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Supercharger - Gilroy, CA - Camino Arroyo (Gilroy Crossings, LIVE 26 Nov 2020, 12 V3 stalls)

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SMAlset

Well-Known Member
Mar 4, 2017
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10,378
SF Bay Area
Shopping down at the Gilroy Crossings shopping center this morning and noticed a team was out surveying and marking the parking lot. Cones set up in the areas they were working in. Now what would they be surveying the parking lot for? This was up by the Target entrance. Hmm. Took a couple of photos.

As I was going to leave the shopping center decided to chat with one of the guys marking the parking lot near a manhole cover. So I asked, "any chance you guys are putting in EV charging?" The guy looked up and smiled and said that's what they were doing. They come in first to mark the area before construction can begin. Then he gives me in my Model 3 a big smile and says "...for Teslas!" and I smile back. :D

Try as I might can't see any permit info for Gilroy. Not transparent like other cities are. Anyway, this was good enough for me to feel good about posting here. Suspect these will be urban chargers like Morgan Hill's but until we find the permit or see the construction, just a guess.

This shopping center is at the intersection of Hwy 101 and Rt 152 (Pacheo Pass)/10th Street off Camino Arroyo in Gilroy. This will be the second Gilroy SC in the area with the main one at the Gilroy Outlets a bit further north. There are a number of food choices in the shopping center, with a Starbucks (just remodeled) inside Target. Panera, Jersey Mikes, a stand alone Starbucks, Buffalo Wild Wings, Panda Express, Chipolte, Popeyes -- further down from charging but in the same center for a quick bite/drink. If you have a bit longer for dining, Mimi's Bistro, Famous Daves BBQ, and New Tung Kee NoodleHouse are there and across from this shopping center on Camino Arroyo are more dining choices including Chilis.

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Google Map
 
Photos from this morning. Oh and like the Morgan Hill Target SC location under construction, not on the Coming Soon Tesla SC map.

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As the Gilroy Outlet SCs are frequently full or close to full at times, this location should offer some relief within a short distance. Do think they will be urban chargers so limited to 72kWs I think whereas you can get a faster charge at the Outlet location.
 
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Your pictures show some survey equipment, which would be super early on. So you likely stumbled upon a site that hasn't even been submitted to the City yet. Sounds like a next spring kind of opening.

Good find!
 
This new supercharger would be located about two miles away from the current Gilroy Tesla supercharger,
while there are still some closer Tesla superchargers announced for a while and not yet started?

Would it be possible to be the site of a new Electrify America CCS charger instead?.

Also in general the Tesla superchargers are located a little bit away from the main shopping parkings area.

Gilroy, CA - Tesla Supercharger
 
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Updated to permit status on supercharge.info. Good find!

Cool site. 20 Stalls! Nice. Tesla seemed to have held back with construction lately based on the Map, probably focusing on production and bottom line but there seems to be a flood of “unannounced” SC locations lately. Elon did say in the Q2 call that they recognized with more Teslas on the road this was one area they were focusing on due to wait times to plug in and were targeting volume areas of Tesla traffic.

Love to see the permit info for more details, application date, L2s which it seems like Tesla is asked to also install often. I should have asked the worker more details although don’t know how much he would have been told. I think this will happen sooner than later.

No doubt this is a Tesla site. They seem to be partnering a lot with Target on this effort. And the worker specifically said it was for Teslas. I’m just wondering where the actual info came from that it’s going to be 20 stalls. It’s a big shopping area and heavily traffic’d in general so not surprised they would try to alleviate some of the the wait at the Outlets.
 
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Hoping these are SC's - but that close to the entrance of Target? Typically placed some distance away - that area around Target has plenty of space - just don't see it happening at the front door. A trip back east, I noticed a few Targets with 'Destination Chargers' (not Tesla) located by the front entrance.

But Gilroy can always use more Tesla SC's.
 
It doesn't have to be right at their door. The area I marked in yellow on the initial map and the map below is where the work was being done (parking section to the right of manhole cover in photo). That area right by the Target entrance is already set up for handicap parking (spaces marked with diagonal lines) so is already restricted parking. However, there is parking towards the main shopping center roadway, while having a sidewalk running through the middle, also has an open ground area that would be less expensive to dig through. This particular row of parking runs perpendicular to where Ross and Target's buildings adjoin. The area also has light poles for power.

Here's an aerial view from Apple Maps. Couldn't help but note that Target has a white roof and uses a number of solar panels.

GilroyTargetSC_073019 - 1 (1).jpg
 
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This new supercharger would be located about two miles away from the current Gilroy Tesla supercharger,
while there are still some closer Tesla superchargers announced for a while and not yet started?

Would it be possible to be the site of a new Electrify America CCS charger instead?.

Also in general the Tesla superchargers are located a little bit away from the main shopping parkings area.

Gilroy, CA - Tesla Supercharger
Electrify America already has "Coming Soon" status at the Gilroy Outlets.
Recargo is supposed to be installing CEC funded fast chargers at the north end of the Outlets near the Fresh Choice.
ChargePoint is supposed to be installing CEC funded fast chargers near the Jack-in-the-Box behind the Best Buy store across the street from this site at Target.
 
Cool site. 20 Stalls! Nice.
20 stalls is a placeholder for supercharge.info and with no other information or actual permit submitted we really don't know. The City of Gilroy probably has no idea of this planned project other than a a meet and greet with Tesla about the possibility of another Supercharger in Gilroy, somewhere, but with no location information. 20 stalls would be great though.


