Event Recap: Ithaca Supercharger Grand Opening

27 humans gathered on a beautiful morning this past Saturday to celebrate the opening of the much-awaited Tesla Supercharger in Ithaca.

Background:

It had been a long wait (at least 1.5 years as this TMC post evidences) for this Supercharger to even be found let alone be used, but it made its debut on July 18. Though admittedly a little late, we were determined to celebrate the small victories - and seize every excuse to hang out together too! It couldn't have been too late after all, as the official Tesla map doesn't even show it as active (red) at the time of this writing...

As Ithaca is situated at the crossroads of Binghamton & Waterloo and Syracuse & Corning, it really is a strategic spot for a charging station. Located toward the outer edge of town in a shopping plaza also home to several stores and restaurants, there are adequate places to eat and spend time while waiting for one's car to charge.

Back to the event...

Of course, most who gathered there on Saturday probably didn't take notice of the surrounding stores as there were just too many other interesting Tesla owners to meet and hang out with. The attendees being made up of half local Ithacaites (Ithacanians?) and half coming from other areas as far away as Rochester (2 hours).

Parking in a line, the group filled the 8-stall Supercharger with a couple cars in overflow and then the "official" ceremony began.

First, we recapped the history of the Supercharger and honored TOCNYS member Craig O, who not only first stumbled upon the Supercharger's location and was the first to use it, but was gracious enough to let everyone else know too.

Then we covered some Supercharger stats gleaned from Supercharge.info:

• Superchargers worldwide = 1,613
• In the US = 766 (47%)
  
• In NYS = 39 (tied for 2nd behind California) (2.5%)
  
• In Ithaca = 1 (0.06%)

Following that, new TOCNYS member Anne K, who happens to be a local legislator, shared with everyone the current state of EV affairs in both Ithaca and Tompkins County. Her contribution was very much appreciated!

Next came the world premier of a song co-written by myself and John Denver for the occasion called "Take Me Home Ithaca".

Then we concluded with some inspiring, dare I say, electrifying final words before cutting the ribbon:

"Watt can I say, though electric vehicles can be a polarizing topic, the Tesla has really been a converter of a lot of skeptics. We are really amped about this supercharger coming to Ithaca - really the whole EV and especially Tesla movement. And we re-fuse the current resistance from the old guard oil/gas automobile industry. They’re not going to stop us because we are grounded in the belief that our best days are ahead of us, not behind us. Thank you."

Having sated our souls with fellowship and ceremony, it was time for our stomachs to get their turn! We headed to the well-rated Sunset Grill for what turned out to be Brunch. Good company and spectacular views of Cayuga Lake helped us pass the time before our super-tasty food came out.

At just under 40 miles, Cayuga Lake is the longest of the Finger Lakes

Enjoying the outdoor seating at the Sunset Grill

Ithaca, you definitely put the "grand" in Grand Opening. Thanks for the new friends made and new club members that joined as a result. Looking forward to charging there the next time that we're passing through on the way home :)

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