RFP EM-008-2023: DC Fast Charging Stations – Phase 4

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

RFP EM-008-2023 - Efficiency Maine

RFP EM-008-2023: DC Fast Charging Stations – Phase 4 The Efficiency Maine Trust (the Trust) seeks qualified bidders (or teams of bidders) to host, purchase, install and operate public, universal DC “fast chargers” (DCFC) to serve electric vehicles (EV) in target areas in Maine. The target areas...

www.efficiencymaine.com

Not directly Tesla-related, but as Mainers and regular PFAs know, access to Northern Maine is limited.

Efficiency Maine has RFPs for the addition of chargers at significant locations in Downeast and Northern Maine
.
The locations are as follows:

Eligible Segment	Description	Tier
1	US Rt. 1, Rt. 11 or Rt. 161 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 11 and US Rt. 1 in Fort Kent	1
2	US Rt. 1 between Madawaska and Van Buren (inclusive of the town limits of the two towns)	1
3	US Rt. 1 within three (3) miles of the intersection of State St. and US Rt. 1 in Presque Isle	1
4	Rt. 11 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 11 and Rt. 227 in Ashland.	2
5	US Rt. 1 within five (5) miles of the intersection of Rt. 169 and US Rt. 1 in Danforth	2
6	US Rt. 1 within seven (7) miles of the intersection of North St. and US Rt. 1 in Calais	1
7	US Rt. 1 between one (1) mile south and five (5) miles north of the intersection of Main St. and US Rt. 1 in Machias	1
8	Rt. 9 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 193 and Rt. 9 in Beddington.*	3

Tier minima:

Tier	Required	CCS Total	CCS Power	CHAdeMO
1	3 or 4	2+	2+ >= 150kW (shared)	1+ >= 50kW
2	2	-	2 >= 50kW	-
3	2	-	2 >= 25kW	-

 

[dfava]

Tesla is opening its EV charge connector to other makes in the hope of making it the North American standard. Will be interesting to see if it can be adopted and replace CCS for DC charging before all the newly planned CCS chargers are built across New England, etc.

Tesla opens its EV charge connector in the hope of making it the new standard

Tesla announced that it is opening its electric car charge connector in the hope of making it the new standard in North America.

electrek.co

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Tesla is opening its EV charge connector to other makes in the hope of making it the North American standard. Will be interesting to see if it can be adopted and replace CCS for DC charging before all the newly planned CCS chargers are built across New England, etc.

Tesla opens its EV charge connector in the hope of making it the new standard

Tesla announced that it is opening its electric car charge connector in the hope of making it the new standard in North America.

electrek.co

CCS is the standard specified for Federal subsidy. I think Tesla is mainly just wanting to get companies to deploy their connector in addition on some of those chargers.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/Notice-of-Upcoming-RFP-Phase-5.pdf

Table 1 – Eligible Locations

Alternative Fuel Corridor	#	Segment or Location	Approximate Number of Sites
Interstate 95 (I-95)	#1	Bangor to Houlton	3
	#2	Bangor	1
	#3	Augusta	1
US Route 1	#4	Portland to Ellsworth	6

More coming with a Phase 5 RFP.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

From the Phase 5 document
.
The locations are as follows:

Minimum requirements for each site are anticipated to include:
1. Chargers available to the public;
2. No more than one (1) driving mile from the named Alternative Fuel Corridor within the
boundaries of a segment or location listed in Table 1 (the exact boundaries will be identified in
the final RFP);
3. For Augusta, Bangor, and sites on Route 1:
4-8 DCFC, 1+ CHAdeMO, 3+ CCS
4+ x 150kW simultaneous
4. For sites on the segment of I-95 between Bangor and Houlton:
3-4 DCFC, 1+ CHAdeMO, 2+ CCS, 2+ CCS 150kW+ not simultaneous, service 4 x 150kW, 600kW

Phase 3, 4 and 5 together _should_ mean that by the end of 2024 there will be extensive CCS charging that would allow travel across a large part of the Eastern and Northern Maine. That's not going to help much with the Eclipse in 2024, but at least there's a little charging in Skowhegan and Jackman.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I see now that Quirk Hyundai in Bangor added 2 62.5kW CCS/CHAdeMO stations in December. OK for I-95, not so good for I-95/I-395/ME-9 travel to
Although a diversion, those would have been very useful last summer when I drove my Kona EV to Charlottetown, PE, at least for the return journey when I'd have skipped a wait at St Stephen, NB. Certainly not cheap at 50c/kWh. I wonder if these have displaced the previously planned chargers at Irving on Odlin Rd, Bangor.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

I thought I"d try to put everything together.
This is a map of Maine with (most) current and planned CCS charging locations.
Colors: green are planned, light blue are open.
The blobs have a number or letters in them. Numbers are not number of chargers, the number is related to phases managed by Efficiency Maine (although I made a mistake with the 2s, which should have been 3).
Note that for future phase 4 I am guessing exact location, and for future phase 5 I am guessing some locations in those corridors.
Letters indicate other chargers operated/managed by charging networks: EA Electrify America, Go = EVGo, CP = ChargePoint, EC = EV Connect (owned by Schneider) Those with letters appear to have been opened separately from the Efficiency Maine programs.
Note that so far, the subsidized chargers in the managed programs have been ChargePoints.

