Supercharger - Portland, ME

[Dynodan]

I stopped by the Forest Ave Hannaford and construction has begun. They beat the deadline for the permit in time. All is well.
It’s all fenced off and there is some heavy equipment in the fenced area.

 

[Dynodan]

 

[mociaf9]

I just looked up their permits, and it looks like, while their building permit was approved in November 2018, they had to apply for an Amended permit which hasn't been approved yet. Nor has their electrical permit been issued yet. However, both the Amended application and the as yet unissued electrical had what looks like significant document uploads or other movement on 2019-04-22 and -23. So, I'd agree that this is likely to be the start of construction even though we can't yet see anything physically on site that definitely says so.

Good spotting Dyno, and welcome to the forum!

 

[Tdreamer]

Great news! @BlueShift

 

[Chuq]

Great news! @BlueShift

Haha, I just saw a thread on the supercharge.info forum saying that this was under construction so I just thought I'd check here first. Good timing!

 

[MarcoRP]

Don’t we usually wait for there to be some digging or crates to confirm construction? Just asking because I’ve seen situations in which this evidence wouldn’t actually count as construction. @Chuq @mociaf9 would you have any input?

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I'd like to hold out hope that the last minute amendments is Tesla changing their minds and making this an V3 site.

 

[Gwgan]

Permit finalized CSS

I will be driving through there 4/28 and look for proof.

 

[mociaf9]

Permit finalized CSS

I will be driving through there 4/28 and look for proof.

That's the electrical permit. They also applied for a Commercial Construction Amendment to amend the plans that had been approved for their original construction permit. That one is now "In Review" as of this morning. I'm not totally positive on how Portland's CSS permitting system works, but my feeling is that, while it shows the zoning review as being "scheduled for May 7th," it's not an actual scheduled date. I think that's just an expected "due by" date, and the system just automatically gives the reviewers 2 weeks to get the work done. So, it could have the review finished and approved by tomorrow or still take more than a month to hear back that Tesla needs to make further corrections, etc. But again, I'm not positive on how their particular system works.

I'd like to hold out hope that the last minute amendments is Tesla changing their minds and making this an V3 site.

The amendment application lists that it is for the following purpose:

Amend approval for BLDC2018-00285 to include one back and fill space in parking area and additional grassed area in lieu thereof. Result is a 141 s.f. net gain of pervious area.

But that's only talking about the area/space usage and not anything about exactly why Tesla needs different space than what they had originally applied for or anything about Tesla hardware. So, I guess there's still just enough wiggle room for people to hang on to hope that it'll be for V3-related reasons. IMO, until I see site/permitting documentation or actual, on-location hardware that is clearly identifiable as V3, all sites are V2.

 

[Tdreamer]

Don’t we usually wait for there to be some digging or crates to confirm construction? Just asking because I’ve seen situations in which this evidence wouldn’t actually count as construction. @Chuq @mociaf9 would you have any input?

A reasonable position to take . I think the fact that the construction location matches the planned location should be a high enough probability to consider the project underway. But I'm not sure what prior discussion and rules/agreement dictate in this case.

Somewhat related - is there any guidance for supercharge.info site status changes when undergoing expansion construction or potential upgrades to V3 equipment? I'm not sure if this qualifies as something that should be listed for the Hookset NH NB/SB superchargers that while they appear open for now, are clearly undergoing an expansion and/or upgrade to V3.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

A reasonable position to take . I think the fact that the construction location matches the planned location should be a high enough probability to consider the project underway. But I'm not sure what prior discussion and rules/agreement dictate in this case.

Somewhat related - is there any guidance for supercharge.info site status changes when undergoing expansion construction or potential upgrades to V3 equipment? I'm not sure if this qualifies as something that should be listed for the Hookset NH NB/SB superchargers that while they appear open for now, are clearly undergoing an expansion and/or upgrade to V3.

You could request such a feature on the forum.

I'm a coverage nerd, so not a big deal for me, but you could ask for at least possible expansion tracking in the changes.

PS Do not talk about The Event

 

[mociaf9]

Don’t we usually wait for there to be some digging or crates to confirm construction? Just asking because I’ve seen situations in which this evidence wouldn’t actually count as construction. @Chuq @mociaf9 would you have any input?

