Minnesota Superchargers (location speculation, discussion)

[emoore33]

It's been a couple of months. Any word on new chargers starting up? Permitting? Construction?

 

[emiliorescigno]

It's been a couple of months. Any word on new chargers starting up? Permitting? Construction?

Nothing so far. Nothing on supercharge.info, nothing on Tesla's Find Us page. I think the closest one is the permit for the new SC in Fargo.

 

[starman27]

Haven't seen anything yet, but considering we gained 9 last year, I would predict a similar amount for 2024. Tesla's Find Us page was always unreliable, and they have really pulled back from listing "Coming Soon" locations.

Locations I would bet money on this year are:

• Virginia
• Grand Rapids
• Mankato
• Shakopee
• St Cloud
• and probably one or two more metro chargers

All of these are pure speculation, but are based on what I have seen for volume of Teslas in certain areas and relative population densities of cities. I think Virginia was on the voting map at one point, so I'm pretty sure that's been talked about internally at Tesla.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

I am not sure we are even going to 7 new sites this year.
(Meanwhile, AZ already opened 1 new site this year, and has 12!!! permits active.)
Honestly I would be OK with 3-4 new MN sites if we could get northern WI and west-side UP MI opened up to Teslas!

 

[starman27]

I am not sure we are even going to 7 new sites this year.
(Meanwhile, AZ already opened 1 new site this year, and has 12!!! permits active.)
Honestly I would be OK with 3-4 new MN sites if we could get northern WI and west-side UP MI opened up to Teslas!

Why do you say that? The network has been expanding at a pretty steady pace the last few years, and now they have government funding. Permits don't usually start up until April/May here.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Why do you say that? The network has been expanding at a pretty steady pace the last few years, and now they have government funding. Permits don't usually start up until April/May here.

Empirical evidence…
1. Nothing planned on Tesla’s Find Us page.
2. No permits active, almost 3 months in to 2024. (as far as supercharge.info knows).
3. No obvious NEVI related data for any specific sites.
4. Expansion occurring at a “steady pace” in a lot of other areas.
So, MN just isn’t likely to see much new supercharger activity this year.

 

[emiliorescigno]

Looking at 2023 MN supercharger data from supercharge.info, I made a little chart of when each SC that opened in 2023 was permitted and under construction, as well as days from permitted to open.

Location	Permit Date	Construction Date	Open Date	Days Permit -> Open
Little Falls	9/1/23	9/29/23	10/31/23	60
Owatonna	6/20/23	7/3/23	10/27/23	129
Onamia	5/29/23	6/30/23	10/27/23	151
Tofte	11/12/22	6/10/23	10/8/23	330
Fergus Falls	7/10/23	8/11/23	9/29/23	81
Wilmar	4/17/23	5/12/23	8/10/23	115
Blaine		10/23/22	7/17/23	267
Marshall	4/16/23	5/2/23	6/26/23	71
Eagan	8/2/22	4/9/23	7/20/23	352

As you can see, 5 of the 9 stations that opened in 2023 had permits opened after April 2023, and I'm not including the Worthington SC that technically opened in 2024. I think we'll see a decent amount of activity still.

 

[starman27]

Yeah I'm going to give it another month or two before getting pessimistic about 2024.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Looking at 2023 MN supercharger data from supercharge.info, I made a little chart of when each SC that opened in 2023 was permitted and under construction, as well as days from permitted to open.

Location	Permit Date	Construction Date	Open Date	Days Permit -> Open
Little Falls	9/1/23	9/29/23	10/31/23	60
Owatonna	6/20/23	7/3/23	10/27/23	129
Onamia	5/29/23	6/30/23	10/27/23	151
Tofte	11/12/22	6/10/23	10/8/23	330
Fergus Falls	7/10/23	8/11/23	9/29/23	81
Wilmar	4/17/23	5/12/23	8/10/23	115
Blaine		10/23/22	7/17/23	267
Marshall	4/16/23	5/2/23	6/26/23	71
Eagan	8/2/22	4/9/23	7/20/23	352

As you can see, 5 of the 9 stations that opened in 2023 had permits opened after April 2023, and I'm not including the Worthington SC that technically opened in 2024. I think we'll see a decent amount of activity still.

Cool! Thanks for posting the data.
I had guestimated 7 for 2024, but now that I see this, I am revising my estimate down to 6. Just to be annoying.
(Really hoping that I am wrong, though.)

 

[DMC5180]

Hate to be a Debbie downer, but I’d be surprised if MN gets 3-4. I’m thinking an upgrade in Rochester area. Eastern I 90 needs a better location. Closer to the interstate. Perhaps Hoyt Lakes, Virginia, Grand rapids.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Hate to be a Debbie downer, but I’d be surprised if MN gets 3-4. I’m thinking an upgrade in Rochester area. Eastern I 90 needs a better location. Closer to the interstate. Perhaps Hoyt Lakes, Virginia, Grand rapids.

Yeah, with ZERO activity right now and it’s already mid-April, I am concerned that 0 new superchargers in MN is even a possibility.
Hopefully things will ramp up soon, but even if a half-dozen permits show up this summer, those sites may not get operational before next winter.

 

[starman27]

Yeah, with ZERO activity right now and it’s already mid-April, I am concerned that 0 new superchargers in MN is even a possibility.
Hopefully things will ramp up soon, but even if a half-dozen permits show up this summer, those sites may not get operational before next winter.

This really isn't that unusual. We almost never see permits before mid-April.

 

[emoore33]

This really isn't that unusual. We almost never see permits before mid-April.

That's what it looks like. Hopefully we see a couple of permits in the next few weeks.

 

[DMC5180]

I know Someone had commented about WI per minute charging rates a while back. The Gov signed a bill in the last 3 weeks that now allows private retailers to sell electricity by the kWh. However, the Republican sponsored bill also requires a $0.03 per kWh tax to all public use chargers to equalize road use tax with the gasoline tax of $0.31 per gallon. It also prohibits Municipalities from installing or operating Public chargers. They can only install chargers for their own fleet use. Any existing chargers are grandfathered in for public usage though. They can Lease ground to private network operators though.

 

[DeepBlueMN]

I know Someone had commented about WI per minute charging rates a while back. The Gov signed a bill in the last 3 weeks that now allows private retailers to sell electricity by the kWh. However, the Republican sponsored bill also requires a $0.03 per kWh tax to all public use chargers to equalize road use tax with the gasoline tax of $0.31 per gallon. It also prohibits Municipalities from installing or operating Public chargers. They can only install chargers for their own fleet use. Any existing chargers are grandfathered in for public usage though. They can Lease ground to private network operators though.

I guess that is progress. But, why would they want to prevent municipalities from modernizing?

 

[tharasix]

I guess that is progress. But, why would they want to prevent municipalities from modernizing?

The GOP will similarly prevent municipal ISPs from forming through legislation. Preventing local governments from competing with business is part of their playbook, even if a local area is being underserved by private business.