Knoxville supercharger - where

TNEVol · Apr 22, 2015

How about those members near Knoxville do some sleuthing. The Chattanooga SC is about 200 miles from London KY and Knoxville splits that in half. The Knoxville location has been shown as "coming soon" for some time. Construction at Cincinnatti SC has begun. The missing link is Knoxville. No pun intended, see my screen name. Anyway from my old days in K-Town I am betting on a location between Papermill Road to the Lenoir City split because this handles both I-40 and I-75 both ways. Realistically it probably will be past West Town Mall because of space and traffic so my bet is Kingston Pike area between Lovell Rd and East. Ideas anyone? Permits? Drive by?

dhanson865 · Apr 27, 2015

I've been looking for some time. I live within a couple of miles of where I expect it to be.

dhanson865 said:
Knoxville, TN is on the coming soon map now. That's my home turf so maybe for once I can be the one uploading progress pictures.

Does anyone have any idea where it will be?

Codes Administration and Enforcement - Knox County Tennessee Government
Permit Reports - Codes Administration and Enforcement - Knox County Tennessee Government

City of Knoxville - Plans Review & Inspections (plenty of names and phone numbers but I don't want to pester anyone until I have a better idea of timing)
SSL (Plans Review and Permit Inquiry) but that requires the permit number.

Do you really think one in Knoxville is enough?

I think the first one should be at the campbell station road exit of I-40/I-75 (its just a few miles from the southern split) there are plenty of retail businesses there and it's still on the outside edge of the city/metro area, and putting one there services the Knoxville to Nashville route and the Knoxville to Chattanooga route.

But what about Knoxville to Lexington or Knoxville to Bristol or Knoxville to Asheville

You could move the single supercharger to a more central location like the I-40/I-640 junction but then it lengthens the trip required for the west (Nashville) and south (Chattanooga) legs. It also puts the supercharger well inside the city promoting local charging. It's also not as nice a part of town, not ideal in my book for several reasons.

So if you do multiples are you concerned with all 3 major routes out of Knoxville or just 2?

Another good spot would be east at the Strawberry Plains exit or Dandridge exit on I-40, well outside of the normal Knoxville city flow but has hotels/gas/etc at that exit. This feeds the routes to Bristol, Asheville, and Pigeon Forge/Gatlinburg (major tourist trap and gateway to the Great Smokey Mountains National Park).

Again another bad compromise would be to put one near the 40/640 junction on the east side but local charging and lesser value to the I-75 route makes this an even worse choice than on the west side of town.

I-75 north has dozens of exits that would be good for a supercharger, I guess I'd do Lake City exit on I-75. Keep it north of powell/halls which is overcrowded and would see much local charging. Lake city is right at the junction for oak ridge/clinton travelers coming up 25W.

So if I had the choice to cover the east TN area with 3 superchargers I'd do

I-40 exit 273 (campbell station rd)
I-40 exit 398 (strawberry plains pike) or exit 417 (dandridge / hwy 92)
I-75 exit 128/129 (Lake City)

of course you could split that out if you want more chargers and do

I-40 near crossville (between Knoxville and Nashville)
I-75 Athens (between Knoxville and Chattanooga)
I-40 exit 398 (strawberry plains pike) or exit 417 (dandridge / hwy 92)
I-75 exit 128/129 (Lake City)

with 4 superchargers you cover all the major routes out of Knoxville leaving only the south route to the smokeys (US 441) stuck on L2 only.

Given all that if I had to limit it to 2 superchargers I'd just do

I-40 exit 273 (campbell station rd)
I-75 exit 128/129 (Lake City)

as I feel the west, south, and north routes will get more traffic than the east and I guess the tourists going to Pigeon Forge / Gatlinburg would just have to L2 charge.

I can't imagine this area with only one supercharger in the eastern third of the state.

TNEVol · Apr 29, 2015

eventually I agree with you but Tesla is clearly building the I-75 corridor and not I-40 or I-81 at this time. Bad news for those of us wishing for I-65 but the way through KY is on I-75 at present.

N4HHE · Apr 30, 2015

I think anywhere in Knoxville will be better than what we have now.

