Tesla Owners Florida Untitled page

Tesla plans 100,000 square foot facility in St. Pete

Tue, 12 Apr 2022 18:35:37 GMT

Great news for Florida - Tesla is redeveloping a huge 100,000 sq ft facility in St Pete as a combined sales, service, delivery and storage center. More details: https://stpeterising.com/home/2022/4/11/tesla-proposes-100000-square-foot-facility-in-st-pete

Supercharger News for 3/31/22

Sat, 02 Apr 2022 23:06:39 GMT

Temporarily Closed

Orlando: The supercharger at Waterford Lakes Town Center on North Alafaya Trail is temporarily closed due to construction work in the parking lot.

Recently Opened

Jasper: The 8x250kW supercharger at the Sunstop at 6723 US-129 Jasper, FL 32052 (half way between Gainesville and Valdosta, GA on I-75) is now OPEN.

Melbourne: the new 8x250kW supercharger at the Wawa at 4429 W Eau Gallie Blvd (N John Rhodes Blvd) is now OPEN.

Plant City: the 8x250kW supercharger at the Wawa at 2705 Thonotosassa Road, Plant City, FL 33563 is now OPEN.

Punta Gorda: the 8 stall supercharger at 26415 Indian Trail Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 is now OPEN.

Tampa: the 8x250kW supercharger at N Dale Mabry Hwy is now OPEN. (Thanks Jennifer Griffin for the heads up!)

Tampa: the new 8 stall V3 supercharger at the Wawa at 7408 Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33610 is now OPEN.

Under Construction

Estero: work looks almost complete on the new 16 stall V3 supercharger at Miromar Outlets.

Fort Myers: the new supercharger at Gulf Coast Mall has started construction.

Ocala: construction has started at the supercharger on W Silver Springs Blvd

Orlando: construction appears to be nearly complete for a new 12 stall V3 supercharger at Orlando Millenia Target at 4750 Millenia Plaza Way, Orlando, FL 32839-2434

Riverview: the new supercharger on US Hwy 301 has started construction.

Reported last month - no new updates:

Apopka: a new 8x250kW supercharger is awaiting final commissioning.

Dayton Beach: 12 stalls coming soon to the Buc-ee's at 2330 N Gateway Dr. Permit issued October 29th; currently under construction.

Hialeah: a new 12x250kW supercharger is almost complete and awaiting final commissioning.

Jacksonville: work has started on the 8x250kW supercharger at Wilson Road.

North Miami Beach: the supercharger looks like it was completed in October of 2021 but is not yet live and doesn't even appear on the Tesla supercharger map

Sarasota: work continues on the new 8x250kW supercharger at Clark Road.

St Augustine: The supercharger at the 200 World Commerce Pkwy is under construction.

Permitting

Aventura: A permit has been issued for a new supercharger on Biscayne Boulevard at Aventura Commons.

Sebring: A permit for a 8x250kW supercharger at the Wawa at 3838 US 27 S, Sebring, FL 33870 has been issued.

Reported last month - no new updates:

Alachua: the permit for a 12x250kW supercharger was approved on Feb 16.

Big Pine Key: A permit has been applied for, for a new 8x250kW supercharger near mile marker 30 in Big Pine Key. This will be the most southerly supercharger in the continental US and the closest to Key West.

Boca Raton: no progress on the permit since June 2021.

Boynton Beach: Tesla has applied for permits for a new supercharger at 650 N Congress Ave in Boynton Beach - the Target across from Boynton Beach Mall. No other info at this time.

Fort Lauderdale: permitting continues for the 16x250kW supercharger at the Galleria on Sunrise.

Gainesville: the permit a new supercharger at 9401 NW 39th Ave was approved on 8 Feb.

Kendall: a permit has been raised for a new supercharger in the Kendall Village Center parking garage, located at 8521 SW 124th Ave.

Kissimmee: the 16x250kW supercharger at Crossland Shopping Center on Osceola Parkway was approved in October. Awaiting construction.

Naples: a new 16 stall supercharger on Pine Ridge and Airport right in Target Shopping Center is still awaiting final permits.

North Tampa: the 8 stall supercharger at E Bearss Avenue recently had its permit approved.

Pembroke Pines: Tesla has applied for permits to build an 8-stall, V3 supercharger at the Wawa at 1600 S Hiatus Rd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33025

Sanford: new permit for a supercharger in the Target parking lot at 1201 WP Ball Blvd, Sanford, FL 32771

Tampa: no apparent progress on the permit for the supercharger at US Hwy 301 S

Weston: permitting process still ongoing for the new supercharger at the Waterways Shoppes.

Florida Legislature passes HB741 - dealing a blow to rooftop solar

Thu, 10 Mar 2022 22:29:08 GMT

Dear {Contact_First_Name},

In a blow to rooftop solar installations, the Florida Legislature has passed House Bill 741, and it now goes to Governor DeSantis for signature.

HB741 phases down the value of net-metering and opens the door for utilities to add fixed charges to solar customer bills. Despite bipartisan opposition from Florida voters (74% of Republicans, 94% of Democrats; Mason Dixon poll), and research by Lawrence Berkeley National Lab that showed that in 40 of 43 states net metering had a negligible cost increase for non-solar customers, the bill passed 24-15.

A draft of the bill was written by NextEra Energy-owned Florida Power and Light and reviewed by Duke Energy.

More info can be found here: https://pv-magazine-usa.com/2022/03/08/anti-rooftop-solar-net-metering-bill-passes-in-florida/

If you feel strongly about this, please contact Governor DeSantis at governorron.desantis@eog.myflorida.com

Baseball Events on 12 March Canceled

Thu, 03 Mar 2022 14:15:08 GMT

Due to the failure of MLB contract negotiations, the spring training events for March 12 have been canceled. Depending on how things progress we may reschedule.

Supercharger News

Wed, 02 Mar 2022 15:00:00 GMT

Tesla just tweeted out a time lapse of the Brooksville Supercharger build out - one of the first instances of prefabricating everything off site - 8 days from start to finish for the install.

In related news, on February 10th, the U.S. Department of Energy announced a new $5 billion federal program to boost the deployment of DC fast charging networks throughout the country which includes just over $29 million for specifically earmarked for Florida. FLDOT will need to submit its deployment plan by no later than August 1, 2022 and has been working on its Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Master Plan (EVMP) – which can download here: https://www.fdot.gov/planning/policy/ev/default

There are no signs of the Florida Supercharger progress slowing. Here are the latest updates through the end of February:

Recently Opened

Stuart: The new 8x250kW supercharger at the Wawa, 2401 South Kanner Highway, Stuart, FL 34994 is now OPEN. Member Jerry Appell reports that he successfully charged there.

Venice: The new 8x250kW supercharger at BrewBurgers, 370 Commercial Court, Venice, FL 34292 is now OPEN.

Brooksville: The new 12x250kW supercharger at Sunrise Plaza, 31100 Cortez Boulevard, Brooksville, FL 34602 is now OPEN.

Canoe Creek: The new 8x250kW supercharger at Canoe Creek Service Plaza, Mile Post 229, Florida's Turnpike, Saint Cloud, FL 34769 is now OPEN.

Under Construction

Apopka: a new 8x250kW supercharger is awaiting final commissioning.

Estero: groundwork has commenced on the new supercharger at Miromar Outlets.

Hialeah: a new 12x250kW supercharger is almost complete and awaiting final commissioning.

Jacksonville: work has started on the 8x250kW supercharger at Wilson Road.

Melbourne: the new 8x250kW supercharger is awaiting final commissioning. (thanks Mark Napoli for the latest update)

Plant City: the new 8x250kW supercharger is awaiting final commissioning.

Sarasota: work continues on the new 8x250kW supercharger at Clark Road.

Tampa: the 8x250kW supercharger at N Dale Mabry Hwy is awaiting final commissioning.

The following locations (previously reported) are still under construction:

Dayton Beach: 12 stalls coming soon to the Buc-ee's at 2330 N Gateway Dr. Permit issued October 29th; currently under construction.

North Miami Beach: the supercharger looks like it was completed in October of 2021 but is not yet live and doesn't even appear on the Tesla supercharger map

Punta Gorda: the new 8 stall supercharger at 26415 Indian Trail Drive, Punta Gorda, FL 33950 is very close to finishing construction.

St Augustine: The supercharger at the 200 World Commerce Pkwy is under construction.

Tampa: new supercharger under construction at the Wawa at 7408 Hillsborough Ave, Tampa, FL 33610

Permitting

Alachua: the permit for a 12x250kW supercharger was approved on Feb 16.

Boca Raton: no progress on the permit since June 2021.

Fort Lauderdale: permitting continues for the 16x250kW supercharger at the Galleria on Sunrise.

Gainesville: the permit a new supercharger at 9401 NW 39th Ave was approved on 8 Feb.

Kendall: a permit has been raised for a new supercharger in the Kendall Village Center parking garage, located at 8521 SW 124th Ave.

Kissimmee: the 16x250kW supercharger at Crossland Shopping Center on Osceola Parkway was approved in October. Awaiting construction.

North Tampa: the 8 stall supercharger at E Bearss Avenue recently had its permit approved.

Ocala: the permit was recently approve for the supercharger on W Silver Springs Blvd

Riverview: the permit was recently approved for the supercharger on US Hwy 301

Sebring: a permit for a 8x250kW supercharger is awaiting approval.

Tampa: no apparent progress on the permit for the supercharger at US Hwy 301 S

Weston: permitting process still ongoing for the new supercharger at the Waterways Shoppes

Previously reported but no further updates:

Boynton Beach: Tesla has applied for permits for a new supercharger at 650 N Congress Ave in Boynton Beach - the Target across from Boynton Beach Mall. No other info at this time.

Naples: a new 16 stall supercharger on Pine Ridge and Airport right in Target Shopping Center is still awaiting final permits.

Pembroke Pines: Tesla has applied for permits to build an 8-stall, V3 supercharger at the Wawa at 1600 S Hiatus Rd, Pembroke Pines, FL 33025

Sanford: new permit for a supercharger in the Target parking lot at 1201 WP Ball Blvd, Sanford, FL 32771

Watch out for the next update at the end of March.

New Pompano Turnpike Service Plaza Supercharger Open

Wed, 13 Oct 2021 19:07:32 GMT

Although it shows as 'temporarily closed' on the in-car map, the new supercharger at the Turnpike service plaza in Pompano is now open. I went there myself this morning to check it out. It is right in front of the Shell station.

The chargers are on the east (north) corner of the Shell station

New Tarpon Bay Boulevard Supercharger now open in Naples

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:20:32 GMT

Club member Andy Hill just let me know that the new Supercharger in North Naples is now open in the Target parking lot at exit 111 on I-75.

Here it is on the Tesla.com/findus page:

Gulf Coast Mall Supercharger to reopen

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:19:10 GMT

We received an update from Tesla that the Gulf Coast Mall Supercharger in Fort Myers that closed is going to be redeveloped and reopened. They don't have a timeline for it, but it will be coming back!

New Supercharger coming to 3312 W Silver Springs Blvd in Ocala

Wed, 22 Sep 2021 18:16:57 GMT

Thanks to @MarcoRPTesla on Twitter (and to member Carson Gallo for spotting the tweet) we have news of a new Supercharger coming to 3312 W Silver Springs Blvd in Ocala. It doesn't appear on the Tesla Supercharger map yet, and we have no information about when it might go live.

If anyone is in the Ocala area, please keep an eye out and send pictures if there's any progress.

Important information for Plaid reservation holders

Thu, 09 Sep 2021 15:49:10 GMT

Club Member Richard Garrett of Sarasota recently took delivery of his brand new Plaid Model S. He was surprised to be told that all new Model S cars come with a front license plate holder, which is not required in the state of Florida, and (many would say) spoils the look of the car.

The license plate is held on by adhesive and can be removed with a little effort. Richard put in a service request via the app and a Tesla Ranger is coming to his house to remove it for no charge. If you'd prefer to do it yourself, he shared this handy video on how to remove it:

Good times at Batch Gastropub in West Delray, Palm Beach County

Tue, 24 Aug 2021 02:00:00 GMT

20 Tesla Enthusiasts attended a casual meet organized by the club at Delray’s Batch Gastropub, where the food is good and 18 Superchargers are conveniently nearby. For the last few years, Batch has offered our club members a 20% discount if you present your Tesla fob or key card - so if you are supercharging in Delray don't miss out!

There was lots of discussion about things Tesla and non-Tesla, including hearing from Debbie and Tom about their Tesla Solar Roof installation, and Brett about his 3-week old Plaid Model S. It was great to see familiar faces and new club members who were attending their first event.

Towards the end of the evening, Brett gave some of our members a ride in his Plaid Model S. They were amazed by the speed and power leaving them smiles from ear to ear.

Erol Brenes

Tesla Owners Florida
Director
Event Organizer Southeast Florida

Construction started on Supercharger Station at the West Palm Beach Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike (Public)

Sat, 14 Aug 2021 19:46:51 GMT

E-2020-045882-0000 () Electrical Vehicle Charging Station - Active

Further Desc: INSTALL ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGIN STATION AND CONCRETE SLABS

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

Members of the Tesla Motor Club Forum located a permit for the West Palm Beach Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike and have photographed the start of construction.

This location corresponds to the Tesla’s Find Us map’s “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Supercharger Station targeted to open in the third quarter.

The address is 9450 Florida’s Tpke, Wellington, FL 33414.

Below is a vicinity map:

The red arrow above marks the location of the "'Coming Soon" Supercharger Station at the West Palm Beach Service Plaza of the Florida Turnpike.

FPL has already installed a DC Fast Charger at this location. The icon inside the red rectangle labels the charger, but based on actual photos shown below, the exact location of the charger is a few parking spaces west of the marked location. The blue rectangle shows the approximate location of fencing that Tesla's electrical contractor has erected. It encompasses 7 parking spaces. It's likely that a Tesla charging post will be installed next to the FPL charger for an even 8. These parking spaces are belong to the Shell station. The gasoline pumps are just south of the image.

The FPL DC Fast Charger can be seen between the Shell sign and Rack Electric's fencing for the Supercharger.

In the foreground is the parking space reserved for the FPL DC Fast Charger.

Update as of August 7, 2021.

These photos show two version 3 Supercharger cabinet, so this installation will have 8 charging posts. We haven't yet seen a photo of the utility transformer or meter. The conduits in the middle of the above photo is probably for the transformer and meter.

8 charging posts.

If you visit this service plaza, please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Permit Application found for Supercharger Station at Waterway Shoppes of Weston

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 20:20:19 GMT

The editor for Supercharge.info, the website that tracks the status of Superchargers, located the permit application for a Supercharger installation at the Waterway Shoppes of Weston.

As can be seen from the permit application, shown above, the address is 2210 Weston Rd, Weston, FL 33326, and it calls for 12 version 3 charging posts.

Below is a vicinity map:

The Waterway Shoppes of Weston are located adjacent to the red arrow above.

Below is a Google view of the Waterway Shoppes of Weston's parking lot.

Based on the location of underground high-voltage cable, I am guessing the the charging posts will be placed in the red rectangle.

The permit for this installation has not been approved yet so construction hasn't started. When it does for those living or working near the location, please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Construction started for “Coming Soon” North Naples Supercharger at Super Target. (Public)

Fri, 13 Aug 2021 12:19:28 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most current status.

I found the permit application and Tesla plans for the “Coming Soon” North Naples Supercharger Station noted on Tesla’s Find Us Map. It will be located at the Target at 2415 Tarpon Bay Blvd., Naples FL 34119.

This will be another Version 3 Supercharger Station with 8 charging terminals.

Here’s a vicinity map:

Here’s the precise location at the Target parking lot.

Here's an excerpt from Tesla's proposed plans. Note that the orientation is with north pointing to the left.

The permit application appears to still be in planning review and approval and a permit has not yet been issued.

Update as of January 26, 2021.

On January 26, 2021, the Collier County Growth Management Department approved the development permit for Tesla's proposed Supercharger Station at Tarpon Bay Plaza. I assume that Tesla now needs to proceed with a building permit application.

Update as of March 27, 2021.

The permit application is marked as "Ready for Issuance." It looks like Tesla's contractor just has to pay the balance of $690 for permit fees to get the building permit approved.

Update as of March 30, 2021.

The permit was issued on March 30, 2021.

Update as of August 10, 2021.

Construction has started. The local utility installed the power transformer and the Tesla contractor has broken ground.

People living or working nearby are requested to periodically visit the site. When construction starts, please take high-resolution photos of the progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Pikes Peak EV Record Holder seeks to make history driving a Model S Plaid in the Mt. Washington Hill Climb next weekend! (Public)

Sat, 07 Aug 2021 17:03:11 GMT

We are proud to have Blake Fuller as a member of our Tesla club. Blake broke two Pike's Peak records in an Electric Vehicle and holds the record for production electric vehicles at the Pikes Peak International Hill Climb. He first set this World Record in a Tesla Model S P90D in 2016.

In 2020 Blake broke his previous record in a Tesla Model 3 Performance.

In setting EV records at Pike's Peak, Blake's small team bested factory-backed automotive racing teams thanks to the support of many members of the Tesla community. Blake will again be offering small sponsorship opportunities to support an upcoming attempt at an EV record at Mount Washington.

COMMUNITY SPONSORSHIP - YOUR NAME - DECAL ON RACE CAR!

Please note:

Blake has signed up and paid the entrance fee to race at Mount Washington.
He is now building a Tesla Plaid to compete and we can support!
Although extremely unlikely, there is always a chance that "Acts of God," etc., may prevent competing.
All donations for decals are non-refundable.
In the unlikely event that Blake doesn't compete at Mount Washington, donations and decals will be applied to other EV racing opportunities!

Blake Fuller in yellow frame chats with members from Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Blake treated us to a Virtual Meetup with members of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, linked below, he discusses these record runs and his future plans to break electric vehicle records.

Blake Fuller Virtual Meetup June 30, 2021

If you are a Tesla enthusiasts and would like to participate in our next Virtual Meetup, Scenic Drive, Track Day, or any of our next fun events throughout the state, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Construction started on the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station at the Port St. Lucie - Fort Pierce Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike (Public)

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 21:41:43 GMT

Members of the Tesla Motor Club forum photographed significant construction progress for a large Supercharger Station at the Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike.

This corresponds to the Tesla Find Us map's Port St. Lucie, FL Supercharger Station targeted to open in the third quarter.

The address is Mile Marker 144, Florida's Turnpike, Port St. Lucie, FL 34984.

Below is a vicinity map:

The red arrow marks the location of a new Supercharger Station coming to the Port St. Lucie - Ft. Pierce Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike.

This service plaza will have 16 Tesla charging posts.

If you happen to visit this service plaza, please take high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

"Coming Soon" West Ave Miami Beach Supercharger Station Operational (Public)

Tue, 03 Aug 2021 21:06:45 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

The Editor for Supercharge.info, the website that tracks the status of Superchargers, has located the permit for a pending Supercharger installations in Miami.

It is at 959 West Avenue, Miami. This is the Supercharger Station designated as Miami Beach, FL - West Avenue on Tesla's Find Us map.

The permits states:

Tesla is proposing to install their charging station at the existing parking garage. This will include the installation of (9) Tesla charging station cabinets, (18) Tesla charging posts, (9) auto transformers, (1) utility transformer, (2) sub-panels. The auto transformers and sub-panels will be installed within electrical room of garage. Utility transformer will be installed along 10th street.

Update as of January 18, 2021.

The permit above was issued on February 21, 2020 and expires on May 19, 2021. Tesla has updated its Find Us page and now designates this location as one of two "Miami Beach Coming Soon" Superchargers with a target opening of first Quarter 2021. Construction has since been proceeding on the 2nd level of the parking garage at The Shoppes at West Avenue. It passed Public Works Final Inspection on November 20, 2020.

Update as of February 10, 2021.

A total of 18 Urban style Supercharger charging posts have been installed on the 2nd level of The Shoppes at West Avenue parking garage via paid access. I believe that the first 30 minutes of parking is free.

Update as of July 3, 2021

This Supercharger Station went operational around July 3, 2021. It is located at on the 2nd level of The Shoppes at West Avenue parking garage. The entrance to the parking lot is on 10th Street.

Larry Chanin

Vice President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Supercharger Station at Palm Beach Outlets is Operational (Public)

Tue, 27 Jul 2021 21:49:31 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

The Tesla Find Us map lists two “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Superchargers. On May 24, 2021, a permit, shown above, was issued for the Palm Beach Outlets to install a Tesla Charging Station.

Below is a vicinity map:

The permit location at 1801 Palm Beach Lake Blvd, is the Palm Beach Outlets marked by the red arrow. It is less than 5 miles south of the West Palm Beach Supercharger located at the Wawa on Garden Rd and about 3 mils from the West Palm Beach Tesla Store.

The following photo was posted on the Tesla Lounge on reddit.

It shows and almost complete charging station with two Version 3 Supercharger cabinets powering 8 - charging posts.

The Google aerial photo above shows that the Supercharger Station is located in the north parking lot of the Palm Beach Outlets just opposite the rear of the Under Armour outlet store.

Update as of July 27, 2021.

This Supercharger Station was energized on around July 23, 2021.

As can be seen in the photos above, the Supercharger cabinets, main switchgear and protective bollards were nicely decorated.

Above is a photo of the utility transformer powering the Supercharger station and the meter cabinet before the meter was installed.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with Chris Castro, Director of Sustainability for the City of Orlando (Public)

Fri, 16 Jul 2021 19:16:13 GMT

Chris Castro is a member of our club, the Director of Sustainability & Resilience for the City of Orlando, and Senior Advisor to Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer. He is also the co-chair of the 'Future-Ready' steering committee. This group develops comprehensive policies and programs that advance the City's sustainability, climate action, and smart city goals. He is an award-winning sustainability professional, clean energy enthusiast, eco-entrepreneur, and the proud owner of a new Model 3.

Club member Chris Castro, Director of Sustainability & Resilience for the City of Orlando, participates in a Virtual Meetup with Florida Tesla Enthusiasts.

During this impressive and comprehensive presentation to members of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, Chris discusses Orlando's sustainability efforts, transportation initiatives, including electric mobility and EV readiness plans.

Please click on the following link to view a video of our Virtual Meetup with Chris.

EV Ready Orlando: Solutions from the Most Visited City in America!

Below are the slides from Chris' presentation. Club members are encouraged to provide comments at bottom of this article.

The City of Orlando, along with Drive Electric Florida and the Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) are hosting this year's National Drive Electric Week. Please mark your calendars for September 25. This event will be held at the Ace Café which is adjacent to the EV Recharge Mobility Hub being constructed on 129 West Robinson St in Orlando. I will be sending out reminders for this event and other NDEW events in Florida.

_____________________________________

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Wakulla Springs Tesla Meet-up Draws Members from all over (Public)

Fri, 09 Jul 2021 16:55:29 GMT

The Saturday, June 26, 2021, meet-up at the Edward Ball Wakulla Springs State Park provided some surprises and lots of camaraderie.

The surprise was the distance Florida Tesla Enthusiasts (FTE) members traveled to enjoy our meet-up. They came from Melbourne, Punta Gorda, Orlando, Live Oak, Apalachicola, Milton, Niceville, and of course, Tallahassee.

Eleven FTE members, each with a guest, attended and enjoyed lots of conversation and a buffet of boiled shrimp and fried chicken.

Attendees were able to arrange to participate in the various ticketed park activities on their own and guest rooms for those traveling a distance were available at the historic Lodge at Wakulla Springs.

About The Lodge at Wakulla Springs

Surrounded by 6,000 acres of pristine forest, the Lodge at Wakulla Springs is North Florida's castle. Built in 1937 by industrialist Edward Ball, the Lodge is one of the most beautiful buildings of its period and one of the few where you can stay overnight. Located in the middle of Wakulla Springs State Park, the Lodge's 27 rooms overlook one of the country's largest springs.

One discussion topic was the urgent need for a Tesla Service Center in Tallahassee, the nearest current facility being nearly 200 miles in any direction. Another suggestion to help with the adjustment to EVs is the development of a standard training class for new owners and/or spouses to overcome reluctance to driving an EV.

The next gathering, in the planning stage, will be an effort to be more accessible to our Western panhandle members out near Pensacola. Suggested sites were Marianna or DeFuniak Springs.

Many thanks go to David Fountain for organizing this friendly event.

Below are some photos:

Wakulla Springs is home to the world's largest and deepest freshwater springs, Wakulla Springs boasts manatees, alligators, and a host of diverse wildlife. Several movies have used the springs for location shoots.

Are you a Tesla enthusiasts and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member, but would like to participate in our next fun event throughout the state, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts gathered at the Vida Resto-Lounge on the Palm Coast (Public)

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 22:40:02 GMT

Club member James Yepes owns and manages the Vida Resto-Lounge located in European Village at Palm Coast. It’s a Latin American and Caribbean Fusion of great food and cocktails, a sports bar, and live music lounge.

On Saturday, June 12th, 2021,Twelve members of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts gathered at the Vida Resto-Lounge on a beautiful, early summer day on the Palm Coast. We enjoyed a lunch consisting of delicious Latin American food. While we sat at socially distanced tables, we talked to each other as one big group about all things Tesla. There was lots of great discussion about past events, and looking forward to future events as well.

Many thanks go to Andrew Locke and James for organizing this enjoyable event.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a relaxing lunch & cruise along the St. Johns River (Public)

Thu, 08 Jul 2021 19:36:34 GMT

On June 5, 2021, 60 club members and their guests gathered for a lunch and river cruise onboard The Barbara-Lee. It's the only authentic sternwheeler sailing the St. Johns River. Built in 1986, she measures 105 feet from stem to stern. It features ornate wrought iron railings and massive wooden paddle wheels. The five-story river ship accommodates up to 194 guests. The river cruise was three hours long and a 25 miles round trip on the beautiful St. John's River. All throughout, we enjoyed live entertainment.

Our group occupied the entire air-conditioned main deck, where we were served a delicious sit-down lunch. Everyone was free to explore the various decks of The Barbara-Lee.

With the advent of proven highly effective vaccinations, this was our first event in which we resumed indoor activities with reduced social distancing and minimal face mask use. The event was intended for members and their guests with full vaccinations.

Many thanks go to Beverly and Tom Siceloff for organizing this relaxing and enjoyable event.

Below are some photos:

Beverly & Tom Siceloff and Mary Ellen Chanin greet our guests for check-in.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

There is now a Supercharger route to the Panhandle along the West Coast of Florida. (Public)

Sun, 04 Jul 2021 14:36:16 GMT

Until a couple of days ago, if you were a Tesla owner living on the West Coast of Florida and wanted to head north and then west along the Panhandle, you couldn't take the shortest route along Route 98.

Above in blue is a route, plotted by ABetterRoutePlanner, from the Clearwater to the Tallahassee Supercharger Station. You'll note that until recently, there were no Superchargers along the preferred route shown in green along Route 98.

However, the local Tesla Infrastructure Team fixed that absence. Two of the Tesla Find Us map "Coming Soon" Supercharger Stations along Route 98 are now operational. Refer to the map below.

Above is a copy of the the Tesla Find Us map in early May 2021. The locations shown are not exact. Refer below for the precise locations.

The one in Crystal River is at a Wawa at 505 NE US Highway 19, Crystal River, 34429. Below is a vicinity map:

While it was nearing completion, a helpful member of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum gave us a heads-up. He spoke to the City Of Crystal River building inspector who confirmed this location was to have 8 Version 3 stalls (1 pull in and 7 back in).

Above is a photo provided by a member of the Tesla Florida Facebook Group while the station was under construction.

Later Tesla informed me that the Wawa would be hosting an outdoor ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 6, featuring VIP customers, local officials, and charity partners. The store and Supercharger Station would be open to the public on that day.

In June I visited the Supercharger Station and charged at the pull-in charging post. Flooding is a problem in the area and Tesla wisely placed their equipment on a concrete slab about three feet thick. You can see part of it over the hood of my car.

That same enterprising TMC member called the building department of the City of Perry. He alerted us that there was a permit application for the Perry Supercharger Station. It was for the Huddle House/Citgo gas station located at 2717 South Byron Butler Parkway, Perry, FL 32348.

Below is a vicinity map of the Perry Supercharger Station:

This photo, was taken by a Tesla Motors Club member last week a few days before it was energized.

I took this photo today. Tesla informed me that the Supercharger Station opened July 2, 2021

This new western route won't save you driving time. According to Google Maps the driving times for the example of Clearwater to Tallahassee are within a minute of one another. Referring to the first image above, this is due to the the reduction in distance on the green route being almost exactly offset by the increase in speed limits on the blue route.

For the blue route you would be averaging 70 mph and the green route 58 mph. The big difference will be in how much you will save on the energy to charge. The green route is 50 miles shorter, and the reduced speed saves you approximately another 50 miles of range due to improved efficiency. For the original Model S for which we have data, the economy for the blue route is roughly 99 MPGe. The green route is roughly 121 MPGe. (Note: This assumes constant speed with no stops. In the real world the green route is going to have more stops, so its average MPGe will be less than shown, but still much better than the blue route.)

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Official Florida Tesla Clubs enjoy a Track Day at Homestead-Miami Speedway (Public)

Tue, 29 Jun 2021 22:16:54 GMT

On June 6, 2021, 45 Teslas gathered for a charity event to experience Homestead-Miami Speedway's unique progressive banking firsthand at speeds up to 125 mph. Many thanks go to Denise Grant for organizing this truly "electrifying" event. Denise is an Event Coordinator for our club, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, also known as Tesla Owners Florida.

We also invited our sister club, Tesla Owners South Florida, to join us. Our two clubs are the only clubs in Florida officially recognized by Tesla.

Denise Grant is an Event Coordinator for our club. She is also a track instructor for Porsche Club of America and is well-acquainted with the Speedway.

The group gathered at the Florida City Supercharger where Denise (in the wide-brimmed hat) provided an orientation.

Above is a panoramic view of Sonny's BBQ parking lot where the Florida City Supercharger is located.

I want to thank Javier Mota and Rafael Santoni with the Tesla Owners South Florida club for putting together the following excellent 5-minute video featuring Denise.

Tesla Florida - South Florida Owners Club track day at Homestead-Miami Speedway

Here are couple of videos taken by one of our club members from two cameras in his Model S:

Eduardo Zavala TeslaCam1

Eduardo Zavala TeslaCam2

Below are some photos compliments of Homestead-Miami Speedway and some of our club members.

It looks like Rafael Santoni, the president of Tesla Owners South Florida was doing 120 mph in a 25 mph zone. ;-)

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Permit Issued for new Supercharger Station in Jacksonville. (Public)

Tue, 22 Jun 2021 11:23:42 GMT

For the most current information, please scroll down to the bottom of the article.

On October 20, 2020, Tesla submitted a permit application for a new Supercharger Station at a Wawa in Jacksonville. It is located at 5735 Philips Hwy, Jacksonville, FL 32216. On December 17, 2020, the permit was issued.

The permit is for a 12-stall, Version 3 Supercharger Station.

Here is a vicinity map:

The new Supercharger Station will be only 3 miles from the Jacksonville Service Center, and about 6 miles west of the existing Supercharger Station at Gate Parkway and the Jacksonville Store.

Update as of June 22, 2021.

Tesla broke ground on this installation in April and by May it appears all of Tesla's equipment has been installed. However, I am informed that the local utility has yet to install the service cables.

In the rear of the Wawa on the east side of the parking lot, 12 charging posts have been installed.

If you live or work nearby, please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Planned Supercharger Station discovered for Punta Gorda (Public)

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 19:20:57 GMT

The editor of Supercharge.info, the unofficial website that tracks Supercharger installations, has provided us with another lead to an upcoming Supercharger Station in Punta Gorda. After he posted the address on the Tesla Motors Club forum, I located the permit for this station, shown above. As it displays, it will be an 8 - charging post, Version 3 Supercharging Station. The upcoming location is not yet listed on Tesla’s official Find Us map.

The station will be located at another Wawa convenience store and gas station at 26415 Indian Trail Dr, Punta Gorda, FL 33950. It is an existing Wawa built a few years ago and listed on Wawa’s website.

Below is a vicinity map:

The red arrow marks the location of the future Punta Gorda Supercharger Station. Is is about 28 miles north of the existing Fort Myers Supercharger Station at Dani Dr and the Fort Myers Tesla Store at Colonial Dr. It will be about 30 miles away from the "Coming Soon" Venice Supercharger at the BrewBurger marked by the gray pin to the left.

Although Google doesn’t yet provide an aerial view of the Wawa parking lot, Tesla’s permit application attached a complete set of plans, including site plans.

Here is an excerpt from their site plans:

The site plans show that the Supercharger installation will be built on the west side of the Wawa parking lot.

Above is another site plan showing an enlargement of the the Supercharger installation. Please note that its orientation has been rotated 90 degrees such that north is pointing to the right.

The permit application was summited on May 26, 2021. It will probably be a while before it is issued and Tesla's contractor can break ground. When they do, if you live or work nearby, please send me high-resolution photos of the construction progress.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit Issued for “Coming Soon” Venice Supercharger Station (Public)

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 18:43:29 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article to view the most current information.

One of our club members located a Tesla information inquiry with Sarasota County that gives us a clue where the “Coming Soon” Venice Supercharger Station, targeted to open in the first quarter, is likely to be built.

Here’s a copy of the public information.

You may recall George Bahadue, Tesla’s Market Lead for Charging Infrastructure, participated in a Virtual Meetup with our club last October. According to the public records in April 2020, he inquired about the permits required to install a Charging Station at 370 Commercial Court, Venice. That address happens to correspond to a BrewBurgers Restaurant.

Here's a vicinity map:

The likely location of the "Coming Soon" Venice Supercharger is shown by the red arrow. Tesla's pin on their Find Us map for this Supercharger is to the left. We need not be concerned that the locations don't match up. Tesla doesn't show the precise locations of its planned Superchargers. The pin is merely attached to the Venice label on the map.

As you will note on the 3D Google image below, that BrewBurger's parking lot is somewhat limited. However, some of us have speculated that the Shell station directly adjacent to BrewBurgers has some idle gas pumps. That area could be an ideal location for a Supercharger Station. This is pure speculation on our part, but it’s worth keeping an eye out for an issued permit.

Update as of February 21, 2021.

On February 17, 2021, Tesla's contractor filled a permit application that is under review. It will be for 8 Version 3 charging posts. The address is for BrewBurgers, so our speculation regarding the adjacent Shell Station appears unfounded.

Update as of June 7, 2021.

The permit was issued on June 7, 2021.

When they break ground, if you live or work nearby please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Another Supercharger Station planned for Sarasota (Public)

Mon, 21 Jun 2021 15:31:53 GMT

Tesla’s Find Us Map now displays an additional “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station coming to Sarasota County. If you will recall, Sarasota has an existing 20-charging post station since 2017.

I did some permit searching and found that it will be at the newly opened Wawa at 5321 Clark Rd, Sarasota, FL 34233. Tesla applied for the permit on June 4, 2021 and they are looking to install eight Version 3 charging posts.

Here is a vicinity map:

The red arrow marks the location of the new Sarasota Supercharger Station. As you can see its not far from the Sarasota Service Center. North of this location are the existing Sarasota Supercharger Station on Honore Avenue and the Tesla store located at University Town Center. The gray pin on the map marks the "Coming Soon" Supercharger. Please note that it is Tesla's practice to affix the pin merely to the city label on the Find Us map. The pin's location is not meant to depict the exact location of the planned Supercharger Station, just the city.

Below is a Google image of the Wawa parking lot.

Above is the parking lot of the Wawa Store #5304. I have marked where I guess the charging posts will go.

This photo shows my Silver Model S parked in one of the parking spots inside the red rectangle shown in the previous image.

After they break ground, if you live or work near this location please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress.

Thanks,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Davenport Supercharger Station is operational. (Public)

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 22:48:21 GMT

Above is an excerpt of the permit application for a new Supercharger Station in Davenport.

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for current status.

The editor of Supercharge.info, the unofficial website that tracks Supercharger installations, has located another active permit application for a future Supercharger Station in Davenport. Tesla has not yet assigned a contractor to this project and a permit has not yet been issued.

This station is not currently listed on Tesla’s official Find Us web page.

The Supercharger Station is located at the Wawa at 8103 Lake Wilson Rd, Davenport, FL 33896.

The description of work for the permit application indicates that this will be a 12-stall version 3 station. The size is somewhat surprising since 12 parking spaces are more than a third of the total available parking.

Here is a Google aerial photo of the Wawa. There are a few apparent locations for 12 stalls, the west side, and the south side, 6 on the west and 6 on the south. I think the 12 space on the south side would be best.

Here is a vicinity map:

Update as of December 29, 2020.

Permit issued November 23, 2020.

Update as of April 16, 2021.

This Supercharger Station will have 12 charging posts. On the extreme left are 6 boxes containing two charging posts each. Two Version 3 Supercharger cabinets are visible. There is probably a third out of view behind them.

Work appears to be beginning on the conduit under the Supercharger and swichgear. Construction started about April 8, 2021.

Update as of April 16, 2021.

The improvised tent is probably protecting the Supercharger cabinets from the elements. Some of the charging posts have been installed.

Update as of May 26, 2020.

Tesla informs me that the Davenport Supercharger Station went into service about May 26, 2020. While traveling to our Paddleboat River Cruise event in Stafford, I had an opportunity to charge there. My initial guess was correct, the twelve charging posts were lined up on the south side of the Wawa parking lot. Here are some photos I took while there.

On the green space dividing the 12 charging post are the three Version 3 Supercharger cabinets and the switchgear.

There are six charging posts on either side of the green space.

Here's a photo of the other six charging stalls.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Bill could stop Palm Beach County's plan to boost electric vehicle chargers (Public)

Fri, 21 May 2021 19:28:18 GMT

Our Vice President, Nick Howe, was interviewed for this article in the Palm Beach Post regarding electric vehicles by Hannah Morse published May 18, 2021.

In an effort to prepare for the future and supercharge interest in electric vehicles, or EVs, Palm Beach County has spent more than a year exploring ways to boost the availability of EV charging stations.
In an effort to prepare for the future and supercharge interest in electric vehicles, or EVs, Palm Beach County has spent more than a year exploring ways to boost the availability of EV charging stations.

But with the swipe of a pen stroke, Gov. Ron DeSantis could undo all that work.

That’s because a bill on his desk, HB 839, in part bans local governments from requiring EV charging stations at a “fuel retailer,” like a gas station. The bill also would prevent local governments from prohibiting the development or redevelopment of a gas station.

Megan Houston, who heads the county’s Office of Resilience that addresses issues related to climate change, said she was “disappointed” this language that could become law.

“It’s infringing on our ability to plan for what our constituents want and what we think would be the right move for Palm Beach County to be a leader in climate adaptation and mitigation,” she said.

In January 2020, Palm Beach County commissioners asked her office and the county’s zoning division to start researching ways to encourage developers to incorporate electric vehicle charging equipment into their projects. Commissioners later signed off on a plan to develop official language that would require EV chargers be installed, or at the very least the charging framework, within certain new or “substantially renovated” projects.

County staff was moving toward language that would require gas station projects to be equipped with ready-to-go DC fast charging stations. They also sought to require the charging infrastructure at apartment complexes and office developments so chargers could be easily installed at a later date.

Using a Tesla charging adapter, a Tesla sedan gets a charge at the new EVolution charging station at Midtown in Palm Beach Gardens, Friday, October 2, 2020. Joseph Forzano, The Plam Beach Post.

“It’s about preparing the community for this changing technology in the most cost-effective way possible, which is putting that infrastructure in place during renovation or new construction,” Houston said.

The language was on track to be presented to the county commission in August, Houston said, but that work for now is on pause to wait on what DeSantis will do.

The Florida chapter of the Sierra Club opposed the bill and asked the governor to veto it, said David Cullen, a lobbyist with the organization. Cullen was not sure where DeSantis stood on the issue, pointing to his opposition to fracking while the practice remains legal.

"It is short-sighted policy and should be vetoed on that basis alone," Cullen said.

The bill was sponsored by freshman state Rep. Tom Fabrico, a Miramar Republican.

In explaining the need for the bill, according to Florida Politics, Fabrico said “while I support green initiatives, we need to take things in a measured approach, and we can’t simply eliminate the sale of petroleum.”

DeSantis has previously supported expanding the state’s EV charging network, putting $8.6 million last July from the state's 2016 Volkswagen settlement toward this goal that places EV charging stations along high-traffic corridors.

“Not only will these charging stations promote reduced emissions and better air quality, they will also improve mobility and safety for the ever-increasing number of Floridians that drive electric cars," DeSantis said at the time. "I look forward to building on this investment and continuing our work to improve Florida’s environment and transportation infrastructure.”

Some local governments in Florida, like Boca Raton and Miami-Dade County, have zoning rules that require a certain percentage of parking spaces equipped with EV chargers in certain scenarios, like new apartment complexes or locations where off-street parking is required.

