Supercharger - Tofte MN

[threeputts]

Tesla Supercharger Station coming to the North Shore this spring | WTIP

Electric vehicles are gaining popularity across the nation. The electric vehicle (EV) market in the U.S. is projected to grow by 23% in the next five years. As EVs grow in popularity, states are identifying and prioritizing charging station infrastructure in high-traffic areas outside of...

wtip.org

 

[minnesnowta]

Perfect location for Lutsen / Grand Marais / other North Shore destinations. Also ~108 miles from the Thunder Bay Supercharger, which should make trips to/from Canada much easier.

 

[mnev]

Great location!

 

[PLUS EV]

Tesla Supercharger Station coming to the North Shore this spring | WTIP

Electric vehicles are gaining popularity across the nation. The electric vehicle (EV) market in the U.S. is projected to grow by 23% in the next five years. As EVs grow in popularity, states are identifying and prioritizing charging station infrastructure in high-traffic areas outside of...

wtip.org

I found the claim of the EV market growing by 23% in the next 5 years to be dubious! Maybe they mean from 2% or whatever it currently is up to 25%, but it makes it sound like it's 2% to 2.46%.

 

[PLUS EV]

Perfect location for Lutsen / Grand Marais / other North Shore destinations. Also ~108 miles from the Thunder Bay Supercharger, which should make trips to/from Canada much easier.

Still makes me think they will eventually put another one in either Grand Marais or Grand Portage.

I think they could have gotten away with a single splitter of Grand Marais to go between Two Harbors and Thunder Bay, but it seems like Tofte and Lutsen get enough tourism to justify one there, or at least that must be what they are thinking.

 

[Cyberjr]

Fantastic idea by the Bluefin operation. Can't wait to have options for charging on my way along the North Shore

 

[minnesnowta]

Still makes me think they will eventually put another one in either Grand Marais or Grand Portage.

I think they could have gotten away with a single splitter of Grand Marais to go between Two Harbors and Thunder Bay, but it seems like Tofte and Lutsen get enough tourism to justify one there, or at least that must be what they are thinking.

I think Tofte makes more sense than Grand Marais. As you said, Lutsen gets a good amount of tourism and people would have to backtrack around 40 minutes round-trip to go north to Grand Marais to charge.

 

[tharasix]

It's going in at Surfside, which is a little unfortunate, as that location is a little further south than the few main stores and restaurants in Tofte. But I'll take it!

 

[PLUS EV]

@Chuq @Big Earl @tes-s

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

That's one of the Vote locations getting a Supercharger.

 

[DMC5180]

So, what’s interesting here is that Tofte was on the Supercharger Vote list. Yet it sounds as thought this location was already well in the works before the Voting had started.

Speaking of Voting for Supercharging locations, I wonder if Teslas team will be using the Voting totals to show potential hosts how much demand there is for EV/Tesla charging infrastructure in a particular area.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

Tofte, MN

Host Type: Hotel
Host: Surfside Resort
Along Primary Interstates: None
Along US Numbered Highways (<=5mi): None
Along Auxiliary Interstates: None
Along State Routes: MN-61

MN-61

From: Two Harbors, MN - 55.6 miles (Construction)
To: End (Canada near Grand Portage, MN) - 69.2 miles
Diversion: 0.1 miles
From: Start (I-35 Duluth, MN) - 79.4 miles

To: Thunder Bay, ON (MN-61/ON-61) - 105.8 miles

Connecting the Lake Superior North Shore. Tofte, MN was one of the locations in the Tesla Supercharger voting.

 

[emiliorescigno]

I'm super excited to hear about this location. My trips to the north shore are going to get a lot easier!

 

[Marlon]

Anyone have an idea when it will be ready to use?

 

[emiliorescigno]

Anyone have an idea when it will be ready to use?

Nobody knows for sure, but Tesla says Q2 of 2023

 

[scottd9000]

I am excited for this to be completed this summer. The north shore is really lacking fast charging. I assume this will include the Magic Dock for non-Teslas. I wonder how busy the site will be since it's the only option for fast charging over 50kW for non-Tesla north of Duluth.

 

[tharasix]

There's also the Two Harbors Supercharger, but that's only technically north of Duluth. There's still a big gap that Tofte would nicely split.

 

[Marlon]

Just checked the Tesla website - it says the target opening is now Q3 instead of Q2

 

[Biking Maniac]

Just heard that ground breaking is the first week of July. Stations will be immediately west of the SurfSide entry, between the service building and the highway. Power crosses the highway to a local line right at that point.

 

[Biking Maniac]

I also was told that the Arrowhead Electric power grid up closer to Lutsen is less stable, due to some high demand customers in that area and activities like snow making. Most of our power comes north from the west end of the county. So Tofte was a preferred site in Cook County. Tesla approved the Tofte site within a day of Bluefin management communicating about it. The time since the has been planning, permitting and working with the local utility.