TNEVol · May 1, 2015

OK dhanson it is shown as under construction on the wiki at 11038 parkside dr. Pics please. thanks

dhanson865 · May 1, 2015

TNEVol said:
OK dhanson it is shown as under construction on the wiki at 11038 parkside dr. Pics please. thanks

how did you find it?

Cool, I can drive over tommorow and grab photos if there is anything happening. Looks like it's at the Starbucks in the busiest part of the Turkey Creek subdivision.

The downside is that is within sight of the Walmart. The upside for restaurants without crossing dangerous traffic is:

Brixx Pizza
Five Guys Burgers & Frys
Chik-Fil-A
McAlister's Deli

You take your life into your own hands if you try to cross Parkside DR on foot to get to

Connor's Steak House
Olive Garden
Salsaritas
JimmyJohns
Texas Roadhouse

Within 2 mins drive there are a dozens of quality restaurants
Within 5 mins drive there are hundreds of restaurants

It's a pretty high density area for businesses with I-40/I-75 traffic + Kingston pike (which runs parallel to I-40 at that point).

TNEVol · May 1, 2015

Best SC site out there Superchargers I assumed you found it but it links to this thread. You and I were both on target congratulations.

JohnQ · May 2, 2015

I was hoping it would be a bit farther east, maybe closer to West Town Mall, but that's for selfish reasons as my in-laws are up in Jacksboro and anything is a detour. Great news and once Asheville is done will give me a supercharged path. I've done it twice and I'm tired of overnighting in Asheville.

dhanson865 · May 2, 2015

OK, I found it. Looks like 8 stalls maybe?

Icing shouldn't be much of an issue since it isn't in any one company's parking lot. It's basically shared overflow parking for 20 different businesses and its in the middle of hundreds of parking spaces.

Google Maps

There were more charging cabinets in one of the storage containers but I didn't want to disturb the workers. They were active, moving around constantly, didn't stay in one place long so I just let them work.

dhanson865 · May 2, 2015

ChrisC · May 2, 2015

Outstanding! Thank you! This will speed up the Chattanooga <-> Kentucky leg.

TNEVol · May 2, 2015

Thanks dhanson. Great pics. I know you will not be able to stay away so if you get to talk to the workers see if they know where they go next. I suspect either the Greenville SC or Asheville NC because both are gaps to fill. But I selfishly hope we get a SC in the Nashville area.

dhanson865 · May 2, 2015

TNEVol said:
But I selfishly hope we get a SC in the Nashville area.

You know there is one planned for Nashville already right? Looks like one in Nashville in mid 2015 and a second Nashville location added in late 2015.

Then the Memphis and on the way to Memphis superchargers in 2016.

Cottonwood · May 2, 2015

Thanks for the pictures!

This looks like it will be an 8-Stall site.

The transformer picture is useful because it gives hints of where the new transformer for the Supercharger Site will go. That transformer is 25 kVA and single phase. The new transformer for the Supercharger Site will probably be 750 kVA or so and 3-phase.

This is an important link to help complete the I-75 route from the Midwest to Florida!

sperrysburg · May 2, 2015

For those that like scenic curvy drives - from the Knoxville supercharger head south through the Tail of the Dragon (TN 129) 58 miles away. Then head west through the Cherohala Skyway (NC 143, TN 165) ending at Tellico Plains for a 126 mile total trip. From there, you can head back to Knoxville for a total of 181 miles or onto Chattanooga for a total of 192 miles. There is also a HPWC at the end of the Tail of the Dragon (see plugshare, at Deals Gap) for a little energy boost to ensure a spirited drive. Restrooms, gift shop, food truck and a restaurant are next to the HPWC. Use search engines to find a bunch of information about this well known motorcycle and sports car drive.

dhanson865 · May 2, 2015

Cottonwood said:
Thanks for the pictures!

This looks like it will be an 8-Stall site.

The transformer picture is useful because it gives hints of where the new transformer for the Supercharger Site will go. That transformer is 25 kVA and single phase. The new transformer for the Supercharger Site will probably be 750 kVA or so and 3-phase.