Beth Bowers, Project Manager of FPL EVolution connects the charging coupling to the Nissan Leaf electric car at the new EVolution charging station at Midtown in Palm Beach Gardens, Friday, October 2, 2020. There are four Level 3 (fast) charging stations, and two Level 2 (slower charging) stations at the site. Florida Power & Light is commemorating National Drive Electric Week with the debuto of a new electric vehicle universal fast-charging station at Mainstream in Midtown in Palm Beach Gardens. Customers will be charged about 30 cents per kilowatt hour to charge their electric vehicles. [JOSEPH FORZANO/palmbeachpost.com] Joseph Forzano, The Palm Beach Post

Nearly 62,000 electric vehicles are estimated to be cruising on Florida roadways, according to a 2020 report from Washington, D.C.-based Atlas Public Policy. The majority of those cars are concentrated in South Florida.

Nick Howe of Boca Raton owns one of them: a Tesla Model Y.

“For me, it ticked all the boxes,” said Howe, vice president of the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts club, about why he chose his car. “I really liked the way the Tesla was described: a car that happens to be electric.”

When drivers make the switch from gas to electric, especially considering the proliferation of gas stations, at first there’s a sense of “range anxiety,” Howe said. Howe has an EV charger at his home, but if his 326-mile range car is low on juice, say, on a visit to his daughters who live out of town, he can rely on Tesla’s charging network.

A sign marking the electric car charging station at Midtown in Palm Beach Gardens, Friday, October 2, 2020. Florida Power & Light is commemorating National Drive Electric Week with the debut of a new electric vehicle universal fast-charging station at Mainstream in Midtown in Palm Beach Gardens. Customers will be charged about 30 cents per kilowatt hour to charge their electric vehicles. [JOSEPH FORZANO/palmbeachpost.com] Joseph Forzano, The Palm Beach Post

More EV charging stations are certainly better than fewer, including at gas stations, Howe said, not only to meet the growing ownership of EVs but make them more visible and accessible.

A gas station like Wawa, where the Hillsboro Avenue location has Tesla charging stations, is optimal because a driver can pass the time by grabbing a bite to eat, he noted.

But if DeSantis signs the bill banning the requirement of EV charging stations at new gas stations, Howe said that wouldn’t necessarily be the demise of electric vehicles.

“There is absolutely a need for more charging places,” Howe said. “The question is: 'Where is the best place to do that?'”

While it may take a driver five minutes to fill up their gas tank, it can take 15 minutes or longer to charge an electric car, depending on the type of charger used and how low the battery is.

“A more natural place for charging locations is where people are going to spend time, at the mall or at a shopping plaza or at a parking structure near the beach,” Howe said.

Yet the county is still unclear about how broad the preemption in the bill could go, whether the county would be barred from requiring EV charging infrastructure anywhere, including retail, apartments or offices, said Jake Leech, an environmental analyst with the county’s resilience office, which deals with climate change issues.

Taking the literal sense of the phrase “fuel retailer,” meaning any place that sells fuel, Leech said it could lead to a chicken-egg situation.

“If we require (EV chargers) to be put in, and then it becomes a fuel retailer, does that mean we could not have required it in the past?” Leech said.

Converting gas car drivers to electric will support the county’s goal of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Last month, President Joe Biden announced a goal to get greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050. The president also made expanding the country's EV charging network a priority in his $2 trillion infrastructure plan.

According to 2017 figures, Leech said emissions from road transportation in Palm Beach County amounted to more than one-third of the county's overall emissions, or 6 million metric tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases.

Going hybrid isn’t good enough to reach this goal, Houston added.

“They’re not going to get us to where we need to go if we want to align with some of these national targets of reducing our greenhouse gas emissions,” Houston said. "We need to support the electrification of vehicles whenever possible to reduce our mileage emissions, which will help mitigate climate change.”

hmorse@pbpost.com

@mannahhorse

Multiple Electric Vehicle Bills Proposed in the Florida Legislature All Die in Committee. (Public)

Tue, 04 May 2021 21:38:23 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for an update.

On February 18, 2021, State Senator Hooper forwarded SB 1276 for new EV Fees to the Transportation, Finance and Tax, and Appropriations Committees. In addition to the existing vehicle registration fee, this bill would impose a $200 EV Registration Fee on Electric Vehicles and a $50 Fee for Plug-In Hybrid Vehicles.

The EV fee would go into effect when Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Hybrid vehicles make up 5 percent or more of the total vehicles registered in this state. All the revenue would go to the Transportation Trust Fund. The fees will be adjusted annually based on the Consumer Price Index.

Senator Hooper's bill would be a more expensive alternative to State Senator Brandes' Senate Bill 140, Fees/Electric Vehicles that was forwarded to the Transportation; Appropriations Subcommittee on Transportation, Tourism, and Economic Development; Appropriations on December 9, 2020.

Senator Brandes' bill proposes a $135 fee for Electric Vehicles and Plug-In Hybrids be added to the existing vehicle registration fees. It would go into effect on July 1, 2021. As it is currently written, the revenue collected via Senate Bill 140 would go to the Transportation Trust Fund after enactment until 2023. After that it funds the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Grant Program until it sunsets at the end of 2030.

The Grant Program is being proposed by Senator Brandes in companion Senate Bill 138. The purpose of the Grant Program is to provide financial assistance to encourage the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. It will be funded via electric vehicle registration fees plus an initial one-time state amount of $5 million.

House Bill 819 is being sponsored by Representatives Learned and Toledo. It is identical to Senate Bill 140.

House Bill 817 is being sponsored by Representatives Toledo and Plasencia. It is identical to Senate Bill 138.

Stay tuned for more developments.

Update as of May 4, 2021.

Senate Bill 1276, which proposed a new $200 EV registration fee when registered EV reached 5% of total vehicles, died in the Transportation Committee.

Senate Bill 140, which proposed a new $135 EV registration fee, died in the Appropriation Committee. It's companion bill, Senate Bill 138, proposed that the revenue collected via SB 140 would fund an EV Infrastructure Grant Program. SB 138 also died in the Appropriations Committee.

Senate Memorial 1332, urging the U.S. Congress to authorize installation of electric vehicle charging stations in rest areas on the interstate highway system, died in the Transportation Committee.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Club President is featured in a local news article regarding electric vehicles. (Public)

Fri, 30 Apr 2021 01:25:13 GMT

A couple of weeks ago, I was contacted by Claire Lavezzorio, a reporter for NBC2 News in Fort Myers. She wanted to discuss electric vehicles as part of an article published today entitled, Electric vehicles fill up charging stations in SWFL.

Below are a few screenshots from the short 2.5-minute video.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Club Member David Havasi reminisces about the early days of Tesla. (Public)

Thu, 22 Apr 2021 15:19:16 GMT

David Havasi and "Old Blue" Photo Courtesy of David Havasi

Club member David Havasi aptly dubbed himself as the “Johnny Appleseed of Tesla.” David is one of those rare personalities; once you meet him, he leaves an indelible and uplifting impression.

Below is a link to an entertaining article he wrote for CleanTechnica. It’s reminiscent of the early days and describes David’s unique style in marketing Teslas.

Me & “Old Blue”: How The Original Tesla Roadster Helped Me Serve “The Mission” Well Beyond Its Production Run

The article doesn’t reveal that before being hired by Tesla and moving down to Sarasota, Florida, he was a song and dance man on Broadway, New York. David definitely did not waste those skills in promoting Tesla!

Since we both live in Sarasota, his article evokes old memories as we share some experiences and friends. Much of the article discusses his fondness for “Old Blue,” the Glacier Blue Tesla Roadster that he “parked like a pimp” to gain optimum exposure to the public. The article mentions that a Glacier Blue Roadster stopped in front of his wife in Sarasota traffic. That particular Tesla belonged to Nigel Mould, the first vice president and a founding member of our club.

It turns out that before I knew him, Nigel was instrumental in getting my wife and me hooked on Teslas. In 2011, Nigel arranged for Tesla to display an Alpha prototype of the Model S at the Sarasota Yacht Club. It had 12 coats of Signature Red paint. Sitting on those beautiful teak floors with that incredible paint job and fantastic styling proved irresistible to us. We immediately gave the kid with the iPad a deposit on the spot. After failing to convince Nigel to be the president of a new statewide Tesla club, I became president, and Florida Tesla Enthusiasts was born.

Alpha prototype of the Model S at the Sarasota Yacht Club in 2011.

The article also describes the morning of March 31, 2016, and provides a photo of the people lined up in front of the Tesla Store at University Town Center. I, of course, was in that line waiting to buy my wife her Model 3.

March 31, 2016 Sarasota Store during the Model 3 release. I'm at the end of that line. Photo Courtesy of David Havasi

Zack Shanan, director and chief editor of CleanTechnica also lives in Sarasota. In 2019 he and David graciously conducted a live Podcast at the Laurel Oak Country Club in Sarasota.

David Havasi and Zack Shanan, director and chief editor of CleanTechnica, conduct an informative and delightfully entertaining live podcast in Sarasota.

If you look up the word "Enthusiast" in the dictionary, there is likely to be a photo of David along side it.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

"Coming Soon" Supercharger Station near the Miami Convention Center nearing completion. (Public)

Mon, 19 Apr 2021 22:40:46 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

The Editor for Supercharge.info, the website that tracks the status of Superchargers, has been searching online building permit websites for Florida. He has located permits for 500 17th St, Miami. It is not listed on the Tesla Find Us map. Pending an official Tesla designation, I am referring to it as the "Miami Beach Convention Center" Supercharger, since it is located adjacent to the Center.

The permit states:

Tesla is proposing to install their charging station at the existing parking garage. This will include the installation of: (5) Tesla charging cabinets, (10) Tesla charging posts, (5) NLTC transformers, (1) utility transformer, (1) 1200A distribution panel, (1) 1200A fused disconnect. The utility transformer and fused disconnect mounted on H-frame will be installed outside of the parking garage structure within a fence enclosure.

Charging stations are on 5th Level. Transformer, meter, service disconnect panel, etc. on the Ground Floor need to comply with Flood Plain Management requirements for Utilities.

It is likely that it will be housing Urban type Supercharger terminals.

Here is a vicinity map from the Supercharge.info website.

The upper blue dot is the "Coming Soon" Superchargers. The red dots are existing operational Superchargers in the Miami area.

Update as of January 18, 2021.

On May 25, 2018 Tesla applied for a building permit at the parking garage adjacent to the New World Center. It was issued on January 22, 2020 and will expire in a few days on January 25, 2021. They also applied for an electrical permit on February 18, 2020, which was issued on November 30, 2020. This appears to have been on hold for contractor certification since July 2020. This may simply mean that Tesla has not assigned an electrical contractor to the project.

Update as of April 12, 2021.

Construction has not only started, but it looks virtually complete. Here are 10 Urban Style Supercharger post that deliver 72 kW each without sharing with other Teslas.

Here are the five Supercharger cabinets each feeding two Urban style charging posts.

If you live or work nearby 500 17th St, Miami, please let us know when they are operational.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

The Yulee Supercharger Station is now Operational. (Public)

Sun, 18 Apr 2021 17:09:09 GMT

The above photo was taken before construction began. It shows that the new Yulee Supercharger Station is located in Wildlight Plaza behind the Firehouse Subs.

The Yulee Supercharger Station north of Jacksonville went operational on the first of April, 2021. It has 8 Version 3 charging stalls and is located in the new Wildlight Plaza shopping center under development.

The address is 20 Homegrown Way, Yulee, FL 32097 and the Superchargers are located behind the Firehouse Subs.

Below is a vicinity map:

The new Yulee Supercharger Station is located north of Jacksonville.

The placement of the charging posts and the protective bollards are rather unconventional and could lead to damaged Teslas if the drivers are not careful in backing up.

In reviewing the plan drawing above, the Supercharger installation is within the dashed rectangle. You will note that the property line is virtually at the curb. We believe that the unusual placement of the charging posts and bollards were dictated by the proximity of the property line.

Not shown in this early photo during construction were wheel stops to mitigate collisions with the bollards. Now that the station is operational, we hope that Tesla has installed them.

A view from Homegrown Way. Tasty's Fresh Burgers and Coldstone Creamery are located to the the right.

The station is operational.

For those with CHAdeMO adapters, walking distance from the Superchargers at 235 E State Rd 200, Yulee, FL 32097 are 6 - FPL Evolution DC Fast Chargers . Two of the chargers are 360 kW with a CHAdeMO connector. The other four chargers are 200 kW with both CHAdeMO and Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

2021 Model Y 7 Seater | The Perfect EV for a Family of 5? (Public)

Sat, 17 Apr 2021 16:33:16 GMT

Brenda Boritizki, Event Coordinator for Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and member of Space Coast EV Drivers.

Brenda Boritzki has "dual citizenship." She's an Event Coordinator for our statewide club, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, and she's a member of a great local club, Space Coast EV Drivers (SCEV).

Last month she traded her 2017 Model S for a new Model Y outfitted with the 7-seat option. As you will see in the video below, Brenda enlisted the help of her daughters Caitlyn and Zoe, along with their friend Rachel, to demonstrate passenger comfort for various sized individuals. The 7-seat configuration may not fit all family situations. Still, for Brenda's case with a family of 5 and a dog, the Model Y was a better fit than her previous Model S.

Brenna Kaminski & Josh Pritt, leaders of the Space Coast EV Drivers club.

The video is narrated by Brenna Kaminski and her husband Joshua Pritt, who are the leaders of SCEV Drivers. Brenna is also Associate Director of Communications & Research of Drive Electric Florida (DEFL). DEFL is a coalition of influential EV Stakeholders, including our club. So, Brenna and Josh are "All In" when it comes to EV Advocacy!

Are you a Tesla enthusiast and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member but would like to participate in our next Scenic Drive, Virtual Meetup, or Socially Distanced outdoor event throughout the state, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

If you live on the Space Coast, we recommend that, like Brenda, you have "dual citizenship" and join Space Coast EV Drivers as well.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Car Display and Meetup at Ginger’s Bar & Restaurant in Oakland Park (Public)

Fri, 16 Apr 2021 17:24:23 GMT

On Saturday April 3rd, members of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts as well as non-club members had a meetup and car display at Ginger's Bar and Restaurant. There they were able to meet other Tesla Owners and get informed on ProSolar, solar panel and home solution offerings. A BIG Thank you goes to Rachael Zofcin from the new Fort Lauderdale Service Center for bringing her co-worker and a Model 3 and a Model Y for folks to be able to test drive!

We want to thank Event Coordinator Renzo Torrenga for assisting, and club members Jonathan Rush with ProSolar, Matt Pressman with EVANNEX, Michael "Mojo" Mogilewski, owner of SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings and Melissa Marotta and Rachael Zofcin with Tesla for for their generous support.

Below are some photos:

Event Coordinator Renzo Torrenga

Joanne & Don DuBois visiting from the Garden State.

A four-footed friend and a member of her staff with their Zero Emissions vehicle.

We're guessing that Batman is having some work done on his Model 3 Batmobile.

The team from the new Fort Lauderdale Service Center located nearby who graciously provided test drives. Much thanks go to Rachael Zofcin on the right for coordinating.

Are you a Tesla enthusiasts and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member, but would like to participate in our next Scenic Drive, Virtual Meetup or Socially Distanced outdoor event throughout the state, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Virtual Meetup with Charles Morris, Senior Editor of Charged Magazine (Public)

Thu, 15 Apr 2021 19:12:38 GMT

On April 13, 2021, Charles Morris, Senior Editor of Charged Magazine, joined Florida Tesla Enthusiasts for an informative Virtual Meetup. Charles discussed Tesla’s innovative technical advances.

If you’re a club member and missed our Virtual Meetup with Charles, or if you’re not a member, you can view it below.

Click the image below to buy Charles's popular Tesla book.

Click the image below to visit Charged Magazine website and read an excerpt from Charles's book featuring David Havasi, one of our club members.

Click the image below to view Charles's Facebook page about Tesla.

Charles contributes to the EVANNEX News blog. The owner and president of EVANNEX are members of our club.

Click the image below to view the News Blog.

Click the image below to view Charles's Twitter feed.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Nick Howe, our club's VP, is Interviewed Regarding Proposed EV fees. (Public)

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 16:00:00 GMT

Source: Feng Cheng / Shutterstock.com

Nick Howe, the Vice President of our club, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, was interviewed by Robbie Gaffney, a Multimedia Reporter with WFSU Public Radio, the local NPR member station of Tallahassee.

Grant Program Proposal To Fund Electric Vehicle Charging Stations Advances In Florida Senate

(The web article also includes audio excerpts of comments by Nick, Senator Brandes, and Senator Berman.)

From the article:

"We're certainly, myself and the club, are in support of license fees for [electric vehicles]," Nick Howe, Vice President of the club Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, says. "We want to make sure that we pay our fair share. We're certainly not looking for any kind of free ride."

But Howe says the fixed fees aren't fair because it doesn't reflect how people are using their cars.

"If you're using your vehicle to undergo a few hundred miles a month, why should you be paying as much as someone who's doing more than a thousand miles a month," Howe says.

Howe says a better solution is to charge people based on their usage. It's something Sen. Lori Berman (D-Boynton Beach) posed to Brandes during a meeting on his bill:

"I've seen a couple of different analyses where they ask instead that the EV be taxed on the annual vehicle miles traveled. Have you considered using those formulas instead of a flat fee?"

The interview with Nick was in preparation for the article linked above, which covers the Florida Senate Transportation Committee. The meeting was convened to discuss two bills sponsored by Senator Brandes related to electric vehicles. Both bills were approved by the Committee.

Senate Bill 138 proposes requiring FDOT to establish the Electric Vehicle Infrastructure Grant Program to provide financial assistance to encourage the installation of electric vehicle charging infrastructure. The Program provides grants to State agencies, public universities, public transit agencies, ports, airports, and local governments, including local housing authorities and libraries.

Senate Bill 140 proposes a new electric vehicle (EV) Registration flat fee of $135 in addition to standard vehicle registration fees. If approved, the fee would take effect July 1, 2021. For plug-in hybrids, the fee would be $50. The revenue collected from the registration fees will go to funding the EV Infrastructure Grant Program.

Both bills must be enacted for either of them to take effect, and sunset at the end of 2030 to permit the legislature to reexamine the situation.

Nick's comments and our club were also featured in a Charged Magazine article by the magazine's Senior Editor, Charles Morris.

Florida legislature proposes a yearly tax on EV owners—again

Our Club's Position

We applaud Senator Brandes for his continuing innovative approaches to promoting Electric and Autonomous vehicles. However, we prefer an EV Registration fee amount more in line with what an equivalently efficient gas car would pay.

We appreciate that registration fees are a simple, stop-gap measure, and we support reasonable fees in the short-term. However, an unavoidable and critical concern is figuring out how to implement an equitable, long-term, mileage-based road usage tax that would treat all vehicles, regardless of their energy source, the same.

We are not alone in this view. Senator Brandes expressed a similar perspective earlier in an interview with Florida Politics.

“The tax structure in Florida has got to change to deal with electrification,” Brandes said.

"As more and more cars switch from fossil fuels to all-electric, Florida’s current gas tax system that funds much of the state’s road maintenance will become depleted. Instead, Brandes said the state should begin considering how to tap into other user fees. That would likely come by way of charging taxes not on gasoline, but on actual vehicle miles driven."

This, admittedly, is a complicated issue. Therefore, we believe now is the time for the state to fund a pilot study to be ready when electric vehicles inevitably comprise a significant percentage of the Florida driving public.

We will continue to track the progress of these bills through the Senate and the identical companion bills in the House.

We will be speaking out more on this issue, and we will be asking for your support to Advocate for EVs. Stay tuned.

Click the "Add comment" link below to express your views.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

The Energy & Transportation Industries are about to COLLAPSE fast | Are we ready ? (Public)

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 15:00:00 GMT

Here is a fascinating 14-minute video by Lars Strandridder that predicts that fossil fuel-based energy and transportation industries are on the verge of collapse, and Tesla is ready to harvest the benefits of this collapse. As Lars points out, this disruption is something that Tony Seba, the noted speaker and author, has been forecasting for a long time.

What do you think?

"Coming Soon" Winter Park Supercharger at Wawa is Operational. (Public)

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 14:00:00 GMT

Another eagle-eyed member of the Tesla Motors Club Forum discovered the permit for the "Coming Soon" Winter Park Supercharger Station.

Not surprisingly, it's being installed at a Wawa. The address is 901 N Orlando Ave, Winter Park, FL 32789.

Below is a vicinity map:

Above the red arrow shows the exact location of the Supercharger Station. The grey pin to the right is an approximate location on Tesla's Find Us map which is attached to the Winter Park label.

Above is a Google view of the Wawa parking lot. The red rectangle shows the location of the 12 charging stalls. With just 28 parking spots it is surprising that Wawa would generously devote 12 of them to charging stalls.

The above two photos show the charging stalls. The second photo shows two Supercharger cabinets on the right and one Supercharger cabinet with the main switchgear on the left. Nearby on the left is an empty meter cabinet awaiting the meter to be installed. The utility transformer should be nearby probably to the left out of frame. Behind the two Superchargers on the right is a newly installed cable pole. That connects to the high-voltage overhead wires and transitions to underground high-voltage cable. That cable will be buried in the greenspace to feed the utility transformer to the left.

Update as of March 14, 2021.

The above two photos show that this installation is very near to being operational. Note that the utility meter has been installed.

Update as of March 17, 2021.

The Winter Park Supercharger Station is operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Merritt Island Service Center Open for Service. Sales renovation continues. (Public)

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 13:00:00 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most current status.

Lately there have been a number of rumors concerning a future Merritt Island Service Center. That information was confirmed last month when the Florida Regional Service Manager reposted the following LinkedIn posting by a Tesla recruiter.

So, we knew that a service center was coming to Merritt Island, but we didn’t know where.

I found a permit application for an alarm system at the former Toyota dealership on Merritt Island in which documents mentioning Tesla are listed. The location is 1545 E Merritt Island Causeway, Merritt Island, FL 32952.

Here's a vicinity map of the location.

Here's a Google view of the site:

Here's a photo from the County's Property records.

Update as of October 23, 2020.

The Toyota signage has been removed.

It appears that Tesla will be installing five level 2 Wall Connectors.

Update as of October 28, 2020.

Our guess that they would be installing Tesla Wall Connectors was correct. Here are five.

Update as of October 29, 2020.

On the left is a close up of the rear of one of the Tesla Wall Connectors. Each Connector has a 60 amp disconnect switch which means that these are Gen 3, 48 amp Wall Connectors. Also note on the right is the front of the Connector and each is enclosed in a plywood box, presumably to prevent public charging.

Another view of the enclosures around the Wall Connectors.

Update as of November 1, 2020.

The next three photos show the new security lighting that has been installed.

Update as of December 3, 2020.

This Service Center had a soft opening on November 30, 2020. It is scheduling service appointments.

There still isn't any office furniture. Our club hosted the Regional Service Manager for a Virtual Meetup with our members this week. He indicated that service operations was a priority but he plans to open sales operations next year.

The Service Center now has five operational Destination Chargers. Please note that these chargers are not for public charging. They are for the Service Center operations.

Here's a close up of one of the new Gen3 Tesla Wall Connectors with tempered glass faceplate. They have a maximum capacity of 48 amps and require a Wi-Fi connection to configure them for operation. Tesla plans to issue a firmware upgrade that will permit up to 16 Gen3 Wall Connectors to share power.

Tesla Service Van.

Update as of December 4, 2020.

It is reported that there are numerous Tesla awaiting service.

Update as of December 6, 2020.

More security.

Note the "X" design. I wonder if this Model S came from

Update as of January 17, 2021.

It appears that work continues on the build-out of the Sales Operations, along with deliveries of new vehicles.

There is some speculation that these covered Model Ss might be the new refreshed design.

Update as of January 26, 2021.

I am informed that the body shop across the street, MITCHCO Collison Repair, is getting Tesla certified.

Updated February 10, 2021.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Tesla management has requested that we refrain from taking photos on their property after regular business hours. I respectfully ask everyone to comply. After regular business hours, people on Tesla's property may learn that their photo and vehicle information was forwarded to local law enforcement for follow-up. Please do not enter the service area without being escorted by Tesla employees due to safety and security concerns.

Updated March 17, 2021.

New signage.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla Club Members Enjoy a Car Show and NASCAR 400 Race (Public)

Tue, 16 Mar 2021 15:25:25 GMT

Miss the rumble and growl of an engine? NASCAR will give you a thrill!

On February 28, 2021, twelve members of our Tesla family met up at Homestead-Miami Speedway for an afternoon of car displays and racing. Upon arrival at the Speedway, we were ushered into a display area for a car show. The serious owners quickly brought out the polish and got their cars in flawless condition. Some owners focused on the talent portion of the show and got their vehicles ready to entertain the crowd. Dale Johnson's Model X performed a "dance" to Mannheim Steamroller and drew quite the audience applause!

Our Best-In-Show went to Rocco Terrizzi for the age-old question..."What's under the hood"?

A V8, of course! The members of the Mustang Club were very impressed, as were the Judges! Congrats Rocco!

The race got underway at 3:30pm with an exciting roar! The stands rumbled, and the cars were fast! The strategies were clear, be faster and be first! 35 cars and drivers thrilled the crowd for the afternoon.

The event was comfortable and safe, masks were mandatory, and the stands were approximately one quarter filled. The weather was perfect with lots of sunshine and a cool breeze! Our group had a great time and made a lasting impression on a lot of ICE owners!

Much thanks go to Denise Grant for organizing this event and providing the write-up.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Florida Tesla Registrations for Year-End 2020. (Public)

Thu, 11 Mar 2021 15:31:47 GMT

Have you noticed that some of us Tesla owners are a little OCD about our Teslas? Well, I know I am. If you’ve gotten into heated discussions with your fellow owners about which county has the most Teslas, or wondered how many Teslas there are in Florida, below is a link to a table to pander to your obsessive behavior.

Click the link below:

Florida Tesla Registrations for Year-End 2020

Much thanks go to my friends at FPL for providing the stats.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Our members volunteer to be on a Public Service Announcement. (Public)

Wed, 10 Mar 2021 19:06:05 GMT

Our club members were movie stars on a Public Service Announcement.

If you join our club I think I can arrange for these celebrities to provide autographs for their adoring public.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Twitter: Tesla Owners Florida

Supercharger Station in Rockledge now Operational. (Public)

Fri, 05 Mar 2021 21:20:17 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most recent status.

A reader of our news articles did a bit of detective work searching Brevard County public records. He discovered that Tesla recently submitted a permit application for a new Supercharger Station in Rockledge and passed the information on to me.

The proposed site is at the Viera Village Center shopping mall located at 5410 Murrell Rd, Rockledge, FL 32955.

Here’s the permit application:

You will note that Tesla is proposing an 8-stall Version 3 Supercharger Station.

Below is a vicinity map:

The red arrow marks the location of the proposed Supercharger Station in Rockledge. It nicely splits the distance between the new Titusville Superchargers and the West Melbourne Superchargers to 24 and 19 miles, respectively. The "Coming Soon" Cocoa West Supercharger, which used to be displayed on Tesla's Find Us page, is no longer listed. Its removal is not surprising since it would have been only about 10 miles from this proposed Supercharger Station.

Above is a Google view of The Village Center parking lot. Based on where the underground utilities are located, I am guessing that the charging stalls will be near the red rectangle. After the permit is issued, that is where I would start looking for signs of breaking ground. As the project proceeds let's see if my guess is correct.

Update: Well my guess was wrong. Please scroll down for the correct location.

This permit application was submitted on December 1, 2020 and at this time an Electrical Contractor has yet to be assigned to the project. We should not expect any progress until that happens.

Update as of January 25, 2021.

Permit was issued on January 25, 2021.

Update as of February 5, 2021.

Our eagle-eye reader (thanks Mike) who discovered the permit on this Supercharger Station found that construction started and my guess was incorrect.

My guess was the red rectangle on the left above. The actual location, in the far right corner of the parking, is better.

Here Mike labels the charging posts that he has seen under construction.

Interestingly, the original permit was for 8 charging post, but as you will see in subsequent photos, Tesla has delivered 3 Version 3 Superchargers with each powering 4 charging posts.

Three Version 3 Supercharger cabinets to power 12 charging posts.

Tesla informs me that they will be installing 12 charging posts. I am guessing that four more charging posts will eventually be added adjacent to the number 8 label show in an earlier image.

Some of the initial construction of the charging posts.

Three charging posts with the concrete pad for the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear in the background.

We zoomed in on the concrete pad. It's hard to see, it appears that there are conduits for 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Update as of February 13, 2021.

Work has now begun on installing the last four charging posts. Mike has helpfully updated this image to show posts number 9 through 12.

Here are charging posts 9 through 12, with the concrete pad for the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

Switchgear to the left with three Version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

This is the first time I have seen this arrangement with bollards to protect the charging posts set at 90 degrees from a typical orientation. It looks like a clever idea, but to protect the posts while minimizing the chance of damage to Teslas, I think I would have positioned the bollards up past the curbing and installed some parking bumpers. We have communicated our concerns to Tesla.

Pulling in cable from the charging posts to the Supercharger cabinets.

Update as of February 18, 2021.

A view of all the charging posts.

Zooming in on the meter cabinet. No meter yet and no utility transformer which should be nearby.

Another view of the charging posts and the meter cabinet to the right. I am guessing that the utility transformer will be installed behind the orange fencing.

Update as of February 19, 2021.

This view is across Murrell Road with the Superchargers directly behind. It shows utility markers directly aligned with an existing utility transformer across the street.

This photo is the same point of view as the previous, but further back to show the excavation adjacent to the Supercharger pad.

Above is my description of what I think will happen. The existing transformer on the right denotes the location of existing underground high voltage cable. The utility markers in the previous photo suggests that the utility will be boring under the street to extend the cable to the Supercharger location. The excavation adjacent to the Supercharger pad is the likely location of a future concrete pad for a new transformer to power the Supercharger Station. So, while the fencing has been removed and to the causal observer this installation looks almost ready, the fact remains that there is a bit more utility work needed.

Update as of March 4, 2021.

A member of the Tesla Motor Club (TMC) forum took this photo and spoke with these Tesla Energy technicians. They told him that they were closing out some minor items, placing the post numbers on, etc. They allowed him to charge. So apparently, there's a utility transformer somewhere nearby and they were bypassing the missing meter to allow charging. The hole next to the pad shown in previous photos has been filled in and sodded over.

One of our readers reported to me that he spoke with two workers on March 2. They told him that two fuses would complete the install in a day or so. This would be immediately followed by a city inspection for approval of use. From that point on, it would be up to Tesla to open the site.

On March 4, another member of Tesla Motor Club (TMC) forum reported that he was able to charge despite the fact that the Supercharger Station is not currently listed as active on the Find Us page or in the Tesla navigation systems.

Update as of March 5, 2021.

The Rockledge Supercharger Station is operational.

Update as of March 5, 2021.

Yes, we knew that there had to be a transformer there somewhere, but finally here's a photo.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Happy Hour Meetup (Public)

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 21:18:26 GMT

On February 26, 2021, we had our first unstructured Virtual Happy Hour. No, we didn't solve all the world's problems. Still, it was fun and a welcome diversion from Coronavirus House Arrest to see and chat with our members from across the state. If there's interest, we might do this every month.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

The Electric Cars Act is Introduced in both Houses of Congress (Public)

Sun, 28 Feb 2021 03:42:16 GMT

On February 23, 2021, Senator Jeff Merkley and Congressman Peter Welch introduced the Electric Cars Act. This is bicameral legislation that would extend the electric vehicle tax credit for 10 years and help implement charging infrastructure.

Currently, a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 is available for the purchase of electric vehicles. However, the law caps the number of eligible vehicles at 200,000 per manufacturer. After reaching the threshold, a phaseout of the credit begins. Domestic manufacturers General Motors and Tesla have already hit the manufacturing cap, and consumers no longer receive tax credits for those American brands. As a result, the law currently creates incentives for electric car buyers to purchase imported vehicles over American electric vehicles.

The Electric Cars Act would improve the current tax credit by:

Eliminating the per manufacturer cap, allowing consumers access to the tax credit for the next 10 years, regardless of the manufacturer from which they purchase their car;
Allowing buyers to use the tax credit over a 5-year period or apply the credit on the spot at the dealership to reduce the price of the vehicle, making the credit more applicable to those without large tax liability; and
Providing a 10-year extension of tax credits for alternative fuel vehicles and charging infrastructure to incentivize the buildout of this important infrastructure around the country.

“As climate chaos continues to ramp up with record-setting winter storms, violent hurricanes, and catastrophic wildfires, it is imperative that we transition away from gasoline-powered vehicles, which are fanning the flames of the crisis,” said Senator Merkley. “Consumers are already looking for electric cars, and this bill will help drive adoption faster—and make sure more of those cars are made by American workers in American factories.”

“We need to quickly and aggressively invest in electric vehicles to combat the global climate emergency that threatens all of our local communities,” said Congressman Welch. “Owning an electric vehicle can be cheaper and offers significant public health and environmental benefits, but for many Americans they are unaffordable at the dealership. This bill makes the next generation of electric vehicles accessible to more people by allowing them to receive the electric vehicle tax credit right away. Encouraging electric vehicle adoption is a common sense win for consumers, the environment, and American workers.”

The full text of the legislation is available here.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Service Center in Delray Beach (Public)

Tue, 23 Feb 2021 19:23:44 GMT

New Delray Beach Service Center

Tesla opened another, what I call a “Pop-Up” Service Center at 3000 S Federal Highway, Delray, FL 33483. This was another pleasant surprise that we weren’t aware of until Tesla informed me of its soft-opening this week.

This was formerly a Ford and Hyundai Service Center.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

St. Petersburg Supercharger Station is Operational (Public)

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 22:35:01 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

The above photo of the St. Petersburg Supercharger Station under construction was posted to Facebook. It is not listed as a “Coming Soon” Supercharger on Tesla’s official Find Us page. It is located at a Wawa at 3637 34th St S, St. Petersburg, FL 33711.

Here is the permit:

Digging a little deeper into public records it states:

Tesla proposes to Install an Electric Vehicle Charging station at Wawa consisting of (2) V3 SUPERCHARGER CABINETS, (8) V3 CHARGING POSTS, (1) MASTER CONTROLLER, (1) SWITCHGEAR ASSEMBLY, and (1) UTILITY TRANSFORMER.

And:

Install 1500 amp rated MLO MDP w/2-700 amp 480 volt breakers feeding 1-each Tesla charging cabinet. Each charging cabinet has 4-350 amp devices feeding 4-250 KW DC charging posts. Install 30 amp 277 volt circuit to site controller.

Here is a vicinity map:

The red arrows marks the location. It is 22 miles south of the Pinellas Supercharger Station.

Update as of December 4, 2020.

Update as of December 5, 2020.

This concrete pad is for two Supercharger cabinets and the main switchgear.

Update as of December 28, 2020.

Main switchgear in front with two version 3 Supercharger cabinets behind it.

Another view of switchgear and Supercharger cabinets along with the charging posts.

The installed utility transformer and meter on the left is probably for service to the Wawa. The concrete pad and empty meter cabinet is for a future utility transformer and meter for service to the Supercharger station.

Eight charging posts, seven back in, one pull in.

Update as of January 4, 2020.

Another view of the vacant transformer pad.

Another view of all 8 charging posts.

Update as of February 21, 2021.

The Saint Petersburg Supercharger Station is operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Fort Lauderdale Service Center Opens (Public)

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 21:10:49 GMT

This photo was uploaded to the Tesla Motors Club forum. It was taken from a moving car and show the newly opened Fort Lauderdale Service Center.

Tesla gave us a pleasant surprise by opening a full-service Service Center and Store in Fort Lauderdale under our radar. It is located at 2829 N Federal Highway, Fort Lauderdale, FL 33306. The location was formerly a Best Buy consumer electronics store.

Tesla management informs me that this surprise opening is a full opening, not merely a soft-opening.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Crestview Supercharger in the Panhandle now Operational (Public)

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 15:23:32 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most current status.

The folks at the Tesla Motors Club forum have provided us with some photos showing that another needed "Coming Soon" Panhandle Supercharger Station is under construction in Crestview. From the photos it appears that there will be 8 Version 3 charging posts. This

The address is 2670 S Ferdon Blvd, Crestview, FL 32536.

Below is a vicinity map.

The Mobile Alabama Supercharger (not shown) is 107 miles to the west and the Defuniak Springs Supercharger is 32 miles to the east.

The red rectangle marks the location in the parking lot adjacent to Aspen Dental.

Tesla's contractor has begun to stage equipment along West Redwood Ave.

The local utility set a new pole which will be a cable pole feeding underground cable to the transformer powering the Supercharger Station.

This Google Street view simulates the perspective in the previous photo. The red markings give a better view of where the eight charging stalls will be located.

In this image we have zoomed in on a previous photo to show contractors installing the concrete pad and conduit for the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

The foundations for the charging posts have been installed.

Updated as of February 10, 2021.

Transformer installed on the left.

Supercharger cabinets, switchgear and meter installed.

Update as of February 17, 2021.

On February 17, 2021, a Tesla owner uploaded the above photo to Plugshare.com. This Supercharger Station is operational.

Crestview, FL Supercharger

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Proposed bill extends federal tax credit for electric vehicles (Public)

Sat, 13 Feb 2021 15:14:40 GMT

On February 5, 2021, the Committee on Ways and Means introduced the comprehensive 88-page "Growing Renewable Energy and Efficiency Now (GREEN) Act of 2021."

Section by Section Summary Refer to Subtitle D—Greening the Fleet and Alternative Vehicles

New Electric Vehicles (Battery Electrics & Plug-In Hybrids)

The bill extends tax credits of up to $7,500 to purchase new electric vehicles (EVs). It increases the cap from 200,00 to 600,000 for the number of EVs manufacturers can sell before triggering the phaseout of the credit. However, it reduces the amount of credit to $7,000 after the first 200,000 EVs sold.

The phaseout period begins during the second calendar quarter after the 600,000-vehicle threshold is reached. At the start of the phaseout period, the credit is reduced by 50 percent for one calendar quarter and then ends.

For manufacturers that pass the earlier 200,000-vehicle threshold before the enactment of the bill, the number of vehicles sold between 200,000 and those sold on the date of enactment are excluded in determining when the 600,000-vehicle threshold is reached. This condition applies to General Motors and Tesla.

Used Electric Vehicles (Battery Electrics & Plug-In Hybrids)

The bill creates a new refundable credit for buyers of used EVs from the date of enactment through 2026. Buyers can claim a base credit of $1,250 for the purchase of qualifying used EVs, with additional incentives for battery capacity.

The credit is capped at the lesser of $2,500 credit or 30% of the sale price. To qualify for this credit, used EVs must meet the same eligibility requirement as for new EVs per existing IRS provisions. The credit will not exceed a sale price of $25,000 and must be a model year at least two years earlier than the date of sale.

Buyers with up to $30,000 ($60,000 for married couples filing jointly) in adjusted gross income (AGI) can claim the full amount of the credit. The credit phases out so that buyers with below $40,000 ($70,000 for married couples filing a joint return) in AGI may be eligible for a reduced credit.

Buyers must purchase the vehicle from a dealership for personal use and cannot claim the credit more than once every three years. The credit only applies to the first resale of a used EV and includes restrictions on sales between related parties.

Charging Infrastructure

The bill extends the alternative fuel vehicle refueling property credit through 2026. Beginning in 2022, it expands the credit for charging infrastructure by allowing a 20% credit for expenses in excess of $100,000. This provision allows a credit for expenses beyond the current limit if certain requirements are met. To qualify for this uncapped credit, the property must:

be intended for general public use and either accept credit cards as a form of payment or not charge a fee
be intended for exclusive use by government or commercial vehicle fleets.

Zero-Emission Heavy vehicles and Buses

The bill creates a manufacturer credit for the sale of zero-emission heavy vehicles starting after the date of enactment through the end of 2026. Eligible manufacturers may claim a credit of 10% of an eligible vehicle's sale price, capped at a credit of $100,000 per sale. To be eligible, vehicles must be for domestic use, weigh no less than 14,000 pounds, must not include an internal combustion engine, and be propelled solely by an electric motor that draws electricity from a battery or fuel cell.

Solar Provisions

The GREEN Act also includes a five-year extension on the solar Investment Tax Credit (ITC), which significantly promotes the adoption of solar systems. The ITC would be extended at 30% through the end of 2025, then phased down to 26% in 2026, 22% in 2027, and 10%.

Moving Forward

The GREEN Act of 2021 is a crucial piece of legislation that bears watching. This federal bill will have far-reaching effects on electric vehicle and solar adoption. It will accelerate the already robust Florida EV market. For instance, the passage of this bill would lower the cost of a Model 3 to about $32,000, including destination fees. The bill will have a ripple effect on transportation considerations in Florida and foster a sense of urgency for pending state EV legislation and initiatives.

Stay tuned.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Marianna Supercharger Station in the Panhandle is Now Operational (Public)

Fri, 05 Feb 2021 19:29:18 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

One of our eagle-eyed members at the Tesla Motors Club forum discovered the permitting documents of a new version 3 Supercharging Station in Marianna. It will have 8 charging terminals.

