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Supercharger - Gila Bend, AZ
- Thread starter MarkR
- Start date
jstack6
Member
It's March now so I would think it will be done very soon. Same with the Buckeye location. Too bad Arizona doesn't let Tesla sell direct in our state. That probably kills Tucson being the location for the gigafactory for advanced batteries.
"Somewhat" off topic, but AZ residents, show your support!
Arizona bill would allow Tesla to skip dealers - http://finance.yahoo.com/news/arizona-bill-allow-tesla-skip-211949014.html
Arizona bill would allow Tesla to skip dealers - http://finance.yahoo.com/news/arizona-bill-allow-tesla-skip-211949014.html
Kraken
Member
While I was at the Roseville supercharger location today, one of the workers drove up. He had been part of a few others. He mentioned doing Gila Bend. He said that there were easement issues at Gila Bend.
so, it could be another San Juan Capistrano, or it could be another Buckeye.... Time for you to make some calls so that it is more of a buckeye!
either way, I wouldn't expect it to be open for awhile, based on that prognosis... But hey, what do I know. That's the first time is ever really heard anything about this location other than here....
earcandy
Member
A buddy of mine just sent me this from his drive-by yesterday. Looks like the transformer must be in! yay!
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Below is an annotated picture of the Blanding Supercharger site when it was under construction. Note the green transformer in the lower part of the picture. In Arizona, transformers are often a tan, sand color rather than the green color in this picture. Where do you see a utility transformer in your "drive by" picture?
earcandy
Member
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Every site I have seen (28 by now) that had a fence (20+), had the transformer outside of the fence, and the Distribution Center and Supercharger Cabinets inside of the fence.
earcandy
Member
I get that in Firefox, but Chrome and Safari automatically resizes the images... If that helps.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
I have good luck with Chrome. However, even if the images are resized by the browser, the multi-megabyte downloads for huge JPEGs can take quite a while when you are on remote, slow links. I try to resize to a max of 900-1200 pixels on the large dimension. That seems to keep the JPEG to 200-500 kB in size.
Tyl
Active Member
I had a thought about Gila Bend AZ's supercharger.... I know for sure that it is wired for 150kWh. I wonder if the delay maybe for the transformer... i.e. ---- maybe getting a transformer that will be able to handle the future needs of this supercharger location is a part of the reason for delay.
Kraken
Member
A member of the crew who installed it is now installing at roseville. He specifically said they are having easement issues. This wasnt info I asked for, he just was telling me his past experiences. Based on that, I don't think there is any thing else slowing it up.
On 2/27, Tyl posted great photos. Some of these photos show where the utility transformer will be located (by the drive through window on the concrete pad with some conduit pipes sticking out). Due to Tyl's post, I was able to describe in advance to my girlfriend as to where she needed to take the photo showing the status of the utility transformer, while we drove by.
On 3/17, I posted a photo showing the pad is still without the utility transformer. On 3/22, the pad was still without transformer (though I couldn't snap a photo at dusk, while in a moving vehicle).
In this particular location, the place to watch for is the concrete pad - just in front (toward major road) of the drive through window. Once that appears, it should be pretty fast for the final testing to take place and be up and running.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla releases the faster infrastructure technology as it is available (vs. limiting the charge rates in the meantime) - or if they will try and wait to upgrade many locations and then do an announcement that suddenly a bunch of locations are now charging faster.
On 3/17, I posted a photo showing the pad is still without the utility transformer. On 3/22, the pad was still without transformer (though I couldn't snap a photo at dusk, while in a moving vehicle).
In this particular location, the place to watch for is the concrete pad - just in front (toward major road) of the drive through window. Once that appears, it should be pretty fast for the final testing to take place and be up and running.
It will be interesting to see if Tesla releases the faster infrastructure technology as it is available (vs. limiting the charge rates in the meantime) - or if they will try and wait to upgrade many locations and then do an announcement that suddenly a bunch of locations are now charging faster.
Tyl
Active Member
3-26-2014 Still no transformer on the pad!! The nylon pull ropes (Muletape) are still there!! They'll need them for sure to pull as they push those thick cables thru the conduit and into place. Gila Bend's office of economic development did not have a date as to when the transformer would arrive or when the site would go live.
Cottonwood
Roadster#433, Model S#S37
Other 4 stall locations that I have seen use 3 500mcm cables per phase plus neutral (total of 12 500 mcm cables) from the transformer to the Distribution Panel. That's a lot of copper. Here is a picture of the 480 Volt connections being made to the transformer in Farmington. Each phase and neutral are a different color, and a 500 mcm cable has the equivalent copper of a solid wire 0.7 in in diameter!
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