By Matthew Nash

Olympic Peninsula News Group

SEQUIM — The North Olympic Peninsula’s first Supercharger station for Tesla electric cars is now open.

The Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce held a ribbon-cutting Monday at Holiday Inn Express &Suites, 1441 W. Washington St., where eight of the stations allow drivers to recharge their cars 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

Bret Wirta, owner of Holiday Inn Express, said he wanted to install the chargers because he believes in tourism.

“The big picture is that [Tesla] drivers will come to the [North Olympic] Peninsula,” he said. “It opens up the whole Peninsula for people from Seattle.”

According to Tesla’s website, Sequim’s Supercharger station is one of more than 900 in the U.S. that allow Tesla electric car drivers an approximate 170 miles in 30 minutes of charging and a full charge in about 75 minutes.

Darrell Prowse of Ocean Shores said he charged his car in Aberdeen for the drive to Sequim.

“This opens up the loop for me to come,” he said.

Brick Ayola of Port Angeles said at the ribbon-cutting that he has owned a Tesla for almost five years and drove his car from Chicago to move to the area.

Ayola said he looks forward to a Supercharger station opening in Forks, which Tesla’s website said is opening in the near future.

There are several other electric car charging stations around the Sequim area, including bed-and-breakfasts for customers at lower voltages.

Wirta said the stations were finished and first available to the public on July 4 and that there’s no fee for the public to use them anytime.

“It’s a public service,” he said. “We overbuilt capacity so [drivers] don’t have to worry about a wait.”

While Tesla cars are quite expensive, the company is beginning to sell Model 3s of the 100 percent electric car, which retail for $35,000, according to national reports, and production on these models is expected to ramp up in the next year.

For more information on Holiday Inn Express &Suite’s Tesla Supercharger station, call 360-681-8756 or visit www.tesla.com/supercharger.

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Matthew Nash is a reporter with the Olympic Peninsula News Group, which is composed of Sound Publishing newspapers Peninsula Daily News, Sequim Gazette and Forks Forum. Reach him at mnash@sequimgazette.com.

Bret Wirta, owner of Holiday Inn Express & Suites, talks to a crowd at the Sequim-Dungeness Valley Chamber of Commerce’s ribbon-cutting for the hotel’s new Tesla Supercharger station. He said his hope is it draws people from the Seattle area to travel along the Olympic Peninsula. (Matthew Nash/Olympic Peninsula News Group)