This "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station location is displayed on the official Tesla Find Us map listed as Marianna, FL.

It will be located at 2070 FL-71, Marianna, FL 32448, which will be in the rear parking lot of Dickey's Barbeque Pit.

It's an excellent spot being located almost precisely between the DeFuniak Springs and Tallahassee Supercharger Stations.

Here is a vicinity map: (For full-size images, right click on any image and open it in a new tab.)

The public records show the plans for the station. Here are some excerpts:

The Supercharger Station is located inside the dashed rectangle, just to the right of the the drive-thru lane of the restaurant.

This is a detailed view of the Supercharger Station. Please note that the orientation is reversed from the previous image. Refer to the notes below for a legend describing each of the elements of the Supercharger.

Update as of January 24, 2021.

Construction has started and is fairly advanced. Dickey's Barbeque Pit is located to the right.

All 8 charging posts, the main switchgear, Supercharger cabinets and the concrete pad for the utility transformer are installed.

Update as of January 27, 2021.

Utility transformer and meter cabinet installed. Meter not yet installed in cabinet. Two Version 3 Supercharger cabinets and main switchgear in the background.

Dickey's Barbeque Pit is located to the right.

All 8 charging posts.

Update as of February 5, 2021.

The Marianna Supercharger Station located at Dickey's Barbeque is now operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Supercharger Station in Land O' Lakes (near Wesley Chapel) now Operational (Public)

Thu, 04 Feb 2021 20:09:09 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

In early November, Tesla filed a permit application to build a Supercharger Station at a Wawa at 25155 Meran Way, Land O' Lakes, 34639. Google lists this location as 25155 Meran Way, Lutz FL 33559. The city of Wesley Chapel is only 6 miles away, so this could be the "Coming Soon" Wesley Chapel Supercharger displayed on Tesla's Find Us page.

Here is a vicinity map:

Note that the "Coming Soon" Wesley Chapel Supercharger Station (gray pin) is located only 6 miles away from this proposed location.

Update as of January 1, 2020.

Fencing going up in preparation of breaking ground.

Update as of January 2, 2020.

A view of the construction area behind the fencing.

Update as of January 19, 2021.

Installation looks close to being operational.

Update as of February 4, 2021.

This installation is operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

“Coming Soon” Supercharger Station at the Orlando Millenia Super Target Started Permitting (Public)

Fri, 29 Jan 2021 20:34:52 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

The Tesla Find Us map has a “Coming Soon” location named Orlando, FL -Millenia. We obtained a public document in which Target Corporation gives authorization for Tesla to file Supercharger permit applications on selected Target properties. One of those Authorized Locations is listed as T1518 Orlando. That designates the Orlando Millenia Super Target at 4750 Millenia Plaza Way, Orlando, FL 32839-2434.

I haven’t located a permit application yet, but I am speculating that this is a likely location for the planned Millenia FL Supercharger Station.

Update as of January 30, 2021.

Pardon the pun, Tesla now states on its Find Us page, "Target opening in Q2 2021."

As you can see the permit application passed initial review on January 29, 2021. This station will have 12 Version 3 Charging Posts and two ChargePoint Dual Port Level 2 Chargers.

Below is a vicinity map:

When the construction permit is finalized, if you live or work nearby please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla Meetup and Chat at SouthWood Town Center in Tallahassee (Public)

Sat, 16 Jan 2021 22:12:51 GMT

On Saturday, January 16, 2021, Tesla owners and a few curious onlookers met in cold breezy conditions at SouthWood Town Center, near the Canopy Road Café in Tallahassee.

Several Model Y and Ss were represented, including one 2012 Signature Model S. A couple came as far as Panama City Owners to join the group. Owners and family shared their knowledge and experiences. A good time was had by all, and new friendships were forged. We’ll definitely do this again.

We want to thank John Sparling and David Fountain for organizing this get together.

Outdoor event socially distanced.

2012 Limited Edition Signature Model S with beautiful Signature Red paint.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

In-Car Event: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts Sprint Around Homestead-Miami Speedway. (Public)

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 23:08:14 GMT

On December 26, 2020, Homestead-Miami Speedway invited Florida Tesla Enthusiasts to experience another exhilarating drive as a group at high speed around their Speedway, all for a worthy cause.

This was a charity event with the proceeds going to Driving for a Cause, a charitable arm of Homestead-Miami Speedway under the umbrella of the NASCAR Foundation. It raises funds for programs in South Florida that focus on education and youth development.

Round and round and round we go!! What fun!

Our group sprinted around the Speedway with 13 Teslas and 30 members and their guests. They included Models S, X, and 3s with long-time owners and one car that was 1 week old!

Be ready to drive fast! The Speedway is an illuminated 1.5-mile oval track with 18-20 degree variable banking. Banked turns are always a thrill, with speeds topping 125 miles per hour!

The weather was beautiful, cool and sunny! Our excited group met at Sonny's BBQ, had a quick bite to eat, and charged up at the Supercharger. We caravanned to the track at 12:45, arriving 15 min later. The Homestead screens for COVID and requires masks at all time.

The best part of our day was the unexpected extended track time we were given. Homestead charged our group just $20.00 per car for 7 laps on the track for this fundraising event. 15 laps later, I was wondering what a great Christmas present!!!!

Based on the smiles on the drivers' faces as they pulled off the track...everyone had a great time! The most frequent question...."when can we come back?"

Thanks go to Denise Grant for organizing this thrilling event and for authoring this article.

Here are some short videos: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts Videos

Here are some photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with Tesla Service Management. (Public)

Sun, 27 Dec 2020 20:33:59 GMT

On December 1, 2020, we had a well-attended Virtual Meetup with Gus Cobeaga, Tesla’s Regional Service Manager, and Mark LaPlant, Service Manager. Gus and Mark discussed initiatives enhancing service operations and answered questions.

Gus Cobeaga, Tesla’s Regional Service Manager

Marl LaPlant, Service Manager of the Tampa Service Center.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit application filed for “Coming Soon” Winter Garden Supercharger Station [Operational] (Public)

Fri, 18 Dec 2020 21:25:44 GMT

Please scroll to the bottom of this article for current status.

In April of this year, a member of the Tesla Motors Club forum located public minutes of the Development Review Committee of the City of Winter Garden. The minutes indicated that Tesla representatives were proposing a Tesla charging station at the Wawa at 13501 W Colonial Dr, Winter Garden, FL 34787. This proposed station is listed on Tesla's Find Us page as "Coming Soon." Another member subsequently noted that Tesla had formally applied for a permit on October 23, 2020.

Below is a vicinity map of the location.

It appears from the minutes that Tesla is looking to install at least eight charging stalls. However, there is some ambiguity in interpreting the minutes, and it is possible, although unlikely, that Tesla will be installing 16 stalls. I say it is doubtful because after examining the Wawa’s layout, there are a limited number of parking spaces. Nowhere are there 16 adjacent parking spaces.

Below is a Google photo of the Wawa. Please note that the labeling of the onsite ATM may mislead a casual viewer to think that this location is a bank.

The charging stalls are located in the red rectangle.

Update as of December 2, 2020.

In early November Tesla began staging equipment at the site. This is conduit.

Shortly later the construction fencing was installed.

Two version 3 Supercharger cabinets mean that there will be 8 charging stalls.

Breaking ground and beginning to install charging posts.

Concrete pad for Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

This will be the concrete pad for the utility transformer.

Technician working on the main switchgear. Supercharger cabinets are in the background. Pad for utility transformer is in center. Meter cabinet is on the right in foreground.

Status as of December 2, 2020.

Update as of December 4, 2020.

Landscaping going in.

In the rear are the two Supercharger cabinets. If front of them on the same pad is the main switchgear. In the center is the utility transformer pad. The cabling shown is the secondary 480 volt cable which is connected to the main switchgear. The empty conduit is awaiting the primary cable to be pulled in by the utility. The gray box in the upper right corner is the meter cabinet awaiting the utility to install the meter.

Update as of December 18, 2020.

This Supercharger Station is operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with Tesla Energy Management to discuss Solar Roof. (Public)

Tue, 15 Dec 2020 00:11:40 GMT

On November 10, 2020, we were scheduled to have a Virtual Meetup with the management of Tesla Energy in Tampa to discuss Tesla Solar Roof. However, due last-minute personnel changes in Tampa, management from the Orlando office graciously agreed to substitute. I was very appreciative that Brock Jamison, General Manager, Energy Operations, and Sean Hirlinger, Associate Manager - Solar Roof, planned to join us on short notice. To kick things off, we provided them with some questions in advance.

However, when it came time to have the Video conference, we ran into another hurdle. We didn't know that the Tesla private network had built-in security which prevented them from accessing Zoom from their network.

In true Tesla fashion, Brock and his team figured out a workaround. One of his managers was able to join us with the PowerPoint slides, and Brock phoned in on audio to do most of the discussion. In addition to Brock and Sean, I want to thank Eric Riffe, Associate Manager, Energy Operations, and Drew Schuler, Technical Training Specialist, for assisting in the questions and answers.

In response to a question about solar panels during hurricane, the Tesla Energy folks sent me this article:

Tyndall Air Force Base Proves Solar Not Just For Power Anymore

There's a link in the article to a short video worth watching.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla test drive events coming to Gainesville and Daytona Beach Shores (Public)

Sat, 28 Nov 2020 21:08:36 GMT

Two Florida resorts are partnering with the Tesla Stores in Jacksonville and Orlando to provide touchless test drives.

For those who may have to travel a distance, both hotels have special overnight hotel packages JUST for Tesla owners and those signing up for test drives.

The test drive events are:

Dec 5 - The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach Shores, FL.

Dec 11 - Hotel ELEO at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL

Both events and hotels are following covid-19 safety protocols.

Vehicles are sanitized between drives and drivers go alone (not with a Tesla Rep).

The Shores Resort & Spa in Daytona Beach Shores, FL

Address: 2637 S Atlantic Ave, Daytona Beach Shores, FL 32118 (The location is programmed in Tesla navigation systems.)

Date: Dec 5, 2020

Time: Test drives are 11am until 5pm

Test Drive link: https://www.tesla.com/event/join-us-touchless-test-drive-shores-resort-spa

Hotel TESLA offer: $199 room rate and breakfast for two in dining room. $20 daily resort fee. $17 daily parking fee. Plus taxes.

Available Dec 5, 6 2020 only.

Booking code: TESLA

Hotel Webpage: https://www.shoresresort.com/TESLA

Facebook event page: https://fb.me/e/1UkfNznLq

Hotel ELEO at the University of Florida in Gainesville, FL

Address: 1514 SW 14th St, Gainesville, FL 32608

Date: Dec 11, 2020

Time: Test drives are 11am until 5pm

Test Drive link: https://www.tesla.com/event/join-us-touchless-test-drive-gainesville-florida

Hotel TESLA offer: $199 room rate with $30 Food & Beverage credit. Plus taxes. There are no daily resort or parking fees through the even of the year. Available Dec 10, 11, 12, 2020 only. (Test drive is only on Dec 11)

Booking code: TESLA

Hotel Webpage: https://www.hoteleleo.com/TESLA

Facebook event page: https://fb.me/e/GpEjk7W4

So, if you, your friends or family have been looking for a test drive, plus a little R&R at a Florida resort, please pass on this information to them. Make sure to click on the Test Drive Link to register with Tesla.

If you want to take advantage of the hotel discount, click on the Hotel Webpage link.

Electric Charging

If you are bringing a Tesla, The Shores Resort & Spa has two Tesla Destination Chargers and is about 8 miles from the Daytona Supercharger Station.

Hotel ELEO is about 3 miles from the Gainesville Supercharger Station.

Sage Auto Studios Hosts Cookout Car Show. (Public)

Sat, 21 Nov 2020 16:44:26 GMT

On November 21, 2020, Sage Auto Studios hosted a private Cookout and Car Show for Tesla owners. In addition to the Cookout and Car Show, they provided tours of their studio, demonstrations of products and services, prizes, and give-a-ways.

About Sage Auto Studios:
Sage Auto Studios is one of the top shops in Southwest Florida with 250 five-star reviews specializing in Ceramic Coatings, Clear Bra / Paint Protection Film (ppf), Ceramic Window Tinting, Auto Detailing, and a whole lot more.

Here are some photos:

Updated December 22, 2020.

1-Minute Video

5-Minute Video

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with club member Jonathan Rush and Peter Rosen CEO ProSolar Systems. (Public)

Wed, 18 Nov 2020 00:51:53 GMT

On November 17, 2020, we had a Virtual Meetup with club member Jonathan Rush and Peter Rosen, CEO of ProSolar Systems. ProSolar is a Tesla Energy Certified Installer, and the presentation focused on Tesla products.

Club member Jonathan Rush and Peter Rosen of ProSolar

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Local Media Report identifies probable location of "Coming Soon" Palm Coast Supercharger [Now Operational] (Public)

Fri, 13 Nov 2020 14:00:00 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for updated status.

An article in the Palm Coast Observer on January 31, 2020, identified the probable location of a "Coming Soon" Supercharger on the Tesla Find Us map. According to the article, Palm Coast Wawa to open in May, with Tesla Superchargers to follow, "The Wawa under construction at Bulldog Drive and State Road 100 should be open in May, and Tesla is in talks to have eight Superchargers for electric vehicles on the site."

Here's a vicinity map: (For a full-sized image, click on the map.)

Update as of August 15, 2020.

The eagle-eyed editor of Supercharge.info, the unofficial website that tracks Supercharger installations, has located another active permit application for this future Supercharger Station.

The Wawa's address is 5600 FL-100 East, Palm Coast, FL 32164.

Although the application doesn’t specifically mention Tesla, it does describe an Electric Vehicle Charging Station at this location. Rack Electric, Tesla’s most frequently used electrical contractor in Florida, is also listed as the assigned contractor. So, we can be pretty sure that this will be another Supercharger Station at a Wawa.

Updated as of August 22, 2020.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum located the proposed plans for this future Supercharger Station. Here are some of excerpts.

Above is the overall site plan of the new Wawa. The Supercharger installation will be constructed in the upper right corner of the plan.

Above is an enlargement of the upper right corner of the previous plan showing the Supercharger Station Components.

Above are the construction notes and legend for the previous plan. The plans show that there will be 8 Version 3 charging stalls. The large structure in the center is the Wawa's trash and recycling compound. Facing north, the utility transformer for the Supercharger will be located to the left of the compound and to the left of the existing utility transformer serving the Wawa. The rest of the Supercharger equipment will be installed to the right of the compound. Four of the charging stalls will be located directly to the right of the compound the other four will be located directly south of the compound.

Update as of August 26, 2020.

A permit was issued on August 26, 2020.

Update as of October 8 2020.

Tesla has started staging the equipment. The white covered boxes are the version 3 Supercharger cabinets. They will be set on a concrete pad behind them on the green space. Four charging posts will be installed in the parking spaces going off to the left.

Update as of October 26, 2020.

The following four photos are of Rack Electric, Tesla's electrical contractor making ready to break ground.

In addition to the four charging posts mentioned in the previous photo, four additional charging posts will be installed in the area shown in this photo above.

This photo was taken facing south. Facing south the Supercharger cabinets and main switchgear will be installed to the left of this trash and recycling compound doorway. The utility power transformer and meter will be installed to the right of the doorway.

Updated October 28, 2020.

The Tesla contractor has broken ground. Here they are starting to lay out the concrete pad for the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

Update as of October 30, 2020.

Work continues on placing the conduit bends prior to pouring the concrete pad for the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

Update as of November 1, 2020.

A close up of the concrete pad for the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets and the main switchgear. You can see the foundation and conduit stubs for four of the charging posts.

Here you can see three of the four charging post that run from right to left along the side of the trash and recycling compound, and four of the charging posts that run along the rear of the compound. In the brown boxes the charging post enclosures are being staged. The two white boxes are the version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Here is a close up of the Supercharger cabinets and one of the enclosures for the charging posts.

Update as of November 7, 2020.

Nearing completion.

Update as of November 8, 2020.

This photo shows all 8 charging posts.

Technicians working on the utility transformer. To the left is the meter cabinet, but the meter has not yet been installed.

Update as of November 13, 2020.

This Supercharger Station is now operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Port St. Lucie Supercharger undergoing an expansion (Public)

Mon, 02 Nov 2020 15:40:29 GMT

This sign was posted at the new construction site for the Port St. Lucie Supercharger Expansion.

Those old timers among us may remember that the Port St. Lucie Supercharger Station was the first station to open in Florida back in July 2013. At the time, it was a very big deal and Tesla arranged for a ribbon-cutting ceremony along with some dignitaries.

Here's a photos I pulled from my archives of that momentous event:

Former State Representative Adam Hasner, former Port St Lucie Mayor, JoAnn Faiella, and former Tesla executive Kevin Kassekert cut the ribbon for the first Supercharger in Florida. The mayor had the foresight to contact Tesla to propose the installation of the station. In those days virtually no one knew Tesla, what a Supercharger was, and why you would want a station in your community.

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

Fast-forward almost 7 years and Tesla is expanding the Supercharger Station. Recently a member of the Tesla Motors Club forum discovered the beginning of construction.

We don’t have much information yet, but I did find some public records confirming the expansion.

Here's a couple of photos:

Updated as of June 21, 2020.

There are 6 Supercharging terminals shown in the following photos. They are located across from the Benjamin Moore Paint store and Moe's Southwest Grill.

If it turns out that there are only six terminals, then that would suggest that this will be a version 2 Supercharger Station with three Supercharger cabinets and two terminals per Supercharger. We will have to wait to see what develops.

Update as of June 23, 2020.

The above photo was taken at the existing Supercharger location. It is possible that Tesla will be installing the new Supercharger cabinets, switchgear and new utility transformer to the left of the existing location, or will be enlarging the existing Supercharger enclosure to accommodate more equipment. If so, the conduits may contain high-voltage cables running from the existing utility transformer to a new second utility transformer to power the expansion.

Update as of July 5, 2020.

This photo was taken to the left of the original Supercharger location. It appears that two more charging terminals are going in at the original location for a total of 10.

To power the two new terminals, plus the six additional terminal across from the paint store, are four more version 2 Supercharger cabinets.

Correction: These cabinets are the original version 2 cabinets installed in 2013. My confusion was caused by the removal of the enclosure around them making me erroneously conclude that they were newly installed.

Update as of July 22, 2020

One of our readers visited the site and spoke to a Tesla employee monitoring the charger speeds. The employee explained that they have been plagued with problems from the beginning and do not know when they'll be functional. He mentioned that the water table was high, and they're working on it.

Update as of August 6, 2020.

This photo is taken from the the back of the existing, operational Superchargers. It shows the original Supercharger cabinets, on the right, that are powering the existing 8 charging terminals. The gray boxes to the left of the Supercharger cabinets are the original main switchgear, and the green box to the extreme left is the original utility transformer. All of the this was originally hidden by the white enclosure that can be seen in the first photo.

This is another view from the rear showing the utility transformer in the foreground on the left, the switchgear and the old version 2 Supercharger cabinets.

This photo is also from the rear and it is to the right of the previous photos. It shows what appears to be a covered charging terminal on the extreme left. Again, this is located at the existing Supercharger Station. You can see the 6 new charging terminals in the background in front of the paint store.

Update as of September 12, 2020.

Not much progress has been made, but the following photos provide excellent views of the current situation.

These are the new charging terminals located across from the paint store. The construction fencing around them has been removed, but as can be seen they are still covered.

This photo is of the original Supercharger equipment installed in July 2013. The original white enclosure, as seen in the first photo, has been removed.

Facing the original Supercharger installation, this photo is taken to the left. It shows one of the original charging terminals is covered and inaccessible due to the expansion construction. It appears to me that Tesla will be installing two more new charging terminals to the left of the the existing covered terminal. I am guessing that after Tesla overcomes the water table problem that they will install additional new Supercharger equipment in this general area to the left of the existing equipment.

Update as of November 2, 2020.

These are four additional version 2 Supercharger cabinets. It will power two additional charging post adjacent to the original Supercharger location, plus the six new charging posts located across from the paint store.

If you work or live nearby, please periodically visit the site to take high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Titusville Supercharger Station discovered under construction at Target [Now Operational] (Public)

Mon, 19 Oct 2020 20:47:39 GMT

For a while, the only “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station for the Space Coast listed on Tesla’s Find Us map was the Cocoa West location. However, recently someone tweeted photos of a Supercharger Station breaking ground in Titusville.

The tweet didn’t provide a site, but after doing a lot of Googling for good candidate locations, I found a Target store located at 3055 Columbia Blvd #101, Titusville, FL 32780. As you may recall, Tesla has an arrangement with Target in which Target will host Supercharger Stations.

After doing a bit of Google street views of the Target parking lot, they match up with the photo posted on twitter.

This will be a version 3, 16-stall Supercharger Station. As is Target’s practice, they have requested that Tesla install SAE J1772 destination chargers as well. They will probably be two dual connector ChargePoint chargers that will accommodate four EVs.

Here’s a vicinity map:

This particular Target is in an excellent spot located off of I-95 and nicely splitting the distance between the Port Orange and West Melbourne Supercharger Stations.

Here are some photos:

The white boxes with the "crosshair" markings are the four version 3 Supercharger cabinets. So, this will be a 16-stall installation.

Here is the precise location in the northeast corner of the Target parking lot where the charging stalls will be located. The 16 charging stalls will be located as marked by the red rectangles, 10 plus 6. The Supercharger equipment will be installed in the tree space between the stalls. The destination chargers will be accessible via four stalls adjacent to the 6 Supercharger stalls.

These are the beginning of the foundations for 10 charging terminals.

These are the foundations for the additional 6 charging terminals. The two foundations closest are for the destination chargers.

Here is where the Supercharger cabinets and associated equipment will be mounted.

A close up of one of the charging terminal conduit.

Update as of October 11, 2020.

The four large white boxes are version 3 Supercharger cabinets. I believe that the grey box in the middle is an autotransformer to boost the voltage. The boxes under the covering may be the main switchgear. I am not sure why there are two meter cabinets. I believe that the small grey cabinet on the right is the Master Control Cabinet used to maintain remote access to the station.

This is the utility power transformer.

These are six foundations for Supercharger charging terminals. The additional two terminals nearest are for SAE J1772 destination chargers to accommodate up to four EVs.

Here are the foundations for an additional 10 Supercharger terminals.

Updated as of October 16, 2020.

The previous series of four photos show work proceeding on the charging posts.

This photo is of the main switchgear on the left, the four version 3 Supercharger cabinets, and the meter cabinets.

This is a closeup of the switchgear.

On the right is one of the two Dual Port ChargePoint Level 2 Chargers. A club member informs me that these Level 2 chargers are active.

Update as of October 17, 2020.

A closeup of two meter cabinets. One is sealed and the other is awaiting the utility to install the socket meter.

Update as of October 18, 2020.

Here's a photo of all 16 Supercharger posts.

Update as of October 19, 2020.

The Titusville Supercharger Station is Operational.

Today, the Tesla Find Us map shows an active Supercharger in Titusville, but when you click on the pin, it shows the "Coming Soon" Cocoa West Supercharger Station. This suggests that this Titusville location replaces the Cocoa West location.

Click the link below to view a YouTube video by Rafael Santoni, president of Tesla Owners South Florida.

The new Superchargers location at Titusville is now live.

Rafael took the video on October 18 and at the time he mentioned that the Supercharge Station was unannounced. As of today, October 19, 2020, as shown above it is displaying on our navigations systems and on the Find Us map in a provisional status. I expect Tesla to update the Find Us map to remove the reference to Cocoa West.

A nice healthy charge rate.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit for “Coming Soon” Daytona Beach Supercharger Station discovered. (Public)

Wed, 14 Oct 2020 17:21:13 GMT

The Tesla Find Us map lists a “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station in Daytona Beach opening this year. I was able to locate the permit application and plans from public records.

This will be a 12-terminal Version 3 Supercharger Station located at the Target Department Store located at 2380 W International Speedway Blvd, Daytona Beach, FL 32114. It is about a mile off exit 9 of I-95 and only seven miles from the Port Orange Supercharger. Being nearby should help elevate the frequent congestion that occurs at Port Orange.

Here is the vicinity map:

Below, is the exact location of the Supercharger Station in the Target parking lot.

The above two images are of the Supercharger site plan and construction notes. They show that there will be 11 back-in Supercharger terminals and one pull-in Supercharger terminal. They also show that Tesla will be installing two ChargePoint Dual Port Level 2 chargers which will include for more parking stalls in addition to the 12 for the Superchargers.

The permit application was submitted on June 23, 2020, and issued on July 14, 2020, so construction may have started.

Update as of August 28, 2020.

On August 28, 2020 it was reported that construction started.

Update as of October 13, 2020.

Here's a recent YouTube video of the current construction by Mark Dickenson. Mark counts 16 stalls, but four of them are for the level 2 ChargePoint chargers that are being installed.

New Tesla v3 chargers in DAYTONA BEACH under construction

Update as of October 14, 2020.

From the previous video all of the 12 charging posts have been installed. In this photo technicians are working on one of the three version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

If you live or work in the area, please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and email them to me.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a Tour of Daytona International Speedway. (Public)

Tue, 13 Oct 2020 14:33:16 GMT

On October 10, 2020, twenty club members and their guests enjoyed a special day at the Daytona International Speedway. We were treated to an hour and a half Speedway Tour. It included an open-air tram ride of the track, a tour of the "World Center of Racing," and a photo opportunity at Victory Lane. Daytona treated us A-plus, and everyone had a great time. It was a safe event; we all wore face masks and were socially distanced.

Thanks go to Tom Siceloff for organizing this fun time.

Here's a few photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Hundreds Welcome the Opening of The Electrified Garage in Ocala (Public)

Mon, 12 Oct 2020 21:20:16 GMT

Jess Schultz with the Chamber & Economic Partnership in Ocala participated in the ribbon-cutting ceremony.

The Electrified Garage Open House on October 4 was a huge success despite early torrential downpours. The weather cleared, and an estimated 200 “masked” and socially distanced guests welcomed Electrified Garage to Florida. The Ocala Chamber of Commerce was on hand for the official ribbon-cutting ceremony, complete with a champagne toast!

Masked and socially distanced -The Villages Tesla Club held their monthly meeting ahead of The Electrified Garage Open House.

This huge tent came in handy during the rain.

Complete with food truck.

A caravan awaiting to head out to head out to The Electrified Garage.

Backstory

In 2016, Rich Benoit, an IT manager, and Tesla enthusiast was curious if he could re-build a totaled Tesla. In doing so, he created his YouTube channel, “Rich Rebuilds” with videos about buying, repairing, and mining Teslas for spare parts. Fast forward to the present, and now Rich is an Internet sensation with over 700,000 subscribers and more than 2 million annual views.

In 2018, Rich partnered with a former parts manager for Tesla, Chris Salvo, to open up their repair shop, The Electrified Garage in New Hampshire. Chris is also the founder of EV Tuning, an online store that sells parts and accessories to electric vehicle owners.

Joining Rich and Chris as a co-owner of The Electrified Garage and staring in Electrified Garage videos with Rich and Chris is Chad Hrencecin. Chad is a former Senior Service Technician with Tesla.

Now, Chris moved to Florida, joined our club, and opened their second Electrified Garage in Ocala.

They are located at 1829 NW 10th St, Ocala, FL 34475.

Telephone: 352-354-9006

Rich explains, “The reason why we exist here is anything that your Tesla Service Center would offer, we could offer that service as well. We are trying to break through and become a third-party resource for EV repair, not only Teslas.”

Click here for a 5-minute video.

At this open house, club members were able to engage owners Chris, Rich, and Chad, see rare early Tesla Roadsters, a Model 3 Lamborghini EV conversion, witness some wildly wrapped Teslas from SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings, and interact with other vendors. There was a food truck, a huge tent for outside activities and the Tesla Orlando Store provided test drives.

Rich Benoit, Chris Slavo and Chad Hrencecin

Even “Elon“ came out for the big day!

Angelia Link, president of The Villages Tesla Club and our club's Event Coordinator in the Central Region, did her usual outstanding job of assisting in the arrangements.

Here's a collection of photos:

Angelia Link, event coordinator extraordinaire.

Rachelle Stone, our club's Event Consultant, assists in distributing door prizes.

Club member Mike Mogilewski, the owner of SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings brought these striking Teslas. We had a recent Virtual Meetup with Mike and he announced that he would be partnering with The Electric Garage to open another studio here.

The crew at Rich Rebuilds and The Electrified Garage. Rich Benoit, Chad Hrencecin and Chris Slavo.

The previous two photos are of a rare R80 Tesla Roadster.

The previous two photos are of a Lamborghini being converted to an electric vehicle using Tesla Model 3 parts.

A close up of SIGNATURE Customs Wraps' work.

A lucky door prize winner.

If you live in The Villages, I recommend that you join both clubs. Click here for The Villages Tesla Club.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Large high-speed charging hub is coming to downtown Orlando in 2021 (Public)

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 22:33:42 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most current status.

In July, we reported on a state initiative to expand electric vehicle fast-charging infrastructure. As part of the Volkswagen "diesel-gate" settlement, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reviewed applications, selected 27 projects and awarded them funding for electric vehicle charging stations. Although Tesla did not receive funding, Orlando Utilities Commission (OUC) was awarded a $500,000 grant to build a large electric vehicle (EV) charging mobility hub in downtown Orlando. Tesla will be collaborating with them.

The site will feature up to 22 Level 3 charging stations, including 16 Tesla Supercharger terminals and six universal chargers with a capacity of up to 350 kW. It will be built on OUC-owned land at 129 W Robinson Street near I-4 (next to Ace Café Orlando).

The project is underway and will be completed in 2021.

See vicinity map:

Here is OUC's press release.

OUC-led Partnership Drives Downtown Orlando Electrification with $500,000 Grant to Build EV Charging Station

Update as of October 9, 2020.

Although OUC states that this project is underway, I couldn't find a permit and they haven't broken ground yet. Workmen, probably surveyors, are onsite.

If you live or work in the area, please take some high-resolution photos of the construction progress and email them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla president looking for Service Center Suggestions in South Orlando (Public)

Fri, 09 Oct 2020 13:45:29 GMT

In July, Jerome Guillen, President of Automotive at Tesla, solicited suggestions for a service center in the Naples/Fort Myers area. A couple of months later, the Fort Myers Service Center opened.

Now, Jerome is asking for suggestions for a service center in the South Orlando area.

He is looking for vacant commercial properties previously used for automotive or zoned for automotive uses with at least 15,000 square feet of space.

If you know of a suitable property, please email the details to me and I will forward a message directly to Jerome.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with club member Mike “Mojo” Mogilewski, owner of SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings (Public)

Thu, 08 Oct 2020 19:09:56 GMT

On October 6, 2020, we enjoyed an informal Virtual Meetup with club member Mike “Mojo” Mogilewski, owner of SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings.

SIGNATURE Customs Wraps & Coatings is home to Florida's Tesla vehicle customization experts. Throughout the past 8 years, they have customized hundreds of Teslas, offering wraps, coatings, suspension, and interior enhancements. Their 5,000 square foot climate-controlled facility is located at 1300 Stirling Rd, Dania Beach, FL 33004, just around the corner from the Dania Beach Service Center.

You can reach them at (954) 292-1298.

Mike informed us that he will be opening up another studio in Ocala in a partnership with Rich Rebuilds and the Electrified Garage crew.

If you are a club member who owns or manages a business that is relevant to Tesla owners, and would like to be a featured speaker on a Virtual Meetup, please email me.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have a relaxing time at Hawks Cay Resort in the Florida Keys (Public)

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 15:51:15 GMT

During the weekend of September 25, 2020, thirty-two club members and their guests enjoyed Hawks Cay Resort, Villas, and Marina located on Duck Key in the Middle Florida Keys. This 60-acre, tropical paradise is truly a unique resort with:

Five Pools & Saltwater Lagoon
Dolphin Connection™
Beach Sunbathing alongside the Lagoon
Full-Service Marina with 85 Boat Slips
Offshore & Inshore Fishing Charters
8 Tennis Courts
Fitness Center
Water Sports, including Kiteboarding, Kayaking, & Parasailing

The weather cooperated. The few times it briefly rained, it was mostly at night. Due to the pandemic, we had to curtail indoor group events and the group sunset cruise. However, on Friday, we gathered, socially distanced, at the Tiki Grill Bar for some libations. That was followed by a private group dinner, socially distanced at the covered patio of the Sixty-One Prime restaurant. While there, we enjoyed live entertainment and a Roaring Twenties costume competition. A couple who were guests of one of our club members won.

Many thanks go to Rachelle Stone for making group arrangements with the resort.

Here are photos featuring a lot of smiling faces:

Are you a Tesla enthusiasts and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member, but would like to participate in our next Scenic Drive, a Virtual Meetup, or socially distanced outdoor event, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit application found for Supercharger Station at Wawa in Fort Pierce. [Now Operational](Public)

Fri, 02 Oct 2020 20:34:18 GMT

I have been looking for a Supercharger Station in Fort Pierce because we discovered a permit application for the Canoe Creek Service Plaza that was incorrectly titled Fort Pierce Service Plaza. I figured that the application for Canoe Creek may have been cut and pasted from another application.

So far, I haven’t found a permit application for the Port St. Lucie – Fort Pierce Service Plaza, but I did locate a permit for a Supercharger Station at a nearby Wawa. It's address is 5575 Okeechobee Rd, Fort Pierce, FL 34947.

Here's a vicinity map:

This proposed Supercharger Station is strategically located near the intersections of I-95, the Florida Turnpike and State Road 70 (Okeechobee Rd)

Here's a Google view of the Wawa parking lot:

Work has started. It looks like there will be 8 charging terminals. The four boxes with the arrows pointing upward house two terminals per box. Based on this photo, I believe that the station will be located in the red rectangle on the previous image. I believe that the Supercharger cabinets will be installed to the extreme left of the photo.

Update as of October 2, 2020.

This Supercharger Station is now operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

The location of the so-called Naples Service Center has been confirmed [Now Open](Public)

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 18:29:42 GMT

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

There has been a lot of recent interest on the subject of an imminent opening of a long-waited Naples Service Center. In July, Jerome Guillen, President, Automotive at Tesla, got our attention. He posted the following solicitation on LinkedIn asking for suitable spaces for service centers, specifically referencing Naples, Florida.

Yesterday, after receiving a lot of rumors, I located a building permit for the Naples Service Center. It is actually in Fort Myers at a former AutoMatch USA location at 8900 Colonial Center Dr., Fort Myers, FL 33905.

Here is an excerpt of the permit.

Here is a vicinity map:

The new Service Center is located less than a mile from the Supercharger Station at Dani Dr.

Update as of September 11, 2020.

The Service Center doesn't have Tesla signage yet, but it is reported that crews are working inside the facility.

Update as of September 15, 2020.

Update as of September 18, 2020.

Our latest rumor is that they will be open for business on Monday, September 21, 2020.

Update as of September 20, 2020.

Our article was referenced by Phil Fernandez with the Naples Daily News.

In the Know: What's Elon Musk up to in Southwest Florida, your questions and more on eastern Collier development.

Update as of September 22, 2020.

The Service Center is now open.

Update as of October 1, 2020.

During these Coronavirus times the customer lobby is a bit Spartan. ;-)

If you live or work nearby, please send me some high-resolution photos of the interior of the facility.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit application discovered for future Supercharger at Winn-Dixie west of Jacksonville [Operational] (Public)

Sun, 20 Sep 2020 14:07:47 GMT

The editor of Supercharge.info, the unofficial website that tracks Supercharger installations, has located another active permit application for a future Supercharger Station near Jacksonville.

The ID portion of the permit application show that this is a Tesla application and the Electrical Contractor has been selected.

The Overview portion of the permit application provides a description of the work which is not entirely accurate. As can been seen, the application calls for two Supercharger cabinets to power 8 charging terminals. That means that this will be a Version 3 installation. The description states "INSTALL (8) 120 KW TESLA CHARGING POSTS", but Version 3 charging terminals are rated at 250 kW.

This station is not currently listed on Tesla’s official Find Us web page.

The Supercharger Station will be located at the Winn-Dixie at 703 Chaffee Rd S, Jacksonville, FL 32221.

Here is a vicinity map:

The red arrow shows the location of the future Supercharger Station. To the extreme right is the location of the existing Jacksonville Supercharger Station.

Here's the Google aerial shot of the Winn-Dixie parking lot. Someone has posted a pin for the future Supercharger, but it doesn't mark the exact location.

Update as of September 7, 2020.

Construction has not only started, but it appears that this Supercharger Station is nearly operational.

Here is the precise location of the Supercharger Station in the Winn-Dixie parking lot. There are five charging stalls located toward the top of the red rectangle with an additional three located on the bottom.

This photo was taken north of the site looking south toward the entrance of the parking lot. The five charging stalls are in the foreground and the three stalls are in the background.

This image is portion of the previous photo zoomed to show the two Version 3 Supercharger cabinets, the switchgear and utility transformer.

Update as of September 15, 2020.

This photo was taken north of the site looking north.

Update as of September 20, 2020.

The navigation systems are displaying that this Supercharger Station is partially open.

Updated as of October 13, 2020.

This station is fully operational.

People working or living nearby are asked to periodically visit the site to take high-resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Club member is featured in local news article on Superchargers. (Public)

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 22:36:51 GMT

Mary Bonnin of Panama City Beach visited the Busy Bee’s Tesla Supercharging station on Monday to charge her Tesla Model Y. [NATHAN COBB/THE NEW HERALD]

Club member Mary Bonnin was featured in the article linked below in the Panama City News-Herald.

Panama City Beach gets its first Tesla supercharging station at newly opened Busy Bee

I also want to thank Elizabeth Waring, president, and CEO of Busy Bee, for hosting the Supercharger Stations at the Busy Bees at Panama City Beach and at Live Oak.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit found for Supercharger Station at Canoe Creek Service Plaza on the Turnpike. (Public)

Fri, 18 Sep 2020 20:45:20 GMT

One of the members of the Tesla Motors Club forum found a permit application for a Supercharger Station at the Canoe Creek Service Plaza on the Florida Turnpike. The title of the project is a bit confusing because instead of referencing the Canoe Creek Service Plaza, it names the Fort Pierce Service Plaza. Apparently, some overworked individual cut and pasted information from another document and forgot to edit it.

Assuming the details are correct, the application indicates that Tesla, in collaboration with the Florida Department of Transportation, plans to install 16 Version 3 charging terminals at the Canoe Creek Service Plaza.

Here is a vicinity map:

Here's a Google street view of the Service Plaza:

I'm guessing that the Supercharger Station will be sited on the north end of the parking lot. That would be to the left of this photo.

If anyone is visiting this service plaza, if you see any signs of construction, please take some high-resolution photos and send them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Meetup with club member Pam Vernick to discuss large Solar Roof Installation (Public)

Tue, 15 Sep 2020 16:05:14 GMT

Club member Pam Vernich and her 92-year-old mom are the owners of the 10th installation of the Tesla Solar Roof tiles on the East Coast of the US. It’s an installation at their farm in Maryland.

On September 12, 2020, Pam discussed the fun and headaches in being one of the first clients on the East Coast to work with SolarCity / Tesla Energy during the four-year process. The installation went into service this May 2020.

Pam provided the following Powerpoint presentation:

Tesla Solar Roof

Here's some screenshots:

I want to thank Pam for sharing her solar experience.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Future Supercharger Station discovered under construction at Wawa in Lady Lake [Partially Open](Public)

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 18:14:52 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the most current status.

One of our observant club members discovered an 8 terminal, version 3, Supercharger Station under construction at the Wawa at 116 N. Highway 27/441, Lady Lake, FL 32159.

The location is not currently listed on Tesla’s official Find Us page displaying “Coming Soon” Supercharger Stations.

Here’s a vicinity map:

The Wawa is located at the intersection of County Road 466 (Lemon St) and US Highway 27/441.

Here is a Google street photo of the Wawa.

I have drawn a red rectangle where I believe the charging spaces are going. The street the photo was taken from is US 27/441.

You can see the construction of the 8 charging terminals. The box on the right is the type of main switchgear that Tesla is currently using. The distinctive blue fencing is consistent with what Rack Electric uses. They are an electrical contractor that Tesla frequently uses for Supercharger installations.

Update as of August 14, 2020.

Progress is being made in pouring the foundations of the 8 charging terminals and installing bollards.

Some of the signage has been installed.

Under the tarps and protective tent sits the version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Here is a close-up of one of the two Supercharger cabinets.

Rack Electric, Tesla' electrical contractor, appears to be doing most of Tesla's Supercharger installations in Florida currently.

Each box contains two version 3 Supercharger charging terminals.

One of the version 3 Supercharger charging terminals. The cabling is slightly thinner than the earlier version 2.

A close-up of the terminal specifications. "RAINPROOF"

A close-up of the foundation of a charging terminal.

Update as of August 19, 2020.

