Supercharger - Martinsburg, WV

[pmonkelban]

Very surprised to see this. It's just a few miles away from me. Probably too close. Instead of stopping there, I just need to make it an extra 2 miles to get home. I guess the only time I'd use it is if I was headed home, with a low battery, and needed to head right back out quickly. Awesome, none the less.

If you got time, La Trattoria is just up the street. They've got the best food in the area, and the owner is very nice.

 

[LastGas]

Looks finished, but no juice.

 

[Ahisaac]

This is fantastic. From a business perspective, Sheetz is leading the way. Secondly, I now have a place to charge when I come up the VA Hospital from Leesburg and in general just come up and visit and shop without any anxiety. Sure enough, I'm waiting to hear how ICE vehicles are parking in the spaces...smh.

 

[Half Dollar Bill]

East Coast Supercharger Celebration Road Trip Idea

What do you think?

 

[MMC-]

This site is indeed complete from a build prospective. No transformer yet and no sign of a meter. Also of cource since no power there are no numbers yet on the stalls.
Here is pics of the transformer pad and the four 4" conduits next to the switch gear. No way is this for a future meter. The conduits are WAY too big plus there would only be a need for two. I'm pretty sure this is for a future battery cabinet as I explained back in post 19.

 

[sigmo32]

Snapped some pictures this weekend at the new Breezewood, PA supercharger for comparison. Note how there are three main sections - the exhaust vent things, the large Square D enclosure, and then this equipment hooked up to four conduits coming out of the ground.

I'm not sure why the third pad would be so large, and not adjacent the conduits, but it's possibly just a layout constraint since they are fitting around the carwash and existing parking spaces.

 

[KarenRei]

Curious. If I'm reading the diagram right, that's three transformers in parallel, each tapped to two different voltages. What could that be for?

3 transformers... each of three phases? So that's incoming? Wouldn't make sense for that to be outbound, since transformers are for AC. Hmm, I can barely read part of the text... 480 volts ??? @ ??? amps? Maybe "192.5 amps"? Oh hey, if that's 192,5 amps per line at 480V that'd be 160kW before losses, a quite reasonable power source for a 145kW supercharger. So they're transforming it to whatever power the chargers need (which I can't read). Oh, and oh hey, 4 boxes and 4 chargers So it matches up. Interesting that they route the power through the chargers.

Weird - is it just me or does it look to anyone else like they have galvanized steel anchor plates but a stainless steel frame hooked up to it? If so I'd expect those anchor plates to corrode pretty badly.

 

[vdiv]

The mystery of the four capped conduits sticking from the ground is solved, these are for autotransformers that are sometimes added to adjust the source voltage that can vary due to the length of the drop. The Superchargers can adjust to a varying source voltage, but within limits.

 

[KarenRei]

The mystery of the four capped conduits sticking from the ground is solved, these are for autotransformers that are sometimes added to adjust the source voltage that can vary due to the length of the drop. The Superchargers can adjust to a varying source voltage, but within limits.

That would explain the diagrams perfectly

 

[sigmo32]

Curious. If I'm reading the diagram right, that's three transformers in parallel, each tapped to two different voltages. What could that be for?

3 transformers... each of three phases? So that's incoming? Wouldn't make sense for that to be outbound, since transformers are for AC. Hmm, I can barely read part of the text... 480 volts ??? @ ??? amps? Maybe "192.5 amps"? Oh hey, if that's 192,5 amps per line at 480V that'd be 160kW before losses, a quite reasonable power source for a 145kW supercharger. So they're transforming it to whatever power the chargers need (which I can't read). Oh, and oh hey, 4 boxes and 4 chargers So it matches up. Interesting that they route the power through the chargers.

Weird - is it just me or does it look to anyone else like they have galvanized steel anchor plates but a stainless steel frame hooked up to it? If so I'd expect those anchor plates to corrode pretty badly.

Here are the diagrams cropped from the full-resolution photos.

 

[MMC-]

The mystery of the four capped conduits sticking from the ground is solved, these are for autotransformers that are sometimes added to adjust the source voltage that can vary due to the length of the drop. The Superchargers can adjust to a varying source voltage, but within limits.

Oh bother.. I thought the battery explanation seemed to be a good one since we knew that Gaithersburg was getting a battery. I think they also had to put these in Laurel if I remember correctly.

 

[vdiv]

Yeah, we'd love to start getting solar canopies for these sites. They would have a triple utility around here, power and shade during the day, cover for rain and snow in the winter time. And with the intermittent use having batteries would make a lot of sense. Quite a few charging sites in WV have solar thanks to Mountain View Solar (these guys are awesome). Not sure how likely it will be to see batteries and canopies once the sites are done, maybe in a future expansion down the road.

 

[MMC-]

Thursday night 8/31.

No transformer.
No meter.

No change.

 

[MMC-]

About those conduits and the lack of a concrete pad. I wonder if this is now a standard build. Run your conduits in case you have to put auto transformers in place to correct for voltage drop issues but don't pour a pad until you determine that you actually do need them. That's the only reason I can think of as to why they did not pour that pad when they were pouring all the rest of the concrete.

 

[MMC-]

Thursday night 9/7

No transformer.
No meter.

No change.

 

[MMC-]

Wednesday night 9/13

No transformer.
No meter.

No change.

 

[MMC-]

Thursday night 9/21

`Yes we have a transformer!
We have a transformer today!`

Meter box but no meter yet.

Conduits for auto transformer still capped. Might possibly not be needed.

Is it strange that this is only a 500kva unit?
I thought 8 stall sites had 750's.

 

[strangethingintheland]

Thursday night 9/21

`Yes we have a transformer!
We have a transformer today!`

Meter box but no meter yet.

Conduits for auto transformer still capped. Might possibly not be needed.


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Nice musical reference. Would be great to have this working for trips down 81. Thanks for updating us.

 

[dsnows]

Nice. Now I have one about 20 miles south at Strassburg and this one about 25 miles north.

 

[sigmo32]

Nice. Now I have one about 20 miles south at Strassburg and this one about 25 miles north.

Been thinking of driving part of the Skyline Drive again when our 3 comes in (coming from MD). Seems like Strasburg would be helpful, have you driven further south to comment on other charger options?