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Supercharger - Leominster, MA
- Thread starter ModelNforNerd
- Start date
Stopped by about noon today - electrical contractor was inside the rectifier enclosure working on wiring. No other activity, still no sign of a transformer. Asked if he knew what the completion schedule was - answered "no, and many people have been stopping by asking". Asked if he knew when the power transformer was getting installed - again no, and it was clear he was more anxious then us to know when. Said this seems to be the hold up for a lot of new SC installations. Can understand electric utilities dragging their feet to hook up new photo voltaic systems (not in their business interests), but you'd think something that increases use/sales of their electricity would be something they would prioritize. Guess the old saying about a watched pot is apropos here.
Adding 500KW of demand to the local distribution could cause issues, especially since just 4 cars show up with low SOC at the same time and it'll actually draw 500KW unlike most residenses and commercial sites that are usually way over sized.
Presumably Tesla had checked with the utility prior to picking the site to make sure they can provide sufficent service to the location without having to increase distribution in the area (replace undersized wiring, split service areas in two, etc...), but most likely the utility just has a long maintenence list or backlog and installing a relativly big new service customer is at the bottom of the list especially if that customer isn't calling in asking for escalation every day.
If someone's still working in the enclosures then they likely haven't even called for service installation as the utility isn't likely going to want to show up if everything isn't already ready.
Presumably Tesla had checked with the utility prior to picking the site to make sure they can provide sufficent service to the location without having to increase distribution in the area (replace undersized wiring, split service areas in two, etc...), but most likely the utility just has a long maintenence list or backlog and installing a relativly big new service customer is at the bottom of the list especially if that customer isn't calling in asking for escalation every day.
If someone's still working in the enclosures then they likely haven't even called for service installation as the utility isn't likely going to want to show up if everything isn't already ready.
They can have utility installed and lockout the main breaker to work in the enclosure. it's like saying a utility wouldn't install electric to a house site without the house being completed including all fixtures. real quick math, 9W/sqft to power a mall (ELECTRICAL REQUIREMENTS FOR SHOPPING MALLS) mall at Whitney is about 500K sqft, so that is 4.5MW already there on a pretty consistent basis. Throw in Market Basket, and the various other local businesses and I doubt that even if 4 drivers plugged in cars at the same time that it would be a blip sizable enough to cause any problems. our utility lines are just not anywhere near that close to capacity. then take into account that we are not talking instant increase in power draw superchargers take time to ramp up the output amps for exactly this reason.
the storm 2 weeks ago was huge on the coast, NatGrid probably diverted a week's worth of effort there, I have a customer in Haverhill in a business park that was down from Sunday through Midday Wednesday.
Light post install is new in the last week. They have also unwrapped and rewrapped the units since Wednesday... they now have rd caution tape instead of yellow, I have no idea what the significance of that might be.
the storm 2 weeks ago was huge on the coast, NatGrid probably diverted a week's worth of effort there, I have a customer in Haverhill in a business park that was down from Sunday through Midday Wednesday.
Light post install is new in the last week. They have also unwrapped and rewrapped the units since Wednesday... they now have rd caution tape instead of yellow, I have no idea what the significance of that might be.
A quick stop by at night should tell us if power is on, assuming the light they installed goes through the same transformer. which I think is safe considering there was no light there before and they didn't trench outside of the fenced area. I really can't picture National grid doing the transformer install and not lighting everything up. Tesla could have the breaker to the light as well and have everything turned off, but I think it is safe to say if that light is live then the site power is live and they just need to inspect, label, and turn on the chargers.
I think all the electric is in place, That pole is on the other side of the existing lines, so I don't think it would be a jump. Also, everything in the parking lots is buried and there are already 3 phase lines going into the ground just across the street on the existing pole (the one over the top of the transformer in my picture.
Correct. I live 10 minutes from this one.
When they started work in July, 1st thing they did was reroute parking lot traffic around the trenches they dug to the site.
The power for this transformer is underground.
At this point, looks as if we're waiting on Tesla to sign off on it?
My CPO S85 will be ready next week. Will be nice to have my "oopsy" Supercharger online by then.
Ya, you can see the dugup ground in post #17 where they put the HV conduit. Pavement is patched in post #19 with the cones and crates on the far side of the street where the new pole is now installed. The new pole is not installed in post #62 and #65, but shows up in post #89 but isn't finished.
The HV wiring isn't run yet, just the conduit underground and first 10ft up the new pole. They need to run the HV wiring and install all the hardware at the top of the new pole.
The HV wiring isn't run yet, just the conduit underground and first 10ft up the new pole. They need to run the HV wiring and install all the hardware at the top of the new pole.
Brass Guy
Active Member
I sure could have used this site last week. I drove to Bernardston for the TubaChristmas event. I didn't have much time to charge before departing (long story), and I wasn't going to have time to divert to Springfield or Auburn on the way home. Made it to Dedham with 16 rm remaining. I don't like going below 10%.
There is one in Brattleboro, Probably 10-15 minutes to get there from Bernardston.
Brass Guy
Active Member
I thought of that too, but it adds about a half hour more driving, plus charging. Not better than going to Springfield and taking the 'pike. I decided it would take less time to drive slower. I knew I was going to have to charge in Dedham anyway. Driving slow added about 20 mins to my return trip, but saved about an hour of extra driving and charging; net gain.
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