The charging terminals have been installed. It appears that the utility transformer may also have been installed.

Update as of August 21, 2020.

It looks like all the necessary equipment has been installed except the meter.

Two Version 3 Supercharger cabinets, the main switchgear and the meter cabinet.

Version 3 Supercharger cabinet nameplate specifications.

The utility transformer has been set on pad...

...but I don't think the secondary cables have be connected yet.

The meter cabinet has been installed awaiting the meter. As you can see from the label, this installation received final electrical inspection yesterday, August 20, 2020. So, we should expect this Supercharger station to be operational any day now.

Eight Version 3 charging terminals awaiting meter and final check by Tesla contractor prior to being energized.

Update as of August 25, 2020.

The power company is working on the connections at the utility transformer. It looks like the secondary cable to the main switchgear has been connected and they are working on the incoming primary connections to the transformer. The meter cabinet front panel has been removed, but to the left of it we can see the meter ready to be installed. We are very close to be operational.

Update as of September 11, 2020.

The Supercharger Station is partially open.

Although the navigation screen currently display a temporary closure, it has been reported to me that only one of the Superchargers is down. So, as shown in this photo there are some charging terminals that are operational and some that are covered.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Two club members who are physicians discuss aspects of COVID-19 at a Virtual Meetup. (Public)

Fri, 11 Sep 2020 16:36:14 GMT

During these challenging times, it can be tough to sort out fact from fiction when it comes to COVID-19. On September 10, 2020, two of our club members, who are also practicing physicians, participated in a Virtual Meetup to make presentations and answer our questions.

Dr. Lottenberg discussed the most recent treatments and his first-hand knowledge of taking care of some of the sickest COVID patients in Palm Beach.

Dr. Jibawi discussed how we can stay safe and healthy during the pandemic.

Each doctor provided a PowerPoint presentation. If you have the software, click on the links below.

COVID 19 Update From a Frontline Healthcare Worker September 2020

COVID 19 How to stay safe and still enjoy your life

Dr. Lottenberg in full Personal Protective Gear.

Dr. Jibawi, aka Dr. AJ.

Kate has a question.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a delightful lunch at Mar Vista on Longboat Key (Public)

Thu, 10 Sep 2020 02:31:50 GMT

On September 8, 2020, members of Florida Tesla Enthusiast enjoyed a fun time at the Mar Vista Dockside Restaurant & Pub. The weather cooperated, and we were seated, socially distanced, outside under the stately Buttonwood trees.

Mar Vista is one of the most historic properties on Longboat Key. It was built in 1913 by Rufus P. Jordan, who platted the town of Longbeach, as Longboat Key was known in those days. The site initially housed a bait shop and was a stopping off point for out of town fishermen in the 1940s.

In the 1980s, Ed Chiles bought the property. He is maintaining the "Old Florida" feel of Mar Vista, preserving its history and charm. Ed owns a string of local seafood restaurants and supports several environmental initiatives. He is a Tesla owner, and his Beachhouse Restaurant hosts a Tesla Connector.

Mar Vista was an ideal place for our club to resume in-person activities in a safe, socially distanced manner.

Here are some photos of this delightful restaurant.

Anthony Cabrera, the Assistant General Manager greeted our group.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Permit found for the “Coming Soon” Lakeland Supercharger [Operational](Public)

Thu, 03 Sep 2020 17:28:02 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for the most current status.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum located a permit for the “Coming Soon” Lakeland Supercharger Station. The site is located at the Wawa at 4320 US Hwy 98 N, Lakeland, FL 33809.

The permit doesn't specifically state that this is a Supercharger. However, the fact that Tesla is an applicant for the "Installation of Electric Vehicle Charging Station" at a Wawa in Lakeland makes this virtually certain that is is the Supercharger Station planned for Lakeland.

Here is the vicinity map:

Update as of July 22, 2020.

Construction at the Lakewood Supercharger has begun with the staging of Tesla equipment. I received the following photos from a helpful Tesla owner visiting the Wawa hosting the new Supercharger. It looks like two version 3 Supercharger cabinets have been delivered to power eight terminals.

The two previous photos I believe are of the version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Rack Electric is Tesla's "Go-To" electrical contractor for many Supercharger installations.

Update as of July 25, 2020.

I'm informed that my initial guess regarding the location of the future charging stalls was incorrect. Above is the correct location.

Update as of July 29, 2020.

The two previous photos show the main switchgear on the right and one of the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets in the center.

Update as of July 31, 2020.

Progress is coming along. Here we see five of the seven back-in spaces and one pull-in space. Also shown are the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Update as of August 7, 2020.

The next series of photos show work being done to install a utility transformer. There is already a utility transformer installed, but there is a concrete pad awaiting the installation of a second utility transformer.

It is possible that Lakeland Electric, the local power company, plans to install two medium-sized transformers to power this installation, or the existing transformer may be to power the Wawa.

The existing utility transformer can be seen to the right.

Here is a view of the utility transformer shown in the background. The concrete pad in the foreground is for a second transformer. The smaller conduits closest are for high voltage incoming primary cable. The larger conduits are for the 480 volt secondary cable. The small pipe with the weatherhead is for metering wire. So far, members taking these photos report that there is no sign of a meter cabinet yet. The meter equipment will probably be installed in the area around the hole between the concrete pad and the existing transformer.

Another view of the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets. For a total of 2 MW of capacity.

I am not sure the function of this small box. It may be a Master Controller Cabinet to monitor the Supercharger Station remotely.

Updated August 19, 2020.

The utility transformer has been installed.

Here is the same transformer on the left in relation to an existing utility transformer which may be for the Wawa's electric service.

This hole between the two utility transformers. I believe we can see the metering conduit going from the utility transformer for the Supercharger to the concrete post. On that post is what appears to be an existing meter cabinet for the other transformer. Tesla's contractor will probably install another meter cabinet on the post above the conduit for the Supercharger Station.

Update as of August 22, 2020.

It looks like my comments about the previous photo was correct. The Tesla contractor has installed the meter cabinet for the Supercharger on the same post as the meter for the Wawa electric service. I am pretty sure that this transformer is for the Wawa.

This photo shows the new Supercharger transformer on the left and the existing transformer for the Wawa on the right.

Update as of August 31, 2020.

Meter was just installed in meter cabinet today, August 31, 2020. This station could be energized at any time.

Update as of September 3, 2020.

This station is operational.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Location of Future Panama City Beach Supercharger Discovered [Now Operational] (Public)

Sun, 30 Aug 2020 06:40:22 GMT

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

Virtual Meetup with club member Pete Borras, owner of The TEZLA Studio and First Impression Premier Auto Detail (Public)

Wed, 26 Aug 2020 18:45:54 GMT

On August 25, 2020, we enjoyed an informal Virtual Meetup with club member Pete Borras, owner of The TEZLA Studio and First Impression Premier Auto Detail. Through the marvels of technology, Pete joined us from Cancun, Mexico, where he was trying to enjoy a well-earned respite from work.

Pete is a very industrious Master Detailer and Paint Correction Specialist. He has a studio in Sarasota and his studio in Tampa is less than a mile from the Tesla Service Center. Pete graciously let us interrupt his vacation to field questions and provide tips regarding how to preserve the appearance of our Teslas.

When he returns from vacation, you can reach him at (813) 846-3891.

Here are a few screenshots of some of the participants.

Pete Borras, owner of The TEZLA Studio and First Impression Premier Auto Detail.

If you are a club member who owns or manages a business that is relevant to Tesla owners, and would like to be a featured speaker on a Virtual Meetup, please email me.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla Owners Florida and Tesla Owners South Florida have a meetup and track day at Homestead – Miami Speedway (Public)

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 23:45:00 GMT

I want to thank Denise Grant for putting this event together on such short notice and keeping everyone safe. Denise is both an Event Coordinator in our Southeast Region as well as a Track Instructor. I want to also thank Rafael Santoni, the founder of Tesla Owners South Florida, for getting the word out to his members to join us. I should mention that our clubs are the only clubs in Florida officially recognized by Tesla.

The following article was written by Denise describing the fun.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Each time is just like the first! Having driven performance cars on the race track since the late '80s, there's nothing like the first time you pull off the track.J The smiles and exuberance are so contagious! You're filled with adrenaline and a sense of accomplishment! "I never thought I could do that!!!" "Wow…that was crazy! Did you see….." "we were going 125mph" "that was so much fun!!" "Now I know how those NASCAR guys feel."

Driving on the race track never disappoints! On Saturday, August 22, 2020, our club had a scheduled track time at Homestead - Miami Speedway. This event was a fundraiser for the Speedway's charity for kids. For $20 per car, our group was "paced" around the impressive oval for about 9-10 laps. Who was that guy who got the extra lap in…LOL????

With 20 Teslas and about 40 excited Tesla owners, we gathered at Sonny's BBQ in Florida City at 11am. Since the Speedway is a distance for most folks, this is the right place to Supercharge and have refreshments. Sonny's is only providing outdoor service with covered patio and tent tables. The service, as usual, was quick and offered a spot to gather our groups together. At the track, we were screened for COVID-19 and instructed to wear face masks when outside our cars.

Fortunately, the track was a bit behind on the schedule. This allowed a couple of cars who were delayed, to arrive in time for our 12:30 session. After signing waivers and collecting money, (thanks for all the cash, it made the process much easier), we were directed to pit lane.

When our pace car led us out, we hit the track at over 70mph….this was going to be a fast session Our first lap was tentative …as we learned how to make the left turns while leaning over towards the left. LOL, That was an interesting attitude J Then it was everyone driving where and how they chose! Some drove high on the banking, and some stayed low. Some folks hit 125 mph, and some remained comfortable around 80.

No matter what you chose to do, the result was the same, "Wow, that was so much fun!" Finally, since no masks are needed in the car, what made this even more special was seeing so many genuine smiles on people's faces on the other side of the car windows!

We are looking forward to the next opportunity to drive the Speedway! Thanks to all who came out on the short notice! Thank you to Larry for getting the info out to all the Tesla Owners in the South region and helping organize.

Take Care and stay safe!

Denise Grant

Here's a great video produced by Rafael Santoni, also known as YouTuber TesLatino.

Here are some photos:

Denise Grant, Event Coordinator for Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, aka Tesla Owners Florida, with Rafael Santoni, founder of Tesla Owners South Florida.

All masked up at Sonny's BBQ.

Caravaning to the Speedway.

The winning ticket!

A little after 1:00 pm Denise leads the group onto the track with the temperature registering 100 degrees.

Are you a Tesla enthusiasts and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member, but would like to participate in our next Scenic Drive or a Virtual Meetup, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Stay safe.

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a Drive-In Movie inside the Hardrock Stadium (Public)

Tue, 28 Jul 2020 16:11:00 GMT

On July 26, 2020, several Florida Tesla Enthusiasts Club Members gathered to attend a drive-in movie theater experience inside The Hardrock Stadium. While attendance was small, it was greatly appreciated by the attendees. One club member brought her parents along who have been indoors for an extended period due to COVID-19 precautions. They expressed their excitement to finally be able to get out of the house and ready to enjoy the event from the comfort of their own Tesla Model X!

We enjoyed a showing of the movie Beetlejuice and everyone enjoyed the experience very much while following CDC guidelines for COVID-19 precautions. After the show, everyone shared that merely the ability to be able to drive your car into the Hardrock Stadium was worth the price of entry! The movie was the cherry on top!

There are currently showings playing until August 2, at which time the drive-in theater experience is planned to end. We encourage you to check out other movie times and dates if you missed this opportunity and go! All proceeds from these events will benefit the Miami Dolphins Foundation Food Relief Program.

Many thanks go to Event Coordinator Renzo Torrenga for organizing this event.

Driving into Stadium Video

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy silent caravan along the Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail (Public)

Mon, 27 Jul 2020 20:47:01 GMT

On July 26, 2020, a group of about two dozen club members and guests with 17 Teslas gathered at the Port Orange Supercharger parking lot in the morning for another scenic drive and In-Car activity. The route took us up the beautiful A1A Atlantic Ocean Highway to the Ormond Scenic Loop and Trail.

I want to thank Event Coordinator Tom Siceloff for planning this event and leading the caravan.

Thomas, one of our members from Ocala, became a bit of a celebrity by bringing his Midnight Silver Metallic Model Y. I was one of the paparazzi taking plenty of photos.

After driving the beautiful Ormond Scenic Loop & Trail, one thing was abundantly clear, Teslas were ideally suited for this natural marvel where the posted signs said “Drive Quitely.”

Here are some photos:

Here's Thomas, the owner of a Model Y and an immediate celebrity.

Here's Thomas again with me caught in the act of being the paparazzi.

My wife, Mary Ellen, is either doing her very best impression of the Village People, or is letting us know that there's a Model Y in attendance.

Here's some photos of those in attendance.

The next set of photos show us lining up for the silent caravan.

The next series of photos is driving through the Ormond Scenic Loop.

While waiting at the Port Orange Supercharger to charge for our trip home, we were greeted by a curious onlooker.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Happy Hour with the “Rich Rebuilds” and “The Electrified Garage” crew, Part Deux (Public)

Mon, 20 Jul 2020 19:12:39 GMT

On July 16, 2020, we had another informative and entertaining Virtual Meetup and Happy Hour with the hosts of the YouTube channels “Rich Rebuilds” and “The Electrified Garage to chat about servicing Teslas. On June 25, we had our first Virtual Happy Hour with the crew. This time we were introduced to a new member of the group, Mike Kohlman. Mike worked 20 years with Ford as a Master Technician, where he received Ford certification to work on hybrids and EVs.

Chris Salvo had some breaking news during the Virtual Happy Hour, announcing that, in addition to their shop in New Hampshire, they plan to open a new Electrified Garage soon in Ocala, Florida soon. More details to follow.

Here's some screenshots:

Mike Kohlman, Chad Hrencecin and Chris Salvo in their Electrified Garage in New Hampshire

Rich Benoit, host of the YouTube channel, "Rich Rebuilds," with literally millions of views, joined us from his home in New Hampshire.

I want to thank Angelia Link, one of our Central Region Event Coordinators, and president of The Villages Tesla Group, for arranging for the "Rich Rebuilds" crew to join us.

Jim joined us from orbit on the bridge of the Death Star

Not to be out done, well-traveled Alec joined us all the way from Jupiter.

Even Elon crashed the party! (Not really)

Here I am sitting in my spacious driveway in front of my collection of vintage Model Ss

Chis and Chad show off their cool looking Electrified Garage tee shirts to Mike, who is too newly arrived to have one yet. ;-)

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Governor DeSantis announces Phase 1 of a statewide Electric Vehicle Fast Charger Expansion. (Public)

Sun, 12 Jul 2020 17:08:09 GMT

Last Friday, July 10, 2020, the governor held a press conference in front of the Turkey Lake Tesla Superchargers to announce that the state would be expanding fast charging to 74 terminal locations. Unfortunately, because of the setting, a few media outlets incorrectly assumed that all 74 chargers would be Tesla Superchargers.

The facts are that through a combination of private commercial donations and $8.6 million in funding from the Volkswagen "dieselgate" settlement, the state will be expanding fast charging along state highways. The expansion along the Turnpike will be privately funded and charging infrastructure development along I-10, I-95 and I-75 will be financed by the Volkswagen settlement.

We previously reported on the continuing progress of expanding the number of Tesla Superchargers along the Turnpike in the following article:

Fast Charging & Supercharging Stations will be added at the Florida Turnpike service plazas (Public)

We also reported on the landmark EV Infrastructure Bill that the governor signed into law in June.

Florida Legislature Sends Landmark EV Infrastructure Bill to Governor [Signed into law] (Public)

At Friday's press conference, the governor was quoted as saying:

This long-term investment in electric vehicle charging infrastructure is a win for our state on multiple levels. Not only will these charging stations promote reduced emissions and better air quality, they will also improve mobility and safety for the ever-increasing number of Floridians that drive electric cars. I look forward to building on this investment and continuing our work to improve Florida's environment and transportation infrastructure.

The governor's press release states:

DEP [Department of Environmental Protection] has reviewed the applications received for the electric vehicle charging stations and has selected the projects to receive the awarded funding. With this funding, 74 additional DC fast chargers will be installed statewide. Combined with the chargers FDOT is installing along the Florida Turnpike, a total of 104 DC fast chargers will be installed along over 1,200 miles of highway, covering the most traveled corridors in the state. Each of the 34 locations will have at minimum 2 chargers each. This represents an approximately 50 percent statewide increase in publicly available DC charging stations.

Here is a list of the location of applications that were awarded funding:

Tesla was not awarded any funding. Of course, there is always a remote possibility that Tesla could partner with a location to install Superchargers.

The chart below was presented at the press conference. You will note that the state plans to have 16 Supercharger terminals included along the Turnpike. Four terminals have already been installed and are operational at the Fort Drum Supercharger location, so there are now a total of 10.

If you are interested in learning about our club, please click on the "Home" link at the top of this page. If you are interested in joining our club, please click on the "Join Us" link at the top of this page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a beautiful Scenic Drive over the Tampa Bridges (Public)

Mon, 06 Jul 2020 18:44:20 GMT

On July 5, 2020, despite the dubious forecast, the weather gods shone down on us and rewarded us with a gorgeous day. I want to thank Event Coordinator, Paul Einselen, for planning such a beautiful scenic drive and silent Tesla caravan. It was another perfect In-Car activity that was a safe way to escape the pandemic and get out of the house with fellow Tesla enthusiasts.

We gathered at the Clearwater Mall and proceeded over the Courtney Campbell Causeway, then across the Howard Frankland Bridge, and finally over the Gandy Bridge. We then continued on to our final destination Davis Islands Beach.

I am happy to see that everyone practiced proper social distancing by wearing face masks and maintaining adequate distance from fellow club members. We had about 15 Teslas and over 20 members (and one canine) participating in this fun activity.

Here are some photos.

Are you a Tesla enthusiasts and feeling a bit of cabin fever during the pandemic? If you're not a member, but would like to participate in our next Scenic Driver or a Virtual Meetup, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Fast Charging & Supercharging Stations will be added at the Florida Turnpike service plazas (Public)

Tue, 30 Jun 2020 17:37:39 GMT

Please scroll to the bottom of this article for updates.

Last year, (July 24, 2019) speaking outside the Turnpike headquarters at the Turkey Lake service plaza, Governor Ron DeSantis announced the state would be adding Level 3 charging stations for electric vehicles at all Florida Turnpike service plazas beginning by the end of the year.

For those with a Facebook account click here for a video of the Governor's remarks.

The following graphic was also provided at the news conference illustrating the current and planned charging infrastructure at the Turnpike. (To view the graphic full-size, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.)

You will note that the graphic shows Tesla providing future Superchargers at the Okahumpka, Canoe Creek, Port St. Lucie/Fort Pierce, West Palm Beach and Pompano Beach service plazas along the Turnpike. It also shows Tesla adding charging terminals at the existing Turkey Lake and Fort Drum Supercharger locations. The exact number of future Tesla charging terminals has not yet been determined.

Although the Governor stated that all service plazas would have level 3 chargers, the graphic does not show any new Fast Chargers or Superchargers at the Snapper Creek service plaza.

The stations will be funded by the state’s $166 million share of the Volkswagen emissions settlement (DieselGate), for which 15%, or about $25 million, was designated to be used on electric charging infrastructure.

In addition to the Turnpike, DeSantis said the goal is to have similar stations off of major interstate exits across the state.

“We want to be able to have similar fast charging stations across all of Florida’s major highways,” DeSantis said. “And so if you’re driving [on Interstate] 95 from Miami to Daytona Beach, you can rest assured you can get off an exit and just like you get gasoline, you’re going to have the ability to have access to this.”

Update as of June 20, 2020.

The Tesla Find Us map shows that the Fort Drum Supercharger Station currently has 6 operating Supercharger Terminals. A patron of that station noticed that work has begun to add four more terminals to the location. Please note in the photo below the four terminals at the end that are covered pending activation.

Update as of June 21, 2020.

Update as of June 30, 2020.

The three photos above are of a ChargePoint Fast Chargers with CHAdeMO and CCS (Combined Charging System) connectors funded by FPL. There will be four of these chargers, each has a capacity of up to 62.5 kW. In the last photo the CHAdeMO connector is above the CCS connector. These ChargePoint chargers, along with the 4 additional Supercharger terminals, will complete the planned EV infrastructure expansion at Fort Drum. If the 10 Supercharger terminals are occupied, those Tesla owners with a CHAdeMO adapter have another lower power charging alternative.

For those of you traveling on the Florida Turnpike and stopping at this location, please take some high-resolution photo of the construction progress and send them to me. Also when traveling to the other service plazas on the Turnpike, please check for signs of new Tesla Superchargers.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Virtual Happy Hour with the “Rich Rebuilds” and “The Electrified Garage” crew (Public)

Sun, 28 Jun 2020 21:42:02 GMT

On June 25, 2020, over 40 club members had an informative and entertaining Virtual Meetup and Happy Hour with the hosts of the YouTube channels “Rich Rebuilds” and “The Electrified Garage to chat about servicing Teslas.

Back in 2016, Rich Benoit, an IT manager, and Tesla enthusiast was curious if he could re-build a totaled Tesla. In doing so, he created his YouTube channel, “Rich Rebuilds” with videos about buying, repairing, and mining Teslas for spare parts. Fast forward to the present, and now Rich is an Internet sensation with over 700,000 subscribers and more than 2 million annual views.

In 2018, Rich partnered with a former parts manager for Tesla, Chris Salvo, to open up their repair shop, The Electrified Garage. Chris is also the founder of EV Tuning, an online store that sells parts and accessories to electric vehicle owners.

Chris, a Florida Tesla Enthusiast club member, is actively investigating the feasibility of moving down to Central Florida to start up a new Electrified Garage here in the Sunshine State.

Joining Rich and Chris as a co-owner of The Electrified Garage and staring in Electrified Garage videos with Rich and Chris is Chad Hrencecin. Chad is a former Senior Service Technician with Tesla.

The Virtual Meetup was a lot of fun with Chris and Chad joining us remotely at their garage in New Hampshire and Rich joining with a separate feed.

Above is one of the several screens of participants in the Virtual Meetup. Chad and Chris are shown in the center top row of screens. I want to thank Angelia Link, show to the right of Chad and Chris for organizing this great virtual event.

We plan on having a second Virtual Meetup with Rich, Chris, and Chad on July 16 at 6:00 pm. Stay tuned for details.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Urban Supercharger Station Discovered at Dadeland Station, Miami. [Now Operational](Public)

Thu, 18 Jun 2020 21:27:16 GMT

Please scroll to the bottom of this article for updates.

A member on the Tesla Motor Club forum discovered a new Urban style Supercharger Station under construction at the Dadeland Station shopping center in Miami. The address is 8312 Dixie Highway, Miami, FL 33143. 12 Urban style charging terminals are located on the 2nd floor of the free parking garage.

Urban style terminals charge at up to 72 kW, but the capacity is not shared with another Tesla charging nearby.

The location is less than a mile from the Tesla store at Dadeland Mall.

Here is a vicinity map:

Here are some photos of the charging terminals.

Update as of June 11, 2020.

The Dadeland Supercharger Station is now operational.

The Tesla Find Us map is calling the Dadeland Station the Miami, Fl - South Dixie Highway Supercharger

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a scenic drive to Anna Maria Island (Public)

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 18:13:46 GMT

Although we were rained out the previous week, yesterday, June 13, 2020, the weather held up enough for us to enjoy a leisurely scenic drive. About 40 people in 22 Teslas gathered at the Sarasota Supercharger and linked in a silent caravan along Longboat Key to beautiful Anna Maria Island. We noted a few turned heads on the way.

To continue to safely combat cabin fever in the midst of a pandemic we will be planning other scenic drives and In-Car activities. If you have a specific idea for future scenic drives, please send me a message at lfchanin@gmail.com. We are looking for a scenic route of not more than a two-hour drive, one-way. Ideally, it should start at a location that would accommodate the gathering of several dozen cars and should end at a point of interest. Starting the trip off at a large Supercharger Station would be an ideal kick-off location. It can be anywhere in the state.

Here are some photos of yesterday’s drive.

Natalie & Mike. I want to wish Mike a very Happy Birthday!

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Legislature Sends Landmark EV Infrastructure Bill to Governor [Signed into law] (Public)

Tue, 09 Jun 2020 19:20:25 GMT

UPDATE: On June 9, 2020, the governor signed this bill into law.

Our club is proud to be a voting member of Drive Electric Florida. Drive Electric Florida (DEF) is a unique stakeholder group representing automakers, utilities, charging infrastructure providers, environmentalists, local government, universities, Clean Cities coalitions, and electric vehicle enthusiast groups. It seeks to advance the energy, economic, and environmental security of Florida by promoting the growth of electric vehicle ownership and accompanying infrastructure.

Yesterday, May 26, 2020, the Executive Director of DEF informed me that the President of the Florida Senate and Speaker of the Florida House of Representatives certified Senate Bill 7018 and presented it to Governor DeSantis. This act, related to Essential State Infrastructure, notably has provisions for developing a master plan for electric vehicle charging station infrastructure along the State Highway System.

The governor has until June 10th to take action on the measure. It is widely expected that he will sign this landmark EV Roadmap legislation into law.

The official summary of the bill states:

"Requires the FDOT, in coordination with the Public Service Commission (PSC) and the Office of Energy within the Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services, and any other public or private entities as necessary or appropriate, to develop and recommend a master plan for the development of electric vehicle charging station infrastructure along the State Highway System."

Please note the phrase, “…and any other public or private entities as necessary or appropriate.” The act recognizes that there is a place for the appropriate public and private organizations to contribute to developing a roadmap for electric vehicle infrastructure expansion, not just government agencies. That’s where Drive Electric Florida has been valuable, and continues to make meaningful contributions. Regarding this public and private role, Matthew Alford, Executive Director, Drive Electric Florida states:

“This is a huge win for us as an organization, and a genuine opportunity to take the next meaningful steps toward recognition as the most visible and effective voice for electrification of Florida’s transportation sector.”

As an active member of Drive Electric Florida, our club will assist in its mission to promote electric vehicle ownership and infrastructure. The EV portion of this proposed legislation, spearheaded by Drive Electric Florida, is an essential step in that direction.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Surprise Tesla Parade for young enthusiast's birthday (Public)

Mon, 01 Jun 2020 22:00:33 GMT

The birthday boy Chris looks on during the surprise Tesla drive-by Parade celebrating his birthday

Members of the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and Tampa Bay Tesla Club Facebook Group met on Friday, May 29, 2020, to host a parade of Teslas for Chris, a young Tesla enthusiast's 16^th birthday. The group staged at an Elementary school around the corner from Chris' house. We had a great turn out of over 30 owners. The group left the school shortly before 7 PM and had a quick caravan to Chris' house where he was outside. This parade was a surprise to Chris, and he and his family were very grateful to all in attendance. One Model X owner circled back after the parade X to show Chris the dancing Falcon Wing doors Easter egg.

I want to thank Paul Einselen for organizing this drive-by event.

Here are some photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Model 3 / Model Y Getting Started Guide (Public)

Tue, 26 May 2020 15:16:48 GMT

Tesla Corporate has provided me with a copy of their Model 3 / Model Y Getting Started Guide. It is a basic source of information for new owners that describes how to operate their Model 3 or Model Y on delivery day. It also serves as a quick reference on where to find additional vehicle-related information for new owners.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla provides Virtual Presentation regarding Energy Products and offers Discount to Club Members (Public)

Sat, 02 May 2020 19:01:49 GMT

On April 29, 2020, we were pleased to host a Virtual Presentation by Morgan Harding, Tesla Store Leader, in which she discussed Tesla Energy Products. These products included Solar Panels, Solar Roofs, and Powerwalls. The video conference was well-attended, with over 40 of our members participating during the question and answer portion of the program. Also contributing during the question and answer session was Rich Blair, a Tesla Solar System owner who lives in Venice, FL, and Ruslan Kudlai, General Manager, Tesla Energy.

During the presentation, Morgan provided a nice surprise by offering our club members, for a limited time, a 10% discount off of solar systems if 10 or more of our members purchase a system before May 15.

I remain in communication with Tesla Corporate and local Tesla leaders. We plan to continue to work with Tesla to host additional Virtual events in the future. Stay tuned for details.

These Virtual Meetups will be open to club members only. If you are not a member and would like to join us for virtual activities, or take advantage of the Tesla Solar System discount, please click on the Join Us link above.

Below are a couple of links to videos taken by Rich Blair of his Tesla Solar System installation.

Tesla solar panel installation time lapse Venice Florida

Tesla solar panel installation dronie (selfie with GoPro Karma) plus a few slides

Here's a link to an article by CleanTechnica that features Rich Blair:

The Rooftop Solar “Neighborhood Effect” Transforms Florida Community

Regards,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Construction started for “Coming Soon” Deltona Supercharger [Now Operational] (Public)

Fri, 24 Apr 2020 16:47:18 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for current status.

A member of the Tesla Owners of Central Florida Facebook page discovered the “Coming Soon” Deltona Supercharger Station under construction at a Wawa. The location is 3400 Howland Blvd, Deltona, FL 32725.

Here is the vicinity map:

Update as of April 24, 2020.

Although the Tesla Find Us page and the navigation displays don't yet refect it, as of April 25, 2020, one of the 8 charging terminals was covered, but the Supercharger Station is operational.

While it is likely that this is a version 3 Supercharger, so far we don't have any photos that demonstrate that fact.

For people living or working nearby this location, please stop by occasionally to take high-resolution photos of the site and send them to me. To confirm that this is a version 3 Supercharger Station, we are interested in photos of the Supercharger cabinets or photos of your display showing a charge rate of over 150 kW.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Confirmation of new Tesla Service Center and Store coming to West Palm Beach [Now Operational](Public)

Wed, 08 Apr 2020 15:39:26 GMT

New "Coming Soon" West Palm Beach Service at 5544 Okeechobee Blvd.

For current status, please scroll to the bottom of this article.

An article in the Palm Beach Post on August 16, 2018 indicates that the West Palm Beach Service Center and Store will be moving to a new larger location also in West Palm Beach. The article doesn’t provide any target dates for occupancy. Here’s the relevant excerpt from the article:

“Pebb [Enterprises] also just finished building Tesla’s new showroom and service center, at 5544 Okeechobee Blvd., just east of the Turnpike. The next step is interior construction of the electric car dealership, which will be a flagship Tesla location, one of a new breed of standalone Tesla centers being built. (The location will replace a small, out-of-the-way dealership and service center at 4651 Dyer Rd. in West Palm Beach. Tesla also has small showrooms at The Gardens Mall in Palm Beach Gardens and the Town Center mall in Boca Raton.)”

The Dyer Road location mentioned in the news article currently remains open to support Certified Preowned Tesla operations. The Supercharger Station collocated there is now used to support Dyer Road opperations and its location has been removed from the navigation systems of the Tesla owner fleet.

There has been some speculation on online forums that this new Service Center location could also support the installation of a new public Supercharger Station which would be located less than a mile from the Florida Turnpike. However, a new Supercharger Station was completed last December just 8 miles away from this future Service Center. (New “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Supercharger Station discovered under construction [Now operational] (Public) Therefore, it is unlikely that a public Supercharger Station will be collocated there.

I’ve checked the public records to validate the news article. It is accurate. In July 2017 the property was purchased by Accelerated Investments from Schumacher Auto Group for $5,000,000.

Shortly after Accelerated Investments purchased the property, they hired a Civil Engineering firm to draw up plans to demolish some buildings on the site, renovate others and do reworking of the site to remove asphalt and concrete in preparation of for repaving of parking.

For a full-sized image, right-click on the image below and open it in a separate tab.

Accelerated Investments remains the owner of record. They have the same business address as Pebb Enterprises.

Update as of April 28, 2019.

Review of public building permit records show that an application for Tenant Build-Out (Tesla ) was applied for in September 2017. Then in May 2018 it was approved and immediately suspended by the permitting system, probably because a contractor hadn't been assigned to the project. On November 2018 the application was voided for being inactive for more that 184 days.

Subsequently, in 2018 numerous permits were initiated by the owner of the property, Accelarated Investments, on behalf of various trades. Theses include interior demolition and alterations, electrical, roofing, fire alarms and sprinkers, landscaping, plumbing, lighting, irrigation, etc. This may have eliminated the need for the initial Tenant Build-Out permit application that was voided. Some permits were completed and some remain active. Notably there are several active permits for Tesla signage, again confirming that Tesla is going to be the tenant.

The absence of any Tesla signage on the building or on the front door suggests that Tesla has not yet taken control of the building to utilize approved signage permits.

A club member reports that the main electric meter was recently installed. Prior to this permits were issued for temporary and emergency power to support construction activities.

Update as of January 24, 2020.

Service Center nears completion.

Tesla sign has been installed

The contractor was was very accommodating in allowing photographs to be taken inside. He said that theyare expecting to open in the middle of February.

In addition to the two destination chargers inside, there are six in the front parking lot. The contractor stated that he also had two superchargers to install but those where for internal use and not for the public.

Update as of April 8, 2020.

The new West Palm Beach Service Center is now operational. Service appointments began in late February, 2020.

After the pandemic crisis has passed, if you live near the service center, please forward photos of the store and other highlights such as the Supercharger.

If you are interested in learning more about our club, please click on the "Home" link at the top of this page. If you are interested in joining our club, please click on the "Join Us" link at the top of this page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Construction started for “Coming Soon” Riverside Park Supercharger [Now Operational](Public)

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 21:14:13 GMT

A member of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum located the online permits for the “Coming Soon” Riverside Park Supercharger. The wording of the permit indicates that a version 3 Supercharger is being installed at the Wawa located at 2620 W Broward Blvd, Fort Lauderdale. This location is only 6 miles from the heavily trafficked Plantation Supercharger Station.

Here is a vicinity map: (For a full-sized image, right click on the map and open it in a new tab.)

Another TMC member has visited the site and provided the following photos showing that the Tesla equipment has been delivered to the site.

The equipment shown in the photos above are the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets that will be powering eight charging terminals.

Update as of April 6, 2020.

The Riverside Park Supercharger is now operational.

Four of the 8 charging terminals with the two version 3 Supercharger Cabinets in the background.

Here's the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts conducts its first Virtual Meetup to discuss Model Y Owner’s observations (Public)

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 00:35:46 GMT

Club member Dick Amacher recently received delivery of his Performance Model Y. On Saturday, April 4, 2020, he graciously agreed to participate in a Virtual Meetup (a video conference), where he provided photos and a video of his Model Y. He also responded to questions from other club members.

Club member Zach Shahan, CEO of CleanTechnica, assisted us in hosting and moderating this Meetup.

Dick owns a Long RWD Model 3 so he was able to provide a comparison with his Performance Model Y.

Model Y.pdf

Dick also provided the following photos and observations about his Model Y delivery experience:

My Model Y Delivery by Richard Amacher

I have to admit to some shame picking up my Model Y Performance in the middle of this pandemic, but Tesla has designed a thoughtful ‘touchless’ delivery that minimizes chance for contact between customers and delivery staff. To get to the Tampa Delivery Center I took wipes, a mask and gloves for my Lyft ride there (my cost). Luis Manuel had sanitized his car and we kept our distance between driver and passenger.

I arrived early, so waited in the service lounge using Wi-Fi to check email and messages. At the appointed time I was told my car was ready. I had submitted and signed all required documents in advance online, so only signed once on a sanitized tablet to show I received the vehicle. Being a Model 3 owner I declined any additional orientation and found the controls, screen and settings almost identical. I forgot how many preferences I have fine-tuned over the last year, so that took some time.

Here are some things I found different.

Neither Model 3 nor Model Y now comes with HomeLink remote opener included. I am told this change was made during 2019 due to feedback of low customer use. Since I DO use this feature I had to order a module from the Tesla online store for an additional $300 plus tax. When I receive it a service appointment must be scheduled for installation. It would be nice to have it installed at delivery for the convenience of those who want it.
The Model Y (at least the Performance) includes a wireless phone charger in the console and uses the USB-C plug located in the left position.
The specific software releases are different between Model 3 and Model Y. Those of you with multiple Tesla Models probably already know that. My Model 3 is RWD, so maybe the difference lies there.
Front and rear tires are different sizes. Pirelli 255/35 R21 Front and 275/35 R21 Rear. So, no tire rotation possible.

Here are some things that might be different or I just didn’t notice on receiving my Model 3:

Neither basic Autopilot nor FSD worked on leaving the lot. A message said the cameras had to calibrate. It took about ten miles of driving for them to become ready. The little steering wheel icon acts as a progress gage. When the steering wheel rim is filled in the cameras are ready.
The streaming audio wasn’t ready and asked for a Wi-Fi connection. Apparently, authorizations and certain data are not downloaded to the vehicle until AFTER delivery, including map satellite visualizations. I had to wait until I was home. As it was 90 miles home, this would have been nice to have loaded at delivery. Oh, well…

Now the good stuff:

The seating position and head room are markedly higher than Model 3, as you would expect. I am still figuring out the best wheel and seat positions. The higher position provides a better view which most drivers seem to like and expect.
Rear seat leg room seems greater, but the wheelbase of the two cars is only slightly different, so I must check it.
The main event is the hatch. Once released, it raises itself to expose a cavernous cargo area. A pushbutton on the bottom of the hatch causes it to close automatically. I suspect this is still inconvenient for those standing around five feet tall. I’ll ask my wife to verify this.
As noted by others, there are seat back release switches in the left rear trim panel to fold the seats down without reaching in through the rear side doors. The center seat back can also be manually lowered to allow long objects to be carried without sacrificing either rear outer occupant seat.

Other interesting stuff:

Driving home at modest expressway speeds the consumption definitely is higher than Model 3. This was a concern with opting the 21” wheels and tires, but my choice was to go all in for this car. Although the web site still shows this combination with a range of 280 miles with these wheels, the window sticker provided shows range of 315 miles, the same as base wheels. Interesting? Although I have not charged to full capacity, it appears that when I do the indicted range will be more than 280 miles but less than 315 miles. Also, the algorithm showing charging miles per hour seems to show about 34 mph on my 40 amp home charger where the Model 3 shows 39 mph. So far, so good.
Because I reserved at reveal, the pricing is a little lower than currently. The base price is $490 less and FSD was priced at $5000.

So much for my first day with Model Y.

I want to thank Dick and Zach for making our first Virtual Meetup a great success. We had over 30 club members in attendance, and we plan to schedule additional Virtual Meetups in the future.

If you are not a club member and would like to participate in our next Virtual Meetup, please click on the Join Us menu item at the top of the page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

The “Coming Soon” Vero Beach Supercharger is now operational (Public)

Tue, 17 Mar 2020 17:10:30 GMT

Members of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forum discovered that the previously “Coming Soon” Vero Beach Supercharger station is now operational. It is located at the Wawa at 9050 20th St, Vero Beach, FL 32966. It has 8 version 3 charging terminals.

Here is the vicinity map:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have a meetup at the beautiful settings at the OK Corral Gun Club Resort in Okeechobee. (Public)

Sat, 14 Mar 2020 16:35:27 GMT

Club members enjoyed a fun-filled day starting with a lunch buffet, followed by a sunny afternoon on the range. Some members took joy in a good book on the porch cabin-side. We later were treated to a private four-course catered dinner, featuring gator bite appetizers. Dinner was followed by an evening under the stars by the bonfire - s’mores included!

I want to thank Angelia Link for organizing this event.

About Ok Corral Gun Club Resort

The OK Corral Gun Club is Florida's premier shooting sports club and western town hosting 10 outdoor shooting venues, mining town cabins, recreational activities and event facility. It is situated on 350 acres in natural surroundings just north of Lake Okeechobee. The club features overnight cabins, RV campsites, Sporting Clay Courses, Covered Stand, Wobble Deck, Covered Pistol/Rifle Ranges, Competition Shooting Park, Cowboy Action Shooting and Trap & Skeet.

The resort has two Tesla Connectors, a J1772 charger, 110 v outlets at the overnight cabins and some 240 v, 50-amp RV connections.

Here’s some photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have a meetup at the Gainesville Cars & Coffee (Public)

Sun, 08 Mar 2020 19:04:22 GMT

On Sunday, March 8, 2020, approximately 10 people attended a Florida Tesla Enthuisasts club meetup in coordination with the Gainesville Cars and Coffee at the Gainesville Whole Foods. The meetup was a great success with club members showing off our Teslas to the attendees. Our member's demonstration of advanced summon was very well received. We had an excellent variety of Tesla Model S, X, 3.

I want to thank Eugenio Pereira for coordinating this event.

Here's some photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have a meetup and dinner at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral (Public)

Sun, 01 Mar 2020 01:59:27 GMT

On February 29, 2020, a group of about 18 Tesla owners gathered at the Radisson Resort at the Port in Cape Canaveral for a meetup, cocktail reception and private dinner. Most of those in attendance were our local club members, but we also had Tesla owners from Maryland and Georgia joining us. The surroundings were beautiful, the food and drink was great and the camaraderie was terrific. I want to thank Rachelle Stone for coordinating the dining arrangements.

