Owners of Tesla automobiles and other electric vehicles (EVs) traveling through Oregon’s Central Coast will now have electric vehicle charging stations available to them.
Thanks to a unique partnership with Tesla, The River House Inn and The Old Town Inn have just powered up electric car charging stations, making these lodging properties among the only publicly-available charging locations on Highway 101.
The new charging station locations join several Tesla “Stage 2” charging stations on the Coast. Others can be found in Port Orford (1), Bandon (2), Coos Bay (1), Yachats (1), Waldport (2), Depoe Bay (1), Lincoln City (1), Tillamook (2), Cannon Beach (4). Rapid Tesla Supercharger stations are located in Bandon and Lincoln City, but more are planned for Oregon’s Coast.
“Our new charging stations make it even easier for Tesla owners, and owners of other kinds of EVs, to make the exciting and scenic 363-mile drive on Highway 101 from California to Washington, and still have plenty of juice to get back over to I-5 if they choose,” explains Craig Sanders, president of Hoagland Properties, owners of the two inns. “Until now, many of these drivers had to miss out on the Oregon Coast experience…especially this section we call Oregon’s Coastal Playground.”
“We have worked diligently with the folks at Tesla to make it possible for their vehicle owners to drive the entire length of the Oregon Coast, as Florence is the midpoint of Highway 101. In the past, Tesla owners had to stay along I-5 to see Oregon, or make a day trip between Portland or Grants Pass on I-5 to Highway 101. Others had to be a paying customer at a hotel on the coast, and use fairly slow charging infrastructure,” adds Sanders.
Though the charging stations are primarily for the hotels’ guests, they are available for a small charge to the rest of the EV motoring public. A charge lasting up to eight hours per vehicle costs around five dollars. Tesla and other EV drivers have apps like PlugShare and websites like plugshare.com that tell them where they can plug in and how long of a wait they might have.
There are four charging stations at each inn—one general Level 2 EV charger and three Tesla Stage 2 chargers. The Old Town Inn is at 170 Highway 101 in Florence, and The River House Inn is at 1202 Bay Street, along the Siuslaw River in Historic Old Town Florence, just about a block off the highway.
Hoagland Properties collaborated with Tesla and Travel Oregon to invest $21,000 in the project. Tesla paid for a local electrician to install electric vehicle charging stations at a rate of nearly $8,000 per property. Travel Oregon, the state’s primary tourism marketing agency, and ForthMobility—an organization whose mission is to advance electric, smart, and shared transportation in the Pacific Northwest—invested $2,500 per property. Both will add The Old Town Inn and The River House Inn to maps used by EV drivers and boost tourism to the Central Oregon Coast.
The River House Inn and The Old Town Inn are top-rated in Florence on TripAdvisor, and have been repeatedly awarded by TripAdvisor, Oregon Business Magazine, and The Florence Area Chamber of Commerce for outstanding customer service. For more information on the hotels visit RiverHouseFlorence.com or Old-Town-Inn.com.