Caveat: I'm not an editor on supercharge.info, so my opinion is purely personal with no weight as to the policy they set there.

Personally, I would prefer to wait until at least actual ground breaking before seeing locations listed as being in construction. That would avoid ridiculous situations like the cone in Calabasas, CA which, to my mind, never actually started construction even though it has had the supercharger hardware/crates on location for well over a year. That said, I think the other relevant issue is one of confirmation. IMO, it's not enough to know that Tesla plans to build at an address and then to see signs of imminent or actual construction there. Coincidences happen. And, in building, occasionally more than one project can be simultaneously planned to go in a given area. So, to me, that's not enough without some additional corroboration that the particular construction is likely/actually supercharger-related. In this particular case, I feel like the permitting movement that is viewable online was sufficient to meet that need. Without that added info, I would have argued against listing the site as in construction until we saw the crates or a local got verbal confirmation. I feel like that has likely been why I would have argued against it in those other situations. IMO, it's better to wait a little bit longer and be totally sure than to jump the gun and have to later remove a cone when we subsequently learn that people were mistaken.

Also, in this particular case, the activity spotting and pictures were posted by a new forum member and I wasn't going to immediately poopoo their first post--which was great--by pointing out reasons why people shouldn't get too excited until we see the crates or why others might not be ready to agree the site was actually in construction. Though without also seeing the permit movement when I checked it, I would have put in a bit more caution to my reply.

@Mr. PlugShare If you, or anyone else, want to reply or continue to discuss the matter more in depth, we should either take it to supercharge.info's forum, start a specific discussion thread here on TMC (maybe in Charging Standards and Infrastructure?), or you can DM me.

 

[Dynodan]

I just looked up their permits, and it looks like, while their building permit was approved in November 2018, they had to apply for an Amended permit which hasn't been approved yet. Nor has their electrical permit been issued yet. However, both the Amended application and the as yet unissued electrical had what looks like significant document uploads or other movement on 2019-04-22 and -23. So, I'd agree that this is likely to be the start of construction even though we can't yet see anything physically on site that definitely says so.

Good spotting Dyno, and welcome to the forum!

Thank you for the atta boy and welcoming. I’ve been swinging through every few days since the snow melted looking for sign of work. Saw they had chopped down a bunch of bushes and small trees along the back of the parking lot. The fact that the area is all fenced in and a good sized digger on site, sure looks promising.

 

[Gwgan]

Don’t we usually wait for there to be some digging or crates to confirm construction? Just asking because I’ve seen situations in which this evidence wouldn’t actually count as construction. @Chuq @mociaf9 would you have any input?

I am the one who bumped this on supercharge.info, too eager for construction to start at the permitted Maine sites and this could prove to be the first. However, isn’t it also valuable to know that a site could be under construction for a long time, perhaps delayed or even abandoned?

 

[Lacticacid]

I phoned Tesla they assured me all new super chargers will be V3's (with the possible exception of the 72kw at malls). Logically, this one should be a V3 based on that information. They would then convert the 120kw all to V3's. Hopefully the one near scheduled near me gets constructed soon with a nice V3.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

I'd like to hold out hope that the last minute amendments is Tesla changing their minds and making this an V3 site.

So much hate and disagreement for something people want. Weird.

 

[MiaGiada]

Regarding v2 vs v3... If you look at the permitted plan (attached), each pair is 250A three phase or 125A per stall. Pretty sure that is v2 which makes sense seeing as the plans were drawn long before v3 was talked about.

 

[ModelNforNerd]

Regarding v2 vs v3... If you look at the permitted plan (attached), each pair is 250A three phase or 125A per stall. Pretty sure that is v2 which makes sense seeing as the plans were drawn long before v3 was talked about.

As long as it's not Urban.

 

[eladts]

Regarding v2 vs v3... If you look at the permitted plan (attached), each pair is 250A three phase or 125A per stall. Pretty sure that is v2 which makes sense seeing as the plans were drawn long before v3 was talked about.

I would say the autotransformer are a dead giveaway that these are going to be V2.

As long as it's not Urban.

Urban and regular V2 superchargers use the same 145kW cabinets, so it can be either, we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[MarcoRP]

As long as it's not Urban.

Can we start considering the term “V3” as a swear word so that it start showing asterisks instead (**)? That would be so niiiiiiice