Electrify America already has "Coming Soon" status at the Gilroy Outlets.
Recargo is supposed to be installing CEC funded fast chargers at the north end of the Outlets near the Fresh Choice.
ChargePoint is supposed to be installing CEC funded fast chargers near the Jack-in-the-Box behind the Best Buy store across the street from this site at Target.
Likely the surveyor onsite was a sub-contractor for whoever is installing the chargers, and not directly under Tesla and hopefully when he said "for Teslas!" it was specific to Superchargers, but he might just mean EV's in general. With all the info you listed above, lets hope its a Supercharger. We already know Tesla and Target have great relationship. Either way, this is a location is way way early in the planning/design phase, so hopefully we lucked out on this nugget and this could be the earliest known charger that has been found.
 
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I was intentionally very careful to not lead the guy at the manhole cover when I asked, inquiring only about “EV charging”, but time will tell.

I spoke with someone in their building permit department and she appeared unaware of other cities (seems like most) being transparent with public online permit search access. She looked for me, tried Target’s address which is usually the case, but didn’t see any permits issued. If they are out there surveying, good bet from past research that it’s already been through the City’s Planning dept, and city council has approved or still in process of reviewing plans. Waiting for return phone call from there.

FWIW for the Morgan Hill location, while the permit was issued just in July, the initial paperwork/plans began in 2018. The hardest part is finding a search location address to start the search. Sometimes I’ve located them by searching for “EV” but depends on how cities list things. Searching for Tesla or supercharger etc does not always work. In fact most times. Sometimes the permit is done under the location company’s name, like Macy’s. Gilroy has Planning and Council meeting agendas/minutes online but each taking forever to load, so tried the phone route.
 
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@SMAlset thanks for your posts, I appreciate it. However, since a permit for this site showing this will be a Tesla Supercharger has not been issued, and there is no Tesla equipment on site, as of now I do not consider it proven that this site will be a Supercharger. One survey worker saying “for Teslas” is not definite enough, sorry.

For now I’m moving this thread to the California forum. I hope it turns out to be a Supercharger. If that happens, the thread will be moved back to the California Superchargers forum.
 
If they are out there surveying, good bet from past research that it’s already been through the City’s Planning dept, and city council has approved or still in process of reviewing plans. Waiting for return phone call from there.
I think you've misunderstood the work flow that leads up to an application for planning or building approval. If the surveying was for the purpose of locating underground utilities in preparation for digging, then your assumption would certainly be true. But in that case a building permit should either already have been issued or be imminent. Unlikely, given the response you got from the building dept. But if the surveying was for the purposes of location scouting/selection or preliminary site design, then that would take place well before any applications to the planning dept, city council, or building dept. An integral part of those applications is a full set of site plans, for which the survey is an important early building block. As such, if this was a survey for that purpose, it would be unlikely for any of those institutions to already know anything of substance, and likely they wouldn't know anything at all, regarding the potential future project. Maybe they'll have heard a rumor that Tesla or someone was looking into locations to put in EV charging stations in the area. But any such knowledge wouldn't be official.
 
I think you've misunderstood the work flow that leads up to an application for planning or building approval. If the surveying was for the purpose of locating underground utilities in preparation for digging, then your assumption would certainly be true. But in that case a building permit should either already have been issued or be imminent. Unlikely, given the response you got from the building dept. But if the surveying was for the purposes of location scouting/selection or preliminary site design, then that would take place well before any applications to the planning dept, city council, or building dept. An integral part of those applications is a full set of site plans, for which the survey is an important early building block. As such, if this was a survey for that purpose, it would be unlikely for any of those institutions to already know anything of substance, and likely they wouldn't know anything at all, regarding the potential future project. Maybe they'll have heard a rumor that Tesla or someone was looking into locations to put in EV charging stations in the area. But any such knowledge wouldn't be official.

You've been flushed out!

You're in the biz or hang out in City plan check front counter areas as a hobbie.
Well said, but I'm guessing we'llhear of a permit in about 3 or 4 months (but sounds like someone has to call and ask).
Personally I think there's a 90% chance this is a Tesla site, but I'm an optimistic kind of guy.
 
When I got notice this thread had been moved I thought darn must be a dead project and I was surprised because the guys surveying back then were so sure it was a Tesla project. Now to check out the alert about the move and see it’s gone into construction is great news. Thanks for the photos and update @MarcoRP.

As I recall from last year the City had no online permit search and wondering, you had to call into the City or go in person for permit details, and wondering if anyone knows # of spots and equipment (urban/v3 etc). Hey maybe there’s hope for the location in San Jose for the Cottle location that had quite a bit of planning and permitting done.
 
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When I got notice this thread had been moved I thought darn must be a dead project and I was surprised because the guys surveying back then were so sure it was a Tesla project. Now to check out the alert about the move and see it’s gone into construction is great news. Thanks for the photos and update @MarcoRP.

As I recall from last year the City had no online permit search and wondering, you had to call into the City or go in person for permit details, and wondering if anyone knows # of spots and equipment (urban/v3 etc). Hey maybe there’s hope for the location in San Jose for the Cottle location that had quite a bit of planning and permitting done.


I was actually the one who pointed SJV Tesla to visit the location based on a PlugShare marker. Good thing it ended up being right!
 
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Had a stop in this shopping center and remembered these were going in. Took these photos of the construction area from the end closer to Target.

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The row is quite lengthy, from roadway by other stores and to a good portion near Target’s entrance.
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Equipment/supplies area.
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Anyone with info on the permit and how many units are going in?
 
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