New Tesla supercharging station proposed for Colorado Springs' north side

Rich Laden, The Gazette (Colorado Springs, Colo.)
·3 min read

Jan. 31—A third Tesla electric vehicle supercharger station is charging its way into the Pikes Peak region.

Tesla, the Austin, Texas-based, electric vehicle manufacturer, has submitted a proposal to Colorado Springs city government planners that shows it intends to add a 16-stall supercharger station at the Highlands at Briargate retail center, southwest of Briargate Parkway and Chapel Hills Drive on the Springs' north side.

It would join a Tesla facility with eight superchargers in a city-run downtown parking garage northeast of Bijou Street and Cascade Avenue, and a similar sized Tesla supercharger station in the parking lot of a Kum & Go convenience store along Colorado 105, east of Interstate 25, in Monument.

Tesla's superchargers, operated by the company, carry that superhero-sounding name because they can deliver an electric vehicle charge that adds up to 200 miles of driving range in just 15 minutes, according to Autotrader.com, an online motor vehicle marketplace. Tesla drivers pay the company to use them.

Additional Tesla outlets, known as destination chargers, can be found at hotels, restaurants and other businesses. They're free, but deliver a much slower charge, according to Autotrader. In general, the privately owned and operated destination chargers serve as an incentive to woo Tesla motorists who might, for example, choose to stay at a particular hotel so that they can charge their vehicle overnight.

Tesla officials — whose media relations department was disbanded in 2020 by CEO Elon Musk, according to online publications — didn't respond to Gazette inquiries about the new supercharger station proposed at Highlands at Briargate.

Sign Up for Springs AM Update

Your morning rundown of the latest news from Colorado Springs and around the country

Sign Up

View all of our newsletters.

Success! Thank you for subscribing to our newsletter.

View all of our newsletters.

Also, The Keith Corp., a North Carolina real estate company that's developing Highlands at Briargate, would neither confirm nor deny Tesla will install a facility at the shopping center. The Keith Corp. is developing the project in a joint venture with the Focus on the Family ministry, which owns the retail center site.

Graeme Keith III, a development partner with The Keith Corp., added that no Tesla facility is currently under construction at Highlands at Briargate. Smashburger, Einstein Bros Bagels and Caribou Coffee, Chuy's, the Tex-Mex restaurant chain, and the 91-unit Legend of Colorado Springs senior living center are among businesses at the shopping center.

Tesla's website shows a new supercharger station is targeted to open in Colorado Springs in the first quarter of this year.

Tesla's website shows the new supercharger coming to the vicinity of Pikes Peak and Nevada avenues in the heart of downtown Colorado Springs — though it doesn't show a facility at Highlands at Briargate. Whether the Pikes Peak and Nevada location is effectively a placeholder for the supercharger station planned at Highlands at Briargate isn't clear.

A surface parking lot on the northeast corner of Pikes Peak and Nevada is owned by Norwood Development Group, the Springs-based real estate developer. Norwood officials don't know of plans for a Tesla supercharger station at any of their downtown properties, company spokeswoman Tracy Doherty said via email.

The city also has no plans to add a Tesla facility to its parking garage a block north of Pikes Peak and Nevada, said Scott Lee, the Springs' Parking System Enterprise director.

Tesla's website shows it has more than 40,000 supercharger stations worldwide, and there are more than 35,000 destination chargers. Increasing the number of such facilities — whether operated by Tesla or others — is critical as more motorists opt for electric vehicles, industry advocates have said.

CLICK HERE TO READ MORE FROM THE GAZETTE