Supercharger - Rockland, ME

[bjrosen]

I charged at Rockland today. Only 4 of the 8 chargers were working. The V4s are a downgrade for Tesla owners, the cables are much heavier and they require a hard tug to get out of the posts unlike the gentle pull required for V3 cables.

 

[Tdreamer]

Rockland was showing 4/8 available yesterday (cabinet 1 down) at 3:30pm. It has since retired to 8/8 available last night and this morning.

And yes, retrieving the charging cable from the MagicDock adapter in the charging post does take a little tug, just as it does from the v3 MagicDock upgraded sites.

 

[Gwgan]

Could not get the links to work on my phone so for others here is the updated press release about the opening event. Maybe we can get an answer about "which posts are NEVI" aka "which ones will maintain higher power" if they distinguish
12.3.3 downloading now seems like a good excuse to drive over, especially with another storm coming.

UPDATE:

Federal Highway Administrator Shailen Bhatt and U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree will also be attending.

ROCKLAND - On Tuesday, Recharge Maine - the state's initiative to develop a statewide network of public, high-speed electric vehicle (EV) chargers - will celebrate the opening of the first EV charging stations in Maine funded by the National Electric Vehicle Infrastructure (NEVI) Formula Program. The five NEVI-funded chargers are among a bank of eight new Tesla charging stations located in the parking lot of the Hannaford in Rockland. Maine is the fifth station in the nation to have NEVI-funded charging stations come online.

WHO:
Shailen Bhatt, Federal Highway Administrator
U.S. Representative Chellie Pingree
Hannah Pingree, Director of the Governor's Office of Policy Innovation and the Future
Bruce Van Note, Commissioner of the Maine Department of Transportation
Spencer R. Thibodeau, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Intergovernmental Affairs, U.S. Department of Energy
Mike Scarpino, States & Corridor Electrification Technical Assistance Deployment Manager, Joint Office of Energy and Transportation
Shatorah Roberson, Policy Advisor, Tesla
George Parmenter, Brand Lead Health & Sustainability, Hannaford

WHAT:
Press conference at the site of the new NEVI-funded EV chargers

WHERE:
Hannaford
75 Maverick Street
Rockland, ME 04841

WHEN:
Tuesday, April 2nd
10:00 a.m.

NOTE TO MEDIA:

You may park in the Rockland Plaza parking lot, but please do not park near the store entrances.

 

[doghousePVD]

I charged yesterday at Rockland. I looked carefully for any sort of distinctive signage for the NEVI posts. Nothing visible.

 

[Gwgan]

Today 1-3

Tesla Owners Club New England

The official Tesla Owners Club serving owners throughout New England, creating social and learning opportunities for new and long time owners alike.

teslaownersnewengland.club

 

[Tdreamer]

With all eight in use… we broke it. Supercharger cabinet 2 went down and left us with four usable posts. . Growing pains. Fun meetup and interesting to try out the new v4 posts for the first time.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

With all eight in use… we broke it. Supercharger cabinet 2 went down and left us with four usable posts. . Growing pains. Fun meetup and interesting to try out the new v4 posts for the first time.

I hope that later you were able to get into the SST and enjoyed it and that your trip to Jackman the next day was OK.

Thanks for being welcoming.

I got (successfully) to try charging my Kona both using the card reader and the app. So now I've used _two_ Superchargers.

For Tesla owners, V3 is better:
(1) Quick unplug from stall. Don't have to hold it for several seconds.
(2) Thinner, lighter cable

For my Kona V4 is easier than V3:
(1) Just pull into the stall. My charge port is on the front to the driver's side. No need to offset, angle or get really close
(2) Plug in first. Press button for a few second to unlock plug. Click. Push in. Click. Pull out MagicDock. Plug in. Then use the app to start the charging or ...
(3) Can use a card to pay, which is faster than using the app to charge. When available the small screen displays the contactless payment symbol.

 

[Tdreamer]

I hope that later you were able to get into the SST and enjoyed it and that your trip to Jackman the next day was OK.

Thanks for being welcoming.

I got (successfully) to try charging my Kona both using the card reader and the app. So now I've used _two_ Superchargers.

For Tesla owners, V3 is better:
(1) Quick unplug from stall. Don't have to hold it for several seconds.
(2) Thinner, lighter cable

For my Kona V4 is easier than V3:
(1) Just pull into the stall. My charge port is on the front to the driver's side. No need to offset, angle or get really close
(2) Plug in first. Press button for a few second to unlock plug. Click. Push in. Click. Pull out MagicDock. Plug in. Then use the app to start the charging or ...
(3) Can use a card to pay, which is faster than using the app to charge. When available the small screen displays the contactless payment symbol.

Good info - definitely agree with the points comparing V3 vs. V4 for Tesla vs. non-Tesla vehicles. I was personally surprised at just how big/heavy the v4 cables really were. I knew they were larger than v3, but didn't think they would be quite that large. Would be great if Tesla could iterate on the design and trim down the bulk and stiffness over time for v4 cables.

I wish we had been able to get the Kona or Bolt to charge while we where there as a group - would have been great to see, and perhaps share a few photos as well. As luck would have it, on the way home from Jackson a Mach-e pulled in to the Ashland, NH NACS-enabled v3 supercharger and plugged in with their recently received adapter. The site already had 6 Tesla's plugged in, and he took the far-left spots to charge (only free stalls upon arrival). No waits while he was there charging, but it illustrates the challenges of v3 sites opening for non-Teslas for sure.

And @ItsNotAboutTheMoney it was a pleasure to formally meet you as well! The run up to Jackman for the group was great and our view of the eclipse totality will last a lifetime. The trip home was a nightmare (half expected) with double-digit return trips for may that went all the way home. A theme for many that had a distance to travel post-eclipse across the region and beyond.

 

[MP3Mike]

I was personally surprised at just how big/heavy the v4 cables really were. I knew they were larger than v3, but didn't think they would be quite that large. Would be great if Tesla could iterate on the design and trim down the bulk and stiffness over time for v4 cables.

I think that is because the V3 cables can only handle 250kW, for a short time at that, while the V4 cables can support 4 times as much, 1MW. (Even if the chargers don't currently support more than 250kW yet.)

I think Tesla has said that they are making some changes, though I think it was primarily around the cable dock to make them less likely to fall out.