New Charger: Goffs, California

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After our initial visit to Goffs in The Blue Spirit late last year, the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association began to investigate the possibility of adding EV charging to their wonderful schoolhouse museum and historic property. They added a 120-volt outlet for EV use in January, which I mentioned in a previous post. And now, they have added a Tesla Destination Charger!

The Blue Spirit at the Goffs Schoolhouse.


We returned to Goffs on April 27 to test out their new charger, and we also met up with some roadie friends. It was fun to demonstrate charging for our non-EV owning friends and afterward we headed into Needles for a dinner get-together.

I may never get tired of this image - an EV charging underneath a windmill!


Since there is not a lot of power infrastructure in Goffs, the new charger is running from a 30 amp circuit and can output 24 amps at 240 volts, which equates to about 20 miles of charge per hour in a Tesla. For now, owners of other EVs can use the slower 120 volt outlet, or utilize the Tesla charger if they own a Tesla-to-J1772 adapter such as a TeslaTap.

The new Tesla Destination Charger in Goffs.


30 amps is not a very common amperage for charging EVs; it is unlikely that installing a 30 amp outlet at Goffs would be very helpful, as most EV travelers do not carry a charger with a 30-amp plug. If 50 amps were available, they could have installed a NEMA 14-50 outlet and been well equipped to handle travelers with non-Tesla EVs, but unfortunately that was not possible. With the can-do attitude of the MDHCA I am hopeful that a J1772 solution might also be on the horizon, so that drivers of non-Tesla EVs can also utilize the 30 amp, 240-volt connection.

Congratulations to the Mojave Desert Heritage and Cultural Association for moving so quickly and making progress happen! This is just the sort of thing that ElectricRoute66.com was created to do - help the special places of Route 66 to prepare for EV travelers, so that they can attract more visitors and thrive in the future.

Our friend and fellow roadie Delvin Harbour checks out the charging.
 
If you are interested in adding EV charging to your small business or attraction, please review the informational pages on this site to learn the basics - it may be easier than you think! I also encourage you to follow in the footsteps of the MDHCA by contacting Tesla via their web site or via email, to inquire about joining their destination charging network. Tesla most typically gives away the chargers for free, and every charging site is visible to Tesla drivers right in their car navigation.

Goffs is now on the map in every Tesla. Awesome!

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