Western Canada Superchargers

[dmd2005]

Hey Brock, any chance you can post a photo of the activity at the Merritt SC site? Nice to be able to take a quick restroom break and get a top off before heading to the Coq Connector in the winter and not have to worry about range anxiety.

I was able to get 386V and 96A charging at a peak of 187km/h via my CHAdeMO adapter at EcoDairy in Abbotsford. Well worth the money if you travel through Manning Park, Princeton and south Okanagan.

 

[beeeerock]

Hey Brock, any chance you can post a photo of the activity at the Merritt SC site?

I intend to... once there's something to show. Nothing notable was visible on Saturday that would really give it away unless you really know what you're looking for, but if I get down that direction again and see something, I absolutely will snap a photo or two!

 

[Hugh Mannity]

I may be swinging through Merritt this weekend; will try to snoop around as much as possible ....

 

[green1]

Merritt Supercharger.

I also got an ear full from one of the guys doing the construction. He tried to tell me I'm not allowed to take pictures because Tesla had insisted nobody know about it. I informed him that I was taking the pictures from public property and there wasn't really much Tesla could do about it.

Anyway, confirmed it's at the new hotel going up near the Husky, it's a great location for it.
Conduits seem to be in place with backfill, and the crates have arrived (you'd think if Tesla wanted to be secretive about such things, they wouldn't splash their logos on the outside of the crates, and they'd insist on privacy fencing.... (there's actually NO fencing around this site)

 

[cmt489]

View attachment 196970 View attachment 196971 View attachment 196972
Merritt Supercharger.

I also got an ear full from one of the guys doing the construction. He tried to tell me I'm not allowed to take pictures because Tesla had insisted nobody know about it. I informed him that I was taking the pictures from public property and there wasn't really much Tesla could do about it.

Anyway, confirmed it's at the new hotel going up near the Husky, it's a great location for it.
Conduits seem to be in place with backfill, and the crates have arrived (you'd think if Tesla wanted to be secretive about such things, they wouldn't splash their logos on the outside of the crates, and they'd insist on privacy fencing.... (there's actually NO fencing around this site)

This is AMAZING news!!!

 

[AlbertaNetZero]

View attachment 196970 View attachment 196971 View attachment 196972
Merritt Supercharger.

I also got an ear full from one of the guys doing the construction. He tried to tell me I'm not allowed to take pictures because Tesla had insisted nobody know about it. I informed him that I was taking the pictures from public property and there wasn't really much Tesla could do about it.

Anyway, confirmed it's at the new hotel going up near the Husky, it's a great location for it.
Conduits seem to be in place with backfill, and the crates have arrived (you'd think if Tesla wanted to be secretive about such things, they wouldn't splash their logos on the outside of the crates, and they'd insist on privacy fencing.... (there's actually NO fencing around this site)

So this would be the location:

https://www.google.ca/maps/@50.1239...03&h=100&yaw=140.96475&pitch=0!7i13312!8i6656

 

[green1]

The flagpole you see on streetview is pretty much exactly where the supercharger will be.

 

[skrenes]

View attachment 196970 View attachment 196971 View attachment 196972
Merritt Supercharger.

I also got an ear full from one of the guys doing the construction. He tried to tell me I'm not allowed to take pictures because Tesla had insisted nobody know about it. I informed him that I was taking the pictures from public property and there wasn't really much Tesla could do about it.

Anyway, confirmed it's at the new hotel going up near the Husky, it's a great location for it.
Conduits seem to be in place with backfill, and the crates have arrived (you'd think if Tesla wanted to be secretive about such things, they wouldn't splash their logos on the outside of the crates, and they'd insist on privacy fencing.... (there's actually NO fencing around this site)

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Two new supercharger sites under construction now in Western Canada! Yay! I'm looking forward to the rest, especially the south ones that connect us to I-90 and the Edmonton supercharger.

 

[Paul8810]

Any updates on Fort McLeod? If it goes online in the next 7 days I'll cancel my flight Edmonton to Phoenix next weekend and drive. I'd still need to overnight on the 14-50 plug in Conrad MT listed on PlugShare- according to evtripplanner that should be just enough to carry me to the Butte supercharger (though I'll have to drive the speed limit )

 

[Paul8810]

Fort McLeod today courtesy Raf Smith - Driving through Fort MacLeod today, and... | Facebook

Appears construction complete, just waiting for power!

 

[beeeerock]

I also got an ear full from one of the guys doing the construction. He tried to tell me I'm not allowed to take pictures because Tesla had insisted nobody know about it. I informed him that I was taking the pictures from public property and there wasn't really much Tesla could do about it.

Awesome, thanks for risking your life to get the shots! ;-)

I feel a little bad for the guys on the site who are told to keep it quiet, but can't fool owners who know what to look for! Makes no sense, really... having more of these sites will only help car sales, not hinder them. I don't know what's to be gained by being secretive.