Here's some photos:

The Radisson Resort has a magnificent pool and a very tropical feel. My wife and I spent several days there and truly enjoyed our stay.

The resort currently has limited destination charging. However, they have expressed an interest in siginficantly expanding their charging capabilities. I am coordinating with resort management and the Tesla charging infrastructure team to facilitate the expansion.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

"Coming Soon" Supercharger Station at Ochopee, FL (Alligator Alley) is operational (Public)

Fri, 28 Feb 2020 17:34:44 GMT

Please scroll down for the most current information.

When Tesla's Find Us Map indicated that there would be a "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station at Ochopee along Alligator Alley, we knew that it would be at the Miccosukee Service Plaza, because frankly there's nothing else nearby.

Yesterday, I received the photo below, showing what appears to be the construction of the promised Supercharger Station. My source told me that he had spoken with the the service plaza personnel and they said it was a Supercharger Station that should be completed in a few weeks. Whereas we are virtually certain that this is a Supercharger installation, nevertheless there aren't any Tesla specific markings yet.

The Miccosukee Service Plaza is located on the Miccosukee Indian reservation. It's address is 47801 W State Rd 84, Ochopee, FL 34141. It is strategically situated roughly halfway along Alligator Alley (I-75) at exit 49, Snake Road. It's 39 miles from the Plantation Superchargers and 61 miles from the Naples Superchargers.

Its a basic service plaza with gasoline pumps, store, deli, large restrooms and picnic area.

Here's a vicinity map. (For a full-sized image, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.)

Update as of November 4, 2019.

From the above photos we think that there may be 12 charging terminals. In addition, there appears to be three separate groups of conduits coming up for the Supercharger cabinets. If this is correct, it would suggest that this is a version 3 Supercharger installation.

Update as of November 12, 2019.

For a full-size image of the renderings below, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum posted the above renderings of the future Miccosukee Service Plaza. At the present we don't have any additional information regarding the expected completion date. All we currently know is that the renderings were done by Burton Hersh Architects.

Update as of November 21, 2019.

Paving has gone in at this Supercharger Station. These photos confirm that 12 charging terminals are being installed.

Here I've zoomed in on the Supercharger concrete pads. I believe that the pad to the left is for 3 Supercharger cabinets. If so, that would confirm that this is a version 3 Supercharger installation. Each version 3 Supercharger cabinet powers four charging terminals, so three cabinets would handle 12 charging terminals which is consistent with the number of spaces shown in the previous photos. The pad to the right is probably for the main switchgear.

Update as of December 15, 2019.

It looks like the three version 3 Supercharger Cabinets have been delivered to the site. Note that they are larger than version 2 cabinets.

Updated December 25, 2019.

Version 3 Supercharger cabinets have been set on the concrete pad.

Update as of January 7, 2020.

It looks like the utility power transformer has been installed. It looks huge.

Update as of February 15, 2020.

In returning from our 7-day Tesla club cruise we briefly stopped by the Ochopee Supercharger Station and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was operational.

This family was Supercharging at the recently operational Ochopee Supercharger Station.

The meter is obviously installed.

Utility tranformer on the left, main switchgear and meter in the center, and two of the three version 3 Supercharger cabinets on the right.

This image was posted on the Tesla Motors Club Florida forum. The Model 3 driver started the charging session with a State of Charge of 3% and achieved a maximum charge rate of 965 miles of range per hour.

Update as of February 28, 2020.

On February 28, 2020 the Miccosukee Indian Tribe had a ribbon cutting ceremony for the Ochopee Supercharger and presented a plaque honoring the loss of one of their members. The Tribe police chief also spoke emphasizing the safety and security of the site. The construction of the new big rest stop/restaurant is advancing nicely.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Deerfield Beach Supercharger discovered under construction at Wawa [Now Operational](Public)

Tue, 25 Feb 2020 21:35:02 GMT

Photo credit: David Lyons/South Florida Sun Sentinel

Please scroll down to the bottom of the article for updated information.

An article in the South Florida Sun Sentinel states that eight version 3 Supercharger terminals are being installed at a Wawa gas station and convenience store at 20 SW 12th Ave, Deerfield Beach, FL 33442.

Tesla charging stations coming to local Wawa stores

Here’s a vicinity map. (For a full-sized image, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.)

Interestingly the Tesla Find Us map does not currently list a "Coming Soon" Deerfield Beach Supercharger Station. However, there is a "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station in Boca Raton about four miles away. So, there is a chance that this installation is the "Boca Raton" Supercharger.

Update as of Jauary 10, 2020:

As of the beginning of 2020, Tesla updated their Find Us map. There now is a Deerfield Beach "Coming Soon" pin in the map and the Boca Raton pin remains as well. So apparently there are going to be two new Superchargers roughly 5 miles apart.

I have located an approved permit application that confirms that there will be 8 Supercharger terminals, but the application does not provide details regarding the version of the Supercharger. The Sun Sentinel reporter of the article linked above informed me that a Wawa corporate representative told him that this will be a version 3 Supercharger installation. We will need photos of the Supercharger cabinets to confirm the version. If there are only two Supercharger cabinets, then this will be a version 3 installation.

Updated as of December 27, 2019.

This appears to be a concrete pad for one Supercharger cabinet feeding four charging terminals.

The white cabinet on the right is the main switchgear. The concrete pad on the left appears to be for one more Supercharger cabinets feeding four more charging terminals. If there are two pads with a total of two Supercharger cabinets, that would indicated that this is a version 3 Supercharger installation.

This is the concrete pad and conduits for the utility power transformer.

Update as of February 25, 2020.

Tesla notified me that the Deerfield Supercharger is operational.

Here's an enlargement of a portion of the previous photo showing one of the two version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla provides informative presentation at a meetup & lunch at Brio's Naples (Public)

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 23:59:24 GMT

On February 22, 2020, we had a great time at Brio Tuscan Grille at Waterside Shops in Naples, as Austin Knight, Manager at Tesla Waterside, and Estero updated us on all things Tesla. Twenty-four members of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and their guest gathered to hear about the upcoming rollouts, new software, solar information, and thoughts about factors that may impact the company. There were lots of questions from the audience and a great chance to meet other Tesla owners in the area. We want to thank Amy Turner for organizing this informative event and Austin Knight for the fabulous presentation.

Here's some photos:

Austin Knight, Manager of the Waterside and Estero Tesla stores provides an informative presentation.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy Celebrate the opening of the Clearwater Supercharger (Public)

Sat, 22 Feb 2020 20:15:58 GMT

On February 22, 2020, over 40 attendees gathered for an informal "ribbon-cutting" ceremony to celebrate the opening of the Clearwater Supercharger at the Wawa located on US Highway 19 N. Darlene Harris, General Manager of the Wawa was a gracious host. She made sure that all of the attendees were welcomed and had a coupon for a free hot beverage.

The Tesla Parking signage hadn't arrived yet, and Darlene indicated that they were on backorder and would be installed as soon as they were available.

The event was an excellent opportunity to celebrate not only the opening of the first version 3 supercharger in Tampa Bay but also for members of the local Tesla community to gather and share stories about their Tesla experiences. There were both local attendees as well as folks from Brazil and Quebec. Members from the Tesla Charging Infrastructure Team and the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy also joined us.

Following the opening ceremony, about 30 people attended our meetup and lunch at Ford's Garage, and everyone had a great time. The food was delicious, and the irony of hosting a Tesla meetup at that location wasn't lost on anyone!

We want to thank our Event Coordinator, Paul Klink, for coordinating this event, Rachelle Stone, our Event Consultant, for assisting in arranging for our group photo, and Dory Larsen, Electric Vehicle Program Coordinator with the Southern Alliance for Clean Energy for promoting this event. Last, but not least, we would like to thank Darlene Harris for the hospitality and Wawa for hosting this Supercharger Station.

Here are some photos:

For the geeks among us, here are the specs for a version 3 Supercharger cabinet.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Another great time cruising the Caribbean for 7 days aboard the Sky Princess (Public)

Tue, 18 Feb 2020 04:38:01 GMT

On February 8 through 15, 2020, for this Members-Only event, 19 of our members and their guests signed up for a 7-day Eastern Caribbean cruise aboard the beautiful Sky Princess, the newest ship in the Princess fleet. I want to thank Erol Brenes for organizing this exciting and romantic adventure, especially on Valentine’s Day. There was plenty of camaraderie, and of course lots of excellent food and drink as well. We stopped at the following ports of call: Princess Cays, Bahamas; St. Thomas, Virgin Islands; and St. Maarten.

We had such a good time that even before leaving the ship, we booked another cruise in 2021 also for Valentine’s Day aboard another brand new ship, the Enchanted Princess. This time we will be cruising the Western Caribbean. Club members can click here to join us and sign up for next year’s cruise. If you are interested, please sign up right away, since there's a great promotion that expires on February 29, 2020.

If you’re not a member, but would like to join us, click here.

Here’s an assortment of photos:

Our friends George & Amy joined Mary Ellen and me in driving down to Port Everglades in our Model S. Embarkation was very fast due to the electronic Medallions mailed to us. Here we are being photo-bombed by an animated turtle just prior to boarding.

After boarding it was time for some libations at Vines! The first two drinks were free!

George, Judy, Mary Ellen, Jim, Tom and George.

Amy and Erol.

Bill, George, Mary Ellen, Jim, Tom and Beverly.

Bill, George, Amy, Ken, Mary Ellen, Jim, Barbara, Tom, Sandy, Larry, Beverly George and Judy.

Day Three was formal night, time for some selfies. Larry, Mary Ellen, Amy, George, Susan and Erol.

Our lovely ladies on formal night. Beverly, Sandy, Barbara, Kate, Erol, Amy, Susan, Marty, Judy and Mary Ellen.

Sandy and Erol discovered what Santa does in off-season.

Susan & Peter

Ken and Mary Ellen.

Ken, Kate and Bill.

Erol and Amy.

George and Mary Ellen.

We booked enough staterooms to qualify for free dining at the Crown Grille specialty steakhouse.

On Day Four many of us booked "The Legendary Kon Tiki Harbor and Beach Cruise." This converted barge is a glass-bottom boat and floating bar with unlimited rum punch and a live steel band. Needless to say, it's a "booze cruise!" The photos below convey that many of us were feeling no pain, ...until later.

Kon Tiki patron?

The next formal night.

Amy, Erol, Barbara and Mary Ellen.

Okay, how many club members can fit in a mini-suite if you drink a lot?

Beverly and Tom.

Erol and her peeps, closing down the Vista Lounge.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Construction started for “Coming Soon” Clearwater Version 3 Supercharger [Now operational](Public)

Mon, 17 Feb 2020 23:17:36 GMT

Please scroll down for updates.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum discovered a permit application for what looks to be the “Coming Soon” Clearwater Supercharger as listed on Tesla’s Find Us map. The permit was issued on October 9, 2019.

The site address is 26508 US Highway 19 North, which appears to be a Wawa convenience store and gas station.

Here is a vicinity map:

You will notice from the excerpt of the permit application reproducted above, that the project description is:

Installation of Tesla Charging Station within existing parking lot consisting of (2) TESLA V3 SUPERCHARGER CABINETS, (8) TESLA V3 CHARGE POSTS, (1) MASTER CONTROLLER, (1) SWITCHGEAR ASSEMBLY, and (1) UTILITY TRANSFORMER. Two concrete pads will be poured for equipment.

So it appears that this will be a Version 3.0 Supercharger. Version 3.0 Supercharger Cabinets are rated 1 MW each and will power four Supercharger terminals at up to 250 kW each.

Update as of November 5, 2019.

Construction has started on the Clearwater Supercharger Station.

Tesla certified contractor is on the case.

Update as of November 9, 2019.

Conduits being installed

Update as of November 12, 2019.

Some of the charging terminal under construction.

More progress on the conduit installation.

Update as of November 14, 2019.

More progress on charging terminals.

Waiting on version 3 Supercharger Cabinets.

This is where the utility transformer will go.

Update as of January 23, 2020.

The utility transformer has been installed.

Update as of February 3, 2020.

The version 3 Supercharger cabinets have been delivered to the site.

The version 3 Supercharger charging terminals have been delivered to the site.

Here's a good view of a version 3 Supercharger cabinet.

The meter cabinet is installed, but the all important meter is missing. In the front is the main breaker with two version 3 Supercharger cabinets in the back.

We believe that all of the version 3 charging terminals have been installed behind the coverings. There's some signage that needs to be installed, but this installation is very close to being energized. Rumors speculate that we are only a couple of days away.

Update as of February 17, 2020.

Although it doesn't yet show on the navigation display or the Tesla Find Us map, the Clearwater Supercharger Station is operational. Signage still remains to be installed. Parking bumpers would also be helpful.

On February 22nd we will be having a meetup and lunch to celebrate the opening. This event is open to the public, but we request that you register on our website so we can obtain a headcount for the restaurant.

If you are interested in attending click on the link below to register:

Join Florida Tesla Enthuiasts to Celebrate the opening of the Clearwater version 3 Supercharger

People living nearby are encouraged to visit the site periodically to take high resolution photos of the construction progress, and forward them to me.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Members of the Panhandle Region of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts participate in Transportation Expo at Seaside (Public)

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 21:20:51 GMT

The Seaside Institute™, in conjunction with the Congress for New Urbanism, hosted a Transportation Expo at the Central Square at Seaside. The Panhandle Region of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts was invited to participate. The February 6, 7, an 8th event consisted of a Transportation Workshop with international and national subject matter experts discussing transit impact issues, a Vendor Expo and Demonstration displaying alternative forms of transportation, and a Luxury Car Club Display featuring Tesla, Porsche, and Mercedes Benz luxury cars and their owners.

Several members of our club’s Panhandle Region attended the event on Saturday to show their cars and provide information to visitors to the expo about electric vehicles. Also, two members from the Jacksonville Showroom brought a Model X and Model S to the show. A total of 6 Teslas were on display garnering much attention along with 28 Porsches and about 5 Mercedes.

The beautiful weather helped to make the event successful, and the team at The Seaside Institute hopes to make it an annual event.

Here's some photos:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts participate in EVs & Tea Event (Public)

Sat, 08 Feb 2020 19:28:00 GMT

On February 8, 2020, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts were invited to attend the first annual EVs and Tea event held in Miami. The event was an enormous success having a large number of Tesla's as well as two discussion panels. YouTube content creators were present: Eli Burton (My Tesla Adventure, STARMAN), Kyle Conner (Out of Spec Motoring YouTube channel), Trevor Page (Tesla Owners Online), Anuarbek Imanbaev (Tesla Geeks), Rafael Santoni (TesLatino YouTube channel), Michael Bodner (Teslatunity YouTube channel).

There was a large display of customized Teslas from Signature Customs. Audi and Jaguar brought their electric cars to showcase. Tesla also had representatives present with display Teslas to show and answer questions from the public.

Renzo Torrenga, our Event Coordinator for the Broward County area, was interviewed by David Sutta with CBS Miami. Click the following link to view the video.

A Look At The Electric Car Craze

Roger Pressman, owner of EVANNEX, (in foreground) and one of the hosts of this event, participates in a panel discussion. Roger is a long-time club member.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiast Participate in Tampa Tesla Delivery Center Owners Event (Public)

Sun, 02 Feb 2020 23:26:27 GMT

We estimate that close to 100 customer Teslas were at the Tesla Owners event

On Saturday, February 1, 2020, the Tampa Delivery Center on Florida Avenue hosted an Owners Event and asked our club to participate. Tesla sent out about 700 invitations to mostly new owners. Our club sent out an additional 300 invitations to our members in our Southwest Region on Tesla's behalf. The intent was for new owners to be able to network with experienced owners to get a better idea of the owner experience in an informal setting.

We estimate that over 200 people were in attendance.

Tesla was an excellent host and the Delivery Center was able to accommodate the large crowd and about 100 customer Teslas. They had an informative and fun agenda:

Solar booth – bring your utility bill for review
Service booth – submit your questions
Test drives – Refer your friends and family for Supercharging miles!
Merchandise booth – gear up on Tesla merchandise
Food trucks – American cuisine and Italian ice
Tesla Trivia – with prizes! Brush up on Tesla knowledge!

Here are some photos of the festivities:

We shared a registration desk with Tesla.

We have Savanna Munyan, Sales Advisor, for doing a great job in organizing this educational and fun event.

Here's most of the Tesla Team supporting this event

Mark LaPlant, Service Manager, chatting with Crystal

Back in 2011, Dharshi was one of our club founders, with Elijah our youngest member.

The customer lounge was well-attended.

Some Teslas with aftermarket accessories were on display

Pete Borras and Sean from Tesla. Pete brought some great looking Teslas with aftermarket enhancements. Pete owns First Impression Detailing in Sarasota and his new The Tesla Studio in Tampa.

We estimate that over 200 people attended this event.

You can never start them too young!

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Coral Gables "Coming Soon" Supercharger discovered under construction [Now Operational](Public)

Thu, 30 Jan 2020 06:17:57 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the most current information.

One of our club members, thanks Ray, discovered the location of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station for Coral Gables as listed on Tesla's Find Us map. Technically it's in Miami about 1.5 miles from Coral Gables. It's located at a Wawa convenience store and gas station at 6971 SW 24th St, Miami, FL 33155.

Here's a vicinity map. You'll notice that its not too far from the Tesla Coral Gables Service Center and the Miami - Dadeland Tesla Store.

For a full-sized image of the map, right click on it and open it in a new tab.

Here's a photo of the charging terminals under construction. There are a total of eight. They have a separate Coral Way entrance and exit from the rest of the store and they are located so as to minimize any chance of unintentional Icing.

We haven't yet been able to locate the permit to get a better idea of whether or not this will be a version 3 Supercharger installation.

Update as of October 23, 2019.

Above is the main switchgear.

This appears to be the location were Tesla would set its Supercharger Cabinets. Unless there is another concrete pad with more conduits, it looks like that there are only two Supercharger Cabinets for 8 charging terminals. If true, that would suggest that this is a version 3 Supercharger installation.

Update as of November 8, 2019.

This photo shows the utility transformer in green to the center right. I'm not sure if the green box to the left is also a utility transformer.

Updated as of January 24, 2020.

Two version 3 Supercharger cabinets.

The installation manual

It's good to see Miami-Dade on the job.

It's hard to tell, but it appears that there are two utility transformers.

Update as of January 29, 2020.

I spoke with the General Manager of the Wawa located at 6971 Coral Way, Miami, FL 33155. He informs me the this version 3 Supercharger is operational.

He also tells me that tommorrow, Thursday, January 30th, 2020 at 10:00 am, there will be a ribbon cutting ceremony for the first version 3 Supercharger in the state.

You are encouraged to attend.

Kate Elliot, Regional Manager, Charging for Tesla along with Wally the Wawa mascot and David Prevost, Director of Store Operations, Wawa, conduct ribbon-cutting ceremony and first version 3 Supercharger in Florida.

Lights on at the Supercharger!

People living nearby are encouraged to visit the site and take high resolution photos of the your Tesla charging.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Kissimmee Supercharger Station is operational. (Public)

Fri, 17 Jan 2020 20:05:56 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the most current information.

On February 14 and 21, 2019 Tesla filed for a permit application for an 8-stall Supercharger Station at the existing Wawa located at 7940 West Irlo Bronson Hwy Kissimmee, FL 34747. Interestingly this Supercharger Station is not currently shown as "Coming Soon" on the Tesla Find Us map. This will be a Version 2 Supercharger installation.

For full-sized images, right click on the image and open in a new tab.

As the vicinity map above shows, the location is near the intersection of route #429 and route #192 and located near many of the Disney World theme parks.

The permit is on hold and is awaiting a Notice of Commencement. It appears that the permitting authority requires a revision to the Site Development Plan before approving the building permit.

Update as of June 7, 2019.

The construction permit was issued on June 6, 2019. We expect Tesla to break ground soon.

Update as of September 7, 2019

Construction started in August, but little progress was made in September.

Start of charging terminal installation.

The utility transformer and the switchgear have been installed.

Update as of December 7, 2019.

Four Supercharger Cabinets have been delivered to the site. This confirms that it is a version 2 Supercharger installation. The two smaller boxes appear to be autotransformers used to boost the voltage.

Update as of December 13, 2019.

The Supercharger Cabinets and autotransformers have been mounted on the concrete pad.

Update as of December 28, 2019.

The Supercharger terminals have been installed.

Update as of Janaury 6, 2020.

The chainlink barriers have been removed and hopefully this Supercharger Station will be energized soon.

The Supercharger Station has not been energized, but everything needed for operation appears to have been installed.

Update as of January 8, 2020.

Utility meter installed.

Regarding this photo: The member of the Tesla Motors Club forum who took the picture reports, "The pedestals are lit up and holding down the button on the gun made the charge door open and then..... Nothing!"

So, we are very close to this Supercharger Station being energized, but there are still some issues that need to be resolved.

Update as of January 12, 2020.

A better view of the main disconnect switch, Supercharger cabinets as autotransformers.

Update as of January 14, 2020.

The Kissimmee Supercharger Station is operational!

Note the green status light.

Although as of today the Kissimmee Supercharger Station is not displayed on the Find Us map on Tesla's website, more importantly your car's navigation system knows that it is operational. However, there are really 8 charging terminals, not 5 as the navigation systems shows.

There are 8 charging terminals at up to 150 kW each.

Update as of January 17, 2020.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum took this photo and reported that Supercharger terminals 3a and 3b were not lit up. the other six terminals were operational. If you right click the above image and open it in a new tab you will see a full-sized image. It shows the middle two terminals are not lit.

Much thanks to those who sent me photos of this installation.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

The Florida Tesla Enthusiasts club has a large turnout at a Tesla Meetup at Whispering Oak Winery (Public)

Mon, 13 Jan 2020 02:14:08 GMT

On January 11, 2020, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts (FTE) also known as Tesla Owners Florida, hosted a public Tesla meetup at the Whispering Oaks Winery in Oxford. Also attending were many members of the newly formed local club, The Villages Tesla Owners Group, as well as the public. We estimate that over 100 people attended and that there were more than 60 Teslas.

Angelia Link, the organizer of this very successful event, is a resident of The Villages and is one of three Event Coordinators for FTE in the club’s Central Region. The Central Region has over 150 active members. Throughout the state FTE has more than 750 members in five regions. It is the only statewide Tesla club officially recognized by Tesla.

Event Coordinator Angelia Link from The Villages on the right. Assisting with our events is our Event Consultant Rachelle Stone on the left.

Angelia, being a multi-tasker, also volunteered to organize a local group for Tesla owners living in The Villages. If you are an FTE member, living in The Villages, I encourage you to join the local group. Likewise, if you are a member of the local group, we encourage you to join our statewide club. Cross pollination is a good thing. (Refer to the links above.)

Angelia put together an ambitious but well-organized program.

It included:

a Villages club meeting in which, in addition to club business, Angelia asked me to describe the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts club to the local group.
a large display of Teslas of all types. We estimate that there were 60 or more Teslas, including a classic Roadster.
a meet and greet with the public in which FTE members were available to display their Teslas and answer any questions the public might have.
Official representatives from Tesla were available to provide test drives to the public.
a tour of the winery.
a complimentary glass of wine.
a delicious luncheon at a private pavilion.
a raffle for door prizes.
a presentation by Tesla Energy Advisor, Chris Knowles, discussing Tesla’s Solar Program.

All-in-all it was a blast!

About Whispering Oaks Winery

Whispering Oaks Winery is located on a large farm in the rolling countryside less than 10 miles west of The Villages in Oxford. They have 40,000 blueberry bushes on the farm and naturally they specialize in producing blueberry wines.

I want to commend the winery for having installed eight Tesla Connectors as destination chargers. So, if you own a Tesla, the winery’s location is programmed into your navigation system.

They offer winery tours, wine tastings and have live entertainment every Friday, Saturday, and Sunday.

On Friday and Saturday evenings, a steak dinner is served outdoors on their patio next to their open wood grill and Koi pond.

As in our case, they cater private parties at their separate pavilion and bar.

Here are some more photos:

(To view a full-size image of any photo in this article, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.)

Working the registration desk to keep things organized.

As an official sanctioned member of Tesla's Owners Club Program, our club has signed a licensing agreement with Tesla to legally use selected trademarked branding such as the top logo.

Teslas as far as the eye can see!

Here I am with my classic Roadster.

Just kidding, here is the Real owner, Thi.

Have you ever heard of a V8 EV? Well, here it is.

Whispering Oak Winery installed 8 Tesla Connectors for charging Tesla vehicles.

With so many Teslas converging on this location in the country, having multiple Tesla Connectors came in handy.

Winery tour by the owner Darryl Siemer.

Live entertainment.

Chris Knowles, Tesla Energy Advisor, providing a presentation regarding Tesla Solar.

The next series of photos of smiling faces were taken at our private lunch in the pavilion.

Event Coordinator Angelia Link addressing the group.

You gotta start them young. ;-)

The next series of photos are of the winners of the door prizes.

Okay, if you are not a member of our club and you had the patience to scroll all the way down this far past all those photos, I feel your pain. I know it must be like being forced to view your friends photos of their vacation. :-(

But, you have to admit that it sure looks like they all had a good time! So, if you've gotten this far, why not go one step further and go to the top of the page and click on the "Join Us" link so your smiling face can be included in the next article.

Regards,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have Happy Hour Meetup at Cob & Pen in Lakeland (Public)

Sat, 21 Dec 2019 14:07:08 GMT

On Tuesday, December 17, 2019 a small group of club members met up at Cob & Pen for a Happy Hour gathering in Lakeland.

We had a nice meeting over cocktails at the Lakeland Cob & Pen. We had Jim, Sydney, Larry a Professor at Polk State and his wife, Bob and Rob. We discussed the new Tesla truck coming out and how great the Tesla cars are. Jim mentioned how he put in the Tesla solar panels and how well they were working. He has a cool app to show how the power moves from the panels to the house and to Duke power when he has extra and how it has made his house and car energy independent. Amazing. Great time by all.

Merry Christmas.

Meet-up at True Food Kitchen at St. Johns Town Center in Jacksonville (Public)

Sat, 14 Dec 2019 18:42:52 GMT

On December 14, 2019, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts had an owner meet up at True Food Kitchen at the St. John’s Town Center in Jacksonville, FL. There were 5 members along with their guests and 6 members of the public with owners coming as far away as Gainesville and Flager Beach. We had 3 model S’s one model X, and 2 performance model 3’s.

There were discussions about various topics such as recent trips and charging experiences while everyone enjoyed the delicious food from True Food Kitchen.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla Owners Meetup at the Gainesville Cars & Coffee (Public)

Mon, 09 Dec 2019 13:23:26 GMT

I want to thank Eugenio Pereira, Event Coordinator, for organizing this event. Below are his observations.

On Sunday, December 8th, approximately 30 people attended a Club meetup in coordination with the Gainesville Cars and Coffee at the Gainesville Whole Foods. The meetup was a great success with club members arriving from as far away as Sarasota. We had an excellent variety of Tesla Model S, X, 3, and even a beautifully kept Roadster Sport.

The Roadster was a huge draw, and the owner was very gracious to allow some of the members in attendance to sit in his vehicle. For many this will be a day to remember for having seen such a rare Tesla Roadster in person. We thank all who attended this fantastic event and hope to see you again soon.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla Owners Meet-up for Drag Racing at the Homestead Miami Speedway (Public)

Sun, 08 Dec 2019 17:01:37 GMT

I want to thank Denise Grant, who is a track instructor and one of our Event Coordinators for organizing this fun event. Below are her observations.

WOW…it never gets old!! We had one first-timer and three veteran racers; all had the same response: “This was really fun, even in my slower Tesla…!” “It was a ton of fun.” “Enjoyed the experience and plan on going again!”

If you’ve never driven a car at speed on a track, …this is next-level fun! Our cars have an incredible burst of continuous speed, and this can be safely experienced on a track! For a $20.00 entry fee, the amount of fun far exceeds the cost!

Our group, Doug Watt and Mo from Punta Gorda, Peter and Susan Grimm from Key West, Justin Horn from Miami, and Denise Grant from Ft Lauderdale met up at 4 pm at Sonny’s BBQ® in Florida City. After chatting and charging up, we headed over to the track around 6:30 pm.

We proceeded to “tech” and were assigned our numbers, and got in line to race. Although we were told that helmets would be needed for glass top cars, that was not the fact. Both Model 3’s ran without question regarding a helmet. There were a few other Teslas at the track enjoying traits!

We also learned a great deal from the other ICE drivers:

1. It is better not to keep driving the car while waiting in the line. Many ICE drivers were pushing their cars to the start line. So Justin used his Summon to move up thru the line. ;-)

2. We noticed a lot of ICE cars with their hoods up for better ventilation, …so I opened my frunk!

My starts were decent, but with my 60 kWh battery, Peter blew right by, as did Justin! Still incredibly fun! Peter bested me with a 7-sec run! Not too shabby for his first time out in 48 years!

We’ll definitely be back!

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have an informative & entertaining time at Laurel Oak Country Club (Public)

Mon, 25 Nov 2019 22:12:28 GMT

On November 24, 2019, we had a well-attended club luncheon with over 60 club members, their guests, members of the public, and of course about 30 Teslas in the parking lot. We savored the excellent food while enjoying the beautiful surrounding at the Laurel Oak Country Club in Sarasota.

Following lunch, Zachary Shanan and David Havasi conducted an informative and delightfully entertaining live podcast in which they discussed the history of Tesla, breaking Tesla news, and invited questions and comments from the audience.

About Zachary Shahan

Zach is the director and chief editor of CleanTechnica. He's also the CEO of Important Media. He is recognized globally as an electric vehicle, solar energy, and energy storage expert. He has made presentations about clean technology at conferences in India, the UAE, Ukraine, Poland, Germany, the Netherlands, the USA, Canada, and Curaçao. You can find his work all over the internet, including on Scientific American, Reuters, and several other websites.

About David Havasi

David was born and raised in Michigan, the youngest son of a "Big Three" auto executive and a teacher, his childhood was immersed in Detroit's rich auto culture. Being both a performance car enthusiast and environmentalist, he had long felt the need to reconcile his love for cars with their negative affect on the environment. David was a member of the Tesla team for almost seven years and served in several roles while helping develop Tesla's sales/delivery presence in the Northeast and Florida.

Below is a link to a CleanTechnica article that discusses our event. For those who couldn't join us, it also provides links to more lenghty videos/podcasts from their new Tesla Inside Out series that feature Zach and David.

Live Tesla Inside Out Podcast — November 24 in Sarasota, Florida

Here are some photos from our event:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

A Special Afternoon with Mr & Mrs T on Tour (Public)

Fri, 22 Nov 2019 05:50:10 GMT

Mr and Mrs T, describing their world travel via Teslas

On November 17th, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts members Jean Labrosse & Manon Belisle hosted “A Special Afternoon with Mr & Mrs T on Tour” at their home in Weston. Ralf Schwesinger and Nicole Wanner (aka Mr & Mrs T) are traveling the world in Teslas, sharing inspiration and supporting the mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy. Their journey has taken them from the heart of Switzerland around the globe, traveling Europe, New Zealand, Australia, and North America, and now to South Florida. They want to discover and share the beauty of our planet and inspire more people to protect it.

Ralf and Nicole are using their experiences to publish the first EV travel guide, focusing on sustainable destinations with EV charging available. They spoke to the group about their journey and how each person can “do something” rather than try to be perfect, and it can certainly make a difference. Everyone was very interested in their mission, enjoyed hearing about their trip and had a good time socializing after they spoke.

There was a nice local turnout for this interesting private club event.

The first edition of the book, The Ultimate EV Travel Guide for Europe, should be available soon in German and English. The US edition will follow at a later date. To read more about their travels, or to purchase the EV travel guide, please visit their website Mr & Mrs T on Tour.

Nicole Wanner and Ralf Schwesinger (aka Mr & Mrs T) from Baden, Switzerland.

Special thanks to Jean and Manon for hosting the event and to Ralf and Nicole for sharing their experiences with the group.

Jean Labrosse & Manon Belisle, Nicole Wanner & Ralf Schwesinger, and Denise & Craig Powell.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Tampa Service Center will be opening November 1st (Public)

Sat, 26 Oct 2019 19:30:00 GMT

Please scroll to the end for current information.

Recently a club member located renovations in progress on the old Bob Wilson Dodge location at 11945 North Florida Avenue in Tampa. It appears to be a new or additional Tampa Service Center nearing completion about 14 miles from the existing Tampa Service Center.

Update May 1, 2018.

One of our club members located the following information from Tesla's Building Contractor, Scherer Construction. This status appears to be as of May 1, 2018. Their posted completion date of Summer 2018 appears to be optimistic. Our best information suggests it will be ready no earlier than October, 2018 or it may even open next year.

"The new Tesla Dealership is a repurpose of an existing auto dealership and 384 parking space garage with an office space. With only a building slab remaining, demolition of the slab and utilities were completed and the new dealership footprint installed. This project has been broken up into two phases. The first phase was the renovation of the parking garage in which all new electrical, paint, structural repairs, and replacement of the elevator was completed. In addition, the 8,000
square foot interior office space which will be used for vehicle delivery was also completed. The second phase is a new 30,000 square foot dealership and service center. The structure is made of tilt wall panels and will include 6 large overhead bay doors for the service center."

Here's their most recent aerial photo as of May 1, 2018.

Update as of July 12, 2018.

Upate as of October 3, 2019.

As you may know, the new Tampa Service Center on North Florida Avenue has been handling deliveries for a while. However, recently we received a credible rumor that the maintenance section of the facility is expected to open next month.

Here's some recent photos of current operations:

Update as of October 20, 2019.

It is being reported on the Tesla Motors Club forum that a Tesla owner has received a service confirmation for the first week in November. So, if the maintenance functions haven't already been initiated at the new Tampa Service Center, they should be by early November.

Update as of 3:30 pm.

In response to our earlier update, I am informed that a club member received an email from Tesla stating that they will be moving to the new Tampa Service Center as of November 1, 2019.

Update as of October 26, 2019.

These recent photos provided by a club member show that the Service Center and Store is pretty much ready to go.

The Store.

The above two photos show that there is ample space for service.

In addition to the several Wall Connectors shown in a previous photo, this photo shows what appears to be a Version 2 Supercharger. (An Urban Supercharger would only have one charging cable, a Version 3 would have four charging cables. This has two which is consistant with a Version 2.)

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have a fabulous time at Hawks Cay in the Florida Keys (Public)

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 15:24:05 GMT

During the weekend of October 4, 2019, forty-three club members and their guests had a fabulous time at Hawks Cay Resort, Villas, and Marina located on Duck Key in the Middle Florida Keys. This 60-acre, tropical paradise is truly a unique resort with:

Five Pools & Saltwater Lagoon
Dolphin Connection™
Beach Sunbathing alongside the Lagoon
Award-Winning Calm Waters Spa
Full-Service Marina with 85 Boat Slips
Offshore & Inshore Fishing Charters
Certified & Licensed Dive, Snuba™ & Snorkel Trips
8 Tennis Courts Fitness Center
Water Sports, including Kiteboarding, Kayaking, & Parasailing
Island Segway Tours
Coral Cay Activities and Adventures

The weather was perfect, and we enjoyed a few planned group events as well as some impromptu events. On Friday we gathered at the Tiki Grill Bar for some libations followed by a beautiful sunset cruise. On Saturday we had a private group dinner at the Angler & Ale restaurant at the marina. The food, drinks, and service were excellent. We also had a few impromptu dinners in Marathon and meet-ups at the various resort venues.

Many thanks go to Rachelle Stone for doing the bulk of the coordinating with the resort.

Here are photos featuring a lot of smiling faces:

The Tiki Grill Bar was a frequent watering hole and we kicked off and closed the weekend event there.

After wetting our whistles at the Tiki Bar we went on a beautiful sunset cruise. Guess What? They served more drinks. ;-)

On Saturday, everyone was free to explore the resort. That evening we had a private group dinner at the Angler & Ale Restaurant. More than 30 members and their guests attended.

Here's a photo of the ride back to the resort from the Angler & Ale.

Hawks Cay Resort is the only hotel or resort in the mainland United States that offers their guests the opportunity of dolphin viewing and interaction on site. Several of our group participated in the Dolphin Connection experience. These photos are of club members Erol, Sandy and Ken.

The dolphin in the following photo is 45 years old and is retired from the Navy.

Here's a nearby spectator.

Some of us spent some time at the Tranquility Pool for adults (MATURITY OPTIONAL).

One of the local residents stalking lunch.

Sunday morning some of us did an impromptu breakfast in Marathon at the Island Fish Company right on the water. Great food!

Sunday evening some of us did an impromptu dinner at the Key Colony Inn in Marathon. Great food!

A great time was had by all and we will seriously consider a repeat event next year.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

CleanTechnica organizes a National Drive Electric Week event in Sarasota (Public)

Sat, 21 Sep 2019 19:24:15 GMT

On Saturday, September 21, 2019, Zachary Shanan, director of CleanTechnica, organized a National Drive Electric Week event at the Whole Foods near the Sarasota Superchargers. (CleanTechnica is the #1 cleantech-focused website in the US and the world, reaching about 7 million readers around the world each month.)

Despite being a last-minute event, about 40 electric vehicles participated. About 30 of them were Teslas.

Here's some photos:

Here's the CleanTechnica article on the event. It includes some drone footage:

Florida Tesla Drivers Drive A Ton!

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts have meetup and car display at Tatts & Tacos Beer Garden (Public)

Thu, 29 Aug 2019 13:47:52 GMT

On August 29, 2019, we had a meetup and car display at Tatts & Tacos Beer Garden. The food and music were great! We had approximately 20 people in attendance, and two Tesla Service Technicians provided some interesting information for our group. All the cars were posed stylishly in front of the restaurant for pictures!

Tatts & Tacos Beer Garden is a Tattoo Art inspired bar and restaurant with a Super Chill Vibe! It’s a trendy new hot spot in Downtown Oakland Park serving authentic Mexican cuisine, 40 craft beers on tap, with a full liquor bar.

Here are some photos:

Two Tesla Service Technicians provided some interesting information.

Some of the Teslas on display at Tatts & Tacos.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a private viewing of “Revenge of the Electric Car” at CinéBistro in Sarasota - (Public)

Sat, 03 Aug 2019 17:00:46 GMT

Despite the torrential downpour and the flooded streets nearby, we had and an excellent turnout for our private viewing of “Revenge of the Electric Car” at CinéBistro in Sarasota.

It seems that the actual weather was duplicating the weather depicted in the movie adverstisement.

A total of seventy-two members and their guests registered for this event, and 90% braved the elements to attend. We dispatched search parties to rescue the few members floating downstream in their Teslas who weren't able to make it.

Seriously, we regret that the weather prevented us from having a photo opportunity of the 30 or so Teslas in the parking lot.

CinéBistro is a well-suited venue for club gatherings with seven luxury movies theaters with in-theatre full-service dining. It has a large, stylishly-appointed lounge where there is a full bar (with great bartenders), extensive wine list, specialty cocktails, and appetizers.

We kicked off the event with a cocktail reception in the lounge. Following libations, our club reserved an entire theater for our private viewing of “Revenge of the Electric Car”. Initially, we planned to book a smaller theater, but CinéBistro management graciously upgraded us to a larger theater to make things more comfortable. We want to thank Felicia O’Brien, Event Manager; and John Berger, Technical Operations for their professionalism in making this a delightful event.

Here are some additional photos with lots of smiling faces:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts meet at the Gainesville Cars & Coffee (Public)

Tue, 16 Jul 2019 18:13:28 GMT

The long awaited Gainesville Supercharger Station is finally operational! The station is located at Butler Plaza in the Whole Foods parking lot where Gainesville Cars & Coffee hosts their monthly gathering for automotive enthusiasts of all types. So, on July 13, 2019, after receiving an invite from them, we thought this would be the perfect opportunity to both meet other car enthusiasts while celebrating the opening of the Gainesville Supercharger Station.

Following the Cars & Coffee event, we reserved the Whole Foods patio area for a continuing brunch/lunch club meet-up with other Tesla and car enthusiasts.

Here's some photos:

If you are interested in learning more about our club and participating in other fun-filled events, please click on the "Home" link at the top of this page. If you are interested in joining our club, please click on the "Join Us" link at the top of this page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts Participates in Parade Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Apollo 11 (Public)

Mon, 15 Jul 2019 21:26:08 GMT

On Saturday, July 13, 2019, we were honored to have had the Astronaut Scholarship Foundation and the City of Cocoa Beach invite our club to participate in a parade celebrating the 50^th anniversary of the Apollo 11 landing on the moon. The City of Cocoa Beach wanted our Teslas to showcase the next generation, innovation and the future.

The weather cooperated and there were large, enthusiastic crowds along the parade route.

Following the parade there was a Street Party featuring various space-themed displays.

That evening there were two concerts featuring Edison’s Children (Rick Armstrong’s Band, son of Astronaut Neal Armstrong) and the Alan Parson’s Project.

