Tesla Motors this week added a charging station for electric vehicles at a defunct gas station next door to the Blue Swallow Motel in Tucumcari, New Mexico.
Tesla installed two charging stations specifically made for its cars, plus a third charging station for other EVs, on an island where the station’s three gas pumps once stood.
The contrast wasn’t lost on Blue Swallow Motel co-owner Kevin Mueller when he first approached Tesla with the idea.
“I thought that it would be fun and ironic to convert this old gas station into an electric charging station,” he said.
Mueller said the gas station dates back as a Texaco during the 1940s, then as a Conoco station during the 1960s.
Mueller said it occurred to him a Tesla station on Route 66 next one of the highway’s most treasured icons might be a way to draw Tesla drivers to the motel and to the Mother Road itself. He emailed Tesla destination charging manager Jonathan Katz with the idea. Katz replied he was interested and asked for more information. In short, they hammered out an agreement for the station in less than two weeks.
Tesla spent an estimated $5,000 to convert the gas station into an EV station. Mueller said the Blue Swallow will cover the cost of fill-ups, about $8 per car. Tucumcari also boasts a second Tesla charging station close to Interstate 40.
Mueller couldn’t recall any Tesla drivers who’ve stayed overnight at his motel. But the new charging station next door might draw a few — especially when EVs function best after an overnight charge. With the price of EVs likely to fall in the coming years, even more might make their way to the motel.
Then again, this sight at dusk, after a long day of driving, might be enough to get a Tesla driver to stop for a while.
Tesla’s so-called Supercharger stations — which can replenish half the car’s battery in as little as 20 minutes — also exist at La Posada hotel in Winslow, Arizona; the U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas; and Lucille’s Roadhouse in Weatherford, Oklahoma. Tesla also built charging stations on the Route 66 corridor about every 150 miles or so between Los Angeles and Oklahoma City. Big gaps, however, remain in northeast Oklahoma and Missouri.
Illinois also announced the construction of a bunch of EV stations along the Route 66 corridor in that state, although not specifically for Tesla cars.
(Images of the Tesla charging station courtesy of Kevin Mueller; image of the Blue Swallow Motel by Sylvain L. via Flickr)