Charging On: O’Reilly brings first Tesla supercharger to Springfield

With over 4,000 superchargers around the world, there aren’t many holes on Tesla Motors Inc.’s U.S. map where drivers of the company’s electric vehicles can recharge in a matter of minutes. Not many holes, that is, except for the Interstate 44 corridor.

O’Reilly Hospitality Management LLC is working to close that gap.

CEO Tim O’Reilly said the firm’s $2.2 million, mixed-use building under construction off Glenstone Avenue and I-44 will feature a Tesla station alongside conventional gasoline pumps at the Macadoodles and Tropical Smoothie Cafe development. Planned later at the site is a $14 million Holiday Inn Express.

“We started the discussion about a year and a half ago that led to a lot of properties having destination chargers, and that eventually led to us negotiating superchargers at Glenstone and 44,” O’Reilly said.

He said Tesla is building stations in Joplin and Rolla to fill a roughly 500-mile blank stretch of road between Oklahoma City and St. Louis.

While O’Reilly’s supercharger station would be Springfield’s first, the Queen City is not devoid of Tesla chargers. Seven hotels and restaurants in the city limits – four of them O’Reilly Hospitality Management properties – have destination chargers, capable of recharging a Tesla vehicle’s battery in a matter of hours. Superchargers, by contrast, can recharge the company’s Model S sedan 80 percent in 40 minutes.

“If you buy a Tesla and go to a supercharger station, you get fuel for free,” O’Reilly said, noting in his deal Tesla is paying to build the station’s infrastructure and the parties agreed to cost-share on the electrical utility charges.

He declined to state the supercharger’s expected cost, citing a nondisclosure agreement with Tesla.

Rest and recharge
In the Springfield and Branson markets, there are 20 Tesla chargers at 11 locations, plus other electric car charging stations.

Two of Branson’s three Tesla destination-charging locations are at Myer Hotels Inc.’s Best Western Center Pointe Inn and Comfort Inn & Suites properties.

“We knew it was a growing trend and a need that is eventually going to be filled,” said Gail Myer, vice president of operations for the hotel management company.

Myer Hotels added the technology over a year ago alongside other electric car charging units as part of an environmental program for recycling and eco-friendly laundry services, as well as solar panels on five of the company’s six hotels.

Both Myer and hotelier Gordon Elliott have purchased chargers through Canadian firm Sun Country Highway Ltd. Elliott Lodging Ltd. operates 15 electric chargers between two hotels in Springfield and properties in Branson, Joplin and St. James.

Elliott purchased five Sun Country units at $3,000 each, and eventually obtained free Tesla chargers through Sun Country to build out I-44. The company also installed them at the Best Western Plus Landing View in Branson.

“I think we have more use in Branson,” Elliott said. “I’ve seen more cars there.”

Pricing for charging differs by operators.

Myer said the company’s hotels add usage on to guest bills, typically running $3-$9 per charge. Whereas O’Reilly and Elliott do not charge for use, considering it an amenity in the customer’s room price.

“We have the ability to charge or not as we see fit,” O’Reilly said. “It seems it would be appropriate to charge a small fee, but it’s kind of evolving at this point. There isn’t a set methodology or structure for the industry yet.”

While electric car drivers who aren’t overnight guests likely use the stations for quick charge ups, Elliott said he doesn’t consider such use lost revenue.

“There’s the hope that it will eventually [generate revenue], because you’re appealing to the millennial class,” Elliott said. “Sometimes we get an overnight room out of it, sometimes we don’t. We don’t care. It all promotes electric cars.”

Wait for it
Myers said there are parallels between the changeover to electric cars in the 21st century and the advent of gasoline-powered automobiles at the turn of the 1900s. In 20 years, he anticipates the prevalence of charging stations – perhaps using solar power – to increase alongside availability and advancements such as Tesla and Google automated vehicles.

“At this point they are probably still underutilized,” Myer said of electric charging stations. “It’s growing, but it’s slow growth and probably proportional to the amount of electric cars that are being sold.”

According to Scientific American, electric cars in June made up 1 percent of U.S. new car sales. Consumer Reports research indicates base prices for new electric cars start at $22,000 and go up to $125,000.

One of O’Reilly’s Tesla destination chargers is located within blocks of the planned supercharger spot at 3050-80 N. Kentwood Ave. Customers of the DoubleTree Hotel south of the Glenstone and I-44 interchange have access, and O’Reilly views the young technology as an opportunity for environmentally responsible businesses.

“Hopefully, it will be good business for us,” he said, adding the company also has destination chargers in place at Cambria Hotel & Suites in Plano, Texas, and is adding the technology to other hotels in the state as well as Phoenix and Little Rock, Ark. “We’ve developed a good relationship with Tesla and their decision makers, so we hope it leads to more opportunities.”

Elliott said the service isn’t top-of-mind for his lodgers yet. With chargers already installed near highway access, Elliott isn’t pursuing a supercharger station but hasn’t ruled out adding another destination charger in town.

“The Best Western Rail Haven has a good place to put one because we took a sign down out front,” Elliott said. “You want to put them out front, so people see it. We don’t even promote it a lot but Tesla does that on their website, so we’re watching to see how that works out.”