(1) First phase, completed 2020 (I think). Funding Dieselgate money.
Kennebunck SP South and North, North Windham, West Gardiner SP, Farmington, Skowhegan, Jackman. Chargers were 62.5kW (~160A). (Kennebunk South and North, and West Gardiner were expanded to 4 in 2022, with 2 faster chargers).
(2) Second DCFC phase (but actually Phase 3 as Phase 2 was AC EVSEs) Funded by Dieselgate.
Lewiston, Auburn, Fairfield, Newport, Bangor, Ellsworth, Belfast. Newport recently opened apparently, Bangor to open by end of March, others open by end of May. It seems the chargers are pairs of 125kW max, with power sharing.
There is no 3. 2 should have been 3. Phase 2 was AC EVSEs)
(4) DCFC Downeast and North. Funded by Federal Infrastructure Bill
Ashland, Fort Kent, Madawaska/Van Buren, Presque Isle, Danforth, Calais, Machias, Beddington.
Planned awards March 2023, required to complete 12 months after contract execution.
(5) DCFC I-95 and US-1. Funded by Federal Infrastructure Bill
I-95: Augusta, Bangor, 3 locations from Bangor to end at Houlton. I guessed Howland (US-2/US-2A), Sherman (ME-11 to Ashland and Fort Kent), Houlton.
US-1: 6 locations from Portland to Ellsworth. I guessed Freeport, Wiscasset, Waldoboro, Camden, Belfast upgrade, Bucksport
Current project completion deadline June 2024.

If everything goes to plan, it would imply hugely improved CCS coverage in Maine. (We had a trip to PEI in 2022 that would have been made easier with the now-open Newport and Bangor chargers, let alone the planned ones in Bangor, Beddington and Calais).
That's good for CCS EV owners like me, but Tesla owners with interest in improved Maine coverage should be encouraged by it, since it seems that Tesla has responded to previous "competition" in Maine.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Phase 4 awards are in.

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/RFP_EM_008_2023_Notice_of_Award.pdf

Not many. Only Calais and US-1 north of Houlton
(No Machias, Beddington, Ashland or Danforth)

1. Town of Van Buren, 88 Main St, Van Buren
2. Irving Oil Marketing, 32 Houlton Rd, Baileyville
3. Irving Oil Marketing, 800 Main St, Presque Isle
4. Irving Oil Marketing, 308 W. Main St, Fort Kent
All Tier 1 (see above) with 4+ CCS, 2 (possibly shared) 150kW+, 1 CHAdeMO.

The Baileyville location is the same location as the Baileyville Supercharger! 6.8 miles from the RFP's location, which had a limit of 7 miles.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Phase 4 awards are in.

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/RFP_EM_008_2023_Notice_of_Award.pdf

Not many. Only Calais and US-1 north of Houlton
(No Machias, Beddington, Ashland or Danforth)

1. Town of Van Buren, 88 Main St, Van Buren
2. Irving Oil Marketing, 32 Houlton Rd, Baileyville
3. Irving Oil Marketing, 800 Main St, Presque Isle
4. Irving Oil Marketing, 308 W. Main St, Fort Kent
All Tier 1 (see above) with 4+ CCS, 2 (possibly shared) 150kW+, 1 CHAdeMO.

The Baileyville location is the same location as the Baileyville Supercharger! 6.8 miles from the RFP's location, which had a limit of 7 miles.

Just an additional note that although the 3 locations in The County would currently be isolated, Phase 5 has 3 unspecified locations between Bangor and Houlton on the RFP. Those could make the I-95 US-1 connection. (Presque Isle 157 miles from the 2 CCS at Quirk Hyundai in Bangor, and 161 miles from the planned Irving location at Odlin Rd, Bangor)

Power has been run to the Phase 3 Bangor location, but chargers not in. So it seems that for Phase 3 only Newport is open so far.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Efficiency Maine have sent an email notification for the upcoming RFP, for Phase 5.

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/DCFC_Interested_Host_Sites.pdf

In included a list of interested host sites. A bit sad. It's very obviously not vetted, and most would very quickly be eliminated. A bunch just seem like suggestions by others (although suitable), and not the hosts. Some are clearly unsuitable for the purpose of this phase.

