The Busy Bee Convenience Store and Gas Station, nearing completion in Panama City Beach, will host a future Supercharger Station

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for updates.

In October 2019, a kick-off ceremony was conducted in Panama City Beach to celebrate the construction of a 15,500 square foot Busy Bee convenience store and gas station. Along with other company and local government officials was Elizabeth Waring, Principal and Chief Executive officer of Johnson & Johnson, Inc., the parent company of the Busy Bee franchise.  

Recently a member of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum met Ms. Waring. Since Busy Bee currently has 12 Superchargers at their Live Oak location, he asked her if they were going to install Superchargers at the Panama City Beach location. She said yes and indicated that the Busy Bee would open soon, but it was going to be a couple more weeks before the Superchargers were up and running since they experienced some delays in permitting due to COVID-19.  (The person taking the photo above indicated that there was no sign of construction of the Supercharger yet.  So, it will probably take more than a couple of weeks before the Supercharger is operational.)

The Busy Bee is located at 14100 Panama City Beach Parkway, Panama City Beach, Florida 32413.  

It will include 32 fueling stations at 16 pumps, and a full-service convenience store including a quick-service restaurant. It will operate on a 24/7 basis once it opens.

Here a vicinity map:

The location is about an hour’s drive from the DeFuniak Springs Superchargers and about three hours from the Tallahassee Superchargers.

The location isn't currently displayed on Tesla's Find Us map. However, to further confirm this information, another member of the TMC forum located a permit for the Supercharger Station.  The permit reads “Tesla to Install Electric Vehicle Charging Station” and doesn’t explicitly state “Supercharger.” However, since Busy Bee has hosted other Superchargers, I think we can reasonably assume that this is going to be a Supercharger Station rather than a Tesla destination charging station.

Above is a permit was issued for a Tesla Electric Vehicle Charging Station.

Update as of June 24, 2020.

Here are some photos of the Busy Bee Station.  The station and store is expected to be open this summer.  Construction of the Supercharger Station has not yet broken ground.

Update as of July 26, 2020

The two photos above show that Tesla has broken ground on this Supercharger Station.  The installation is adjacent to the parking lot next to the Guthrie's Chicken Fingers restaurant.

Another view of the conduit work that will go under the Supercharger cabinets. There's a relatively small 112 KVA utility transformer in the background that feeds the Busy Bee . 

Updated as of july 29, 2020.

Seven future back-in charging terminals

One pull-in future charging terminal.

Update as of August 8, 2020.

The following photos were provided by a member of the Tesla Motors Club forum.

Charging terminals being readied for installation.

Utility transformer concrete pad in foreground, main switchgear and Supercharger cabinets in the background.  The  wooden post between the pad and the switchgear will probably be used to mount the Supercharger station's meter.

Main switchgear on left, two version 3 Supercharger cabinets on right.

Tesla contractor pulling in cables between charging terminals and Supercharger cabinets, doors open.

Update as of July 9, 2020.

To the right of the Supercharger cabinets we can see the contractor working on the main switchgear through the hole in the charging terminal.

A view of the pull-in charging spaces along side two back-in spaces.

Update as of August 12, 2020.

Utility transformer delivered to the site.

This is a high voltage connection box.  Underground cable loops in and out of it.  The primary cable from the  smaller existing utility transformer that is serving the Busy Bee will looped into the connection box and out to the new larger utility transformer that will feed the Supercharger Station.

Update as of August 16, 2020.

Correction: The utility transformer and meter in the foreground are probably for the service to the Busy Bee. (I originally thought it was for the Supercharger.) The second utility in the background will be powering the Supercharger Station. The green box on the extreme right under the backhoe arm is the connection box in the previous photo.  

Updated as of August 19, 2020.

This photo shows the utility transformer in the background in the previous photo.  It serves the Supercharger Station. 

A view of the back-in stalls.

One pull-in stall.

The meter cabinet for the Supercharger Station doesn't yet have a meter installed in it.  The permit says that the final electrical inspection was approved on August 18, 2020, so apparently we are waiting for Gulf Power to install the meter and Tesla's contractor, global Technical Solutions, to test the operation. I'm guessing this could happen at any time.

Update August 23, 2020.

Members of the Tesla Motors Club forum reported that as of August 19, 2020, a meter had been installed, but as of August 22nd the station has not been energized.

A good photo of the Panama City Beach Supercharger Station. Hopefully it will be operational very soon.

Update as of August 28, 2020.

This Supercharger Station is now operational.

Updated as of August 30, 2020.

With this impressive charging rate, there's no question that this is a Version 3 Supercharger Station

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts