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Not the most direct route between the two cities [1]. It looks like there are at least two parts of the route that don't follow interstates. The excursion up

Not the most direct route between the two cities [1]. It looks like there are at least two parts of the route that don't follow interstates. The excursion up to South Dakota to go past Mt. Rushmore makes sense, but I can't figure out the jog into New Mexico. Unless someone's really interested in a couple of National Monuments in that corner of NM, it looks like the only reason for that jog is to go to the Four Corners Monument with the minimum travel distance through an Indian reservation. [1] http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

andykellr 13y ago
Even on the 2015 map, northern Arizona above Flagstaff remains empty. Obviously the Grand Canyon is a factor in the northwest, but it's probably also due to them having trouble finding a location in the reservation. I've driven from Flagstaff to Moab 4-5 times, which is a lot of someone that has only lived on the east coast and recently the midwest, and it's never involved New Mexico.
_delirium 13y ago
> I can't figure out the jog into New Mexico It looks like the two charging stations in northwest New Mexico are in Gallup and either Shiprock or Farmington, which are just about the only towns in that region of the country. A more direct route between I-40 and I-70 would be to turn north a bit further west, on US-191, but there aren't any towns on that route.
SomeCallMeTim 13y ago
If you look north of Flagstaff in Arizona, there aren't many places to stop. They need infrastructure to place one of these stations, and they're promising that each stop will have restaurants (and hotels?) nearby. My first thought was local politics (offers of free land in places trying to attract tourists come to mind), but I'm now leaning toward the fact that they just routed around completely barren areas where they couldn't get the station spacing correct.
- mdturnerphys 13y ago
  Hmm, maybe this explains why they didn't go up I-15 to I-70 in Utah, even though that route gives you access to Zion NP. That first part of I-70 is pretty empty.
  - andykellr 13y ago
    They're going that way. Check out the 2014 map. Bryce might be tricky, but Zion should be easily reachable.

andykellr 13y ago

Even on the 2015 map, northern Arizona above Flagstaff remains empty. Obviously the Grand Canyon is a factor in the northwest, but it's probably also due to them having trouble finding a location in the reservation. I've driven from Flagstaff to Moab 4-5 times, which is a lot of someone that has only lived on the east coast and recently the midwest, and it's never involved New Mexico.

_delirium 13y ago

> I can't figure out the jog into New Mexico It looks like the two charging stations in northwest New Mexico are in Gallup and either Shiprock or Farmington, which are just about the only towns in that region of the country. A more direct route between I-40 and I-70 would be to turn north a bit further west, on US-191, but there aren't any towns on that route.

SomeCallMeTim 13y ago

If you look north of Flagstaff in Arizona, there aren't many places to stop. They need infrastructure to place one of these stations, and they're promising that each stop will have restaurants (and hotels?) nearby. My first thought was local politics (offers of free land in places trying to attract tourists come to mind), but I'm now leaning toward the fact that they just routed around completely barren areas where they couldn't get the station spacing correct.

mdturnerphys 13y ago
Hmm, maybe this explains why they didn't go up I-15 to I-70 in Utah, even though that route gives you access to Zion NP. That first part of I-70 is pretty empty.
- andykellr 13y ago
  They're going that way. Check out the 2014 map. Bryce might be tricky, but Zion should be easily reachable.