of The Brook, a NH
casino. Until today, I have never
ventured into one of NH’s casinos. But
for you, dear readers, I had to check it out.
From the app: 325 kW,
12 superchargers, with food and restrooms.
325 kW implies it is a v4!
This was my first ever visit to a v4 supercharger. My understanding is that the v4s are (currently) most appealing to the non-Tesla EVs that have access, with an adapter, to Tesla superchargers. They have much longer cables, and some of the non-Tesla EVs have thirsty batteries that can use the extra power. Since Sparky currently has a max charge rate of 250, this extra power is not of use for me…basically the time spent charging would be the same at a v3 and a v4, at least for Sparky. I’m sure that over time, there will be more cars on the road that will see a meaningful difference with the v4s. The cables are thicker than on the v3s, so they are a bit more clumsy to use, but not as bad as CCS chargers used by most non-Teslas.
The v4 supercharging cabinets are a departure from the
design of the v2 and v3 chargers, which are hard to tell apart from each
other. The v4 cabinets are taller,
white, and do not have the cool-looking (to me) oval hole carved out of the
middle. Like v3s, the v4s are
independently powered, so you do not have to worry about splitting a charge,
even if you are charging next to another EV.
As the app suggests, food and restrooms are available here, but only in the casino. I wandered through the casino, found the restrooms in a far corner, and looked around for food options. In my opinion, the casino restaurants are not well suited for a road tripper looking for a quick bite. I did see that there was a Chinese food restaurant, with a takeout counter, but it was closed when I was there.
One thing I thought was very interesting was that the Tesla
superchargers are taking up prime real estate in the parking lot, basically directly
to the right of the main entrance, just a short walk to the casino. That seems like an odd choice to me, I would
have expected the superchargers to be in a far-flung corner of the parking
lot. I also noticed a bank of level-2 "destination" chargers (like what one uses at home, or overnight at a hotel), so that is a
cool option for people planning to spend some time in the casino…you could hook
up to one of those, and get a slow, free charge.
So all in all, while the amenities are not ideal, this is a great option just down the road from the old v2s in Seabrook. Kudos to “The Brook” for supporting EVs!
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