Supercharger - West Hartford, CT

[Cottonwood]

I think it's well to the right of the supercharger and distribution cabinets, if you're standing in the road looking at the chargers and Red Robin. They were digging a hole there when I took photos at the end of October - posted here or there's a link to the other thread I posted in.

Because of the large current (about 800 Amps per phase for an 8-Stall Supercharger Site) on the 480 Volt lines and the need for thick wires there, the transformer is usually pretty close to, but outside of, the Equipment Enclosure. Long trenches usually carry the medium, distribution Voltage (12-35 kV) lines from a pole or MV Vault to the transformer.

Someone needs to compose a Tesla Owners' Ballad, "Waiting for the Transformer"...

 

[Deke]

Swung by today and spoke to men from a local vendor working on the site today. They said the transformer should be hooked up by next week...and the site should be operational within two weeks. Sorry...doesn't look like it'll meet a Thanksgiving Day target. But, you never know. In any event, it'll be soon.

The guys were doing some aesthetic work to the site, painting and sealing.

By the way, I found a charging station nearby on Plugshare, that'll work in a pinch. It's located in the West Hartford Center. Max charge rate was about 18-20 mi/hr. I just sat down and had a nice dinner at the Cheesecake Factory, before I headed back to New York.

 

[PeterK]

I'm driving to NYC and back on Dec 4. Would be nice to stop there instead of Milford for a change.

 

[Bluespark]

Deke, that's a long way from upstate NY for a slice of cheese cake.......

Thank you for the update.

I too recently discovered that charger when my wife and I went to Blue Back Square, coincidently to have dinner at the Cheese Cake factory. Unfortunately that one charger was occupied by a Leaf. Well, "unfortunately" isn't correct word, I really didn't need the charge but it would have been nice to get a charge while having dinner.

For others, this spot is in the parking garage, on the left about 2 parking spaces, just after you go through the gate.

 

[Deke]

Bluespark, :biggrin:. Actually, you mention an even better recharge location! The one I used was 5 minutes walk from the Cheesecake Factory. It was free but parking was $1.50 per hour. It is in the open parking lot on the corner of Arapahoe Rd and Lasalle Rd.

I would have loved a parking garage in the rain. I missed it on my map.

 

[Bluespark]

Well, this charger is the same, free, or it appeared to be free. I didn't a means one would to swipe or wave a card. The parking isn't free either, but it was about the same price that you paid. They did have a valet stand set up near the Cheesecake Factory, but I wasn't about to let them touch my car.

 

[Bluespark]

It was nice meeting everyone today at our little get together. I would like to thank everyone for enduring the temperatures and hope the coffee helped. We had 7 people show up, one coming from as far away as Framingham MA.

When this site goes live, perhaps we can hold our own "ribbon cutting" or as I like to call it a plug in ceremony. Though this time we will dash inside Red Robin, or Olive Garden for lunch and some warmth.

 

[bhuwan]

Didnt even know there was a get together!

 

[Bluespark]

No worries, once these chargers go live, we will hold another get together there and have our own plug in ceremony. Though we won't stay outside for long, because undoubtedly it will be even colder.

 

[bhuwan]

Any updates?

 

[Mike_Schlechter]

Boy do I hope these are up for the holiday weekend. I will possibly need them Friday, but will definitely need them Sunday based on the planned visits to family and expected traffic. I'm hoping to do the family rounds in Northern New England sans long stops at slow chargers or worse yet, my wife's Highlander Hybrid!

 

[notice]

I wrote to [email protected] and got the following response - NOT OPEN BEFORE THANKSGIVING . I was hopeful for this one or Hartford as I'm driving Boston->Hartford to pick up my wife's elderly parents and then driving to Saratoga Springs for the holiday by way of Albany SC.

Thank you for your email and feedback. The Auburn and West Hartford sites will not be open before Thanksgiving, but they are on track to open soon. There are a number of scenarios that can affect the timeline for a new site but we are working hard to open as many sites as quickly as we can. We understand the need for more Superchargers and we are excited to announce new sites on our website and in your Model S.

We appreciate your patience, enthusiasm and support in Tesla and our Supercharger technology.
Best regards,
The Tesla Supercharger Team

 

[shelbri]

The Friday after Thanksgiving would be just fine. :biggrin:

 

[Bluespark]

Though it's nice that they replied to notice's email, that looks like a standard answer. I mean, they have to know the status of the sites. I mean they don't just higher a contractor and say to them,"....take your time, don't bother updating us just gives us a call when it's done, nobody is waiting on these to be completed"

I may take a drive out that way tomorrow and see if at least the transformer has shown up.

 

[timdorr]

Though it's nice that they replied to notice's email, that looks like a standard answer. I mean, they have to know the status of the sites.

Yeah, they certainly know the status, but they can't predict the future. The Auburn, MA site was apparently supposed to be online by today but ran into some installation issues that pushed it back to likely next week. But even then, they don't know *exactly* which day next week and don't want to start making promises they can't keep. The vagueness, while relatively infuriating from our perspective, does have an actual purpose to keep us from getting angry at Tesla as deadlines are broken for issues outside of their control. They don't need us micro-managing their progress

 

[shelbri]

In a week or two all of this will be ancient history as we enjoy using this new charging site and begin whining about how long it's taking for the Brattleboro site to be completed (newly listed as construction on supercharge.info). Things are really coming together.

 

[Bluespark]

True, even if Tesla said it is "due" to be open on X, a lot of people will take that as "will be open". Though I wouldn't expect an exact date, I think it would be nice if they gave a bit more specific answer like, "...we are waiting on "xyz" to be installed or done" This to me is a reasonable status update without promising a set date.

 

[Bluespark]

Stopped by the charging station today and the transformer has arrived and been installed. I didn't try to plug in because there was still some minor construction equipment near the transformer, so I presumed it isn't live yet. There also seemed to be progress on the finishing touches on the superchargers enclosure.


I plan on going back out that way next week and I will try and plug in and see if it's live.

 

[ThosEM]

In a week or two all of this will be ancient history as we enjoy using this new charging site and begin whining about how long it's taking for the Brattleboro site to be completed (newly listed as construction on supercharge.info). Things are really coming together.

Yup. Tesla has really gotten moving in New England, with sites toward which we never knew they were working. Now we can focus on destination charging at skiing areas.

 

[Kevin Harney]

Stopped by the charging station today and the transformer has arrived and been installed. I didn't try to plug in because there was still some minor construction equipment near the transformer, so I presumed it isn't live yet. There also seemed to be progress on the finishing touches on the superchargers enclosure.


I plan on going back out that way next week and I will try and plug in and see if it's live.

Quick way to tell if it is live is to see the lit up TESLA logos.