Tesla Touters Charge Up On Long Wharf

Greg Menotti had a good month making money trading Tesla stock — so, as an ​“impulse buy,” he dropped $30,000 purchasing a name-brand electric car of his own.

Menotti, 29, was one of four Tesla drivers juicing up their vehicles on a recent Tuesday afternoon at a Tesla ​“supercharger” station in the parking lot adjacent to the Hotel Marcel at 500 Sargent Dr. on Long Wharf.

That recently opened eco-friendly hotel, built in the converted Pirelli building and standing right next to the IKEA furniture store, has 12 Tesla electric-car ​“superchargers”, alongside a parking-lot-covering canopy of solar panels and Level 2 electric-vehicle (EV) chargers.

This reporter has noticed a whole bunch more Teslas scooting around the Elm City over the past few months. (According to the website Tridens Technology, Tesla car sales have skyrocketed in recent years, from 499,000 in 2020 to 936,000 in 2021 to 1.3 million in 2022 to nearly 900,000 in the first two quarters of 2023 alone. In an interview for this story, the Hotel Marcel’s architect and owner, Bruce Becker, noted that Teslas made up around 25 percent of new car sales in California in the second quarter of 2023.) 

Curious to find out who some of these local Tesla drivers are and why they’re rolling around in these all-electric vehicles, I swung by the charging station on Long Wharf midday on Tuesday to ask around.

Menotti was one of those Tesla drivers plugged in to a ​“supercharger,” waiting the half-hour necessary to charge his Tesla Model 3 up to its full 300-mile-per-charge capacity.

Menotti said he was born and raised in California, and has spent the past half-decade living in Fair Haven Heights. He said he makes (and, occasionally, loses) much of his money trading stocks online, an endeavor he has pursued after he ​“caught a lucky break on Dogecoin” and brought in enough cash to keep him afloat until he starts a planned new marketing business. He said he’s also big on foreign exchange trading, also known as ​“forex trading.”

Menotti said he’s owned his Tesla for around seven months. He bought on an ​“impulse,” he said, after an especially financially rewarding day of trading Tesla stock.

“I had a really good month,” he said. So he spent $30,000 buying his current electric vehicle, which he said was so relatively inexpensive because it was a demo car at the Tesla store in Massachusetts where he bought it. (Click here to read a Business Insider story about how Tesla prices range, depending on the car model, from around $40,000 to $108,000. And click here to read about how a Tesla plans to open a new ​“Sales & Delivery Center” at Mohegan Sun, making it easier for Connecticut customers to buy its cars and skirting a state ban on direct-to-consumer sales by automobile manufacturers.)

With a takeout container of nachos from his favorite Long Wharf taco truck, Ixtapa, beside him (“It was nachos.” Now it’s ​“leftovers,” he said), Menotti was half-way through his 30-minute charge.

He said he frequently comes to the Hotel Marcel-adjacent supercharger station because ​“it’s really convenient” being right off the highway, and it ​“rarely gets full.” He plugs his car in, digs in to a taco truck lunch, and listens to music or watches tv. He said it costs around $15 to $20 to recharge at this spot.

While Monday was an ​“amazing” day for his stock-trading efforts, he said, Tuesday ​“was a bad day … I gave a little back.” So he was taking a break in the Long Wharf parking lot.

How does he like his Tesla so far?

“It’s fun, it’s cool,” he said with a smile. ​“It doesn’t float,” like the futuristic cars of his childhood dreams, ​“but I’ll settle for it drives itself.”

Menotti said the environmental benefits of the car only add to his enjoyment of it. ​“You’re helping [cut back on] all the toxic chemicals” spewed into the atmosphere by gas-powered vehicles, he said. 

Grandmother-daughter-grandaughter trio Karen Foxworth, Emi Murphy, and Nina Murphy were also parked at one of the Tesla supercharger stations Tuesday, juicing up on their way drive back from New York to their home in the Boston area.

Foxworth, who works as a church administrator in Massachusetts, said that she’s been driving around a Tesla rental car for a few months after someone rear-ended her own car, leaving it in the shop for some serious, sustained repairs.

She said she stopped at the Long Wharf charging station because of how conveniently located it is off of I‑95, and because her Tesla dashboard computer recommended it. She said she’s enjoyed driving around the Tesla enough that she’s considering buying one of her own.

She also pointed out that the federal government has made it easier to make such a purchase, thanks to a relatively new credit.

As of Jan. 1, 2023, thanks to the federal Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, one can receive a credit of up to $7,500 for buying a new plug-in or or fuel cell electric vehicle.

Helder Guedes was still another Tesla driver at the Hotel Marcel charging station Tuesday midday.

Guedes, who was born and raised in Portugal, said he works for a business that contracts with Yale to buy and sell uniforms. As of three weeks ago, his company bought the Tesla Model X he was then sitting in for him to use as a company car.

