Supercharger - Altamonte Springs, FL

[X Fan]

I agree. First, Tesla has to resolve the parking permit issue with the city. Then Tesla has to install signage which hopefully will in some way restrict ICE parking in charging parking spaces. Then if there continues to be an ICEing problem after the Supercharger Station is operational, the manager of the nearby Whole Foods needs to be approached since I believe that his tacit approval of his employees parking there is the real source of the ICEing problems.

Larry

You would think Whole Foods/amazon would be favorable to EV.........

 

[gavine]

You would think Whole Foods/amazon would be favorable to EV.........

I have seen several Whole Foods stores with J1772 charging stations. So, you're right....they should understand.

 

[Battmobile]

What does it matter if the spots are ICEd? If the City does not allow the Superchargers to be powered up due to not enough parking there will never be a need for Tesla owners to go there. Maybe just the opposite, Tesla owners should boycott this city....

It becomes a problem because people will become accustomed to parking there. So after the power and signs come they won’t notice them and continue to park there.

Whatever idiot was in charge of this station was hopefully let go from Tesla for not having the permitting in check.

I4 traffic around downtown and Disney has gotten out of control. Tesla owners and now forced to drive into the worst Orlando traffic just to get a charge only to waste it stuck in traffic.

 

[compo11]

It becomes a problem because people will become accustomed to parking there. So after the power and signs come they won’t notice them and continue to park there.

Whatever idiot was in charge of this station was hopefully let go from Tesla for not having the permitting in check.

I4 traffic around downtown and Disney has gotten out of control. Tesla owners and now forced to drive into the worst Orlando traffic just to get a charge only to waste it stuck in traffic.

I was just there 4 of 8 stalls iced out,also got response ready to charge,check charger power...
sounds like it is still offline

 

[suwaneedad]

ABRP currently shows this SC in its route planning, which is a problem.

 

[Larry Chanin]

I have seen several Whole Foods stores with J1772 charging stations. So, you're right....they should understand.

I am under the impression that someone has already contacted the Whole Foods Manager and received an unsatisfactory response. After the Supercharger Station is operational, and there is signage, we can again contact the Whole Food Manager requesting his assistance. If that proves unsuccessful we will escalate the issue to Corporate, who as you point out, have a record of support of electric vehicles.

Larry

 

[gavine]

I am under the impression that someone has already contacted the Whole Foods Manager and received an unsatisfactory response. After the Supercharger Station is operational, and there is signage, we can again contact the Whole Food Manager requesting his assistance. If that proves unsuccessful we will escalate the issue to Corporate, who as you point out, have a record of support of electric vehicles.

Larry

And ironically, that specific Whole Foods store has a J1772 public charger.

Whole Foods Market PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You

 

[GeorgeA]

Are we sure that the SC parking spaces being ICEd are the vehicles of WholeFoods employees? Who has verified this?
There are much closer WholeFoods general parking spaces available as opposed to the SC spots. There are also other stores nearby the SC station (including a movie theater lot that fills up at times) besides WholeFoods. These other stores employees could be doing the ICEing.

Before we approach WholeFoods, we should either get a eye witness or identify violators via license tag to verify and / or leave some windshield EV parking notices to stop ICEing. The big picture here is that WholeFoods has been generally a good partner with Tesla and vice versa throughout the USA in placing SCs on property or near their stores. Let's not cast a shadow on this established relationship unless it becomes absolutely necessary to lodge an official compliant. This could have a chilling effect for future SC placements if corporate gets enough of these complaints at other USA locations. So until this SC station becomes live, real enforcement is difficult since us owners are not yet needing the spots and identify of violators may be in question. My 2 cents.

 

[Theflash95]

I’m here right now and the Superchargers are still offline... although there is a sign now saying Superchargers opening 2018 (image attached). Not sure if the sign is new or maybe I just didn’t see it on previous drivebys. Everyone will be happy to know none of the 8 spaces are ICE’d.

 

[andyroyale]

That sign has been added recently

 

[GeorgeA]

The new large Tesla sign I guess has acted as a "don't park here". Good deal.

 

[Larry Chanin]

Are we sure that the SC parking spaces being ICEd are the vehicles of WholeFoods employees? Who has verified this?
There are much closer WholeFoods general parking spaces available as opposed to the SC spots. There are also other stores nearby the SC station (including a movie theater lot that fills up at times) besides WholeFoods. These other stores employees could be doing the ICEing.

Before we approach WholeFoods, we should either get a eye witness or identify violators via license tag to verify and / or leave some windshield EV parking notices to stop ICEing. The big picture here is that WholeFoods has been generally a good partner with Tesla and vice versa throughout the USA in placing SCs on property or near their stores. Let's not cast a shadow on this established relationship unless it becomes absolutely necessary to lodge an official compliant. This could have a chilling effect for future SC placements if corporate gets enough of these complaints at other USA locations. So until this SC station becomes live, real enforcement is difficult since us owners are not yet needing the spots and identify of violators may be in question. My 2 cents.

George,

This Facebook account dates back to May 28th and it provides an eye witness to the situation.

Log into Facebook | Facebook

I stopped at the Altamonte Springs supercharger today and two employees from Whole Foods parked there while I was there. Another Tesla owner mentioned that it was parking for Tesla’s only. The ice driver said I work here and continued to leave his car. (he worked at Whole Foods) I called Whole Foods and asked to speak to a manager and mentioned that it would be in their best interest to mention that employees should not park in the Tesla supercharger parking areas. He told me it’s not illegal and his employees have few places to park and he didn’t want to cause any of his employees to be late for work. I mentioned that it might not be good business for Whole Foods and he basically blew me off. I suggest anyone in the area that frequents that Whole Foods mention the situation about parking. The manager that I spoke to was obviously ignorant of the fact that it is truly not good business for employees to block EV parking.

