I found a mention in the June 26th meeting minutes of the Marquette Township Planning Commission [PDF] of Tesla building charging stations at the Meijer store. No further information since that meeting was found via online searching. So, a call to the planning office confirmed that Tesla was actively in the process of developing a supercharger station there. Construction won't start until next spring at the very earliest. What: Tesla to install a Supercharger station with unknown number of stalls at the new Meijer off of US-41 in western Marquette. Address: 3630 US-41, Marquette, MI 49855 GPS (guess): 46.552283, -87.469461 @BlueShift @Chuq @MarcoRP
146 miles to Copper Harbor one way. That’d be a *very* tight round trip in my Model 3. Good thing that Wilkins State park has 50-A plugs now and there are a few L2 chargers along the way. A couple hours in L’Anse should make the trip doable if you can’t reserve a campsite with a plug.
I have heard that Open Street maps ( OpenStreetMap ) are used for Smart Summon and maybe speed limits and stop signs. How might they affect Tesla Superchargers?
Marquette, MI Along Primary Interstates: None Along US Numbered Highways (<=5mi): US-41 Along Auxiliary Interstates: None Along State Routes: None US-41 From: Escanaba, MI - 69.5 miles To: End (Ft. Wilkins State Park, MI) - 147 miles Diversion: 1.5 miles From: Howard, WI (US-141, US-41) - 172.7 miles To: Duluth, MN (US-41, US-2) - 248.6 miles A site that will ultimately make it easier for Tesla owners to drive up and across the Upper Peninsula of Michigan.
A station in Escanaba is needed more as many drive US 2 across the UP. Then again, nothing has happened to the Escanaba Meijer location since it was announced in 2018.
The UP is beautiful so I'd be happy to have any way across. Hopefully the Marquette location opens soon like the locations in ND.
I just spoke with Ryan Diederichsen, the new Marquette city staff planner, who took over the job of staff planner from Izaak Peterson. Izaak Peterson was the person who originally mentioned in the Marquette city meeting that Tesla was planning on installing chargers at the new Meijer on the west side of Marquette. Ryan (new guy) said that the city of Marquette had approved the request and that all Tesla needs to do at this point is contact Marquette County for their approval, which we don't know has happened yet or not, but he'll see whats going on and get back to me. I'll be passing through Marquette tomorrow and I'll update with pictures and do a thorough check of the parking lot to see if anything's changed lately (markings, etc). What else is new... Oh, Google Maps now actually shows the Meijer instead of just a field of trees or dirt!
Oh and, I just called the store and spoke with the Store Director, and they said they think their last contact with Tesla was something like last February, so I don't expect to see anything tomorrow on my journey.
Alright, updates after doing reconnaissance: there's literally no movement, no equipment, no nothing. Didn't expect anything. However, it looks like this spot is well-suited for a charging setup. The back of the parking lot has an island that would be well suited for 8 stalls of V3: (46.5527066, -87.4693817) Alternatively, this particular spot to the north of the Meijer building has at least 8 spots, and is right next to a Cummins power generator and a couple of transformers: (46.5540930, -87.4714685) I'm tweeting at Elon every week or two about getting these installed. Now that we can't go to Canada to enjoy that part of the continent, I want to explore the UP but we can't really do that until we have SuC.
From my family cottage in Traverse City, long prior to the expansion of the SC network, I have driven my 2014 MS through the UP perhaps a dozen times. When my MS was new there were 2 SC's in all of Michigan, to which I had driven from Boston (via Maryland, my only route choice) in other words traveling x-c required planning when you went off the SC grid, but it was more fun! In other words, driving to and through the UP was like going to the moon, but I first made it from Maumee OH to my Traverse City cottage (295 miles) with 5 miles to spare, and charged up with my 30 amp dryer plug overnight. And then a few days later from TC to Marquette with 11 miles to spare (again charging afterwards with a relative's dryer plug) You have to plan and use the range estimator and be smart with your head. When new in 2014 I routinely stretched my range 20-30 miles beyond my range estimator and yes it was an adventure but I never had range anxiety. Not once. There are 50 amp plugs in RV parks and scattered destination chargers and random Level II chargers and friends' 50 amp generator and 30 amp dryer plugs which I scouted in the towns I visited which of course made my trip a memorable adventure. You use the word "explore" and I would venture to suggest that driving through the UP with SC's handily within range is not exploring. Live a little and plan your route, and don't depend on SC's all the time. In my case I had more fun scoping out charging sites than I would have had by just driving through.
The whole point of this thread is to track the installment of a supercharger. Sure it's possible to visit the UP and explore, but getting a supercharger installed is still the main point here. Anyway, back to talk about the Superchargers...
I visited Marquette last week and drove around the Meijer parking lot looking for signs of construction. Nothing at all. My friend works at the Marquette County permitting office so she looked up the permit status for me and verified that it's approved. That seems to mean that the ball is in Tesla's court at this point.
The director of sustainability at Meijer was a previous professor of mine. I sent him a nice message via LinkedIn and received the following response, which is promising: Darin, Of course, I remember you. Congrats on your move to real estate. No need to apply any pressure to get the Superchargers installed more quickly. Our UP locations (Escanaba, Marquette and Sault Ste Marie) are scheduled to open in Q2 2021. My next vehicle will definitely be an EV! Thanks, Erik
That's good news. I grew up in Baraga and still have family up there. The trip can be made without SC's. Just takes some extra planning and time.
Good news! I worry that the Houghton J1772 will be taken when I roll in from the Green Bay supercharger. Marquette would take the pressure off! Houghton would be good too.