Supercharger - Pasadena, CA (LIVE 26 Nov 2019, 24 urban stalls)

[RubberToe]

In looking at the city DCFC area today, I see that the small electrical boxes that had previously installed on small posts have all been removed. The DCFCs are now directly connected to the conduit running behind them. Not sure if that slowed down the overall installation timeline. Measure twice install once! There are two Tesla chargers that look to be set for handicapped usage, clearly offset from the rest. They ran the wiring under the roof so there are no visibly connections on the roof itself.

And the biggest news of the day is right out of the Pink Floyd album referenced earlier. The wall was built in a single day, and the sidewalk was poured very early this morning too. They were working on the wall well into the twilight yesterday, saw that on a drive by without stopping to take pictures. Rebar going in today and it looks like they plan on pouring concrete into the wall cavity to reinforce it. It could well be that they are trying to get this site opened ASAP as speculated above. Unclear whether the plan is to open the Tesla chargers and city DCFCs at the same time, or whenever each set is ready.

Seem to be heading into the home stretch, but the Tesla work looks to be significantly ahead of the city work. Still only 9 DCFCs on site, and the wiring junction box under the roof for the city DCFCs hasn't yet had the wiring pulled through.

 

[TerranApart]

Will we see a pre-Thanksgiving opening for at least the Tesla portion? If so, that would be fantastic.
Extremely cautious optimism.

Side question: does anyone have access to the current pricing plans of the parking structure? Will there be a free grace period (similar to the Americana in Glendale)?

 

[RubberToe]

Will we see a pre-Thanksgiving opening for at least the Tesla portion? If so, that would be fantastic.
Extremely cautious optimism.

Side question: does anyone have access to the current pricing plans of the parking structure? Will there be a free grace period (similar to the Americana in Glendale)?

$1.50 per 30 minutes, with a $9 daily maximum. I think we will have to wait and see if EV drivers get any kind of discount until the chargers are up and running. There is an entry off of Marengo (main entry), and another off Arroyo parkway. The Arroyo entry/exit isn't staffed until about 7am each morning. And when it isn't staffed, the exit gate is in the up position. You didn't hear this from me

RT

 

[BM3B]

$1.50 per 30 minutes, with a $9 daily maximum. I think we will have to wait and see if EV drivers get any kind of discount until the chargers are up and running. There is an entry off of Marengo (main entry), and another off Arroyo parkway. The Arroyo entry/exit isn't staffed until about 7am each morning. And when it isn't staffed, the exit gate is in the up position. You didn't hear this from me

RT

I think this facility is free for 90 min with validation. But the closest restaurant / bar BJ’s doesn’t validate.

 

[TerranApart]

$1.50 per 30 minutes, with a $9 daily maximum. I think we will have to wait and see if EV drivers get any kind of discount until the chargers are up and running. There is an entry off of Marengo (main entry), and another off Arroyo parkway. The Arroyo entry/exit isn't staffed until about 7am each morning. And when it isn't staffed, the exit gate is in the up position. You didn't hear this from me

RT

Ah, good to know! I was wondering how someone might be able to hypothetically capture all these photos every morning without running up a large parking bill.

Thanks for the tip about costs. Even if they don't offer discounts to those charging, the parking rates seem pretty reasonable, especially for a 30-minute quick charge.

 

[BM3B]

Ah, good to know! I was wondering how someone might be able to hypothetically capture all these photos every morning without running up a large parking bill.

Thanks for the tip about costs. Even if they don't offer discounts to those charging, the parking rates seem pretty reasonable, especially for a 30-minute quick charge.

First 14 minutes are free, so we drop in and leave quickly

 

[BM3B]

Big news, it looks like all the Tesla electrical work up top is done! They took down the green fence around the Tesla chargers and were sweeping up the dust when I checked today.

Do we know if the street high voltage lines have been connected to the transformer yet? I can’t tell and haven’t noticed any street work in the last few weeks.

 

[RubberToe]

Big news, it looks like all the Tesla electrical work up top is done! They took down the green fence around the Tesla chargers and were sweeping up the dust when I checked today.

Do we know if the street high voltage lines have been connected to the transformer yet? I can’t tell and haven’t noticed any street work in the last few weeks.

View attachment 477485

I picked the wrong weekend to scream to Vegas. The darn site could be lit up before I get back!

RT

 

[coredumperror]

Ack, I lost track of this thread because I stopped getting emails!

Glad to see that construction is nearing completion. Any updates on the meetup we were discussing a few weeks ago?

