New RAN location in Nags Head, NC

[BCondrey]

Tesla just opened a 12 stall supercharger in Avon, NC in the food lion parking lot

OBX is fully covered

Not quite. There is no DCFC north of Nags Head all the way to the VA line on route 12. Thats about 50 miles. Corolla and Duck are very popular locations. In the summer it can take quite a while to make it to Nags Head from the northern OBX.

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[emoore]

Not quite. There is no DCFC north of Nags Head all the way to the VA line on route 12. Thats about 50 miles. Corolla and Duck are very popular locations. In the summer it can take quite a while to make it to Nags Head from the northern OBX.

50 miles? That's all? There are some places in the west and upper midwest where it's over 200 miles between decent chargers. I'd take 50 miles any day.

 

[BCondrey]

I get that, good point. In the case of the NOBX, its not on the way to anything. The road ends. You have to drive south 40-50 miles, then back north, then have enough range to get back south to the charger. And, the "road" to the northern community, Carova, is the beach. Sand, no pavement. Have to watch the tides and plan your trips around low-tide. It kills efficiency. Just a different kind of difficult from the mid-west.

 

[mkhuffman]

50 miles? That's all? There are some places in the west and upper midwest where it's over 200 miles between decent chargers. I'd take 50 miles any day.

200 miles is definitely a big problem, but prior to the Tesla SC and future RAN station in Nags Head, the only options were L1 at rental properties and a very small number of public V2 EVSEs.

Who wants to take 3 hours out of their beach vacation every other day to drive to VA for a DCFC? L1 charging is usually an option, but it is almost impossible to keep up with daily driving using L1. Of course if you park your R1 for a week and sunbathe the entire time it isn't a concern. But most people drive around, and some drive in the sand.

Personally I installed a NEMA 14-50 at our house in Nags Head, so I have no issues. Prior to putting that in, through, it was very difficult to keep my Mach-e charged while there. I had to do something I hate to do and park my car at a public L2 until it was sufficiently charged. I hate doing that because the L2 is for customers and obviously I was not shopping the entire time I used the EVSE. (I did spend money in that center that week.)

The Tesla SC and future RAN station mean many people who had to come down to the OBX in a ICEV can instead bring their R1. And that is great news. I hope I see a lot more Rivians driving around there in the near future. And I will wave at them! LoL

 

[emoore]

Totally understand the pain with rural or vacation destinations and charging there. Seems like the coasts have the major highways covered and are now focusing on tourist or adventure locations while us in the midwest and west are still just trying to fill in gaps on major interstates. Really frustrating.

 

[pamalabama]

Not quite. There is no DCFC north of Nags Head all the way to the VA line on route 12. Thats about 50 miles. Corolla and Duck are very popular locations. In the summer it can take quite a while to make it to Nags Head from the northern OBX.

Kill devil hills

 

[pamalabama]

Now we just need the SOBX covered. Still a pretty big charging desert.

Avon is SOBX.

 

[csharp]

Avon is SOBX.

Most use Ocracoke as the delineation. At least where I'm from near Lookout.

[Edit] - Just looked it up and the travel site as well as wiki use Ocracoke as the separator.

 

[BCondrey]

Kill devil hills

KDH is a Tesla-only SC, not open to Rivians. Beside the Harris Teeter.

 

[BCondrey]

Most use Ocracoke as the delineation. At least where I'm from near Lookout.

[Edit] - Just looked it up and the travel site as well as wiki use Ocracoke as the separator.

Speaking of Ocracoke, there is no charging there either. There are two L2 ChargePoints in Hatteras at the ferry terminal.

 

[mkhuffman]

Totally understand the pain with rural or vacation destinations and charging there. Seems like the coasts have the major highways covered and are now focusing on tourist or adventure locations while us in the midwest and west are still just trying to fill in gaps on major interstates. Really frustrating.

Good point.

One thing to note is the OBX gets around 3 million visitors every year, so there is very high demand if more people start driving their BEVs down there.

 

[BCondrey]

Good point.

One thing to note is the OBX gets around 3 million visitors every year, so there is very high demand if more people start driving their BEVs down there.

Interesting. 3M visitors mean about 1M cars. 7.9% of car sales in Feb of 2025 were electric (Edmunds data). That's 79,000 electric cars just visiting, a year. They have to charge someplace.

 

[RWerksman]

This is pretty good, but at others mentioned, it's in literally the same parking lot as a V3 Tesla Supercharger that is open to other brands with an adapter. I've charged there before multiple times when on vacation, and I've never seen more than 1 or 2 other vehicles there. It's a 12 post Supercharger as well, and I believe it has access from both sides.

Here is a link to a Google Map showing both the RAN and SC locations:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tes...try=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

 

[BCondrey]

This is pretty good, but at others mentioned, it's in literally the same parking lot as a V3 Tesla Supercharger that is open to other brands with an adapter. I've charged there before multiple times when on vacation, and I've never seen more than 1 or 2 other vehicles there. It's a 12 post Supercharger as well, and I believe it has access from both sides.

Here is a link to a Google Map showing both the RAN and SC locations:

https://www.google.com/maps/dir/Tesla+Supercharger,+South+Croatan+Highway,+Nags+Head,+NC/35.937201,-75.615421/@35.9375582,-75.6167421,572m/data=!3m1!1e3!4m9!4m8!1m5!1m1!1s0x89a4e49c19f450d7:0xa7f0316f88c1221f!2m2!1d-75.6160828!2d35.9381512!1m0!3e0?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDQwOC4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw==

I think permitting, zoning, availability of power, physical space and negotiations with the county/town probably drive a lot of these siting decisions. It requires significant infrastructure, they can't just put them anywhere.

 

[RWerksman]

I think permitting, zoning, availability of power, physical space and negotiations with the county/town probably drive a lot of these siting decisions. It requires significant infrastructure, they can't just put them anywhere.

Yep, I concur. This also might be due to transformer availability as well. (e.g. if there is a very, very large transformer in the area that can service both installs)

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