confirmed by Town of Normal this morning that Tesla is installing 10 superchargers in Bloomington/ Normal IL. My Hometown, hopefully I see a bunch of Model S's now!
Clprenz.. thanks for posting this! LizG reposted in our local Meetup Forum which led me to do some internet sleuthing (this is a repost from our local group).
Intrigued by this, I checked Normal's town site and found that there was a Town Council meeting this evening. On tonight's agenda was a resolution to adopt a Letter of Intent from Tesla Motors to install charging stations in Uptown Station.
Per the council action report:
1. Tesla may use up to ten (10) parking stalls within the Uptown Station parking deck with Town consent as to specific location.
2. Two (2) charging stalls shall serve as dedicated Tesla charging stalls, four (4) shall serve as general parking with the exception of overnight parking, and four (4) shall serve as unrestricted general parking. Tesla could convert stalls to dedicated Tesla stalls based on actual usage.
3. With Town consent as to location and construction plans, Tesla will install and maintain the Superchargers at its own cost.
4. Tesla will be responsible for operational costs, including the payment of electricity used by Tesla drivers.
5. Tesla drivers will pay regular parking deck fees.
6. The agreement term is five (5) years with two (2), five (5) year options to extend.
Based on initial study, it appears that the best location for the charging stations is the third floor of the Uptown Station parking deck. Tesla may choose not to install all ten stations at once. Installation is not anticipated to be disruptive to normal parking deck activities.
The Town has invested a significant amount of time and energy supporting the EVTown initiative. The effort has continued to gain national attention, as evidenced in part by the request by Tesla. Providing charging infrastructure for Tesla drivers is akin to the Level 3 quick charging offered to drivers of other EVs. In addition, it is reasonable to assume that Tesla drivers will avail themselves of goods and services located in the Uptown area while waiting for their cars to charge.
Furthermore, only two parking spaces in the deck will be fully dedicated to Tesla users. Tesla would only expand beyond two spaces if Tesla driver demand required it.
For these reasons, Town staff recommends that the Town Council authorize the execution of the proposed Letter of Intent with Tesla Motors, Inc. If approved, Town staff will work with Tesla to draft a binding ground lease.
Since it is only the agenda, there is no indication on how the council voted; though I would assume that they voted for the resolution. I suppose if I were motivated tomorrow I could call their City Clerk's office to find out the outcome of the vote. How excited would they be that someone from out of town, let alone out of state were calling to confirm the progress of their EV infrastructure?
Next question, assuming passage of the resolution, what is the timeline for the install? Also, having never seen a Tesla supercharger within the geographic context of interstate travel, does anyone know how the placement of these chargers compares to those already in service? I am sorta bummed about the distance from the interstate - about two miles, I believe - but at least there will be something to do while waiting for a charge.
View attachment NormalIL_TownCouncil_TeslaLOI.pdf
