It seems unlikely (to me) this will be a 12-stall V3 site, but not out of the question. I wonder if it will be 8V3 + 4L2's. We'll know soon enough once equipment is delivered.
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Supercharger - North Conway, NH
- Thread starter GreatBay Shark
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May be future proofing. While 12 might be overkill now, EV sales (in particular, Tesla) are booming - the situation 5 years out will look a lot different. Plus, this is a major tourist motoring hub, with lots of non-residents present much of the year. Finally, the SC network is being opened to non-Teslas.
Think about the EV future; however many DC fast chargers we have, we probably want more, along with AC chargers at every large parking lot.
I'd argue for another SC along 93. The gap from Lincoln to Magog is 113 miles, a bit challenging for an SR+ in winter.
St. Johnsbury is the probable best spot, or maybe Lyndon.
Also, upgrade or replace Lincoln - its 6 150kW stations, off the parking lot of a hotel.
Overkill during the week, but not to meet peak demand on a Friday night or Sunday afternoon due to all the weekenders visiting Conway and the lack of alternatives in town.
That said, they only fenced off about 8 of the 12 marked spaces today. No one there when I went by at 3:15 PM.
eladts
Member
My guess is that 8 stalls are Tesla and the other 4 are another provider, either L2 or L3.
If they are receiving grant money to fund the station, they would need to partner with another provider to provide J1772, CCS or Chademo as the station would need to be open to others.
True, but where would grant money being coming from? NH is over two years behind ME and VT with respect to allotting money from the VW settlement. AFAIK, they've still not accepted any bids for their latest charging station plan. (They got zero bids for their 2019-2020 plan, so are starting from scratch).
This RFP is different. The last was a "winner-take-all" deal - the state wanted one company to bid to do all the installations. There were several restrictions that made it untenable. The new one allows for individual site applications. I know several municipalities and private sites who are interested in applying.
There are still a few issues with the current RFP - the "no funding chargers withing 20 miles of an existing site" takes all of 101 of the list, knocks out Lancaster because of a 50kW Chademo/CCS at a campground that is closed/inaccessible >6 months out of the year (Oct-May), and also eliminates the Hooksett rest areas. The requirement to install both L2 and L3 is sort of boneheaded IMHO - totally different use cases. Through travelers won't sit at a gas station or rest area for hours on an L2.
A lot of the problem is that the rules seem to be being written by people with no actual experience with using an EV.
In particular, the constraint that you have to get back to the car to at least repark when its full can be an issue. L2 charging is fine at a mall, or outside a restaurant, or even in many public parking lots - people will be there short enough, or be able to come back soon enough, to not let it sit after finishing charging. Conversely, L2s make little sense at a commuter rail station, where people usually can't be back for 9+ hours. Only very rarely can an EV sit on an L2 for that long without getting full. A row of parking with ordinary 120V sockets would serve them better.
L2 at street parking is a great thing downtown, but again, a royal pain in the ass for overnight parking in a residential area, if 'must be charging' is enforced. Easy access to 120V sockets (L1) would probably be best, if L3 wasn't too far away.
I have stayed overnight at hotels that had L2 chargers, but no time restriction. That was nice. There are still few enough EVs that I didn't have to worry about hogging a slot.
L3 charging is getting faster - I rarely need to stop more than 20 minutes at a 250 kW charger, so the number of things I can do while waiting is pretty restricted. Dense residential areas where people don't have dedicated overnight parking need access to L3, not just through-travellers on highways.
No one on site today at 11. This week's work was basically accomplished by one person in 2-3 days.
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And we appreciate that one person's contribution to the cause immensely!
October 13 update. No Tesla equipment yet. On another North Conway note, a Cranmore employee told me they were installing a couple more wall connectors at the resort.
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No photo, but they extended the fencing to cover a dozen or so spaces last night.
Oct 15 update. The additional fencing is apparently just to secure some of the supplies, at least for now.
Wednesday morning, 10-20. A pre-fab vault has been installed.
The peak of South Moat mountain is visible in the background.
The peak of South Moat mountain is visible in the background.
bjrosen
Member
We were planning on going to the steam railroad on Saturday, would be great if the new Supercharger is up and running by then. It's not a make or break for us as we want a lunch break on the way there and there is a Thai restaurant that's next to the Tilton Supercharger, BTW has anyone eaten at Vongs? How is it?
It would be great if it was up and working Saturday, based on history I would plan for it not to be complete. I suspect that it won't have a meter installed before we see snow on the ground.
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