Largest Tesla charging station in U.S. set to open between LA, Las Vegas

LAS VEGAS, Nev. (FOX5) - Memorial Day weekend is the unofficial start of the summer travel season and AAA reports this year nearly 35 million Americans hit the road despite record gas prices.

High gas prices are leading many drivers to consider switching to electric vehicles. Some drivers said range anxiety, fear over having enough charge for a long-distance drive, has been a barrier to enter into the electric vehicle market.

Soon, the biggest Tesla charging station in the U.S. will open midway between from Las Vegas and Los Angeles.

“Tesla charging units,100 units projected, the largest charging station in the U.S.,” shared Barstow Mayor Dr. Paul Anthony Courtney.

At the last city council meeting in the small desert town, the mayor shared plans for the massive Tesla charging station right by the Barstow Outlet Mall right off Interstate 15.

“We’ve got a commitment from Edison to have enough power for phase one to open up the first leg of the Tesla charging stations,” Dr. Courtney said.

“That is excellent news for me. I travel once or twice a month from L.A. to Vegas to visit my kids, so for me it is a perfect, perfect solution,” said Tesla driver Carlos Silva while waiting for his car to charge at Primm Valley.

Shannon Sivack is a new electric vehicle owner and said the charging station is a good stopping point between Las Vegas and California.

“My wife and I, my friends and I, come out to Vegas several times a year. I’m a new owner this is my first road trip to see where I need to stop so that would be a good stopping point,” said Sivack, who was standing alongside his new Tesla.

Cars.com reports this Memorial Day weekend, 11% of people taking a trip did so in an electric vehicle.

“A lot of my friends said, ‘I am not going to go out and travel because of the money that it costs to drive, but when you are driving an electric vehicle, yes you are still paying money, but $25, I will pay that any day,” Tesla owner and Las Vegas investor Mathieu Grisby said.

Grisby said as more people buy electric, and the need for more charging stations grows, to have the biggest charging station in the country on his regular route is welcome news.

“That’s big to me because I don’t have to wait,” Grisby said.

According to Cars.com’s survey, 47% of EV owners take three to five road trips a year. More than three-fourths of EV drivers surveyed map out charging station stops before setting out on a trip.

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