Supercharger - Arvada, CO - W 56th Ave

[electrons4u]

Permit issued 19 Feb 2024:

 

[electrons4u]

The City of Arvada's permit site doesn't seem to allow a direct URL to individual permits anymore, so I link to the Permit Search and you have to enter the permit #: EV24-00001 . There's no change shown as of this moment, but Sunday afternoon I was in the area and swung by to see if anything was happening. All the parking spots shown in the plans had orange cones

, so maybe they got a general contractor lined up and something more is about to happen.

 

[gsmith123]

Looks like construction is underway, starting with placing conduit. The fenced off area matches the site plans.

 

[electrons4u]

Looks like construction is underway, starting with placing conduit.

Most excellent! (and the cones all ended up in the corner where they can keep each other company )

 

[evp]

 

[electrons4u]

We love conduit!

 

[gsmith123]

The switchboard (?) is installed (note: that’s not a Supercharger cabinet). A lot of conduit is finished. Looks like they’re about ready to plop down those pre assembled Supercharger slabs, they’ll go on the gravel areas.

Interestingly they’ve installed conduit for all 12 Supercharger stalls and 4 L2 AC connectors. Nice! The plans showed the L2s and 4 SCs as “Expansion” but I guess that changed.

 

[electrons4u]

Great minds think alike! I just went by there yesterday right before sunset. Your photos are better than mine, but I will add a couple shots of the existing transformer (and telecom box), both of which look like they've suffered some years of abuse. The top was off the telecom box and I could see phone wires inside. Hopefully they're not even used anymore. That transformer looks too small for the Supercharger station, and the plans call for a new one on a concrete pad next to the "switchboard". That pad hasn't been poured yet.

 

[evp]

More progress: two pallets of four chargers each, with associated cabinets.

There's a puzzling gap between them. I'm just guessing the light pole has something to do with it. Also looks like the wiring to the pedestals is missing, assuming the holes in the concrete pallets are there for that.

Sadly, this suggests to me that the transformer is not yet installed. (There's another transformer nearby, but It powers the strip mall I expect.)

 

[gsmith123]

There's a puzzling gap between them. I'm just guessing the light pole has something to do with it.

The site plans show an accessible stall in the middle, separate from the prebuilt Supercharger units. The gap is likely for the extra lateral spacing needed.

Strangely the plans show the second prefab unit as a three stall prebuilt unit with a standalone stall. Never seen that before. I couldn't quite tell in your pictures, are there 8 stalls installed right now (2x prefab slabs), with a gap in the middle?

Also looks like the wiring to the pedestals is missing, assuming the holes in the concrete pallets are there for that.

Correct, the dispensers are wired to their cabinet internally through the prefab slab (that's the whole point, they don't need to do that work on site). Each prefab slab has DC interconnects and a grid connection in. I don't recall exactly how it's all wired up, I think either through the end or behind the cabinet.

 

[evp]

View attachment 1042206



The site plans show an accessible stall in the middle, separate from the prebuilt Supercharger units. The gap is likely for the extra lateral spacing needed.

Strangely the plans show the second prefab unit as a three stall prebuilt unit with a standalone stall. Never seen that before. I couldn't quite tell in your pictures, are there 8 stalls installed right now (2x prefab slabs), with a gap in the middle?

Yeah, the picture shows 3 stalls, the gap, then 4 more stalls. (Not 4 and 3 as shown in the plans.)

 

[Mrbrock]

Yeah, the picture shows 3 stalls, the gap, then 4 more stalls. (Not 4 and 3 as shown in the plans.)

The pictures also show a building (covered dumpsters?) that is not on the plans. Probably has been built since Tesla had the plans drawn up so they may have shifted the plans from what was posted on the permit site.

The proposed ADA stall will take up 2 regular spots and the gap provides this extra spot. The side picture is a bad angle to see all the posts. And the front picture is too close to see all the posts. @evp is it possible to get a head on shot of all the posts as they are now? Like your picture of the puzzling gap but much farther back so we can see everything? It is hard to tell if there is a stall hiding on the far right (or closest in the first pic).

 

[gsmith123]

Here are some more pics (no progress since the previous update).

In summary:
- 2x 4-stall prefab SC slabs installed
- Conduit and concrete slabs for 4 more traditional stalls, and the associated cabinet are installed
- conduit and concrete for 4 L2s done
- no transformer yet
- the gap between the prefab units is likely for an ADA spot, not a 13th charger

 

[electrons4u]

Makes you wonder if this is going to initially be an 8-stall or 12-stall installation. The plans talk about expansion to 12 + 4 L2 stalls. Conduit and some concrete are in for 12 + 4 L2, so we'll see.