I agree with you that until this Supercharger Station becomes operational, and only if there is continued evidence that Whole Foods employees are contributing to the ICEing problem, then we should again respectfully contact the manager to permit him to moderate the problem, assuming that there still is a problem. I should point out that depending on the type of signage, it can be legal to park an ICE in these spaces for limited periods of time. I believe that after there is signage and the station is operation, that it is unlikely that the store manager would be unresponsive to a reasonable request.

Update: Apparently the person initially witnessing the problem, contacted corporate already and a representative from the store replied with what appears to be a very responsive answer. Here's the response:

We received your recent email regarding the Tesla charging stations and send our sincerest apologies for the way in which it was handled. I’m not sure which manager you spoke with that day, but we will certainly address it with each member of our leadership team to ensure that they are all aware of the situation. We will include the landlord in on this as well, as they had the Tesla charging stations installed in the back of the building in addition to the two that we have in the front of the building. We have previously let our Team Members know not to park in the spots designated for electric charging and will address this again, as they are to park away from the front of the building to allow guests to park as close as possible to the front of the building. We will ask the landlord to address this with the other businesses as well, as most of their employees are asked to do the same. Thank you for letting us know of the situation and the statute so that we can share this information with our team. Please let us know if there is anything else we can help with!
Regards,

Beverly Thomas | Associate Store Team Leader

Larry

 

[andyroyale]

Left 4 NOTICES on these ICE cars. Called Whole Foods’ manager twice, she is aware but an employee parking here told me these are “employee spots.” I guess it will take a while for it to filter through.

 

[Graffi]

How long was this Supercharger location in service before the power was cut? Does anyone know the date powered up and date power cut?

 

[Wolfsbane]

Honestly, until this Supercharger is operational, why does it matter who parks here? There is no signage yet indicating the spots are restricted so really, you’re in the wrong here.

 

[Larry Chanin]

Moderators Note: I have unapproved two postings that either seriously speculate (or joke, I can't tell which) that the reason that this Supercharger Station is not operational is due to Tesla having financial problems. Anyone who has been following this thread should know this has nothing to do with why the station is not operational.

From posting #97 we know that about three months ago the Assistant to the City Manager said that there was a parking permit problem.

Further, I had a conversation with a Tesla representative involved in Supercharging infrastructure, who confirmed to me that they are dealing with a permitting issue, but he couldn't say when it would be resolved.

This Florida-sub forum is not the place to speculate or joke about Tesla's financial conditions. Please refrain from similar postings here in the future. If you seriously think that Tesla has a financial problem, take such discussions to the appropriate Tesla, Inc. forum.

Thanks.

Larry

 

[BlufftonBob]

+ 100 Larry

 

[Battmobile]

Thank you so much Larry for your time on this matter.

Having gone through a CAT 5 Hurricane Irma last year around this time in Florida with a brand new Tesla . I clearly remember Tesla going above and beyond knowing the risk to human lives and released an over the air update to extend the ranges on all their cars.

We are now in the middle of hurricane season with hurricanes forming routinely in the Atlantic.

Whats going to happen when another Cat 5 hurricane makes landfall in South Florida and thousands of Teslas from the Florida Keys, Miami, Naples, Tampa and elsewhere are making the routine recommended hurricane evacuation inland to Orlando and need a second charge.

As it is the Florida Turnpike and Sand Lake Rd can barely keep up with current demand. And last year even gas stations ran out of gas leaving hundreds stranded on the highway. Have they not learned any lessons yet from that disaster?

Is city of Orlando going to keep considering this a parking violation matter and that Tesla superchargers are some sort of novelty item?

Whats the national news going to look like when Tesla owners can't escape a hurricane because a perfecting good working supercharger had the plug pulled by a Assistant to the City Manager?

Its a Joke city officials can't see the big picture and work with Tesla instead of against them. Why did they even let them start building the supercharger and them finish it to only have it online working for a week before disconnecting it.

Huge lawsuit for the city if you ask me. Unfortunately the city is capped on liability so result in death can be 200k only.

It would be great if city officials can start working with Tesla and other car manufactures creating designated charging stations for all car makes close to the highway. Instead of making Tesla go through the headache of permitting and negotiating with little shopping plazas.

If Larry possible please send a certified letter or similar letter to Tesla and the City of the risked posed by keeping that supercharger offline in the middle of hurricane season.

Its important to put them on notice so they don't pretend they didn't know after the fact and people get hurt.

 

[andyroyale]

Knowing how untruthful Tesla reps can be, I’m not convinced this has anything to do with “permitting.” Usually if there’s outstanding issues with a permit, the contractor is to blame not the city. I know, I’m a builder in Orange County, once a permit is issued it is finalized once all is in place, pretty straight forward process. The problems are all worked out EVEN BEFORE the permit is issued. I bet Tesla is delaying this for other reasons which are not permit related.

(UPDATE: Just got off the phone with the building dept. and they confirmed the stations have passed inspection. The ball is on Tesla’s court as I suspected).

 

[Larry Chanin]

Thanks for the kind words.

I have been in periodic communication with Tesla on this matter. I continue to impress upon their representative that we are anxiously awaiting some movement on this issue. This afternoon I was informed that they are still awaiting a final permit from the City of Altamonte Springs.

Whereas I am as frustrated as anyone regarding this situation, I respectfully do not share the belief that the absence of a single Supercharger Station constitutes a serious risk to human life and I do not plan to send any certified letters that make that claim.

Larry