 

[Lon12]

I can't think of any reason to keep this quiet. Maybe someone at Tesla could enlighten us as to why they said that to Green1.
I think every new Supercharger should have a grand opening ceremony with as much celebration and media coverage as possible.

 

[Bet TSLA]

I can't think of any reason to keep this quiet.

Tesla wishes to keep idle speculation to a minimum. Guessing locations before they are certain and guessing opening dates before they happen just causes disappointment. After a new location opens, Tesla is happy to have it publicized as noisily as you like.

Curious owners pestering work crews is what Tesla wants to discourage.

 

[Lon12]

Tesla wishes to keep idle speculation to a minimum. Guessing locations before they are certain and guessing opening dates before they happen just causes disappointment. After a new location opens, Tesla is happy to have it publicized as noisily as you like.

Curious owners pestering work crews is what Tesla wants to discourage.

Well taking pictures is not pestering work crews. I would be interested in hearing about the previous events that have caused Tesla to be this cautious.

 

[Canuck]

Tesla wishes to keep idle speculation to a minimum. Guessing locations before they are certain and guessing opening dates before they happen just causes disappointment. After a new location opens, Tesla is happy to have it publicized as noisily as you like.

Curious owners pestering work crews is what Tesla wants to discourage.

Since I know you are not Tesla's spokesperson, kindly provide a citation for what you claim to be Tesla's position as set out above.

I would think the more talk, rumours, speculation, a company gets about its products, the better -- and that last thing Tesla wants is no discussion about supercharger locations until they are up and running. In fact, I remember a link where you could recommend a location to Tesla and the threads go back to 2012 on the official Tesla forum regarding locations:

Where would you like to see Tesla set up Super Chargers? | Tesla Motors

Also, the work crews are big boys (and girls) and can deal with curious onlookers asking questions. They don't need your help. Many actually enjoy talking to the onlookers and it's not like there's a ton of people "pestering" them.

And as for owners being disappointing, we can handle it. I went through a lot of disappointment regarding how long Hope took to get the power connected after it was installed and surprise, surprise, I survived it no worse for wear. It actually helped being able to read here about the possible reasons for the lengthy delay.

 

[Lon12]

Well I decided I wanted to feel like a paparazzi and pester the crews building the Fort Macleod chargers, or at least buy them a coffee. But no such luck today. I was so disappointed that it wasn't working yet.
You can see there are a few piles of gravel that still need to be leveled.
I had a lot of fun driving there from Calgary. I've never pushed the range like that before. The trip planner said that I would only have 52% when I arrived there. Calgary is higher than Fort Macleod so I was expecting to use even more than that coming home. But I was able to make it home with 9%. Only had the yellow line. I wanted to get into the red but couldn't make it do that. Never thought about opening all the windows for more drag.

 

[derekasch]

Well I decided I wanted to feel like a paparazzi and pester the crews building the Fort Macleod chargers, or at least buy them a coffee. But no such luck today. I was so disappointed that it wasn't working yet.
You can see there are a few piles of gravel that still need to be leveled.
I had a lot of fun driving there from Calgary. I've never pushed the range like that before. The trip planner said that I would only have 52% when I arrived there. Calgary is higher than Fort Macleod so I was expecting to use even more than that coming home. But I was able to make it home with 9%. Only had the yellow line. I wanted to get into the red but couldn't make it do that. Never thought about opening all the windows for more drag.View attachment 197463 View attachment 197460 View attachment 197461 View attachment 197462 View attachment 197464 View attachment 197465 View attachment 197466

Thanks for the update @Lon12. Loved the pictures.

 

[scrmn]

Drove out to Fort Macleod today to see if the fence was down (and to try 8.0). No change at all from Lon12's visit. Construction fence still up and 2 small piles of gravel. No meter in meter base on the transformer so maybe Tesla hasn't set up the electrical account yet. Town of Fort Macleod has there own electrical utility.

 

[Canuck]

I left Kelowna SC today with 98% and it said I would have 32% at the Hope SC. I arrived in Hope with 11%. That's a pretty big difference from the estimate and I didn't drive that aggressively since there was heavy fog for some of the drive that slowed me down. I got new winter tires, and used defrost with heat but I kept the fan on 1 or 2, plus heated seats. I don't see how a 60 could make it. That SC in Merritt can't come soon enough, especially because it take so much longer to get that last needed 20% than the first 80%.

 

[beeeerock]

I left Kelowna SC today with 98% and it said I would have 32% at the Hope SC. I arrived in Hope with 11%. That's a pretty big difference from the estimate and I didn't drive that aggressively since there was heavy fog for some of the drive that slowed me down.

Are you running V8? The Coquihalla route has had issues with correctly calculating energy usage for some time, but I was hoping V8 would include up to date information on speed limits through there...

I realize fixing the energy calculator won't magically reduce consumption, but it would be nice to know more accurately how tight things will be.