“I love it,” he said about the electric vehicle. His company also contracts with Tesla, he said. He said the car he now drives for work cost around $90,000 to buy.

“When you get out from combustion to electric,” Guedes said about his new wheels, ​“you feel like you’re making things right. This car for sure makes a difference.”

As one entrepreneur reflecting on another, what does Guedes think of Tesla’s controversial CEO, Elon Musk?

“I don’t get into that,” Guedes said. But, he said with confidence, ​“to be 100 percent electric, you’re doing the right thing.”

"Once You've Tried It, There's No Going Back"

Becker, whose company developed and owns the Hotel Marcel, told the Independent that the 12 Tesla supercharger stations and the 12 Level 2 EV charger stations fit in with the hotel’s overall mission to ​“show that we need not destroy the planet to have progress.”

The hotel doesn’t use any fossil fuels, and even has a custom-made electric shuttle van — a repurposed Ram airport shuttle in which a Tesla Model 3 engine has been installed by Maxwell Vehicles in California.

Becker said that Tesla installed the 12 supercharger stations at the electric-vehicle company’s own cost. The 41 cents per kilowatt-hour that Tesla drivers pay to charge their cars at those Sargent Drive stations go to Tesla, and not to the Hotel Marcel, to help the EV company recover the costs of the hundreds of thousands of dollars it spent on the charger installations. 

“We did have a self-interest” in having those charging stations put in, Becker said. ​“We wanted to introduce people to the hotel that wouldn’t otherwise see it.” 

That visibility is one of the best part of public Tesla charging stations like the Hotel Marcel’s. He said the charging stations are used by hotel patrons, yes, but also by New Haven Tesla owners who live in apartment buildings and don’t have their own dedicated parking space and charging station at home. He said it’s also used by people driving on the highway who need to pull off for a quick charge. And he said it’s used by people who come to the hotel to eat at its restaurant, or even just to use the bathroom, and who return to the lot find their cars charged.

“Tesla has done the best job of having dependable chargers,” Becker continued. ​“The other car companies are now adopting the same standard for the hardware.” That means that, soon enough, electric-vehicle Volkswagens and Chevys and Volvos will be charging at Tesla superchargers, too.

Becker is also the chairman of the Electric Vehicle Club of Connecticut, a group that evangelizes for EV adoption statewide. He also owns a Tesla Model S, and has owned and driven electric vehicles since 2011.

The rise in Tesla sales speaks to ​“the same kind of adoption curve of people going from landlines to cellphones,” he said. ​“Once you’ve tried it, there’s really no going back. I’ve never taken any great pleasure in going to the gas station or having oil changes scheduled.” With his Tesla, he said, all he has to do is get his washer fluid changed and, every 30,000 or 40,000 miles, change the tires.

With government subsidies like the state’s CHEAPR program and the federal $7,500 tax credit, he said, ​“you can buy a Tesla Model 3 for not much more than a Honda Accord.”

Asked for comment for this story, city climate czar Steve Winter said via email, ​“Providing good transportation alternatives (transit, micromobility, bike lanes, pedestrian safety) and increasing electric vehicle adoption are key priorities for our climate goals: 22% of our carbon emission come from transportation and most of that is from passenger cars. It’s also important for improving air quality and reducing contributors to the smog which makes asthma such a large public health issue: cars emit nitrogen oxides and the petroleum storage facilities in the port area emit volatile organic compounds, which together make smog (tropospheric ozone).”

He said that the city is working to electrify its fleet, ​“beginning with passenger vehicles and one electric refuse truck, which should arrive at the end of the year. We have also applied for the Charging and Fueling Infrastructure grant, which would help expand charging in areas of the city where a high percentage of multifamily housing and lack of offstreet parking means that residents are often unable to charge at home, a key barrier to adoption.”

As for the tax credits that the federal government provides for new electric-vehicle owners, Winter said, ​“We definitely have more awareness raising to do about tax credits and rebates for electric vehicles. He said he’s been in touch with with Greater New Haven Clean Cities about doing a ​“ride and drive event where residents could experience an EV.”

“As of about the middle of the year when the state EV rebate program administrators recognized New Haven’s status as a formerly distressed municipality, all New Haven residents qualify for an elevated state rebate of $4,250 off of a new EV and $3,000 off of a used EV. This is an upfront ​‘cash on the hood’ rebate.”

“The full federal tax credit,” he continued, ​“is available for vehicles meeting two requirements – battery components requirements and critical minerals requirements are each half of the tax credit. If you don’t have a large enough tax liability to take advantage of the federal tax credit, you can lease from a company that can claim the credit.”

To learn more about the state rebate and federal tax credit, including incentives for residential charging stations, click here. To check out the city climate office’s info on another energy-efficiency technology, heat pumps, click here.

Winter said that the state rebate is part of the ​“CHEAPR program, which also provided the e‑bike rebates.” Click here to read recent CHEAPR meeting minutes showing adoption trends for the rebate.