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Blanding Gets Utah’s First Tesla Supercharging Station

File: Tesla Motors

Tesla Motors all-electric cars still aren’t for sale at a traditional dealer showroom in Utah but at least now you can charge one in the southeast area of the state. The Blanding Visitor Center parking lot is the place to find the first Tesla Supercharging station located in Utah.

Jeremy Redd is Blanding’s city manager. He says the supercharger station fits there and the company is thrilled.

“Right next to the charging station we have a really large solar panel array that takes care of our electricity needs for our visitor center," says Redd.  "So they really like this idea that it’s right next to the solar array,” he says.

Redd says he was surprised to see Tesla owners already stopping there. He says it’s now possible for Tesla owners to drive from Los Angeles to New York City.

“It’s ideal for us and it puts these people in an area where they’re not on interstates, they’re not just trying the get from A to B as quickly as they can,” says Redd.

The stations are free for Tesla owners. The next two closest stations are in Farmington, New Mexico and Grand Junction, Colorado. Figures found on the Tesla website shows the cars’ EPA certified range is between 208 and 265 miles. It also shows says there’s a 1  to 3 month waiting period to own one.  The Palo Alto, California manufacturer announced this week fourth quarter sales in 2013 are the highest since they started building the cars.

NOTE: This article has been edited from the original to more accurately reflect availability of new Tesla vehicles.

Bob Nelson is a graduate of the University of Utah with a BA in mass communications. He began his radio career at KUER in 1978 when it was still in Kingsbury Hall. That’s also where he met his wife, Maria Shilaos, in 1981. Bob left KUER for commercial radio where he worked for 25 years, and he is thrilled to be back at KUER. Bob and his family are part of an explorer group, fondly known as The Hordes and Masses, which has been seeking out ghost towns and little-known places in Utah for more than twenty years.
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