If you have a Facebook account here is a link to a video of the parade: (Our Teslas are shown at about 35 minutes into the video.)

https://www.facebook.com/SpaceCoastDaily/videos/497776744304571/

Here's some photos we took of the event:

As you can see from the photos, everyone, both the parade participants and the parade viewers, had a wonderful time celebrating our Astronaut heros.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Massive explosion near Plantation Supercharger Station (Public)

Thu, 11 Jul 2019 18:03:00 GMT

Yesterday there was a massive explosion centered on a vacant store near the LA Fitness Center in Plantation. The site of the explosion was directly across SW 10th Street from the Plantation Supercharger Station. We believe that the Superchargers were not damaged although the area was covered in debris. As of now, at 1:30 pm July 7th, the navigation systems of the Tesla fleet report a temporary closure of the entire Plantation Supercharger Station presumably due to the ongoing investigation.

Early reports state that 23 people were injured, two seriously.

Here is a Google map show the proximity of the explosion to the Plantation Supercharger Station.

Here is a screenshot of the actual devastation.

At least 23 people injured in apparent gas explosion at a Florida shopping center

https://twitter.com/i/videos/1147572912859299842

According to ABC reporting:

Guillermo Villa was across the street about to charge his Tesla SUV when he heard the blast go off.

Villa said he saw light and then a cloud of debris before "I started seeing pieces of the building falling on my head."

"I went underneath my car because there was so much debris flying," he told ABC News. "It was like raining pieces of roof, wall, bricks."

That's when he saw people running and shouting.

"I was afraid," Villa said. "I thought it was a terrorist attack at the beginning."

But Villa said he's grateful he escaped without a scratch.

"It was so close ... I am blessed," he said. "I cannot believe nothing happened to me."

Although a posting on social media reported that Tesla Customer Services stated that the Plantation Superchargers should be operational during the week of July 13th, my official Tesla contacts at Customer Experience are not so definite with regard to a timeframe. They state:

Hello Lawrence,

I received confirmation that our Supercharger team is actively working on re-opening the Plantation station. While I unfortunately cannot give you any timeframe, the site will show in our customers car’s UI as available once it is live again.

Thank you for your patience and cooperation !

Update Plantation Supercharger Station now operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Club members attend the Pensacola Cars & Coffee monthly event (Public)

Sat, 22 Jun 2019 21:51:22 GMT

Andy Hudson, our new Event Coordinator for the Panhandle Region, organized our local participation in the monthly Pensacola Cars & Coffee event on June 22nd. The Cars & Coffee event is free and takes place on the fourth Saturday of every month (except Dec) from 8:00-10:00AM, at the Gander Outdoors parking lot. The event address is 1220 Airport Blvd, Pensacola, Florida 32504.

Here are some photos:

You don't have to be a member of our club to join us at another Cars & Coffee event. However, if you are interested in learning more about our club, click on the "Home" link at the top of this page. If you are interested in joining our club, please click on the "Join Us" link at the top of this page.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts celebrate the opening of the Delray Beach Supercharger at Batch Gastropub (Public)

Thu, 23 May 2019 17:06:58 GMT

You may remember that last year we were pleasantly surprised to discover that Tesla had opened a new 18 - terminal Supercharger Station at The Delray Marketplace without initially having shown it on their "Coming Soon" Find Us map.

To celebrate the opening of the Supercharger Station the Batch Gastropub invited us to hang out at their nearby restaurant and is offering a 20% discount off full-priced items by just showing them our Tesla key FOB or Card Key.

I want to thank our Event Coordinator, Erol Brenes for organizing this event. We had an excellent turnout.

Here's some photos.

Thanks go to Erol Brenes for organizing and hosting this event.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

"Coming Soon" Celebration Supercharger Station located under construction [Operational] (Public)

Wed, 22 May 2019 22:23:43 GMT

Tesla is now using precast concrete foundations for their charging terminals. This photo show 7 of the planned 8 charging terminal.

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the most current status:

One of the members of the Tesla Motors Club forum discovered the location of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station planned for Celebration, Florida.

This photo shows that Tesla is also using precast concrete foundations to sit the Supercharger Cabinets on.

This tarp covers the 4 Supercharger Cabinets staged for installation.

Another forum member located the permits for this installation. The permit description reads:

"INSTALLATION OF TESLA ELECTRIC VEHICLE CHARGING EQUIPMENT TO INCLUDE 8 CHARGING POSTS 4 CHARGING CABINETS 1 SWITCHGEAR ASSEMBLY 4 AUTO TRANSFORMERS 1 UTILITY TRANSFORMER AND 1 ELECTRIC METER ON H FRAME"

The address for this location is 6240 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy., Kissimmee, FL 34747, which Google tells us is the location of a Five Guys burger restaurant. Interestingly this location is less than 5 miles from another recently discovered Supercharger Station that is awaiting permits. It is located on the same highway at an existing Wawa gas station at 7940 W. Irlo Bronson Memorial Hwy.

Here is a vicinity map showing the proximity of the two upcoming Supercharger Stations. Both are located nearby several Disney theme parks.

For a full-sized images, right click on any image and open in a new tab.

Update as of April 12, 2019.

All 8 charging terminals have been installed.

This photo is taken from the same general position as the second photo. It shows that the 4 Supercharger Cabinets have been set on the concrete foundations and the ground has been backfilled.

I frankly am not sure what this box is. This may be the high voltage switchgear, but it is much smaller than switchgear we have seen at other Supercharger Stations.

This photo shows the terminals in the background in relation to where the Superchargers and other high-voltage gear are located. (The Supercharger Cabinets are just out of frame to the left of this photo.) I am not positive what will go over the conduits shown here. It might be the utility transformer. The concrete pole will probably be used to mount the meter cabinet.

For those that live near the sites, please periodically visit and take high resolution photos of the construction progress and send them to me. In addition to the charging terminals, make sure to also focus your attention across the parking lot to the progress near the Supercharger Cabinets and keep a look out for the high-voltage switchgear which will probably be at least three tall, large gray boxes. Also look for the utility transformer which will be a large green box.

Correction:

In an earlier version of this article today I stated:

To figure out if this is going to be a Version 3 Supercharger location look for two things. When the charging cables at the terminals are installed, are they thinner than normal terminal cables? If so, this will be the new liquid cooled Version 3. If you can get a close up of the labeling on the Supercharger Cabinets, see if you can locate the capacity. If each cabinet says 250kW it is the new Version 3.

It is true the charging cables will be thinner. However, based on Tesla's blog article Introducing V3 Supercharging, there won't be Supercharger Cabinets labeled 250kW. There will be a new 1MW power cabinet with a similar design to Tesla's utility-scale products. So we need to see something that looks like this:

Since we have photos of the old conventional Supercharger Cabinets for this Supercharger Station, we can pretty much rule out that this might be a Version 3 station. Sorry for getting people's hopes up.

Update as of May 3, 2019.

The charging terminals have been wrapped in plastic pending energization of the Supercharger Station.

The utility transformer and meter cabinet has been installed.

Update as of May 21, 2019

While not shown on the navigation displays or on Tesla's Find Us web page, the Celebration Supercharger Station is operational.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

New Urban Supercharger Station discovered at Mary Brickell Village Parking lot in Miami (Public)

Wed, 08 May 2019 16:08:04 GMT

A new Urban Supercharger Station was discoverd at the Mary Brickell Village Parking Garage at 71 SW 10th St, Miami, FL 33130

An alert member of the Tesla Motors Club who lives in Miami found a new Urban Supercharger Station listed on his Tesla's navigation system. Here's what it looks like on my navigation system. (As of May 9th this new station is not displayed on the Tesla Find Us map.)

You will notice that the graphic shows 4 stalls at up to 63 kW maximum. This is unusual since standard Urban Superchargers are supposed to have a capacity of 72 kW.

My contact at Tesla assures me that the graphic is correct. However, the nameplates show a capacity at 72 kW for each charging terminal. See below.

It is of course possible that the the standard 72 kW Urban Superchargers have for some reason been de-rated to 63 kW. I guess we will need to see some actual charging rates to definitely determine the capacity.

Vicinity Map - For full-sized image, right click and open in a new tab.

Another thing that's usual about this new Urban Supercharger Station is that it is only two blocks from the 10 existing Urban Superchargers whose entrance is located at SW 8th Street. The entrance to these new Urban Superchargers is located at SW 10th Street.

The entrance to the parking garage is located on SW 10th Street between South Miami Avenue and SW 1st Avenue. The entrance is on the 3rd floor. The chargers are located in the Northeast corner. The sign provided makes it easier to find.

There are fees to park in the Mary Brickell Village garage.

0-1 Hours: $3
1-2 Hours: $6
2-3 Hours: $11
3-4 Hours: $15
4-6 Hours: $20
6+ Hours: $30
Lost Ticket: $30
Overnight: $30/day

Two disconnect switches on left, two autotransformers and two Supercharger Cabinets powering two charging terminals each.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Another new Service Center discovered in Pensacola (Public)

Sun, 28 Apr 2019 20:20:24 GMT

Photo Credit: Andrew Roddy

Tesla Motors Club forum member Andrew Roddy has discovered another new Tesla Service Center in Pensacola.

Photo credit: Andrew Roddy Address: 175-B East Olive Road, Pensacola.

Here is a vicinity map.

I am informed by Tesla that this Service Center location still needs lift installation and a few other components before opening.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

A pleasant surprise, a new Service Center in Sarasota had a soft opening today! (Public)

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 18:10:53 GMT

Tesla has only had access to the new Sarasota Service Center for a short time to convert it for use. While we were visiting the electricians continue to work. We were told that the floors will be resurphased and obviously a lot more equipment has yet to be installed.

Earlier this month I had occasion to contact Mark LaPlant, the Manager of the Tesla Tampa Service Centers regarding a Tampa matter. He casually mentioned that he had been out of the office on a project for Elon. Although I certainly was curious, out of courtesy I didn’t press him on the comment. Little did I know at the time that the project in question was going to greatly benefit current and future Tesla owners living in and nearby the Sarasota area.

Last year Elon had gone on record via Twitter of having reviewed Tesla’s service locations in North America and had come to the realization that there was a need to quickly expand Service Center coverage. It turns out that Mark and his boss, Gus Cobeaga, Regional Service Manager, had been pursuing a new Service Center in Sarasota and recently got the “Okay” from Elon. Since I live in Sarasota, for purely selfish reasons, I am sure glad that Elon listened to Mark and Gus. ;-)

Seriously, this is a very sound decision because it builds off of the presence of a Tesla Store in Sarasota and the significant ownership base that already exists here. Likewise having an existing 20-stall Supercharger Station in Sarasota is helpful for prospective new Tesla owners who live in condos or rental units where obtaining permission to install a home charger may be problematic.

The point is that having this threesome of a Store, a Service Center, and a large Supercharger Station all in Sarasota will serve to drive demand because it alleviates any reservations prospective owners in the area may have about the convenience of a buying, servicing or charging a Tesla (even if they can't install a home charger).

So, two days ago when Mark invited me to join him for a soft opening of a new Sarasota Service Center I was naturally pleasantly surprised and very excited. He also gratiously permited me to invite our club members who live in Sarasota. About two dozen expressed an interest in dropping by today. From the smiles on their faces you can see that they are enthusiastic as well.

Mark says that they have already selectively been taking a few cars for service, but he estimates that they won't be fully operational for at least a week or more. There's a lot of work to do, but Mark's an old hand at this.

The service center is located at:

5231 McIntosh Rd, Sarasota, FL 34233

Here's a vicinity map.

For full-sized images of any of the photos, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.

The service center is located off of exit #205 on I-75. (As you can see, Google obligingly informs me that it will only take me 14 minutes to drive there from home!)

Here are some photos:

Address: 5231 McIntosh Rd, Sarasota

One lift had been installed, more to come.

Two Tesla Wall Connectors have been installed, more to come.

There are two overhead doors providing access to the facility

The future lobby area has quite a bit of space.

Yes, it has a restroom.

Mark LaPlant, Service Manager for the Tampa and Sarasota Service Centers (in the middle). Early arrival club members on the left and Tesla Service techs on the right.

Mark LaPlant on the right. Happy Sarasota club members on the left.

Before going to the Service Center.

After going to the Service Center.

Full disclosure: it's not likely that the Service Center will be doing body repairs. Actually, this is a photo of club member Pete Borras, who is also the owner of the Tesla Studio in Tampa and First Impression Premeir Auto Detail in Sarasota (Pete is a Master Detailer and Paint Correction Specialist.) Pete unfortunately was in an accident with his Model 3 as seen in the previous photo. Fortunately, he was not hurt and here he is with his back-up Model 3.

More photos of happy club members from Sarasota:

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Electrify Sarasota Earth Day followed by pizza! What's not to like? (Public)

Sun, 21 Apr 2019 05:01:39 GMT

The weather was great for the Electrify Sarasota Earth Day celebration at the Florida House Institute. The 45 registered EV owners, half of which owned Teslas, reported 1,087,983 electric miles driven.

Our club member Zach Sharek was featured on local news.

Electric Vehicle expo in Sarasota

About 8 years ago, when Zach was a precocious 11-year old, he and his dad Chris Sharek, also a club member, were the first early adopters and vocal EV advocates in Sarasota. At the time Chris had just purchased a Chevy Volt and the two of them would give impromptu talks to the public on the virtues of going electric. I recall how young Zach would earnestly explain how he was going to take really good care of his dad’s Volt because when he reached driving age it would be his. A few years ago, Chris purchased his Tesla Model S and sure enough Zach inherited the Volt. How time flies, but it was so good to see them still both at this event in their respective EVs!

Here's some photos of the event and of a little club meet-up we had after the Earth Day event at a great local pizzeria.

Confirmed the location of the “Coming Soon” Gainesville Supercharger Station will be at Butler Plaza [Now Operational] (Public)

Thu, 18 Apr 2019 14:18:00 GMT

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE FOR PERIODIC UPDATES: (To view full-sized images, right click the image and open it in a new tab.)

As you may be aware, the Tesla Find Us web page has listed a “Coming Soon” Gainesville Supercharger Station for some time now.

For those of you that live near Gainesville, please keep a lookout for Supercharger construction activity at Butler Town Center in Gainesville. We have received credible, but unsubstantiated reports, that the future Gainesville Supercharger Station may be located there.

Butler Town Center is currently under construction. It is comprised of Butler Plaza and Butler North which are existing huge shopping areas that are strategically located right off of I-75. One of the new expansions is a Whole Foods grocery store which is due to open this month. As you may know, there has been a recent trend for Supercharger Stations to be sited near Whole Foods locations.

In attempting to confirm our suspicions that Butler Town Center might be the location of a new Supercharger Station, one of the members of the Tesla Motors Club forums contacted the mall management and received the following response:

“While we can’t confirm the details, we are working with a charging station company to install stations at Butler since it is right off the busiest interstate exit in Gainesville—we too feel it’s a great fit! We can confirm however that Whole Foods has added car charging stations to their parking lot—which will charge any brand of car (technically—but maybe slow for Teslas).

We will be releasing all the details soon once the arrangement is fully finalized.”

Here’s a map of the location:

Update as of May 7, 2018:

I had a Facebook messenger exchange with Butler management. In response to my inquiry about the number of chargers at Whole Foods, their response was:

Shop at Butler Whole Foods has installed two electric car charging stations, and more announcements to come!

I believe that the "more announcements to come!" remark is likely to be an announcement about the Superchargers. It is Tesla's practice to ask their host locations not to reveal or confirm Supercharger locations until the installation is operational. So we shouldn't be unduly disappointed if the Butler folks couldn't expressly state that a Supercharger Station is coming. The fact that they consistently state that there are more announcements or more details coming, to me is a very good sign.

Update as of June 18, 2018.

One of our club members has located the official permit. As you can see the permit request was filed on June 1, 2018 and is for a 10 terminal Supercharger Station at the 3217 SW 35th Blvd, Gainesville, which is the main address for Butler Plaza North Town Center.

Update as of December 11, 2018:

Butler Enterprises has stated that soon Butler Town Center in Gainesville will be hosting a Tesla Supercharger Station. They also invited our club members and the public to join them on December 8^th at their First Annual Holiday Tree Lighting Ceremony in which Santa arrived in style in a Tesla Model X.

The Gainesville Sun reported on the event and discussed the Supercharger Station. Here are some excerpts from the article:

Tesla’s 10 charging stations are expected to be operational in January

Gainesville is a welcome pit stop for many motorists heading by on I-75, but soon Tesla drivers will have an option to recharge their vehicles as they shop.

Butler Enterprises announced Saturday during the Town Center holiday tree lighting that it has partnered with Tesla, which specializes in electric car manufacturing, to bring 10 Tesla Supercharger stations to Gainesville.

Mary Reichardt, Butler’s corporate director of marketing, said the charging stations will be located in the parking lot west of Whole Foods, 3490 Archer Road, and behind Chili’s.

Reichardt said the charging stations located in Butler Town Center will be “a convenient stop off the interstate” for traveling Tesla owners.

They will be the first Supercharger stations in Gainesville. The closest currently are in Lake City and Ocala...

...Tesla is now working with the city of Gainesville on permitting, and hopes to begin and complete the charger stations in January.

The Tesla announcement was made in holiday-fashion, Reichardt said, as a Santa arrived at the Butler Town Center block party in a Tesla Model X, which launched into a festive music and lights show.

Comment: The article states that Tesla hopes to start and complete the Supercharger Station in January. While it may be possible to build a station in four weeks, in my opinion the likelihood of obtaining an approved permit, starting and completing construction and obtaining inspection approvals in just four weeks is extremely unlikely. Note that Tesla's initial permit application expired on November 28, 2018.

After Tesla obtains a permit and breaks ground, for those living nearby, please check the parking lot east of the Bonefish Grill (in the red area of the map above) for signs of construction and send me high resolution photos of the progress.

Update as of February 12, 2019:

As of February 12, 2019, the online permitting system still does not yet show that a permit has been issued, but the permit application records show an email exchange that suggests permit approval is imminent. The email is an exchange between the Site Acquisition Manager with Black & Veatch, Tesla's engineering and construction firm that is responsible for designing, site assessment and permitting of Supercharger Stations, and the Gainesville Chief Plans Examiner. The Site Acquisition Manager is inquiring regarding the status of the building permit and the Plan Examiner is responding that he is working on the permit, but General Liability & Worker Comp Certificates for the Tesla contractor performing the work are still required.

One of our club members and members of the Tesla Motors Club (TMC) forums have provided photos showing the fencing, barricades, etc. in the location mentioned by Butler’s corporate director of marketing previously reported. That is, it is located in the parking lot west of Whole Foods, 3490 Archer Road, east of the Bonefish Grill and behind Chili’s. Although we do not yet see any Tesla equipment, one TMC member reported that when he visited the site that he spoke with an installer who said the site is definitely for the Tesla Superchargers.

It appears to me that the staging of this fencing and barricades is in preparation for the permit, but in the absence of a permit Tesla's contractor hasn't broken ground yet.

Here are some photos of the staging provided to me by our club member.

Based on the photos provided to me, below are two Google views providing an orientation of where I thinks the charging stalls will go relative to the various landmarks in the shopping mall.

The Google view of the parking lot shows the previous layout. It has since been improved to install a sidewalk adjacent to the where the charging stall will be aligned.

This Google street view shows where the charging stalls will go in relation to the Bonefish Grill, Whole Foods and Chilli's.

Update as of February 15, 2019:

A permit for this project was issued today (February 15, 2019).

Update as of February 24, 2019.

Tesla's contractor broke ground on the Gainesville Supercharger Station on or around February 17, 2019. I want to thank our club members and members of the Tesla community for providing the following photos.

Uncharacteristically, at this location Tesla is actually advertising this future station with a large banner seen toward the left of this photo. (For a full-sized image of this photo, right click and open the image in a new tab.)

A close-up of Tesla's banner announcing the opening of a new Supercharger Station.

Four of the ten future charging terminals.

All ten of the future charging terminals.

Update as of March 3, 2019.

More progress.

A small manhole (handhole) will be set over these conduits and cable will be pulled from across the street to this location and then to the individual charging terminals. (I had initially erroeously thought that the Supercharger Cabinets would be set over these conduits.)

The 10 charging terminals have been set in concrete.

In zooming and cropping the previous photo, you can more clearly see the high voltage switchgear, the dark gray cabinets in clear plastic, in front of one of the Supercharger Cabinets, in the back with a light grey protective covering.

Update as of March 6, 2019.

Here are the 5 Supercharger Cabinets.

The labeling shows that these Superchargers are version 2, 135 kW. (Tesla will be releasing the new version 3 Superchargers with a capacity of 250 kW.)

Update as of March 15, 2019.

Four of the ten charging terminals have been installed. This photo shows three of them.

Update as of March 16, 2019.

This is the same locations shown 6 photos above. A handhole has been set over the conduits, which have been cut back below grade. The hole has been backfilled and a small tree planted in the "green space". Some of the cabling from the charging terminals may have been pulled into the handhole. It is expected that additional cables from the Supercharger Cabinets will also be pulled into this handhole to connect to the charging terminal cables.

The white boxes on the left are autotransformers. Since the feed to the charging terminals will be coming from across the street, to compensate for the voltage drop, the autotransformers will be used to slightly boost the voltage coming out of each Supercharger Cabinet.

Across the street from the location of the charging terminals is the utility power transformer. Placed near the transformer will be the high-voltage switchgear and Supercharger Cabinets. This is located behind the Chilli's (red building to the right).

These conduits are across the street from the charging terminals and are located to the right of the transformer in the previous photo. The conduits in the foreground will go to the high-voltage switchgear and cabling in these conduits will connect to the transformer. In the background are the conduits for the 5 - Supercharger Cabinets. A concrete pad will be poured over the conduits.

Update as of March 22, 2019.

This photo was taken from the vantage point of the rear of the Chilli's restaurant. In the foreground are the forms and steel reinforcement for the concrete pad that will be poured around the conduits. The Supercharger Cabinets and high-voltage Switchgear will be set over the conduits. To the right is the utility power transformer. On the other side of the street, behind the fencing and banner the 10 charging terminals are located.

Update as of March 26, 2019.

All 10 charging terminals have been installed.

Update as of March 29, 2019.

The Tesla contractor poured the concrete slab and set the high-voltage switchgear (grey boxes) on it.

Here's the view from the other side. The switchgear is on the left. To the right the Supercharger Cabinets will be set over the conduits that are stubbed out above the concrete slab.

Update as of March 31, 2019.

The 5 Supercharger Cabinets have been set on the concrete pad. There are 5 sets of three large conduits stubbed out of the pad. I believe that the 5 autotransformers will be set over them.

Update as of April 4, 2019.

The 5 autotransformers have been installed.

Update as of April 8, 2019.

The construction fencing around the installation has been removed. The meter cabinet has been mounted on a concrete pole. It would appear that all that remains prior to energizing is to install the meter in the meter cabinet.

The 10 charging terminals look ready to go. The parking spaces could use some parking stops to prevent accidentally backing into the terminals.

Update as of April 16, 2019.

As of about 4 pm today (April 16, 2019) the meter has been installed, but the station has not yet been energized. Hopefully it will be soon.

Update as of April 17, 2019.

The Gainesville Supercharger Station is now operational.

The Gainesville Supercharger Station was energized sometime last night April 17, 2019. Note the Tesla lights on the charging terminals are lit.

This photo was taken this morning April 18, 2019.

I want to thank those who provided photos of the construction progress. Particular thanks go to club member Eugenio for his numerous contributions.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
lfchanin@gmail.com

Top 10 Plug-In Electric Vehicles Registered in Florida Year-End 2018 (Public)

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 08:08:12 GMT

Florida Department of Motor Vehicles registration data for year-end 2018 shows that there were 37,776 plug in electric vehicles registered in the state. This total includes both fully battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electrics. Of that total, 20,246, or 54% were Teslas. There were 51 different types of plug in vehicles registered in the state.

Here is the ranking of the top 10 Plug In Vehicles. Please note that Teslas took the top three rankings even over less expense plug in vehicles.

Plug In Vehicle	Rank	Number Registered	%
Tesla Model S	1	8,943	24%
Tesla Model 3	2	7,329	19%
Tesla Model X	3	3,924	10%
Chevy Volt	4	3,667	10%
Nissan Leaf	5	2,012	5%
Ford Fusion	6	1,654	4%
BMW i3	7	1,368	4%
Ford C-Max	8	1,073	3%
Smart EQ fortwo	9	887	2%
BMW i8	10	668	2%
41 other Plug Ins	11-51	6,251	17%
Grand Total		37,776	100%

Here's the top 10 Florida Counties ranked by number of registered Teslas.

County	Rank	Registered Teslas	%
Dade	1	3,288	16%
Palm Beach	2	2,884	14%
Broward	3	2,796	14%
Orange	4	1,588	8%
Hillsbourgh	5	1,366	7%
Pinellas	6	901	4%
Collier	7	646	3%
Sarasota	8	613	3%
Duval	9	573	3%
Seminole	10	490	2%
Remaining Counties	11-67	5,101	25%
Grand Total		20,246	100%

Here's the top 10 Florida Counties ranked by number of Teslas per population.

County	Rank	Population Estimate (as of July 2017)	Registered Teslas	Teslas per 10,000 Population
Palm Beach	1	1,414,144	2,884	20.4
Collier	2	357,470	646	18.1
Martin	3	153,022	247	16.1
St. Johns	4	229,715	361	15.7
Sarasota	5	407,260	613	15.1
Broward	6	1,873,970	2,796	14.9
Monroe	7	76,889	102	13.3
Orange	8	1,313,880	1,588	12.1
Dade	9	2,743,095	3,288	12.0
Seminole	10	454,757	490	10.8
Remaining Counties	11-67	11,459,940	7,231	6.3
Grand Total		20,484,142	20,246	100%

“Coming Soon” Union Park Supercharger Station discovered under construction [Now Operational] (Public)

Thu, 14 Feb 2019 16:43:07 GMT

Most of the planned 14 Supercharging terminals have been installed.

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

A number of our club members have discovered the “Coming Soon” Union Park Supercharger Station under construction at the at Waterford Lakes Town Center near the Regal Cinemas in the parking lot of The Social House restaurant (435 N Alafaya Trail, Orlando, FL 32828).

Here is a vicinity map. (For a full sized images right click on the images and open them in a new tab.)

Here are some photos of the installation.

From photos taken it appears that there will be 14 – 120 kW charging terminals. As of December 2, 2018, most of the charging terminals were installed, 7 Supercharger Cabinets (white cabinets) and the high voltage switchgear (grey cabinets) have also been installed.

The utility has yet to set the concrete pad, power transformer and install the meter.

The annual carnival is being set up in the same parking lot so the Supercharger Station is currently totally blocked off. It is therefore unlikely that any additional utility work will proceed for a while.

Update as of January 20, 2019:

It looks like Tesla's contractor has completed its work and the local utility has set the power transformer. The only thing that appears to be required is the installation of the meter in the meter cabinet.

Update as of February 14, 2019.

The Union Park Supercharger Station is now operational.

New Supercharger Station discovered under construction in Riverview [Now Operational] (Public)

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 17:12:30 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for current status.

Tesla owners posting on social media have discovered a new Supercharger Station under construction at a Winn-Dixie grocery store in Riverview. What is interesting about this discovery is that you will notice that it is not currently listed on the official Tesla Find Us map. The Winn-Dixie store is located at 10665 Big Bend Rd, Riverview, FL 33579.

Here is a vicinity map.

Recently Tesla seems to be clustering a number of Supercharger Stations in urban areas. The Tampa area has received several stations.

Judging from the number of Supercharger cabinets at the construction site it appears that this station will have 10 charging terminals.

Here are 5- Supercharger cabinets and 3- high voltage switchgear cabinets.

Update as of January 10, 2019:

Trenching and conduits for charging terminal. Contractors set Supercharger Cabinets and high voltage switchgear on concrete pad.

A couple of the charging terminal have been installed.

Update as of February 13, 2019.

10 Supercharging terminal are now operational

Here is a photo of the first Tesla to charge at this new Supercharger Station. Currently this station is not displayed on Tesla navigation screens nor is it shown on the Tesla Find Us map.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts promote Cars & Coffee hosted by EVANNEX (Public)

Sun, 03 Feb 2019 23:35:46 GMT

177 people registered for this popular event.

On February 3rd this was a very successful, free Cars & Coffee type event, that included an exclusive meet and greet with Trevor Page, Founder of Model 3 Owners Club. Trevor came all the way from Toronto to meet the Tesla community here in sunny Florida. He spoke about the Model 3 and did a brief Q&A with the crowd.

Other special guests included, Eric Camacho & Ian Pavelko (Model 3 Owners Club Podcast), Michael Bodner (Teslatunity on YouTube), and Rafael Santoni (TesLatino on YouTube). In addition to being a the host of a popular YouTube channel, Michael is a member of our club and serves on one of our event committees in the Southeast Region.

Special guests: Ian Pavelko, Eric Camacho, Trevor Page, Michael Bodner and Rafael Santoni

Here's a link to EVANNEX's coverage of the event complete with a gallery of photos:

EVENT RECAP: TESLA OWNERS INDULGE IN SOME 'CARS AND COFFEE' WITH MODEL 3 EXPERT

EVBite, an online magazine that covers developments in the electric vehicle industry, also covered this event. Although the title of the article was a bit of a "head-scratcher", they nevertheless covered the event nicely.

WE WENT TO A TESLA CULT MEETING SO YOU DON’T HAVE TO

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Now that gasoline prices are low and Tesla has increased the Supercharger rates, are Teslas still cheaper to drive than gasoline vehicles? (Public)

Tue, 22 Jan 2019 18:37:00 GMT

Note: Last night (January 21, 2019) when I initially published this article, the Florida Supercharger rate posted on the official Tesla website was $ .31 per kWh which was a 41% increase over the previous rate of $. 22 per kWh. Today (January 22, 2019) Tesla revised their website and the current posted rate is now $ .28 per kWh, a 27% increase. This article has been revised to incorporate the current Supercharger rate as of January 22, 2019.

Recently Tesla increased the rates to Supercharge in Florida by 27 %. For illustrative purposes I’ve calculated the dollars per mile to drive a long-range Model 3 (non-performance), a 100D Model S and a 100D Model X when being charged for Supercharging versus charging at home. I also calculated what the minimum mpg of a gasoline vehicle would have to be to match the Tesla costs for each of these three examples using the current average cost of gasoline in Florida versus the current average cost of electricity in Florida.

Model 3 Costs per mile

According to the federal government’s fuel economy statistics, a long-range Model 3’s fuel economy is .260 kWh/mi. To charge a long-range Model 3 at a Supercharger in Florida with Tesla’s new fees of $.28 per kWh equates to a cost of about $ .07 per mile. According to Electricity Local, the average residential cost of electricity in Florida is about $ .1142 per kWh. So, for comparison, to charge a long-range Model 3 at home typically equates to a cost of about $ .03 per mile.

According to AAA Gas Prices, average gasoline prices in Florida for regular and premium gasoline are currently only $2.224 and $2.837 per gallon respectively. So, a gasoline vehicle using regular gas now only requires an mpg of about 31 to match the Model 3’s cost of $ .07 per mile when exclusively paying Supercharging fees. Gasoline vehicles requiring premium gas would need to achieve an mpg of 39 to match the cost per mile of the Model 3 when paying for Supercharging.

At the current average cost of gas, gasoline vehicles on regular gas would still have to achieve an mpg of 75, and premium gasoline vehicles would have to achieve an mpg of 96, to match the cost per mile of a Model 3 when charging at home.

Model S Costs per mile

Likewise, according to the government, a 100D Model S has an efficiency of .330 kWh/mi. If the Supercharging costs are not “grandfathered” at zero, that equates to a cost of $ .09 per mile to Supercharge at current rates. That compares to $ .04 per mile to charge at home. With average regular gasoline prices in Florida at low levels, it only requires a regular gasoline car to achieve an mpg of about 24, or a premium gasoline car to achieve an mpg of about 31, to match the Model S’s $ .09 per mile while exclusively Supercharging.

A regular gasoline vehicle would have to achieve an mpg of 59, and a premium gasoline vehicle would have to achieve an mpg of 76, to match the cost per mile of a Model S charging at home.

Model X Costs per mile

Finally, the government puts the efficiency of a 100D Model X at .390 kWh/mi. Likewise, if the Supercharger costs are not “grandfathered” at zero that equates to a cost of about $ .11 per mile while exclusively Supercharging, or in comparison $ .045 per mile to charge at home. With average regular gasoline prices at low levels, it only requires a gasoline vehicle using regular gas to achieve an mpg of about 20, or a premium gasoline vehicle to achieve an mpg of 26 to match the Model X’s $ .11 per mile while exclusively Supercharging.

A regular gasoline vehicle would have to achieve an mpg of 50, and a premium gasoline vehicle would have to achieve an mpg of 64 to match the cost per mile of a Model X charging at home.

Cost per mile Supercharging vs. Home

Example	Fuel Economy (kWh/mi)	Supercharge ($/mi)	Home ($/mi)
Model 3 Long-Range	0.26	0.073	0.030
Model S 100D	0.33	0.092	0.038
Model X 100D	0.39	0.109	0.045

The costs per mile in the article were rounded to two significant figures. The costs in this table are displayed to three significant figures. Calculations used the additional precision presented in the table.

According to the Bureau of Transportation Statistics, in 2016 the fuel economy of an Average light-duty vehicle was 22.0 mpg, for New passenger vehicles it was 37.7 mpg, and for New light-duty trucks (SUVs are included in this category) it was 27.4 mpg. So, due to the current low price of regular gasoline, for Teslas who must pay Supercharger fees, the cost per mile on trips may not be as low as some high-mpg gasoline vehicles when competing with all classes of light-duty vehicles and trucks.

However, it is still likely that when comparing similarly optioned gasoline cars in Tesla's respective classes, the Teslas would still compare favorably when measuring dollars per mile. For instance, comparing a Model 3 with a BMW 3 class, or comparing a Model S with a BMW M5, etc.

It should also be noted that most charging, perhaps as high as 90%, occurs at home so overall the fuel costs of Teslas are still going to be less than the vast majority of gasoline vehicles even with this increase in Supercharging rates.

Update as of January 22, 2019 1:37 pm.

Electrek reports, Tesla cuts Supercharger prices back down after customer backlash over increase.

From the article:

"Now Tesla told Electrek that it listened to customer feedback and decided to reduce the Supercharger price increase by 10% globally.

After the price increase last week, the average price in the US was $0.31 per kWh.

It is now down to $0.28 per kWh"

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Tesla proposes to open new store at Coconut Point Mall in Estero [Now Open] (Public)

Wed, 16 Jan 2019 20:18:44 GMT

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the most current information.

The Planning & Zoning Board for The Villages of Estero will conduct public hearings at 5:30 pm on December 11^th for a Tesla store to be located at Coconut Point Mall, 23101 Fashion Drive Suite #13, Village of Estero, FL.

According to public records the proposed Tesla store will be 3,871 square feet and will be located in the former Grape Base location. Up to 3 Tesla models will be displayed within the store space. Approximately 7 parking spaces and charging stations will be located across from the southerly corner of the Tesla store space. Each on-site vehicle can be test driven and selected from the designated parking areas. There are approximately 9 overflow parking spaces for the Tesla tenant space. These spaces are located in the rear parking area. The proposed hours of operation are Sunday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 11 pm.

The planning staff has recommended approval of this request with the following conditions:

The Tesla showroom is limited to three vehicles; the parking area is limited to a total of 20 automobiles.
The use is limited to one showroom, east of Via Villagio only.
No incidental servicing, repairs or stocking of parts is permitted in the tenant space.
Hours of operation shall not exceed Sunday through Thursday from 9:00 am to 10:00 pm and Friday and Saturday from 9:00 am to 11:00 pm.

Below is the location of the proposed store, parking and charging locations:

Update as of December 11, 2018:

The planning board unanimously approved the application for the Tesla store with the limitations recommended by planning staff.

Update as of January 16, 2019.

The Tesla Store at Coconut Point Mall is now open

New “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Supercharger Station discovered under construction [Now operational] (Public)

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 02:10:00 GMT

The new West Palm Beach Supercharger Station will have 8 charging terminals.

A members of the Tesla Motors Club online forum (screen names Oldschool496 and Racerx22b) have discovered the new “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Supercharger Station. It is being constructed in the parking lot of a Wawa gasoline station at 7289 Garden Rd, West Palm Beach, FL 33404. The Supercharger Station will have 8 – 120 kW Supercharger terminals. It is less than 2 miles away from the existing West Palm Beach Supercharger Station that is colocated with the West Palm Beach Service Center/Store on Dryer Blvd. It is likely that the Supercharger Station on Dryer will no longer be available as part of the public Supercharger network after the new station is operational.

Here is a vicinity map: (For full-sized images right click on images and open in new tab.)

Utility transformer on left, installed meter center, 4 - Supercharger Cabinets on right.

Update as of December 20, 2018.

Tesla technician works on Supercharger cooling system.

The Tesla technician estimates that the station should be operational in a few days depending upon final inspection by the city.

Update December 20, 2018:

This station is now operational

Current list of Opertational Supercharger Stations in Florida. (Public)

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 22:53:00 GMT

Some of the 20 Supercharger terminals at the Sarasota Supercharger Station.

This article is continuously updated as new Supercharger Stations in Florida come online.

The table below lists all 32 of the operating Supercharger Stations. Click the link to the name of the station for a description of the amenities available nearby. In the comments section of the table are links to our articles discussing those locations that we have discovered being built.

Supercharger Station	Terminals	kW	Status	Comment
DeFuniak Springs	5	120	Operational
Tallahassee	6	120	Operational
Live Oak	12	120	Operational
Lake City	6	120	Operational
St. Augustine	6	120	Operational
Ocala	8	120	Operational
Port Orange	6	120	Operational
Turkey Lake	6	120	Operational
Orlando, FL - W. Sand Lake Rd	8	120	Operational
Tampa -Wawa	8	120	Operational
Brandon	8	120	Operational
Pinellas Park	8	120	Operational
West Melbourne	8	120	Operational
Fort Drum	6	120	Operational
Sarasota	20	120	Operational
Port St. Lucie	8	120	Operational
West Palm Beach	8	120	Operational
Fort Myers	8	120	Operational
Naples	8	120	Operational
Plantation	16	120	Operational	Plantation Supercharger Station has undergone an expansion to 16 terminals. (Public)
Aventura	35	72	Operational
Miami, FL - SW 8th Street	10	72	Operational
Miami, FL - SW 7th Street	13	72	Operational
Florida City	8	120	Operational
Marathon	4	120	Operational
Miami, FL - NE 41st Street	14	72	Operational	“Coming Soon” Miami – “Wynwood” Supercharger is operational in the Design District (Public)
Delray Beach	18	120	Operational	“Coming Soon” Delray Beach Supercharger found operational at Delray Marketplace (Public)
Fort Myers	14	120	Operational	“Coming Soon” Fort Myers Supercharger location found under construction [Operational](Public)
Tampa, FL - Hyde Park	10	120	Operational	"Coming Soon" Supercharger at Tampa-Hyde Park located [Operational] (Public)
Altamonte Springs	8	120	Operational	Construction has Started on the Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station [Operational] (Public)
Jacksonville	8	120	Operational	The location of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station in Jacksonville has been discovered [Operational] (Public)
Pembroke Pines	16	120	Operational	Found Pembroke Pines, "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station [Now operational] (Public)

Please be on the lookout for signs of construction at the listed “Coming Soon” locations. If you spot any construction activity that looks like a Supercharger installation, please send me some high resolution photos.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

"Coming Soon" Supercharger Stations for Florida (Public)

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 19:11:49 GMT

This article is continuously updated as new Supercharger Stations in Florida come online.

Tesla owners in Florida are fortunate to have an abundance of Supercharger Stations. With 32 operating Supercharger Stations, Florida is ranked third in the nation behind California and Texas. Those 32 stations provide access to 239 individual Direct Current Fast Charging terminals that can charge at over 300 miles of range per hour.

As Tesla continues to aggressively expand the number of Supercharger Stations in the Florida network, the size of many of these newer stations is also growing impressively. For instance, whereas the first Supercharger Station in the state installed in July 2013 only had 8 charging terminals, in September 2017 Tesla built a Supercharger Station in Sarasota with 20 – 120 kW terminals.

Tesla has also introduced a new type of Urban Supercharger terminal. Designed for tight city locations the Urban Superchargers have a more compact design than the original Superchargers and they are deployed in even greater numbers. For example, the Urban Supercharger Station that went operational in May 2018 at Aventura Mall has 35 – 72 kW terminals.

Below is a table listing the locations of all of the “Coming Soon” Supercharger Stations for Florida shown on Tesla’s official Find Us map. 16 are planned for 2018 and 10 for 2019. We only a couple of weeks left in 2018, so obviously some of the 2018 stations will slip into 2019, but nevertheless Tesla's progress in expanding the network has been impressive.