 

[RubberToe]

The block wall has been filled in with concrete, with what looks like a rounded top edge. So maybe no roof going on. They are stuccoing the outside, and it looks like the holes originally left in the bottom are getting filled in. Fence is up around the Tesla equipment, padlock on the gate. Interesting use of the wire spools for impromptu keep out fencing. Also (not pictured) I saw that there were numerous crates by the city area so no doubt a delivery of some more of the Veefil DCFCs.

For the meetup, I would like to wait until the site is lit up. I'll buy the first bottle of champagne (or beer round) at the Yard House to celebrate. They have a nice relatively quiet outdoor seating area that will hold anyone who comes at one table. Look for maybe one or two days notice. If anyone else wants to schedule another meet up I'm game too.

 

[coredumperror]

Sounds like a good plan!

 

[BM3B]

The block wall has been filled in with concrete, with what looks like a rounded top edge. So maybe no roof going on. They are stuccoing the outside, and it looks like the holes originally left in the bottom are getting filled in. Fence is up around the Tesla equipment, padlock on the gate. Interesting use of the wire spools for impromptu keep out fencing. Also (not pictured) I saw that there were numerous crates by the city area so no doubt a delivery of some more of the Veefil DCFCs.

For the meetup, I would like to wait until the site is lit up. I'll buy the first bottle of champagne (or beer round) at the Yard House to celebrate. They have a nice relatively quiet outdoor seating area that will hold anyone who comes at one table. Look for maybe one or two days notice. If anyone else wants to schedule another meet up I'm game too.

View attachment 477738 View attachment 477740

2nd bottle on me

 

[RubberToe]

So the outside stucco is now done. Guys were rolling in today to work on something, not clear what. The wiring runs for the city DCFCs are still not in place yet. I spy 11 crates that contain the rest of the Veefil DCFCs. Including a nice shot of one that was apparently mummified back in the age of the pharaohs, giving some indication of the timeliness of the 50kW design...

 

[RubberToe]

Electrical testing contractor now out to check the work done on top of the large equipment pad. Also, they roof lot is being sandblasted to remove the old painted on signage to make way for the new layout. Spoke with the workers briefly. They may get the Tesla portion of the site up and running before Turkey Day. I also noticed something interesting about the city charging spaces that I'll go into more detail on tomorrow when I grab the morning pictures.

 

[BM3B]

Electrical testing contractor now out to check the work done on top of the large equipment pad. Also, they roof lot is being sandblasted to remove the old painted on signage to make way for the new layout. Spoke with the workers briefly. They may get the Tesla portion of the site up and running before Turkey Day. I also noticed something interesting about the city charging spaces that I'll go into more detail on tomorrow when I grab the morning pictures.

View attachment 478297 View attachment 478298 View attachment 478300

Thanks for the update. So can we assume the main high voltage lines are activated so power is connected all the way up? I am a bit skeptical, I imagine PWP will have to come do some work on site to turn it on.

 

[Motog35]

Would be great if it's up and running before end of week

Has anyone confirmed if there is 90 mins courtesy parking free? Getting mixed input on this thread.

Thanks

 

[WalterB]

Has anyone confirmed if there is 90 mins courtesy parking free?

parking is 90min free with validation
https://www.thepaseopasadena.com/parking/

 

[RubberToe]

Well, nothing signals the end of large scale digging at a site more than... small scale digging for landscaping. Yes, the above ground work is apparently now completed. And the plants are going in likely today to take advantage of the rain that is supposed to be coming tomorrow. The work to this point has benefited from exactly zero precipitation during the entire effort so far. The prior graphic showing an area reserved for "City's equipment designated area" is apparently not part of the final installation.

The 18 DCFCs are now in place on the roof, but there is a bunch of exposed conduit in all stage of being sealed off and having feeds connected to the DCFCs. I'm thinking that it is everyone's best interest to get that row of DCFCs buttoned up before tomorrow. The spec sheet for the Veefil DCFCs stated that they were sealed up against the elements, so I would expect the crew to get them to that point at a minimum.

The third picture shows what I referenced in yesterdays post. Note the 4 near spaces that have the yellow stopping posts closer to the roof edge wall. No room to put DCFCs in there. The conduit feeds at the near side go under the garage deck to support the two handicapped spaces not visible in the picture. Maybe the posts are just there to prevent the metal conduit from getting damaged by cars. With all the power conduit in place up there, it sure seems like it would have been a good place to drop in a few more L2 chargers for those whose vehicles don't have DCFC capability.

 

[BM3B]

Pasadena Water and Power is on site and working in the vault. I hope they are connecting and turning on the high voltage lines and testing them. Once they are done then I think all that remains is Tesla (or Tesla certified) testing before lighting the Urban Superchargers up.

 

[BM3B]

I figured it would be a good time to check on the Tesla permit.

“Final building inspection” scheduled for tomorrow 11-20. Yesterday there was an inspection with result “corrections needed”.