This is an important link to help complete the I-75 route from the Midwest to Florida!

Just to be clear the transformer pictured was diagonally across the intersection from the storage containers. I took the picture because the ground was disturbed. I'm thinking the transformer will be placed at the other end of the parking spaces where a divider juts out into the spaces in this pic

they took out a plant that you can see in another pic sitting in an orange home depot bucket.

I'm guessing that they'll put the new transformer on the dirty protrusion or eat a space or two and build the fence into the corner of that protrusion to add the transformer there.

There isn't a transformer anywhere in the section of parking spaces they are going to use.

The next nearest transformer also across the street to another lot is

where ever they put it either there is already a channel under the road or they are going to have to cut through the road to pull cable to the new transformer location. There is nothing and I mean nothing heavy electrical in place in that part of the parking lot.

wk057 · May 4, 2015

That transformer (150kVA) isn't even large enough for a four stall supercharger setup. They'll need a larger one installed elsewhere. For 4 cabinets/8 stalls it takes at least 500kVA IIRC.

Cottonwood · May 4, 2015

wk057 said:
That transformer (150kVA) isn't even large enough for a four stall supercharger setup. They'll need a larger one installed elsewhere. For 4 cabinets/8 stalls it takes at least 500kVA IIRC.

Because the efficiency of the Tesla Chargers is about 90% for the AC to DC conversion, and the max DC output of a Supercharger Cabinet is 135 kW, the max AC input of a Supercharger Cabinet is 150 kW. 4 Supercharger Cabinets at maximum (8 cars drinking heartily!), need a maximum of 600 kW of AC in. Because the power factor of a Tesla Charger is very close to 1, that means a max draw of 600 kVA.

The way most utilities rate and install transformers, 500 kVA could probably work for a 4 Supercharger Cabinet site, but every 4-cabinet site that I have seen, has had a 750 kVA or larger transformer.

dhanson865 · May 4, 2015

wk057 said:
That transformer (150kVA) isn't even large enough for a four stall supercharger setup. They'll need a larger one installed elsewhere.

Cottonwood said:
Because the efficiency of the Tesla Chargers is about 90% for the AC to DC conversion, and the max DC output of a Supercharger Cabinet is 135 kW, the max AC input of a Supercharger Cabinet is 150 kW. 4 Supercharger Cabinets at maximum (8 cars drinking heartily!), need a maximum of 600 kW of AC in. Because the power factor of a Tesla Charger is very close to 1, that means a max draw of 600 kVA.

The way most utilities rate and install transformers, 500 kVA could probably work for a 4 Supercharger Cabinet site, but every 4-cabinet site that I have seen, has had a 750 kVA or larger transformer.

Totally understand that. The 150kVA unit supplies power to an O'Charleys, the Starbucks has a 75 kVA unit.

I already had the pics on the phone and wanted to make it clear how much pavement / traffic was between the existing infrastructure and the open parking spaces. I know they'll have to install new equipment. I don't know where they are going to pull the power from since the spaces are in the middle of a multifootball field size parking lot.

OK, found the old version of Google maps so I could mark it up a little.

So given the Supercharger location is going to be inside that large red rectangle and there are no power lines around that I see. What are they connecting to and where?

wk057 · May 4, 2015

Cottonwood said:
Because the efficiency of the Tesla Chargers is about 90% for the AC to DC conversion, and the max DC output of a Supercharger Cabinet is 135 kW, the max AC input of a Supercharger Cabinet is 150 kW. 4 Supercharger Cabinets at maximum (8 cars drinking heartily!), need a maximum of 600 kW of AC in. Because the power factor of a Tesla Charger is very close to 1, that means a max draw of 600 kVA.

The way most utilities rate and install transformers, 500 kVA could probably work for a 4 Supercharger Cabinet site, but every 4-cabinet site that I have seen, has had a 750 kVA or larger transformer.

Right.

For some reason I was thinking about the South Hill, VA site which is only 6-stalls/3 cabinets and has a 500kVA transformer.

(My excuse is that I posted at 4AM... lol)

Knoxville supercharger - where

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