We also discovered a new Supercharger Station under construction in Saint Johns that Tesla didn’t note on their map. So, there are actually 27 Supercharger Stations expected to be operational by 2019. In the Article section of the table are links to our articles discussing those "Coming Soon" locations that we have discovered to date. The articles are periodically updated when we receive new information.

Supercharger Station Location	Expected opening	Article
Destin	Open 2018
Gainesville	Open 2018	Confirmed the location of the “Coming Soon” Gainesville Supercharger Station will be at Butler Town Center (Public)
Celebration	Open 2018
Tampa, FL - Wesley Chapel	Open 2018
Tampa, FL - Clearwater	Open 2018
Lakeland	Open 2018
Yeehaw Junction	Open 2018
West Palm Beach	Open 2018	New “Coming Soon” West Palm Beach Supercharger Station discovered under construction (Public)
Boca Raton	Open 2018
North Naples	Open 2018
Weston	Open 2018
Riverside Park	Open 2018
Hollywood	Open 2018
Miami Beach, FL - Bal Harbour	Open 2018
Miami Beach, FL - South Beach	Open 2018
Miami, FL - Coral Gables	Open 2018
Pensacola	Open 2019
Palm Coast	Open 2019
Winter Park	Open 2019
Union Park	Open 2019	“Coming Soon” Union Park Supercharger Station discovered under construction (Public)
Winter Garden	Open 2019
Millenia	Open 2019
Cocoa West	Open 2019
Beach Park	Open 2019
Ochopee, FL (Alligator Alley)	Open 2019	At Ochopee on Alligator Alley the only suitable location is the Miccosukee Service Plaza.
Key West	Open 2019
Saint Johns	Open 2019	New Supercharger Station discovered under construction in Winn-Dixie parking lot in Saint Johns Commons [South Jacksonville] (Public) Currently this station is not on Tesla's Find Us map.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

New Supercharger Station discovered under construction in Winn-Dixie parking lot in Saint Johns Commons [South Jacksonville] (Public)

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 21:56:57 GMT

One of our club members has discovered a new Supercharger Station under construction in the Winn-Dixie parking lot in Saint Johns Commons (South Jacksonville), address 2220 CR 210 West, Jacksonville. This “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station is currently not yet listed on Tesla’s official Find Us map. For restroom access the Supercharger Station will be adjacent to a Shell Gasoline station which is open 24/7.

Here is the vicinity map:

(For full-sized images right click on images and open in new tab.)

Here's the location of the Supercharger Station in the Winn-Dixie parking lot.

The white boxes are the Supercharger Cabinets. Note the proximity to the Shell Gas station to the right.

All 10 charging terminals have been installed.

The 5 Supercharger cabinets on left with three high-voltage switchgear cabinets on right.

Tesla Car Show at The Dellagio Town Center in Orlando (Public)

Fri, 16 Nov 2018 18:22:53 GMT

On November 4, 2018, the Dellagio Town Center invited our club to display our Teslas to the public at an exclusive Tesla Car Show centered around their signature fountain inspired by the famous Place de la Concorde. The Dellagio Town Center is a hidden gem on Restaurant Row in Orlando featuring over 130,000 square feet of dining and entertainment in a European inspired development reminiscent of Italy.

Although the weather didn't exactly cooperate on this Rain or Shine event, the glistening brick pavers provided a dramatic backdrop for the Teslas on display. Much thanks go to Angelia and David for serving as hosts of this event.

Here's some photos:

Following the Car Show for dinner and libations our members gathered at Urbain 40, an American Brasserie and Lounge with an atmosphere reminiscent of the big band era.

Please support the EV Drive Coalition's initiative to reform the federal electric vehicle tax credit (Public)

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 18:26:29 GMT

Yesterday, Tesla, GM, Nissan, and other EV stakeholders formed the EV Drive Coalition to reform the electric vehicle tax credit.

The EV Drive Coalition brings together a diverse group of industry, consumer and environmental stakeholders with a single unifying mission: encourage passage of legislation reforming the federal electric vehicle tax credit to ensure that it works better for more consumers for a longer time frame and spurs increased growth of the U.S. EV market.

Please visit their website at EV Drive Coalition for more details. Make sure to click on the GET INVOLVED link to voice your support of this initiative to your members of Congress.

Thanks for your support!

Regards,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoy a Weekend Getaway in Historic St. Augustine (Public)

Thu, 01 Nov 2018 16:54:20 GMT

The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest masonry fort in the continental United States. It is located on Matanzas Bay in the city of St. Augustine.

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts enjoyed a relaxing weekend getaway in historic Saint Augustine from October 26 to November 3, 2018. This event was structured such that each family could spend one, two or three days (Friday through Sunday) to suit their schedule.

We arranged for group hotel rates at the Holiday Inn St. Augustine-Hist. District and Best Western Historical Inn, St. Augustine. Both hotels had Tesla Destination Chargers and were conveniently located in the historic district of St. Augustine.

Optional Group Activities:

On Friday, we had a casual reception at the bar at the Holiday Inn, followed by dinner at the nearby MOJO Old City BBQ. Great BBQ!

On Saturday, morning we arranged to have Old Town Trolley Tours pick us up adjacent to the Holiday Inn for a private guided tour of portions of historic St. Augustine. Our group fee included unlimited self-guided, hop on/hop off the continuing trolley route for a total of 3 days.

The trolley tour conveniently dropped us off at the St. Augustine Distillery where we had a fascinating tour followed by free tastings.

After the distillery tour we had a delicious brunch/lunch at the Ice Plant Bar located in the same building as the distillery.

The distillery and bar are located in the historic Florida Power & Light Ice Plant building. Built as part of St. Augustine’s ﬁrst power and ice complex in 1907, it was the ﬁrst of it’s kind to make commercial block ice in Florida over 100 years ago. The building was lovingly restored and brought back into service as a distillery and and restaurant/bar. It is on the National Register of Historic Places.

After brunch/lunch members were free to jump on and off the trolley route at their own pace to continue to tour historic St. Augustine.

Saturday evening we had a truly lovely private group dinning experience at the Raintree Restaurant. In addition to providing fine dining, the restaurant is located in a stately 129 year old Victorian house. It is one of the last survivors of a period of development that began in this part of St. Augustine after the end of the Civil War.

Here's some photos of our members enjoying themselves.

At the MOJO Old City BBQ:

Hanging out at the Holiday Inn Bar

Tyna, the trolley lady (second from right) distributes tickets.

Our merry group poses with our driver at the Distillery Tour stop.

At the Ice Plant Bar. They had a delicious and distinctive menu.

At the Raintree Restaurant. Causal, yet fine dining in a 129 year old Victorian home.

If socializing with other Tesla enthusiasts across the state looks like fun, please click on the "Home" menu item above to learn more about our club. To join, please click on the "Join Us" menu item.

Regards,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts tour Babcock Ranch, the city of the future (Public)

Sat, 20 Oct 2018 19:54:06 GMT

Self-Driving Shuttle at Babcock Ranch planned community Source: Florida Weekly

On October 13, 2018, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts were treated to a tour of Babcock Ranch, the city of the future. The event was well-attended with over 40 members with their guests registering to attend. Following the tour we enjoyed a delicious lunch at Table & Tap, with farm-to-table dining.

About Babcock Ranch
Babcock Ranch is a new master-planned community under development on the Lee and Charlotte County line in Southwest Florida, about 15 miles northeast of Fort Myers. With 18,000 acres of land, Babcock Ranch is an area larger than Manhattan that will accommodate 19,000 homes and 50,000 residents when completed.

With more than 340,000 solar panels in place, Babcock Ranch aims to be the first town in the U.S. powered solely by solar energy. In partnership with Florida Power & Light Company (FPL), Babcock Ranch donated 440 acres of land for a 74.5 mw solar facility. FPL created the largest solar-plus-storage system operating in the U.S. today. Each of the ten battery storage units at the FPL Babcock Ranch Solar Energy Center can store 1 megawatt of power and discharge for 4 hours. The new battery storage system ensures a steady output of power even on partly cloudy days.

Residents will live in energy-efficient homes and use self-driving electric shuttles to get around. Alternative internal transportation systems employ advanced and developing technologies to provide environmentally-friendly ways to get around town. In addition to electric-powered, self-driving shuttles running along set routes, Babcock Ranch is an early implementation site for on-demand self-driving cars that you can schedule with an app on your smart phone.

Here's some photos:

Babcock Ranch provides EV destination charging.

A Solar Tree

We head out to the Solar Array with almost a full bus.

Florida Power & Light built this observation deck from which to view the extent of the huge solar array.

Part of the huge solar array.

On the left are the 10 battery storage units undergoing testing.

What a greating looking group!

My wife poses with Jason Caissie, the leader of the Southwest Florida EV Owners Club. Notice his electric scooter. Jason and his wife are waiting to move into his new home being built in Babcock Ranch.

One of the autonomous shuttles drives a prescribed route.

Onboard the autonomous shuttle.

Dining at Table & Tap.

Slater’s Goods & Provisions is a market and café at Babcock Ranch that offers a farm-fresh menu.

Here's a collection of random photos of our happy members.

Celebrating the opening of the Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station (Public)

Fri, 19 Oct 2018 16:43:30 GMT

On September 29, 2018 Florida Tesla Enthusiasts celebrated the opening of the Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station with a meet-up and lunch in a private room at the nearby Seasons 52 Restaurant. The event was open to the public and over 30 people registered for the event. Various door prizes were awarded. Here are some photos:

Found Pembroke Pines, "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station [Now operational] (Public)

Thu, 11 Oct 2018 20:50:00 GMT

Vicinity map of Cobblestone Plaza, likely location of Pembroke Pines Supercharger Station with 16 Charging Terminals

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for current status.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum recently discovered a permit for a "Tesla Charging Station" submitted on March 22, 2018 to the City of Pembroke Pines. The address of the location is 14916 Pines Blvd, Pembroke Pines which corresponds to a Chase Bank in the Cobblestone Plaza Shopping Mall.

On this site plan the Chase Bank is located in the center of the property. Also located on the property is a Whole Foods grocery store. Tesla seems to have an arrangement with Whole Foods in that lately Supercharger Stations are frequently sited near their grocery stores. [For a full-sized image, right click and open in a new tab.]

The Tesla website's Find Us map lists a Pembroke Pines "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station targeted for the end of this year. The vicinity map above of the Cobblestone Plaza shows that it is strategically located right off of I-75.

Although the permit information doesn't explicitly use the words Supercharger Station, the language virtually confirms that this is a Supercharger Station with a mention of transformers, control panels, multiple charging stations, fault current, service equipment and control cabinets. It also mentions 16 "charging posts". As a result we are very confident that this is the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station.

Apparently the permitting folks need more information from Tesla's Electrical Contractor and have denied the electrical application until it is forthcoming.

Update as of May 31, 2018.

Tesla's civil engineering plans were approved on May 31, 2018.

Update as of June 29, 2018.

It looks like the building permits were approved and initial work started in the parking lot. The photo below was provided by a member of the Tesla Motors Club forum.

It appears the Superchargers will be located along the North edge of the parking lot parallel to Pines Blvd between Chase Bank and Whole Foods.

The rectangle in the Google Street View below shows the location of the construction area for the Superchargers.

Update as of October 11, 2018.

The Pembroke Pines Supercharger Station is now operational with 16 - 120 kW charging terminals.

Top 10 Plug-In Electric Vehicles Registered in Florida (Public)

Fri, 21 Sep 2018 12:45:26 GMT

Florida Department of Motor Vehicles registration data for the second quarter 2018 shows that there were 29,433 plug-in electric vehicles registered in the state. This total includes both fully battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electrics. Of that total, 13,037, or 44% were Teslas. There were 45 different types of plug-in vehicles registered in the state. Here is the ranking of the top 10.

Vehicle	Rank	Number Registered	%
Tesla Model S	1	8,181	27.8%
Chevy Volt	2	3,802	12.9%
Tesla Model X	3	3,059	10.4%
Nissan Leaf	4	2,133	7.2%
Tesla Model 3	5	1,747	5.9%
Ford Fusion	6	1,579	5.4%
BMW i3	7	1,285	4.4%
Ford C-Max	8	1,057	3.6%
Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid	9	940	3.2%
Smart ForTwo	10	879	3.0%
Other (35 other Plug-Ins)	11-45	4,771	16.2%
TOTAL		29,433	100%

Here's the top 10 Florida Counties ranked by number of registered Teslas.

County	Total Teslas	Rank by # Teslas
Dade	2,250	1
Palm Beach	2,072	2
Broward	1,759	3
Orange	906	4
Hillsborough	852	5
Pinellas	593	6
Collier	435	7
Sarasota	434	8
Duval	368	9
Other	330	10

Here's the top 10 Florida Counties ranked by number of Teslas per population.

County	Population Estimate (as of July 2017)	Total Teslas	Teslas per 10,000	County Rank per Population
Palm Beach	1,414,144	2,072	14.7	1
Collier	357,470	435	12.2	2
Martin	153,022	176	11.5	3
Sarasota	407,260	434	10.7	4
St. Johns	229,715	230	10.0	5
Broward	1,873,970	1,759	9.4	6
Monroe	76,889	66	8.6	7
Dade	2,743,095	2,250	8.2	8
Walton	65,301	49	7.5	9
Orange	1,313,880	906	6.9	10

Plantation Supercharger Station has undergone an expansion to 16 terminals. (Public)

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 21:28:00 GMT

The status of this Supercharger Station will be periodically updated. Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for the latest update.

It appears that Tesla is adding 8 additional charging terminals to the existing Plantation Supercharger Station.

Update as of July 18, 2018.

It appears that Tesla's contractor has poured the concrete pad and stubbed out conduits for the future 4 Supercharger Cabinets.

Update as of August 1, 2018.

5 of 8 of the Supercharger Terminals for the expansion have been intalled.

Update as of August 2, 2018.

Here's a photo of the enclosure for the new Supercharger cabinets.

All 8 of the new Supercharger terminals have now been installed.

Update as of September 11, 2018.

All 16 charging terminals are now operational and are displayed on Tesla's Find Us web page and the navigation systems of the Tesla fleet.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
lfchanin@gmail.com

The location of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station in Jacksonville has been discovered [Operational] (Public)

Thu, 30 Aug 2018 14:12:00 GMT

This article will be periodically updated. For the most current status information, please scroll down to the bottom.

One of our club members has found the building permit for the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station in Jacksonville which is planned to open later this year according to Tesla's Find Us map. It is located at 4866 Gate Parkway, Jacksonville. Google lists this location as a Wawa gas station.

Here is a vicinity map. You'll notice that it is about one half mile from the existing Tesla Store in Jacksonville. It is located across Gate Parkway from the Markets at Town Center which is the final expansion phase of the St. Johns Town Center.

We are not sure from the permit, but we believe this may be an 8-stall Supercharger Station.

Update as of July 25, 2018.

The above photo shows the high voltage switchgear on the left. The conduits stubbed up to the right of the switchgear is where the Supercharger Cabinets will go.

Update as of August 11, 2018.

The photo below shows four Supercharger Cabinets corresponding to eventually 8 charging terminals for this Supercharger Station.

Update as of August 12, 2018.

Two charging terminals have now been installed.

Update as of August 30, 2018.

Although the Tesla Find Us map and the navigation systems do not currently list this station as operational, it has been reported as being operational.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
lfchanin@gmail.com

Gathering to celebrate the new Supercharger Station at the Tampa Hyde Park Winn-Dixie (Public)

Sun, 26 Aug 2018 15:43:55 GMT

On Saturday morning August 25^th, we had a nice turnout of Tesla owners to celebrate the opening of the Tampa Hyde Park Supercharger Station location hosted by Winn-Dixie. The event was organized by the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts club, but it was open to the public.

We want to state how much our club, and the Tesla community in general, appreciates the environmental stewardship demonstrated by Winn-Dixie in hosting this Supercharger Station.

In addition, in support of this event Winn-Dixie graciously provided a tent, coffee, water, mini donuts, Winn-Dixie gift cards, rewards coupons and a raffle. Their bakery chef wowed us with a fantastic car-shaped cake! I want to thank Steve Ashworth, their Event & Catering Coordinator, and Sal Cahill the Store General Manager for being such wonderful hosts.

Following the photo opportunity at Winn-Dixie we had a delicious brunch/lunch at the nearby Ava restaurant in their private room.

Here are some photos:

Steve Ashworth, Winn-Dixie Event & Cathering Coordinator with our helpful barista.

Sal Cahill, Winn-Dixie Store General Manager.

Wow! Our compliments to the chef!

Please attend a National Drive Electric Week event near you! (Public)

Mon, 20 Aug 2018 21:30:43 GMT

National Drive Electric Week
September 8–16, 2018

National Drive Electric Week is a nationwide celebration to heighten awareness of today's widespread availability of plug-in vehicles and highlight the benefits of all-electric and plug-in hybrid-electric cars, trucks, motorcycles, and more.

Nearly 300 events will be held in communities across America, plus Canada and New Zealand. Visit the National Drive Electric Week website and register to attend an event near you!

The link above will take you to a map of events in North America. Just zoom into Florida or enter your zip code or city in the search bar to find a location near you.

Regards,

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Cell: 941-504-0887

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Take a stand against the attack on clean car standards! (Public)

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 14:09:33 GMT

As you may be aware, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) released a proposal that would roll back the Clean Air Standards for combustion vehicles. It also proposes to revoke the authority of states to set greater limits on tailpipe emissions. Such an ill-advised action would not only adversely affect public health, but it could inhibit the growth of electric vehicles.

Below is an email that I received from Plug In America which asks us to take a stand against this proposal. Our club's board of directors and I unanimously support their position and we encourage you to sign their petition.

In the event that the petition form is pre-filled with my contact information, please make sure that you insert your information in its place.

Thank you.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Dear Lawrence,

It’s time to take a stand for the EV and cleaner cars. Today, the Trump Administration released a proposal that would roll back the clean car standards and freeze them until 2026. As if this wasn’t bad enough, the proposal also calls for revoking the authority of states like California and the 12 other states plus D.C. to set stronger limits on tailpipe pollution. This includes the zero emission vehicle (ZEV) mandate, the largest policy driver of EV sales today.

This is a direct attack on the EV—sign this petition to defend the EV!

The EPA claims that the ZEV standards are “technologically infeasible” and don’t give the automakers enough time to develop the necessary technology. The last time we checked, there were more makes and models of EVs in the market than ever before, and all automakers have announced the plans for more EVs to come in the next few years.

Tell the EPA and Department of Transportation that you stand for EVs and clean cars!

Plug In America will be joining a lawsuit to defend the EV from the devastating effects this proposal will have—not just on the EV market, but on clean air, national security, public health and the global climate. We can’t do this without your help, so please make a contribution to Plug In America today.

Please share this petition as widely as you can.

Thank you,
The team at Plug In America

Celebrating the opening of the New Ft. Myers Superchargers (Public)

Mon, 06 Aug 2018 14:13:03 GMT

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts and the Southwest Florida EV Owners celebrated the opening of the the new 14-terminal Fort Myers Supercharger Station.

We had a meet-up and an excellent lunch at the nearby Texas Roadhouse Restaurant.

Here's some photos. What a good-looking group!

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
lfchanin@gmail.com

Construction has Started on the Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station [Operational] (Public)

Sat, 04 Aug 2018 21:59:17 GMT

Site Map of Renaissance Centre, location of new Supercharger Station in Altamonte Springs under construction.

Back in August 2017 the following was reported on Facebook, “Altamonte Springs GMD (Growth Management Department) county official confirms location in Renaissance shopping center near Whole Foods!!!! However, while expected to be approved, it hasn't been approved yet due to landscaping delay. They said "3 weeks is very optimistic". When asked if it will be before end of year, "probably the approval".

Since then there had been no activity until last week when the following photo was posted on Facebook demonstrating that construction has started next to the Ulta Store at Renaissance Centre in Altamonte Springs.

This Site Inspection Record clearly describes Tesla Charging Stations which correspond to Tesla's Find Us web page listing an Altamont Springs, FL "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station.

As of March 6, 2018:

This recent photo shows that there will be 8 charging stalls.

Update as of March 30, 2018.

Charging terminals installed, but still covered.

Update as of April 29, 2018:

Recent photos suggest that the Tesla contractor has completed its portion of the work, but so far no one has seen signs of any utility work such as power transformer, cable pole, meter cabinet, etc. Below are photos of the enclosure housing the 4 Tesla Supercharger Cabinets and the 2 high voltage switchgear cabinets.

Update as of May 31, 2018.

On May 26, 2018 it was reported on the Tesla Motors Club forum that the Superchargers were working even though the station was not listed as operational on the Tesla website. It was also reported that the charging parking spaces were heavily ICEd. It was noted that Tesla had not yet installed any signage. Shortly afterward the power to the Supercharger Station was disconnected.

Above photo show severe ICEing presumably resulting from the absence of Tesla signage.

One of our club members visited the station and spoke to a Tesla technician on site. The technician stated that the power was being disconnected due to technicalities related to permitting from the City. Subsequently, a local resident brought the situation to the attention of the Altamonte Springs local government and received the following email from the Assistant to the City Manager. (For a full-sized version of the email below, right click on the image and open it in a new tab.)

The initial response from the City is not encouraging and suggests that there may never be Tesla signage limiting general parking unless their position changes. I have sent an email to the Tesla describing the issue and requesting feedback. I have not yet received a response.

Update as of August 4, 2018.

The Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station is operational and this time it appears to be permanent since the Tesla Find Us map and the navigation systems of the Tesla fleet display the station. Unfortunately, currently there still is no Tesla signage and the station is heavily ICEd as can be seen in the photo below.

Tesla informs me, "We are aware of the ICE-ing at Altamonte and will be addressing accordingly."

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

"Coming Soon" Supercharger at Tampa-Hyde Park located [Operational] (Public)

Wed, 01 Aug 2018 13:42:00 GMT

PLEASE MAKE SURE THAT YOU SCROLL DOWN TO THE BOTTOM OF THIS ARTICLE FOR PERIODIC UPDATES:

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum has discovered the location of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station at Tampa - Hyde Park. In searching the online permit records for the City of Tampa he was successful in locating a building permit for a 10 stall Supercharger Station to be located in the parking lot of the Winn-Dixie supermarket at 2100 W Swann Ave, Tampa.

Below is a vicinity map. It is located near the Selmon Crosstown Expressway and about 5 miles south of I-275.

Based on the plans submitted by Tesla for the permit, the red rectangle in the Google street view below of the Winn-Dixie parking shows where the charging stalls will be located.

Based on the permit notes it appears that the construction plans have been approved, a building permit was issued on May 31st, 2018 and the project has just begun to enter the inspection phase.

Update as of June 14, 2018.

Construction has started in the Winn-Dixie parking lot.

Update as of June 21, 2018.

Construction is coming along nicely the 5-Supercharger Cabinets and high voltage switchgear have been installed and 8 of the planned 10 charging terminals have been set.

Update as of June 29, 2018.

It looks like all of Tesla's contractors major work is done. All the Supercharger cabinets, high voltage switchgear, the 10 charging terminals and the utility meter cabinet have been installed. It now remains for the utility equipment to be installed.

To view a larger version of the photos, right click on the images and open them in a separate tab.

Update as of July 26, 2018.

The City of Tampa issued the Certificate of Completion on July 26, 2018. We expect this Supercharger Station to be operational any day now.

Update as of August 1, 2018.

Although the Tesla Find Us map and the the Tesla fleet's navigation systems do not currently show this Supercharger Station as being operation, it has been reported on the Tesla Motors Club forum that the station is in fact operational.

If you live in the area, please visit the location and send me a photo demonstrating that your car is charging. Thanks.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Trying to Decide on a Model 3? (Public)

Fri, 27 Jul 2018 17:56:00 GMT

Tesla Model 3 Long-Range Rear Wheel Drive Source: Car & Driver

This April 2018 in-depth review (link below) by Car & Driver of the long-range, rear wheel drive Model 3 is worth reading if you are considering a Model 3.

In-Depth Review
2018 Tesla Model 3
APRIL 2018 BY JOSEPH CAPPARELLA PHOTOS BY BRAD FICK

The review is the most comprehensive that I have read so far, and it should assist prospective buyers. However, some of the initial shortcomings mentioned in this early review have already been corrected by Tesla in Model 3s being currently produced. My wife and I own the same configuration as reviewed. It's an excellent review and for the most part I have no problems with it. However, in this article I will note any changes that have occurred since the review, or any differences in opinion that I have with elements of their review.

Fuel Economy and Driving Range Rating:

The reviewers (from Detroit) devised their own fuel economy test that drove the car faster than typical posted highway speeds and took their measurements at 28 degrees Fahrenheit. Unsurprisingly the car didn’t meet the official published EPA results. At Florida temperatures, and traveling at posted highway speeds, this version of the Model 3 will probably go actually further than the EPA sticker value of 310 rated miles. We learned that the testing data that Tesla provided to the EPA would support an actual range of 334 rated miles, but Tesla asked EPA to list the rated miles as 310.

We currently have 1,656 miles on our Model 3 which are much more miles than the reviewers had to perform their tests. From our trip odometer the average efficiency for our total mileage is 233 Wh/mi. This is significantly less than the published EPA rating of 270 Wh/mile. Bottom line: The car is extremely efficient and I believe the published 130 MPGe.

Interior and Passenger Space Rating:

I agree with the reviewers that the rear seating is uncomfortable, especially for taller people. Tesla has since revised the rear seating to address this issue.

Although I haven’t used a decibel meter in our car, I am positive that the interior noise is nowhere near 69 decibels. Update: I used a free phone app to measure the sound levels in the car at 70 mph. The readings did not exceed about 50 decibels. We experience a very quite ride similar to our Model S.

Rear visibility is poor as the reviewers point out, but the high definition backup camera provides an excellent rear view when the car is in reverse and if needed it can be turned on when moving forward.

Cargo Space and Storage Rating:

The cargo and storage space is half that of a Model S, but nevertheless quite adequate for most situations. The Model 3 has certain storage and convenience features not found on the premium Model S such as door pockets, a rear folding armrest with cup holders and clothing hooks. The Model 3’s Center Console has quite a bit of storage space.

Safety and Driver Assistance Rating:

At the time of the review there was no blind-spot monitoring or automatic high beams, but those feature have been added. The blind-spot monitoring is the same as in the Model S & X, but personally I find it to be of marginal value as currently implemented. I would prefer an indicator in the side view mirrors rather on the dash or center displays.

Engine and Transmission Rating:

The review incorrectly states, “When combined with an adapter and the Model 3’s onboard charger, 240-volt outlets can add between 11 and 30 miles per hour of charging,…” Whereas it is true that most public SAE J-1772 chargers rarely have a capacity to permit an EV to charge at more than 30 miles of range per hour, if you were to find a high-capacity public charger of 60 amps (11.5 kW) or more, the long-range Model 3 can charge at up to 44 miles of range per hour with a J-1772 adapter. We charge our Model 3 at home at this speed connected to a Tesla High Power Wall Connector rated for 80 continuous amps. For comparison, our Model S with a high capacity on-board charger charges at around 55 miles of range per hour.

The review fails to mention that the new second generation Mobil Connector that comes with the Model 3. It plugs into either a 110 volt or 240 volt outlet and will only handle a maximum of 32 amp, or 30 miles of range per hour. If you have the first generation Mobil Connector, it will handle a maximum of 40 amps, or 37 miles of range per hour when plugged into your long-range Model 3.

Performance and Driving Impressions Rating:

The review states, “…you do hear plenty of noise inside the cabin as the tires thwack and thrum when driving over pavement imperfections.” This is not my wife's or my experience.

Braking

The review stated, “…we did notice a bizarre amount of variation in our test, which involves six consecutive panic stops—the third of these stops took an interminable 196 feet.” Consumer Reports (CR) were also critical of the braking on the early Model 3s. However, within a couple of days following the CR review Tesla was able to send out an over-the-air update to resolve the issue. In fact. CR was very impressed with the fix.

“I’ve been at CR for 19 years and tested more than 1,000 cars,” says Jake Fisher, director of auto testing at Consumer Reports, “and I’ve never seen a car that could improve its track performance with an over-the-air update.”

The Car & Driver review stated, “In normal driving, you’ll rely more on the regenerative brakes than the brake pedal. However, we’d prefer more configurability in that system than the two modes of regen currently offered, as neither can bring the car to a complete stop and enable one-pedal driving as the Chevrolet Bolt EV and some other EVs offer.”

Whereas I agree that in normal driving most drivers rely more on regenerative braking than mechanical breaking, I strongly disagree with their observation that regenerative braking can’t bring the Model 3 to a complete stop. I use one-pedal driving on both our Model 3 and S, and both have aggressive regenerative braking when set in the Standard setting.

For safety when coming to a stop after using one-pedal regenerative breaking, I always also apply the mechanical brake (press the brake pedal) to ensure the car is firmly stopped. This will automatically set the Hill Hold feature which applies the electronic parking break to prevent the car from rolling on inclines. The brake is instantaneously released when pressing the accelerator.

Exterior Design and Dimensions:

The review states, “It incorporates many design elements from the more expensive Model S, making it immediately recognizable as a Tesla, but it’s significantly taller and less sporty looking than its low-slung, sleek-sedan sibling. Also, of some concern were the large and inconsistent panel gaps present on our test car, which raise questions about the car’s assembly quality.”

Whereas this is a personal taste sort of thing, I agree that the Model 3 while resembling a Model S is slightly less sporty looking. However, in their summary remarks they go on to state, ”Not-so-sporty, bloblike shape,…”. The remark “ bloblike” in my opinion is nowhere near the truth, but this is something prospective buyers can easily decide for themselves.

Regarding the fit and finish we didn’t experience any problems with panel gaps, etc. In fact, the quality was slightly better than our Model S purchased a year earlier.

Exterior Features

The review accurately described the two means of gaining access to the car, the smartphone Tesla application and the backup card keys. Apparently they didn’t run into any problems. In our case, and in talking to other early Model 3 owners, gaining access could be a frustrating experience when relying on the phone app as the primary means of entry. In fact, my wife abandoned it entirely and devised a lanyard that she would wear around her neck with the card key attached.

For the most part, the problems with the Tesla phone app resolved themselves within a couple of weeks’ ownership. Nevertheless, I prefer the key fob entry system of the Model S in which we never experience a problem.

Well, that's it, we welcome your input. I will be publishing this article both as a Public and Private News article.

For our club members, to leave a comment or ask questions, sign on to our website with your email address and password, then go to the Members-Only Club News version of the article.

If you are a non-member and have a question, you can email me at lfchanin@gmail.com.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

When will Tesla deliver the 200,000th electric vehicle in the US triggering the phase out of the $7,500 tax credit? The answer is July! (Public)

Thu, 12 Jul 2018 17:47:00 GMT

Tesla has hit the 200,000th EV in July rather than June!

Please scroll down to the bottom of this article for a current update.

This article has been updated to reflect current sales data.

In Tesla’s first quarter 2018 SEC 10-Q report they stated, “…under current regulations, a $7,500 federal tax credit available in the U.S. for the purchase of qualified electric vehicles with at least 17 kWh of battery capacity, such as our vehicles, will begin to phase out over time with respect to any vehicles delivered in the second calendar quarter following the quarter in which we deliver our 200,000th qualifying vehicle in the U.S. We currently expect such 200,000th qualifying delivery to occur at some point during 2018."

So the big question is, "In which quarter will Tesla reach that 200,000th qualifying vehicle in the US?"

Where do we stand as of the end of May 2018?

The table below shows the total history of Tesla sales in the U.S. through the end of May 2018:

	Jan 2018	Feb 2018	Mar 2018	Apr 2018	May 2018	2017	2016	2015	2014	2013	2012	2010-2011	Grand Total
Model 3	1,875	2,485	3,820	3,875	6,250	1,722	-	-	-	-	-	-	20,027
Model S	800	1,125	3,375	1,250	1,520	27,060	28,896	25,202	16,689	17,650	2,650	-	126,217
Model X	700	975	2,825	1,025	1,450	21,315	18,223	214	-	-	-	-	46,727
Roadster	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	815	815
TOTAL	3,375	4,585	10,020	6,150	9,220	50,097	47,119	25,416	16,689	17,650	2,650	815	193,786

The source of these sales numbers are from InsideEV with the exception of the number of Roadsters sold in the U.S.

According to IRS regulations, "The credit begins to phase out for a manufacturer’s vehicles when at least 200,000 qualifying vehicles have been sold for use in the United States (determined on a cumulative basis for sales after December 31, 2009).” I estimate that Tesla sold about 815 Roadsters in the US after December 31, 2009. (Please refer to the footnote below for a derivation of that estimate.)

In reviewing the above chart, Tesla is only about 6,200 EVs away from hitting the 200,000 tax credit phase out trigger. Even if Tesla were to freeze its U.S. production rate at the May level of about 9,220 total EVs per month, they would still hit the phase out trigger at about the third week in June unless Tesla were to shift a significant number of deliveries to Canada. If they do not shift enough deliveries and the phase out trigger is hit in June, then tax credits would be reduced by half starting in October, 2018.

Will Tesla shift deliveries to Canada to prolong the US tax credit?

Although Tesla has not responded to recent inquiries on this subject, back on April 3, 2016 Elon provided a tweet that hints at Tesla’s thinking on the subject of delaying hitting the 200,000 mark:

Now, according to the article linked below from Electrek, that is precisely what Tesla is doing.

Tesla sent out a massive Model 3 shipment to Canada as some US deliveries get delayed

From the article:

"Tesla is evidently starting Model 3 deliveries in Canada in a massive way with large shipments being spotted throughout the country including one with an estimated 1,000 Model 3 vehicles in Toronto.

The massive volume in Canada is coming as Tesla delayed some Model 3 deliveries in the US.

In March, Tesla sent a huge first batch of invites to Canadian reservation holders."

If Tesla can temporarily redirect a few thousand Model 3 deliveries to Canada during June and delay hitting the phase out trigger until July, the beginning of a quarter, then the full tax credit could be extended by another three months.

Furthermore, there is no limit on the number of cars that would qualify for the full tax credit during the phase out period. So shifting U.S. deliveries to achieve hitting the trigger at the beginning of a quarter would result in more people getting the credit since Tesla is still ramping up production and therefore will be producing Model 3s at a much higher rate in the third quarter than in the second quarter.

How Fast Will Tesla be Producing Model 3s?

Bloomberg has a tracking system that estimates Model 3 U.S. sales. During May Bloomberg estimated that Tesla momentarily hit a weekly production rate at over 3500. However, as of May 31, 2018 they estimate that Tesla was producing at about 1,400 per week. From the InsideEV's May sales estimates, we can see that Tesla averaged at over 1,500 per week.

Elon has plans for much higher production levels. In an internal memo to employees sent in mid-April, Elon stated that he expected weekly production rates in May to be between 3000 to 4000 per week, and between 5000 to 6000 per week in June. This hopefully will be achieved by a comprehensive set of production line upgrades and shifting to 24/7 operations.

Whereas, it can be seen that Tesla momentarily hit their target rate for a week in May, that rate was not be sustained for the entire month.

My Best Guess

Whereas the estimated May Model 3 sales rate broke all Tesla records, it was nevertheless lower than Elon had hoped for. However, this temporary delay in the production ramp-up does have a silver lining in that it will assist in delaying hitting the phase out trigger. This coupled with the fact that Tesla has begun to significantly shift deliveries to Canada increases the chances of hitting the trigger in July at the beginning of a quarter. At that time, I have confidence that Tesla will be delivering at a total combined US and Canadian rate close to the planned rate of over 5000 Model 3s per week and that the full $7,500 tax credit will be available until the end of 2018.

Update as of July 12, 2018.

Tesla has hit the 200,000th EV in July rather than June!

As we had hoped for, Tesla has hit the 200,000th EV in July rather than June and has officially announced this fact on their Electric Vehicle Incentives page.

If Tesla had hit the phase out target in June, people with orders would have had to receive delivery by September 30, 2018 in order to receive the full $7,500 tax credit. By shifting large numbers of deliveries of the Model 3 to Canada, Tesla was able to move the phase out target to July meaning the availability the full tax credit is now an additional three months. So as the Incentives page notes, people taking delivery before December 31, 2018 will receive the full tax credit.

Between now and year-end there is no limit to the number of EVs that Tesla is permitted to deliver and still receive the full tax credit. So as Tesla continues to ramp up Model 3 production rates exponentially, this 3-month delay in the phase out significantly increases the number of Tesla owners eligible for the full tax credit. This is especially true if Tesla can hit it's goal of 10,000 cars per week before year-end.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Footnote: Derivation of Roadster estimate:

Based on information provided on the Tesla Motors Club forum, a total of approximately 1464 Roadsters were sold in North America since the beginning of production in 2008 until the end of 2011. Likewise, an additional 780 Roadsters were sold in Europe and Asia during this period. So ignoring Canadian sales as de minimis, about 65% of total global sales were in the U.S. According to Tesla's 2012 SEC 10-K report, production of the Roadster ended in January 2012 and was no longer available for sale the in the U.S. after December 2011. In addition, according to a Tesla press release, in January 2010 Tesla displayed it's 1000th Roadster at the North American International Auto Show. We can estimate of that of that total of 1000 Roadsters, about 650 were sold in the USA before December 31, 2009. Therefore, we can subtract the 650 from the total Roadsters delivered in the U.S. between 2008 and 2011 (1464) to arrive at about 815 Roadsters delivered in the U.S. after December 31, 2009.

Credible rumor regarding “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station at West Palm Beach (Public)

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 20:36:00 GMT

We have a credible, but unconfirmed rumor, that the “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station at West Palm Beach, planned for this year, will be located at the PDQ Restaurant at 2015 Okeechobee Blvd, West Palm Beach, FL 33409.

Here is a vicinity map.

“Coming Soon” Fort Myers Supercharger location found under construction [Operational](Public)

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 19:48:00 GMT

The New Fort Meyers Supercharger Station is under construction. The building in the background under construction is the new J&R Crab Seafood Restaurant.

Please make sure to scroll down to the bottom of this article for periodic updates.

A member of the SWFL EV Owners club has discovered the location of the “Coming Soon” Fort Myers Supercharger location. (This is a different location than the existing Fort Myers Supercharger Station located at Gulf Coast Town Center.) This new location is in the Colonial Square Mall. The Supercharger terminals are across Dani Dr from the Pollo Tropical. There are currently (June 15th, 2018) 13 terminals installed and they are adjacent to the new J&C Crab Seafood Restaurant.

Below is a vicinity map. As you can see it is just off of exit 136 of I-75 not far from the intersection of 6 Mile Cypress Parkway and Colonial Boulevard.

Update as of June 19, 2018.

The SWFL EV Owners provided a photo and a video showing that there will be 14 Supercharging terminals at this new Fort Myers location.

If you have a Facebook account you can view the video linked below:

https://www.facebook.com/JoyfulJay/videos/10108206774784392/

The following image of 7 Supercharger Cabinets confirms that there will be a total of 14 charging terminals.

Update as of July 1, 2018:

The new Fort Myers Supercharger Station is operational even though the Tesla Find Us map currently shows it as "Coming Soon".

Update as of July 3, 2018.

Tesla's Find Us page now lists the new Fort Myers Supercharger Station as operational.

“Coming Soon” Miami – “Wynwood” Supercharger is operational in the Design District (Public)

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 18:20:00 GMT

The newly opened Museum Garage in the Miami Design District houses a 14-stall Supercharger Station that is now operational

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

One of the members of the Tesla Motors Club forum noticed that the Tesla website shows the “Coming Soon” formerly named “Wynwood Supercharger is up and running about a mile away from Wynwood in the Design District.

The Supercharger Station is located in the newly opened Museum Garage, located at 90 NE 41st Street, Miami, FL 33137. It appears to be a 14-stall station, but there is some uncertainty regarding the capacity of each terminal. The Tesla Find Us map states that the terminals are up to 120 kW, but the car’s navigation system currently states that they are up to 73 kW. The last new Miami area Superchargers located in parking garages were all Urban Style Superchargers and I am guessing that this new station may also be Urban Style.

Here's a vicinity map:

A recent local new article mentions that parking costs $3 for up to four hours. So we will need to find out whether there is any parking ticket validation process to reduce the parking fees at the Supercharger.

Update as of June 30, 2018.

I received the following very helpful information from a local club member:

The Museum Garage fee for the the first four hours is a reasonable $3, then $6 up to 6 hours and then it hikes to $25 maximum or for lost ticket.

The Institute of Contemporary Art museum is across the street from the garage. It does not offer validation, but entrance is free of charge. The attendant said that perhaps in the future. there may be validation.

The garage route is to drive one way up (to the 7th level) and then drive one way down another section of the garage to the exit. In my estimation I thought there were two very tight turns. One is close to the entrance and then one is close to the exit, an unusual stricture in such a large and spacious garage. Be careful in these two spots.

On the way up and on the incline, approaching the 3rd level are five ChargePoint stations.

At this 3rd level on the flat section there are eight Tesla Supercharger terminals.

Continue up to the 5th level and there are six Tesla Supercharger terminals.

