Supercharger - Woburn, MA

[smahs]

I just sent her the following:


Hello Ms. Cassidy (Director - Woburn Planning Board):
I have read with great interest that Tesla has applied to have some charging stations put in at 101 Commerce Way Woburn. I am writing to you today with my enthusiastic support and hope that the Planning Board makes it as easy as possible to obtain for them to obtain this approval.

My interest is simple: I am a Tesla owner and could really use this charging station to 'fill-up' my car. There are literally ZERO high-speed charging stations around this area. The public ones that currently exist would take 5 to 7 hours to fully charge my car. These new ones that Tesla has applied for, it would only take 20 to 30 minutes to fully charge my car. Could you imagine going to a gas station and waiting there for 5 hours?

It is the perfect location - at the intersection of 93 / 95. Being able to charge and go to the neighboring shops is perfect. This would bring additional revenue to Woburn and thereby benefiting the town. It is also near the Anderson Transportation Center, which is great.

Finally, if you are not familiar with Tesla - they are all electric. This means that we are NOT polluting the environment at all, and the more electric vehicles exist in the area, the better it will be for Woburn's environment.

Any assistance that you can provide in expediting their application would be great.

Regards,
Steve

 

[Tdreamer]

Good idea. The superchargers are on the agenda for tonight’s meeting...

 

[smahs]

Ok, that was fast.. I just got this back from Tina from Woburn Planning Board.. I'm going to follow her instructions:


Good morning Mr. XXXX,
Unfortunately, I have nothing to do with this application going forward. The Planning Department had a role early on in terms of reviewing the application and providing the City Council with comments, questions and thoughts on it. Those comments are in so our involvement is over.
However, it is a filing that will be decided upon by the City Council. I am not sure where the application currently stands (e.g. whether it is still under review or whether a decision has already been made). In the event it is still pending, I would recommend you redirect your email to the Woburn City Council, via the Woburn City Clerk whose office provides staff support to the Council. The Clerk’s email address is [email protected].
By the way, I believe there are a couple of Tesla charging stations being installed in association with the new hotel at 369 Washington Street. Perhaps these can serve as another local “fill up” option for you alternatively or in the meantime. Not sure if they are actually installed yet though, since the hotel is still under construction to my knowledge.
Best of luck (and thank you for helping make my environment cleaner!

 

[Tdreamer]

I had shared a note that notes of support should be sent to Ms/Alderman Campbell (post now deleted) - that was incorrect. wcampbell is William Campbell... I just received a reply from him indicating he has forwarded my e-mail on to the City Council..

 

[CarlSagan]

About that hotel tho...

 

[Tdreamer]

Good idea. The superchargers are on the agenda for tonight’s meeting...

No minutes of the 7/13 meeting posted yet, but it seems like Tesla has withdrawn their current special permit application, and is submitting a new special permit application based on guidance from the town in a previous meeting. It's on the agenda for the 7/21/2020 meeting which will be online via zoom. Info available at Woburn City Council (Virtual Meeting Format) - City of Woburn

 

[Tdreamer]

No minutes of the 7/13 meeting posted yet, but it seems like Tesla has withdrawn their current special permit application, and is submitting a new special permit application based on guidance from the town in a previous meeting. It's on the agenda for the 7/21/2020 meeting which will be online via zoom. Info available at Woburn City Council (Virtual Meeting Format) - City of Woburn

Nothing significant on the project at this meeting - a formality to accept Tesla's withdrawal of the original special permit application. A public hearing on the new/replacement special permit will be discussed at either the August 4th or September 8th meeting....

 

[smahs]

Anything happen at the August 4th meeting in Woburn?

 

[Tdreamer]

Didn't look like it made it to the agenda

 

[Tdreamer]

Public Hearing for the Woburn supercharger scheduled for the September 8th City Council meeting at 7pm.

Link to Online Virtual Meeting

 

[Farmer]

Public Hearing for the Woburn supercharger scheduled for the September 8th City Council meeting at 7pm.

Link to Online Virtual Meeting

Passed, with only one council member opposed.

Rah!

The alderman opposed said it was too close to wetlands, but he was just being stupid in my opinion, since this project doesn't increase the paved footprint. That and the parking lot is already bordered by public roads. 'Crazy objection. Thank goodness the other members didn't feel the same way.

 

[Tdreamer]

Public Hearing for the Woburn supercharger scheduled for the September 8th City Council meeting at 7pm.

Link to Online Virtual Meeting

Public hearing completed and approval granted!

 

[motorradray]

I wonder how this changes with the future installation of superchargers at the Target store in Woburn. These two locations will be really close to each other.

 

[mociaf9]

I wonder how this changes with the future installation of superchargers at the Target store in Woburn. These two locations will be really close to each other.

I think the general assumption is that the original location was dropped in favor of the location at the Target store. So, not 2 locations, just 1 at the Target.

 

[Koolio46]

What's the average time it takes for a Supercharger to be built and running after the town approves?

I know this can vary widely from town to town but just curious. I'm guessing...1 year?

 

[Tdreamer]

I don't know the average, but there are some interesting charts available at supercharge.info showing how long various sites have been in permitting and construction phases. My guess Woburn and Stoughton will be fairly quick (perhaps by the end of the year - or maybe next spring?), but it's just a guess. V3 sites have been progressing pretty quickly this year from what I've seen. As long as local permitting hurdles are cleared quickly (Woburn may or may not have an actual building permit issued yet; Stoughton definitely does not as it was just tentatively approved last night by the town), then it would be up to construction crew availability to move a project forward. This all assumes Tesla has approved funding to move the project forward beyond just getting permission from the municipality.

 

[Tdreamer]

A local current data point - Great Barrington was probably approved by the municipality in late February of this year, and probably started construction in August - so that's six months from approval to construction starting. Having a few close together waiting for construction to start might potentially increase the chances of construction starting sooner if a crew can work on multiple relatively close sites at the same time.

 

[mociaf9]

H/T to @MikeK966 who posted the link in the Burlington thread, here's a local newspaper article from September 17th reporting the Woburn council decision approving the superchargers:

Tesla gets green-light to install charging stations at Target

 

[st50maint]

Tesla gets green-light to install charging stations at Target

“Under the partnership, Tesla has installed its manufacturer-specific charing posts at approximately 1,000 Target stores.”

 

[mociaf9]

“Under the partnership, Tesla has installed its manufacturer-specific charing posts at approximately 1,000 Target stores.”

Yeah, I laughed at that too. Clearly a mistake or misunderstanding of some kind. Tesla might collectively have 1,000 charging stalls across all the superchargers hosted or planned to be hosted at Target stores, but they clearly don't have superchargers at 1,000 Targets. When I first read it, I wasn't even sure there were that many Target stores, but I checked and they've got more than 1,800 in the US.