I could get behind having chargers at Moe's Original BBQ in Bangor, but it's a relatively small lot and the Bangor location would be expected to have 4 to 8 stalls.

I suspect the phase will award more locations to Irving.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Phase 4 awards are in.

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/RFP_EM_008_2023_Notice_of_Award.pdf

Not many. Only Calais and US-1 north of Houlton
(No Machias, Beddington, Ashland or Danforth)

1. Town of Van Buren, 88 Main St, Van Buren
2. Irving Oil Marketing, 32 Houlton Rd, Baileyville
3. Irving Oil Marketing, 800 Main St, Presque Isle
4. Irving Oil Marketing, 308 W. Main St, Fort Kent
All Tier 1 (see above) with 4+ CCS, 2 (possibly shared) 150kW+, 1 CHAdeMO.

The Baileyville location is the same location as the Baileyville Supercharger! 6.8 miles from the RFP's location, which had a limit of 7 miles.

Apparently, Efficiency Maine will re-bid Phase 4 to try to get more of the other locations, Machias being a priority.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The Phase 3 CCS chargers at the Bangor Irving (Odlin Rd) are now operational. 2 locations down, 5 to go.
It's 2 chargers. Both labeled 62.5kW but I think may support 125kW if only 1 car.

Good location as it's close to the I-95/I-395 intersection used by most traffic heading east. (I-395 is currently being extended 6 miles to ME-9, in work that also involves building 5 road bridges that is expected to be finished in 2025.)

The other Bangor CCS/CHAdeMO chargers are at car dealerships at the Bangor Mall exit so a large diversion for people wanting to head east. Of course, Tesla has its current Bangor-area Supercharger in Brewer at the current end of I-395 which serves that traffic already.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Fairfield, ME CCS (125kW shared/2 x 62.5kW ChargePoint) is open, at the Irving off I-95 Exit 132.
More relevant to Tesla owners is that a location with 2 x 62.5kW ChargePoints is under construction at the Hannaford in Belfast, ME. It appears they just need final power hookup.
Since there's currently no Superchargers on US-1 between Freeport, ME and Ellsworth, ME Tesla owners with a CCS adapter or CHAdeMO adapter may find that useful.;

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

So the final 3 Phase 3 locations are all under construction. (Circles with 2 in the image below, as it was the 2nd DCFC phase).
Last week, Ellsworth, ME CCS were found under construction, in the same state as Belfast, ME with stalls in but needing power.
The Auburn, ME CCS were found under construction today, with power hooked up on a pole with 3 pole-mounted transformers. So, this might be the next Maine location to be opened.

Since Tesla has no locations in the Lewiston-Auburn area, these can be useful for Teslas in Maine. In fact, a Model Y owner has commented about using the Lewiston location.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

RFP EM-008-2023 - Efficiency Maine

RFP EM-008-2023: DC Fast Charging Stations – Phase 4 The Efficiency Maine Trust (the Trust) seeks qualified bidders (or teams of bidders) to host, purchase, install and operate public, universal DC “fast chargers” (DCFC) to serve electric vehicles (EV) in target areas in Maine. The target areas...

www.efficiencymaine.com

Not directly Tesla-related, but as Mainers and regular PFAs know, access to Northern Maine is limited.

Efficiency Maine has RFPs for the addition of chargers at significant locations in Downeast and Northern Maine
.
The locations are as follows:

Eligible Segment	Description	Tier
1	US Rt. 1, Rt. 11 or Rt. 161 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 11 and US Rt. 1 in Fort Kent	1
2	US Rt. 1 between Madawaska and Van Buren (inclusive of the town limits of the two towns)	1
3	US Rt. 1 within three (3) miles of the intersection of State St. and US Rt. 1 in Presque Isle	1
4	Rt. 11 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 11 and Rt. 227 in Ashland.	2
5	US Rt. 1 within five (5) miles of the intersection of Rt. 169 and US Rt. 1 in Danforth	2
6	US Rt. 1 within seven (7) miles of the intersection of North St. and US Rt. 1 in Calais	1
7	US Rt. 1 between one (1) mile south and five (5) miles north of the intersection of Main St. and US Rt. 1 in Machias	1
8	Rt. 9 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 193 and Rt. 9 in Beddington.*	3

Tier minima:

Tier	Required	CCS Total	CCS Power	CHAdeMO
1	3 or 4	2+	2+ >= 150kW (shared)	1+ >= 50kW
2	2	-	2 >= 50kW	-
3	2	-	2 >= 25kW	-

I realized that Phase 4 Round 2 both added two I-95 locations and changed the Tiers
- Added a new Tier 1 and bumped other tiers down to 2 to 4. The new Tier 1 is the same as the old one, but requires future expandability to 600kW, with 4 x 150kW.
- Added I-95 Exit 244 in Medway where there is already a 6-stall Tesla v2 Supercharger at the Irving. (The RFP says Exit 157, but it's Exit 244 to ME-157). This is clearly simply asking Irving if they would add CCS there, as they already bid to do at Baileyville, ME where there's a Tesla Supercharger.
- Added I-95 Exit 302 in Houlton, which the exit to US-1 and logically makes sense.
- Made the lowest Tier 4 (was 3) 19kW+ instead of 24kW+.
- Dropped Danforth from (new) Tier 3 to Tier 4. This makes sense given that they are now specifically asking for Houlton I-95 Exit 302. That's only 85 miles from the Baileyville, ME location.

Eligible Segment	Description	Tier
1	Interstate 95 at Exit 157 in Medway	1
2	Interstate 95 at Exit 302 in Houlton	1
3	Rt. 11 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 11 and Rt. 227 in Ashland.	2
4	US Rt. 1 within five (5) miles of the intersection of Rt. 169 and US Rt. 1 in Danforth	4
5	US Rt. 1 between one (1) mile south and five (5) miles north of the intersection of Main St. and US Rt. 1 in Machias	2
6	Rt. 9 within three (3) miles of the intersection of Rt. 193 and Rt. 9 in Beddington.*	4

Note that 1 has an error. It's Exit 244 at Medway to ME-157.

Tier minima:

Tier	Required	CCS Total	CCS Power	CHAdeMO
1	3 or 4	2+, future 4	2+ >= 150kW (shared), future 4 150kW	1+ >= 50kW
2	3 or 4	2+	2+ >= 150kW (shared)	1+ >= 50kW
3	2	-	2 >= 50kW	-
4	2	-	2 >= 19kW	-

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

https://www.efficiencymaine.com/docs/Notice-of-Upcoming-RFP-Phase-5.pdf

Table 1 – Eligible Locations

Alternative Fuel Corridor	#	Segment or Location	Approximate Number of Sites
Interstate 95 (I-95)	#1	Bangor to Houlton	3
	#2	Bangor	1
	#3	Augusta	1
US Route 1	#4	Portland to Ellsworth	6

More coming with a Phase 5 RFP.

By the way, the eventual RFP for Phase 5 changed:

Alternative Fuel Corridor	#	Segment or Location	Approximate Number of Sites
	#1	rom Exit 180 in Hampden to Exit 187 in Bangor	1
	#2	From Exit 109 to Exit 113 in Augusta	1
US Route 1	#3	From Freeport to Ellsworth	5

Phase 4 Round 2 added Medway and Houlton, I-
95 from Bangor to Houlton was dropped from Phase 5.
Also the US Route 1 segment was shortened to Freeport to Ellsworth and the locations reduced to 5.

Bids for Phase 4 Round 2 and Phase 5 have to be in by end of 6/22/2023 (tomorrow!).
Awards expected 7/27/2023.

 

[kayak1]

By the way, the eventual RFP for Phase 5 changed:

Alternative Fuel Corridor	#	Segment or Location	Approximate Number of Sites
	#1	rom Exit 180 in Hampden to Exit 187 in Bangor	1
	#2	From Exit 109 to Exit 113 in Augusta	1
US Route 1	#3	From Freeport to Ellsworth	5

Phase 4 Round 2 added Medway and Houlton, I-
95 from Bangor to Houlton was dropped from Phase 5.
Also the US Route 1 segment was shortened to Freeport to Ellsworth and the locations reduced to 5.

Bids for Phase 4 Round 2 and Phase 5 have to be in by end of 6/22/2023 (tomorrow!).
Awards expected 7/27/2023.

That's too bad. We really need coverage on RT1 from Ellsworth to Eastport, the southern end is in good shape.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

That's too bad. We really need coverage on RT1 from Ellsworth to Eastport, the southern end is in good shape.

The US-1 shortening was changing from Portland to Freeport at the southern end.

Machias is part of Phase 4, which is the North and Downeast. It didn't get bid on by Irving in the first round, so it's part of the reason for doing Phase 4 Round 2.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

The Phase 3 Auburn, ME Chargepoints are on. At the Irving, I-95 exit 75/US-202.
So for Phase 3 only Belfast, ME (Plugshare: has power, but not available) and Ellsworth, ME (Plugshare: still awaiting power)

Phase 4 Round 2 and Phase 5 awards are due to be released July 27th.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Phase 3:
Belfast, ME 2 x CCS (Phase 3) are open. Could be useful for some Tesla owners until Tesla puts something in the Midcoast.

Only Ellsworth, ME left now. Ellsworth is Versant power, not CMP so a different wait for the transformers and hooukp.
Last Plugshare post is June 17th. So if any Tesla owners are stopped at Ellsworth, ME this weekend, maybe they can check out the CCS chargers at the other end of the mall's lot.