As you can see from the photos, both these areas have Urban Style Tesla charging terminals, as we suspected. (We'll let Tesla know that their Find Us webpage is incorrect.)

Then on the way down, again at a 3rd level, there are six Tesla wall chargers.

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
lfchanin@gmail.com

“Coming Soon” Delray Beach Supercharger found operational at Delray Marketplace (Public)

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 16:23:31 GMT

This new operational Supercharger caught us by surprise. Members of the Tesla Motors Club forum discovered this “Coming Soon” Supercharger with 18 - 120 kW charging terminals actually operating at Delray Marketplace at West Atlantic Avenue. The location is programmed into the Tesla fleet’s navigation systems, but as of now it still shows as “Coming Soon” on the Tesla Find Us map. You'll note if you carefully examine the photo that the location appears to have two rows of charging terminals.

Here's the vicinity map. The location is fairly close to the Florida Turnpike, but about 7 miles from I-95.

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts celebrate the opening of the Aventura Mall Supercharger Station (Public)

Mon, 25 Jun 2018 21:44:29 GMT

Here's a portion of the group that gathered to celebrate the opening of the Aventura Mall Supercharger Station.

For this public event about 30 people including club members, their guests, some non-members and Tesla employees got together for a meet-up and lunch at Aventura Mall to celebrate the opening of the new Aventura Supercharger Station.

We had a photo opportunity in the parking garage, where the 35 Urban style charging terminals are located. That was followed by a visit to the new Tesla store and lunch at the nearby Tap 42, a popular craft kitchen and bar offering indoor and al fresco dining.

Here's some photos:

The Miami, FL - Brickell Supercharger location has been found under construction [Now Operational](Public)

Thu, 31 May 2018 19:19:12 GMT

The "Coming Soon" Miami - Brickell Supercharger Station has been located by a member of the Tesla Motor Club forum and he reports that there are 25 charging stalls. THEY ARE STILL UNDER CONSTRUCTION.

He reports that it is in "the lower level of the Brickell City Centre underground parking garage in lots A2 (10 chargers below Saks 5th Ave) and C2 (15 chargers north side of the garage). The electrician I spoke with working on the installation estimated they’d be ready in a month.

This is a great location for people living/working in Brickell/downtown Miami, but visitors will have a hard time finding them. This garage is huge, so it’s unlikely there will be de-ICEing issues with these."

Here's the vicinity: (For a full size view, right-click image and open it in a separate tab or window.)

This is the first urban Supercharger location in Florida and appears to have a total of 25 charging stalls. Urban Superchargers have a lower capacity than Superchargers located along major highways, 72 kW versus 120 kW.

Here's some additional photos that he took.

Update as of December 2, 2017.

One of our club members reports the following progress:

The cabinets for the 10 chargers below Saks on level A2 are in place. The cables have not been installed although they are all present. All the equipment is physically installed but not connected. The site is not directly visible since it is covered with protective screening. I went behind, but could not take photos because my guide was exceedingly nervous that i was there at all.

The 13 cabinets on C2, Aisle 10 are being wired right now. there were several electricians working connecting the wiring. They would not allow photos either. They did say they expected to complete their work on both sides before December 15, including inspections after which FPL still must complete their connection and turn on power. The electricians said they and Swire Group (Brickell City Center is theirs) were intent on having them all working before Christmas.

Update as of December 30, 2017.

Despite the Tesla website showing an opening at the end of 2018, a recent photo shows that the A2 level looks to be nearing completion.

Update as of March 15, 2018

Current reports indicate that there are 10 Urban Type (72 kW) Supercharger stalls under construction on the A2 level of the parking garage and 13 on the C2 level. (Not 15 as previously reported.)

The Tesla website and the navigation systems in the Tesla fleet show that 13 Supercharger stall are now operational, indicating that the stalls are on the C2 level.

Tesla is now referring to this location as Miami, FL - SW 7th Street, rather than Miami, FL - Brickell.

Today a member on the Tesla Motors Club forum confirmed that the 13 Superchargers were operational and provided the following photo.

Presumably the remain 10 stalls will be energized at a later date.

Please note the green light on the charging port and the Urban style charging stall.

Update as of May 31, 2018.

The remaining 10 Urban Style Supercharger terminals have been energized. Tesla now refers to this location as Miami - SW 8th St.

35 Urban Superchargers are operational at Aventura Mall (Public)

Thu, 17 May 2018 13:53:00 GMT

Scroll down for updates to the original article.

In a previous news article we reported that we believed that the Aventura Supercharger originally planned for 2017, now by the end of 2018, would be going in the new Parking Garage that was recently built as part of the new expansion at Aventura Mall.

Rendering of new expansion of Aventura Mall. We believe that a Supercharger Station may be located in the parking garage on the right.

Yesterday a member of the Tesla Motors Club forum confirmed that information. Here is his report:

“I found the Aventura Mall Superchargers being installed in the bottom of the new mall garage built near the newly relocated Tesla store in the mall. They will be tucked away in a below grade ramp that’s somewhat hidden (good for de-iceing issues). It’s in the early stages of running conduits, but they have all the equipment onsite.”

We will follow developments and provide a photo when it is available.

Update as of March 27, 2018.

A member of the Tesla Motors Club forum took the above photo in the new parking garage at Aventura Mall. He noted 20 "white boxes" which are Supercharger Cabinets. This means that this location will have 40 charging stalls!!

Update as of April 22, 2018:

Photos posted on the Tesla Motors Club forum confirm that this will be an Urban Supercharger Station. There appears to be two sets of 20 charging terminals currently installed. Here's one bank of 20 terminals.

Here's one of two rows of 20 Urban Supercharger charging terminals. On the extreme right you can see some of the Supercharger Cabinets.

Update as of May 17, 2018:

35 Urban Supercharger terminals are operational as of May 17, 2018.

Update: Tesla Store at The Gardens Mall is now open (Public)

Sat, 12 May 2018 19:50:00 GMT

Tesla is proposing to locate a Tesla showroom on the upper level of the Gardens Mall, in the City of Palm Beach Gardens across from Saks Fifth Avenue and to the west of Macy’s.

The proposed test drive vehicle parking/charging spaces are located within the parking area closest to Saks Fifth Avenue.

Tesla is requesting a zoning code amendment to create a new use called, “Electric Automobile Showroom.”

A public City Council meeting will hear the Tesla’s plans on December 7th at 7:00 pm.

Here is a local media article:

Tesla showroom coming to Gardens Mall, but first… some ground rules

Update as of December 22, 2017

Update as of May 12, 2018:

Although this store isn't currently listed on the Tesla Find Us web page, it nevertheless is now open.

Yuri's Night Party at the Kennedy Space Center (Public)

Mon, 16 Apr 2018 16:51:57 GMT

Leilani Munter, Tesla owner, Race Car driver, Environmental Activist; and Loretta Hildalgo Whitesides, co-founder Yuri's Night, author, astrobiologist, Virgin Galactic advisor, and Zero G flight director.

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts was invited to attend the Yuri’s Night Space Coast 2018 party at the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, April 13^th.

This event was sponsored by Yuri’s Night. Yuri's Night is a not-for-profit Space Enthusiasts club. Their mission is to use space to educate, inspire and bring the world a little closer together. Their organization was named after Yuri Gagarin, the first successful human space mission.

This was their club’s flagship event and is fondly known as the largest space party on and off Earth.

The inaugural launch of the Falcon Heavy and Elon’s Roadster generated a TON of excitement around space exploration and the advancements of technology, specifically around SpaceX and Tesla. The Yuri’s Night team wanted to capture that energy so they invited us to participate by displaying a Radiant Red Roadster like the one Elon put into Mars - Earth orbit.

The party lived up to its reputation. Here are a few photos:

Addressing the Challenges of Installing EV Charging Equipment in Multi-Unit Dwellings (Public)

Sun, 11 Mar 2018 22:59:23 GMT

Miami skyline

Depending on the property, it can be very difficult for people living in Multi-Unit Dwellings to receive approval from Home Owner Associations (HOAs) or Condominium Associations to install home charging equipment even in dedicated parking spaces.

There are a few approaches to take. Education of HOAs, Urban Fast Chargers/Superchargers, etc., but we believe that a legislative approach is probably the most direct means of addressing this issue.

There was a time when people living in Multi-Unit Dwelling couldn’t even install equipment for video reception until a common-sense law was enacted. Likewise, we think that the time has come for a similar fair and common-sense law to be passed dealing with the this charging equipment issue.

As a starting point, our club prepared draft legislative language to make it easier for condo owners to obtain permission from HOAs or condo associations to install home charging equipment.

The idea was to require condominium associations to bargain in good faith with the unit owners concerning the installation of electric vehicle charging equipment.

The unit owners would have to pay for the installation, maintenance, electricity and abide by reasonable architectural standards, etc. However, it would be illegal for the associations to have deeds, covenants, contracts, policies or standards etc., which expressly prohibit, or unreasonably restrict or increase the costs to install or use an electric vehicle charging station.

State Representative Randy Fine & Larry Chanin, President of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

For the last few months I have been in contact with State Representative Randy Fine. He is a Tesla owner and has personally experienced the problems of installing home charging at a condo that he was living in. He agreed to work with us to pass this type of legislation provided germane pending legislation could be found in which to a sponsor an amendment.

In January I drove to Tallahassee to present this issue to members of Drive Electric Florida (DEF). Our club is a voting member in DEF. DEF is a coalition of electric vehicle (EV) stakeholder groups representing automakers, utilities, charging infrastructure providers, environmentalists, local government, universities, Clean Cities coalitions and EV enthusiast groups. It seeks to advance the energy, economic and environmental security of the state of Florida by promoting the growth of electric vehicle ownership and accompanying infrastructure.

This is a very influential group of EV stakeholders and this particular meeting focused on legislative issues which effect EVs. The DEF member companies sent their respective governmental affairs representatives to attend the session.

I invited Rep Fine to attend and he provided short, but very meaningful remarks advocating his support of this issue. (Other legislators; State Senator Jeff Brandes and Rep Jason Fisher, were also in attendance, to address other pending EV-related legislation they are sponsoring.)

During our celebration of the opening of the West Melbourne Superchargers, Representative Fine also discussed the Multi-Unit Dwelling charging issue. If you have a Facebook account you can view his remarks here. His remarks start at about 6 minutes 30 seconds into the video. (The video was provided by the Space Coast EV Drivers club.)

Our club has been working on this issue, on and off, for quite some time. Unfortunately, there has not been much in the way of progress to report, up until now. I am happy to report that we found the appropriate, germane pending legislation upon which to add an amendment. Representative Fine added language to House Bill 841, Community Associations, to address this issue, and on March 9th the bill passed, as amended, in both the House and Senate.

As with anything in life, this amendment it is not perfect, but we now finally have a basis to pursue the installation of electric vehicle charging equipment in condominiums without arbitrary or unreasonable restrictions.

I want to recognize the work done by both Representative Fine and Tesla's Policy and Business Development team working in Tallahassee to provide relief in this important area.

In Florida 30% of the residents live in multi-unit dwellings, and in some cities of high electric vehicle adoption the rate can be close to 60%. As electric vehicles now begin to enter the mass market, this legislation will prove to be essential in maintaining the high rate of EV adoption in the state of Florida, along with the environmental and economic benefits associated with them.

Update as of March 21, 2018:

The bill has been signed by the legislative Officers and has been forwarded to the Governor for signature. He has until Thursday, April 5 to act on the bill.

Update as of March 23, 2018:

The Governor signed the bill into law!

Update as of May 12, 2018:

The law goes into effect July 1, 2018. It currently only applies to installing an electric charging station within the boundaries of the unit owner’s limited common element parking area. The association must provide an easement across the common elements of the condominium property in support of such an installation.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

In Florida which Plug-In Electric Vehicle Ranks Number 1 in Registrations? (Public)

Sat, 03 Feb 2018 20:50:07 GMT

Florida Department of Motor Vehicles registration data for the third quarter 2017 shows that there were 22,125 plug-in electric vehicles registered in the state. This total includes both fully battery electric vehicles and plug-in hybrid electrics. Of that total, 8,555, or 39% were Teslas. There were 36 different types of plug-in vehicles registered in the state. Here is the ranking of the top 10.

Vehicle	Rank	Number Registered	%
Tesla Model S	1	6,769	30.6%
Chevy Volt	2	3,962	17.9%
Nissan Leaf	3	2,266	10.2%
Tesla Model X	4	1,725	7.8%
Ford Fusion	5	1,260	5.7%
BMW i3	6	1,062	4.8%
Ford C-Max	7	1,054	4.8%
Smart ForTwo	8	865	3.9%
BMW i8	9	571	2.6%
Toyota Prius Plug-In	10	490	2.2%
Other (26 other Plug-Ins)		2,101	9.5%
TOTAL		22,125	100%

It is interesting to note that despite the cost of Teslas being two to three time the next second and third ranked plug-ins, the Tesla Model S ranked number one in the number of registrations.

Tesla Holds a Private Event for Model 3 in Miami (Public)

Wed, 24 Jan 2018 17:52:53 GMT

Club member Jorge Sierra was featured on a guest blog posting on the EVANNEX Tesla News page.

Jorge discusses his reactions to the private unveiling of the Model 3 in Florida.

TESLA HOLDS A PRIVATE EVENT FOR MODEL 3 IN MIAMI

Jorge also provided us with a video of Francoise Lavertu, Tesla's General Manager addressing those in attendance and providing a little news of "coming soon" developments.

Celebrating the Opening of the West Melbourne Supercharger Station (Public)

Tue, 23 Jan 2018 16:14:43 GMT

Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, Space Coast EV Drivers and the City of West Melbourne partnered to celebrate the opening of the West Melbourne Supercharger Station on January 20, 2018. The event was well-attended with an estimated couple hundred people joining in the celebration. Remarks were provided by Joshua Pritt, President of Space Coast EV Drivers; Larry Chanin, President of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts; Hal Rose, Mayor of West Melbourne; John Tice, Duty Mayor of West Melbourne and State Representative Randy Fine.

If you have a Facebook account, you can view a Facebook video of the remarks.

SpaceX employee Ty Morton very graciously provided his Model 3 for display and permitted those in attendance to sit in his car.

Here are some photos of the event:

State Representative Randy Fine and Hal Rose, Mayor of West Melbourne

Joshua Pritt, President of Space Coast EV Drivers & Larry Chanin, President of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Hal Rose, Mayor of West Melbourne

John Tice, Deputy Mayor of West Melbourne

State Representative Randy Fine

Brenda Boritzki, on left, is a member of both clubs and was instrumental in organizing this event. Larry Chanin, on right, President of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts.

Some of those in attendance.

SpaceX employee Ty Morton graciously displayed his Model 3

Here's a short Facebook video of Ty's reaction to his new Model 3.

Here's some photos of Ty's Model 3:

New Tampa Supercharger Station Discovered Under Construction [Now Operational](Public)

Sat, 06 Jan 2018 19:55:39 GMT

An alert member of the Tesla Motors Club forums recently discovered a New Tampa Supercharger Station under construction at the WAWA at 2502 N 50th St, Tampa, FL 33619, located at the corner of Columbus Drive and 50^th Street, Tampa about 4 miles from the Tampa Service Center.

The nearest “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station location according to the Tesla “Find Us” map is the Tampa FL – Hyde Park Station which is targeted for the end of 2018. Hyde Park is about 6 miles from this location, so it is possible that this may be a new unadvertised station not listed on the Find Us map.

This will be an 8 stall station. All the charging terminals are installed as well as the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear. It would appear that the utility power transformer and meter have yet to be installed.

This photo shows 3 of the 8 charging terminal and the Supercharger cabinets and switchgear.

Public records provide a Photographic Simulation of the site and Tesla construction drawings.

Here is a portion of the Tesla drawings: (For a full-size image, right-click and open in a separate tab or window.)

People checking this location for future progress should make a point of taking photos of the area shown on this drawing for the location of the transformer and meter for signs of work. It should be located on the grassy area near the existing storm drain.

Update as of January 11, 2018:

Utility transformer and meter cabinet have been set. After the meter is installed in the meter cabinet the utility should be energizing the transformer.

Update: As of February 24, 2018

Although neither the Tesla website or navigation systems show this Supercharger Station as being operational, it has been demonstrated that Tesla owners have been able to charge.

The $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit was not cut (Public)

Mon, 18 Dec 2017 15:16:38 GMT

The $7,500 federal electric vehicle (EV) tax credit was not cut in the combined tax package legislation that Congress released on Friday. Below is the exact language , page 568 of the 1097 page document. You will note that for the present law "Qualified vehicles are subject to a 200,000 vehicle-per manufacturer limitation. Once the limitation has been reached the credit is phased down over four calendar quarters."

Conference Agreement

The conference agreement does not include the House bill provision.

3. Repeal of credit for plug-in electric drive motor vehicles (sec. 1102(c) of the House bill and sec. 30D of the Code)

Present Law

A credit is available for new four-wheeled vehicles (excluding low speed vehicles and vehicles weighing 14,000 pounds or more) propelled by a battery with at least 4 kilowatt-hours of electricity that can be charged from an external source.80 The base credit is $2,500 plus $417 for each kilowatt-hour of additional battery capacity in excess of 4 kilowatt-hours (for a maximum credit of $7,500). Qualified vehicles are subject to a 200,000 vehicle-per manufacturer limitation. Once the limitation has been reached the credit is phased down over four calendar quarters.

House Bill

The provision repeals the credit for plug-in electric drive motor vehicles. Effective date.−The provision is effective for vehicles placed in service in taxable years beginning after December 31, 2017.

Senate Amendment

No provision. 79 Sec. 22(e)(3).

______________________

80 Sec. 30D.

There will be no Superchargers at the Coral Gables Service Center for the foreseeable future (Public)

Sun, 03 Dec 2017 18:31:28 GMT

It had been observed that during the construction of the Coral Gables Service Center, which should be opening soon, that Tesla had installed part of the infrastructure for an 8-stall Supercharger Station.

However, it had also been reported on the online forums that Tesla had changed their mind about completing the onsite Supercharger Station.

A recent visit to the construction site by a club member has confirmed that there will not be a Supercharger Station there for the foreseeable future since, as you can see in the photo above, the conduits installed to carry the cables have be capped off.

The “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station in Orlando was found under construction at a Wawa. [Now Operational] (Public)

Tue, 14 Nov 2017 19:42:09 GMT

A member of the Tesla Motors Forum has found the location of the “Coming Soon” Orlando Supercharger Station. The station is under construction at a Wawa at 6500 W Sand Lake Rd, Orlando, FL 32819.

It appears to be very strategically located. Here is a vicinity map: (For a larger version of these images, right click images and open in a separate tab or window.)

Here's some more progress:

It apparently is going to be an 8-stall Supercharger Station.

As of January 6, 2018:

Utility power transformer was set on January 6, 2018. No meter yet.

Update as of March 9, 2018:

Although the neither Tesla website, nor the navigation systems have been updated yet, nevertheless this Supercharger Station is now operational.

Why Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives (Public)

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 15:43:06 GMT

OVERVIEW

Some people think autonomous vehicles (AVs) must be nearly flawless before humans take their hands off the wheel. But RAND research shows that putting AVs on the road before they’re perfect improves the technology more quickly—and could save hundreds of thousands of lives over time.

Why Waiting for Perfect Autonomous Vehicles May Cost Lives

Michael DeKort is an engineer who is the Founder of Professionals for Safe and Responsible Autonomous Mobility. He’s also a member of the SAE On-Road Autonomous Driving Verification and Validation Task Force and a vocal critic of Tesla and Elon Musk’s approach to implementing autonomous vehicles. A month before the Rand article (linked above) was published he and I had a conversation on this very subject. Here is one of my comments to him.

Michael,

Thanks for reaching out. I have read some of your articles and while I am not a technical expert, I believe I understand the gist of your argument.

Before I give my opinion, it might be helpful to provide you with a little background about my perspective. Yes, I am the president of a large Tesla enthusiasts club in Florida and not surprisingly I am an avid supporter of what Elon Musk is attempting to do in a number of areas, including autonomous vehicles.

Paraphrasing the Chinese proverb, we Floridians in particular happen to live in interesting times with regard to the implementation of AV. I have never thought of Florida legislators and transportation officials as being progressive in their outlook. However, a few years ago I had the opportunity to hear one of our Secretaries of Transportation speaking on the subject of AV and I was frankly surprised to hear how much they are promoting its development.

He went on to candidly state that due to the aging driving public that FDOT had essentially failed in its basic mission to reduce highway accidents and fatalities and they viewed AV as a means of reversing that trend. Likewise, the Chairman of the Florida Senate Transportation Committee and the Governor are also big proponents of AV. As a result, Florida has passed AV legislation that is the least restrictive in the country. I view that as a good thing in accelerating the development of AV, particularly for Tesla owners in Florida.

Last year, immediately following the death of Joshua Brown in that terrible crash here in Florida, I was interviewed by a couple of national news reporters. They wanted to know if I had changed my attitude regarding Tesla’s Autopilot. I told them no, that in fact I had a Model 3 on order with Autopilot and I had no intention of cancelling that order.

From early reports it appeared that Autopilot had encountered a situation in which it couldn’t “see” the truck. I told the reporters that even conceding that specific situation in which an engaged human would have done better than Autopilot, in terms of overall safety we need to consider the totality of driving situations. When using Autopilot as a driving assist feature, in my opinion there were going to be more situations whereby the system sees better, reacts faster, steers more accurately such that, in totality a Tesla with Autopilot engaged in conjunction with an engaged driver, is going to be safer than if it were turned off.

As you know, months later, after reviewing the statistics, the NHTSA reached the same conclusion.

I also told the reporters that Joshua was unfortunately too much of a Tesla enthusiast and was misguided in his trust of the technology. I explained that despite the questionable selection of the name, “Autopilot”, it definitely wasn’t self-driving and Joshua made a fatal mistake in treating it as if it were a fully autonomous vehicle. I said that a better name for the feature would have been “Driver Assist”.

Both the NHTSA and the NTSB also agreed with my initial assessment that the driver was at fault in his unfounded, over-confidence in the level of installed technology. After recently reading the NTSB report, I also agree with them that Tesla’s implementation of Autopilot, with limited driver warnings, played a major factor in the fatality.

Earlier this year I traded my four-year-old Tesla in for a new model with Autopilot. I also paid the additional $8,000 for the hardware and the eventual software for promised full autonomy. I have no illusions about the rudimentary current version of Autopilot. I use it exclusively in highway situations with no intersections. It excels in stop-and-go traffic. I don’t use it on exit ramps, or on secondary roads.

Last week while my wife and I were driving on the highway she asked me, “Is she [meaning Autopilot] driving?” My response was, “No, the three of us are driving.” What I meant was that before I upgraded my car to Autopilot, driving was a collaboration between my wife and myself. We are both over 70 and now at our stage of life it frankly helps to have more than one set of eyes on the road. So even before Autopilot I was already driving in Shadow Mode with my wife providing “Driver Assist”.

Returning to your basic question, even with the current basic version of the Autopilot software, I view it as a valuable safety feature when used as it was intended and for certain currently limited driving situations (highways for now). Inherent in this view is that the driver must take full responsibility for his/her actions and be fully engaged in their driving just as if Autopilot weren’t engaged. Some may say, “Well if I can’t relax behind the wheel what is the point of engaging Autopilot?” The answer is simple, there are going to be driving situations, especially for older drivers, whereby Autopilot is going to react faster than a human and mitigate an accident.

Some may say, “But won’t some people misuse the feature or fall asleep and die in fatal crashes along with their children?” Yes, absolutely. We can’t help that. The relevant question is, “When applied to the entire population of drivers, statistically is it safer to engage Autopilot or not? Experts can make recommendations to our legislators as to what that threshold should be, 2 times safer, 5 times safer, 10 times safer? However, everyone should recognize that many adults and children will die while we wait to implement “perfect” solutions.

Regarding AI Simulations versus Shadow Driving versus Test Tracks, I don’t view this as a pick-one-approach situation. I believe that multiple approaches should be used. As a layperson I am not qualified to speak to the ideal mix, but I believe that it is likely, especially here in Florida, that more lives will be lost by unduly deferring the implementation of AI by relying solely on simulations.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Please voice your opposition to the repeal of the $7,500 EV tax credit. (Public)

Thu, 02 Nov 2017 22:45:46 GMT

Help stop Congress from trying to kill the electric car! Just this morning, Chairman Brady of the House Ways and Means Committee introduced the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, H.R.1. The bill calls for the repeal of the $7,500 federal electric vehicle (EV) tax credit, effective December 31, 2017.

Please click link below:

We need you to send a message to your Representative and Senators right now and tell them to leave the $7,500 tax credit alone.

Thanks.

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Club Members Featured in Local News Article (Public)

Mon, 30 Oct 2017 14:21:05 GMT

David Link, of the Village of La Belle, owns a 2013 Tesla S P-85. Link, along with his wife, Angelia, are members of the Florida Tesla Enthusiasts club. The Links said they are in the process of buying two more Tesla electric vehicles.

Some of our club members were featured in an article in The Villages Daily Sun. Here's a link to the article:

Car Companies Rev Up Focus on Electric Cars

Florida Public Service Commission Electric Vehicle Charging Roundtable (Public)

Sat, 28 Oct 2017 16:12:00 GMT

Florida Public Service Commission Electric Vehicle Charging Roundtable

Above is a link to a 3 hour 17 minute video of the EV Charging Roundtable discussion to the Florida Public Service Commission. It's purpose was to discuss the potential effects of public and privately-owned electric vehicle charging on the state’s electric grid. Participating were representatives from Tesla, GM, electric utilities, companies providing charging equipment and Drive Electric Florida.

Drive Electric Florida Voting Members:

Our club, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts, is a voting member of Drive Electric Florida and at about 40 minutes into the video the Chairman of the Commission asked about our club. At about 1 hour 17 minutes into the video Tesla made a presentation.

I know that not many of us have more than 3 hours to spare on this type of topic, but it illustrates the FPSC's appreciation of the inevitability of the exponential growth of EVs and their desire to proactively plan for that load growth on the Florida electric grids.

Here's an article summarizing the Roundtable discussions:

Charging options in focus as Florida prepares for rise of electric vehicles

Construction on West Melbourne Supercharger Station has begun [Now operational] (Public)

Sat, 21 Oct 2017 15:05:10 GMT

As we previously reported, the media stated that the West Melbourne Supercharger would be going in at the Hammock Landing shopping center. West Melbourne to get Space Coast's first Tesla Supercharger station. Here's a vicinity map:

Members of the Tesla Motors Club have recently posted photos of the Supercharger equipment being installed in the parking lot of Hammock Landing.

This photo shows the conduits going in for the Supercharger cabinets and the switchgear.

This photo show the conduits going in for the 8 Supercharger charging terminals.

Three of the eight charging terminals, switch gear loaded on flatbed, cinder block enclosure on right to house Supercharger cabinets and switch gear.

Construction coming along nicely with 8 charging terminals installed.

Four Supercharger cabinets and two switch gear cabinets installed in partially constructed cinder block enclosure.

UPDATE AS OF NOVEMBER 27:

It appears that the Tesla contractor has completed their work and that all that remains is to install the utility power transformer on the concrete pad and install the meter in the meter cabinet.

UPDATE: As of December 12, 2017

This Supercharger Station is now operational.

Celebrating the opening of the Sarasota Superchargers at Stonewood Grill (Public)

Tue, 26 Sep 2017 21:06:45 GMT

To celebrate the opening of the Sarasota Supercharger Station we had a club meet-up and dinner at the nearby Stonewood Grill & Tavern. This Supercharger Station, with 20 charging stalls is not only the largest in Florida, it is the largest on the east coast of the USA. You would have to travel to the Albany, New York area to find a similar station this size.

This event, which was open to the public, was originally scheduled earlier in the month, but due to Hurricane Irma we re-scheduled it to September 22nd. We had an excellent turnout and pretty much filled the restaurant's private room. Here's some photos of our group.

Welcome to Sarasota, an EV-friendly community. (Public)

Fri, 15 Sep 2017 14:23:58 GMT

Welcome to Sarasota, an EV-friendly community.

Welcome to Sarasota, and EV-friendly community! So far, this is the largest Supercharger Station on the east coast of the USA. You would have to travel up to the Albany, NY area to find another this size.

Click Here for short Facebook video

Tesla Updates New "Coming Soon" Supercharger Map for 2018 (Public)

Tue, 12 Sep 2017 03:53:30 GMT

New Urban type Superchargers

Tesla updated their "Coming Soon" Supercharger map and it now lists 17 new Supercharger Stations for 2018 for Florida.

Jacksonville, FL
Gainesville, FL
Celebration, FL
Tampa, FL - Wesley Chapel
Tampa, FL - Clearwater
Tampa, FL - Hyde Park
Lakeland, FL
Yeehaw Junction, FL
Delray Beach, FL
North Naples, FL
Weston, FL
Riverside Park, FL
Pembroke Pines, FL
Hollywood, FL
Miami Beach, FL - Bal Harbour
Miami Beach, FL - South Beach
Miami, FL - Coral Gables

In addition, the map continues to show 10 "Coming Soon" Supercharger Stations for 2017 for Florida. They are:

Altamont Springs, FL
Orlando, FL
West Melbourne, FL
Fort Myers, FL
West Palm Beach, FL
Boca Raton, FL
Plantation, FL
Aventura, FL
Miami, FL - Wynwood
Miami, FL - Brickell

Suspected New Supercharger Locations

We are virtually certain that the Miami, FL - Coral Gables Supercharger for 2018 is currently being installed in the parking lot at the new Coral Gables Service Center under construction at 3851 Bird Road, Coral Gables.

Coral Gables Service Center under construction will have a Supercharger Station collocated there in the parking lot.

It has been reported in the media that the West Melbourne Supercharger for 2017 will be going in the The Hammock Landing shopping center, located west of Interstate 95 on the north side of Palm Bay Road.

We believe that the Aventura Supercharger for 2017 will be going in the new Parking Garage that was recently built as part of the new expansion at Aventura Mall.

Rendering of new expansion of Aventura Mall. We believe that a Supercharger Station may be located in the parking garage on the right.

The Altamonte Springs Growth Management Director confirms that the "Coming Soon" Altamonte Springs Supercharger Station for 2017 was requested by Tesla to be located in the Renaissance Centre shopping center near Whole Foods at SR 436 & E. Altamonte Dr., Altamonte Springs. However, while expected to be approved, it hasn't been approved yet due to landscaping delay.

We suspect that some of these new locations will be expansions of existing Supercharger Stations. The new Ft. Myers, West Palm Beach and Plantation entries on the list are likely candidates for expansion of existing locations.

Urban Superchargers

A number of the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Stations appear to be located in urban settings. Tesla has just come out with a new Urban type Supercharger design. They have a new post design that occupies less space and is easier to install, making them ideal for dense, highly populated areas. To increase efficiency and support a high volume of cars, these Superchargers have a new architecture that delivers a rapid 72 kilowatts of dedicated power to each car.

New Urban Supercharger Design

Please keep on the look-out for signs of construction of these new "Coming Soon" locations. If you see a likely candidate for a Supercharger at these locations, please takes some photos and send them to me at lfchanin@verizon.net.

Location of "Coming Soon" "Miami" Service Center Revealed (Public)

Mon, 04 Sep 2017 16:48:18 GMT

One of our club members has discovered the location of the "Coming Soon: "Miami" Service Center at 3851 Bird Road, Coral Gables.

Vicinity map:

This location is the site of the new Gables Auto Vault, which provides luxury car storage. We believe that the Tesla Service Center will occupy the first two floors of the structure, with possible Tesla vehicle storage on the third floor.

Artist rendering of Gables Auto Vault which is currently under construction

Actual construction site.

North Florida Drive Electric Rally 2017 (Public)

Tue, 22 Aug 2017 18:09:10 GMT

For folks in Northeast Florida:

When: Wednesday, September 13, 2017 from 5:00 PM to 7:00

Where:

Intuition Ale Works

929 E Bay Street

Jacksonville, FL 32202

To register, click link:

North Florida Drive Electric Rally 2017

National Drive Electric Events (Public)

Sun, 20 Aug 2017 17:37:52 GMT

Below is a list of the current locations in Florida that are having National Drive Electric Events next month.

We encourage you to participate in or attend nearby events.

National Drive Electric Week Event	Date
Destin	Sep 15, 2017
Dunedin	Sep 09, 2017
Estero	Sep 16, 2017
Jacksonville	Sep 13, 2017
Orlando	Sep 12, 2017
Orlando	Sep 09, 2017
Sarasota	Sep 09, 2017
Satellite Beach	Sep 16, 2017
West Palm Beach	Sep 09, 2017

Larry Chanin

President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Website: teslaownersflorida.org

Facebook: Florida Tesla Enthusiasts

Location of "Miami" Service Center revealed (Public)

Mon, 07 Aug 2017 16:00:15 GMT

A club member has found the location of the "Coming Soon" "Miami" Service Center. It is located at 3851 Bird Road, Coral Gables, at the corner of Bird Road and 38th Ct.

It will be located in a development that also houses the Gables Auto Vault. Another club member has been informed that Tesla will have the first two floors for service needs and possibly the third floor for vehicle storage.

Here's a vicinity map:

Tesla executive joins Florida Tesla Enthusiasts at Universal Orlando for an informative presentation (Public)

Thu, 03 Aug 2017 18:50:05 GMT

Javier Verdura, Director, Product Design at Tesla

On July 21, 2017 we were pleased to host Javier Verdura, Director, Product Design at Tesla. He provided an informative presentation on Tesla, the future of energy and mobility and covered a wide gamut of Tesla topics, as well as responding to a number of questions. The event took place at the conference center at the beautiful Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando.

This event had the highest attendance of any event in the club’s more than 5-year history with about 130 members, guests and Tesla representatives in attendance. Admission was free.

We had about 130 members, guests and Tesla representatives in attendance.

For those wishing to spend the night or the weekend at Universal, we arranged for group rates at both Loews Royal Pacific and Loews Sapphire Falls Resorts, both on Universal grounds and walking distance from the conference center.

Loews Royal Pacific Resort at Universal Orlando

Hosting a Tesla executive is a very exciting and long-awaited club event. This type of event ranked number one on our Event Preference Survey. We were particularly fortunate and appreciative to have someone with Javier’s stature to fly out here from California to spend time with us.

Javier belongs to the inner circle of the elite design team at Tesla and meets regularly with Elon Musk to brief him on design developments. He reports directly to Franz von Holzhausen, Tesla’s Chief Designer.

In his career of over 25 years, Javier has been recognized by winning the design industry’s most prestigious awards and his name appears on more than 130 patents. Since joining Tesla, he has been involved in a variety of projects, from vehicle components, to the design of the Superchargers, and most recently he’s led the design of Tesla’s ground breaking Solar Roof and Powerwall.

Following Javier’s informative presentation, Jillian Percella, Tesla’s regional Marketing Manager, and I read some questions forwarded in advance for Javier and he took additional questions from the audience.

Jillian Percella, Tesla Regional Marketing Manager; Larry Chanin, President Florida Tesla Enthusiasts & Javier Verdura, Tesla Director, Product Design

After the Q&A session we had an informal Club Chat with Tesla. During the chat we had club member experts along with Tesla representatives taking questions. To lubricate the chat, we had a free beer and wine bar during this segment of the program.

Club members Nick Howe & Matt Pressman; Tesla reps; Bill Madden, District General Manager, Gus Cobeaga, Regional Service Manager and Eric Fields, Orlando Store Manager

Participating in the chat was club member Matt Pressman. Matt is co-founder and president of EVANNEX, a family business specializing in aftermarket Tesla accessories. Matt is a prolific reporter of Tesla news and writes for Teslarati, CleanTechnica and InsideEVs. You can follow his work on the EVANNEX Blog.

Club member Nick Howe was also on the Chat. Nick is the Vice President, of Florida Tesla Enthusiasts. He is the author of “Owning Model S”, and is well known in the Tesla community. Nick produces the popular “News from the Frunk” YouTube video channel which has over 3500 subscribers.

The cocktail reception facilitated informal chats between Tesla representative and club members.

Club members Nick Howe & Matt Pressman, along with Tesla reps Gus Cobeaga and Eric Fields chat with attendees.

Javier Vendura, on left, chats with attendees during the cocktail reception.

Tesla sent a large contingent of representatives to assist. Here are most of them.

Participating from Tesla on the Chat were Bill Madden, District General Manager, North Florida, Gus Cobeaga, Regional Service Manager, Florida, and Eric Fields, Store Manager – Tesla Orlando.

Following the Club Chat we had a cocktail reception with a cash bar and hors d’oeuvres. During the reception the Tesla participants were available for additional conversations. In addition, the following Tesla representative were also in attendance to chat with attendees:

 Cinthya Chavez, Store Manager – Tesla Sarasota

 Ron Vyas, Store Manager – Tesla International Plaza

 Ryan Youngquist, Store Manager – Tesla Jacksonville

 Yolie Brito, Store Manager – Tesla Naples

 Morgan Derner, Associate Store Manager – Tesla International Plaza

 Kamin Atchley, Assistant Service Manager – Tesla Orlando

 Mark Willard, Owner Advisor – Tesla Nashville

 Adam Cain, Owner Advisor – Tesla Orlando

 Jerad Grimes, Owner Advisor – Tesla Jacksonville

 Keena Blum, Customer Experience Specialist – Tesla Orlando

 Troy Johnson, Customer Experience Specialist – Tesla Orlando

Larry Chanin
President, Florida Tesla Enthusiasts
Email: lfchanin@gmail.com

Media reaction to the production release of the Model 3 (Public)

Sun, 30 Jul 2017 19:13:29 GMT

Motor Trend

US News & World Report

Top Gear

Bloomberg

The Verge

Location of "Coming Soon" "St. Petersburg" Supercharger Revealed [Now Operational](Public)

Mon, 24 Jul 2017 20:58:23 GMT

One of our club members just spied out the "Coming Soon" Supercharger location listed on Tesla's Find Us page as "St. Petersburg". It's actually located at the Wawa gas station at 3101 Gandy Blvd, Pinellas Park. It will have 8 charging stalls.

Here is the vicinity map:

Here is a site map of the location of the stall at the Wawa:

Here's a recent drone photo taken by one of our members.

August 6 photo from one of our club members:

Here's the four Supercharger cabinets going in in the grassy median:

Update August 10, 2017

This Supercharger location is operational and its location has been uploaded to the Tesla fleet's navigation systems.

So we need to locate the remaining 10 Supercharger Stations that Tesla hopes to construct by year-end. Please keep a look-out and let me know at lfchanin@gmail.com if you think you have a location.

Location of “Coming Soon” Supercharger Station in Sarasota Revealed [Now Operational] (Public)

Mon, 17 Jul 2017 00:23:06 GMT

Earlier I received a credible rumor regarding the location of the Supercharger Station coming to Sarasota. My source believed that the station would be located at a Whole Foods Market in Sarasota. There currently is a Whole Foods in downtown Sarasota, but that would not be an ideal location.

However, Whole Foods is currently building a large 40,000 square foot anchor store at University Station which will be located at the southwest corner of University Parkway and Honore Avenue in Sarasota. This development is expected to be completed in the fourth quarter of this year which is consistent with Tesla's information on their Find Us page.

This is located nearby University Town Center Mall (utc) and is a good location for a Supercharger Station once the major road construction is completed to facilitate access to this area.

I asked the University Station Facebook page folks whether they could confirm that they would be hosting a Tesla Supercharger there. I received an interesting response. They didn't ask me what a Supercharger was, nor did they deny it was going in there. Here's their response. "University Station - Sarasota We cannot confirm that but stay tuned to our page for updates."

Here's a vicinity map of the location of University Station. You can see how close it is to UTC mall (see Kona Grill) and I-75.

Well, today a member at Tesla Motors Club confirmed that the Supercharger Station is indeed being constructed in back of the Whole Foods and it will have 20 charging stalls.

Here are a couple of photos:

Update: The Sarasota Supercharger Station is now operational!

Location of "Coming Soon" Live Oak Supercharger Station Revealed [Now Operational] (Public)

Sun, 16 Jul 2017 16:58:35 GMT

Looks like the "Coming Soon" Supercharger Station in Live Oak is well underway at the intersection of I-10 and 129. At the Busy Bee Truck Stop at 6886 US-129.

The station will have 12 charging stalls.

Vicinity map

Location of future Supercharger stalls at Busy Bee Truck Stop

For more photos go to:

https://teslamotorsclub.com/…/…/live-oak-supercharger.94064/

UPDATE: This location is now operational.

West Melbourne to get Space Coast's first Tesla Supercharger station (Public)

Tue, 11 Jul 2017 22:48:17 GMT

West Melbourne to get Space Coast's first Tesla Supercharger station (click title for Florida Today article)

The Hammock Landing shopping center, located west of Interstate 95 on the north side of Palm Bay Road, will play host to the station, according to West Melbourne City Manager Scott Morgan. He said the city's planning department confirmed that Tesla submitted applications for installing the Supercharger within Hammock Landing west of Norfolk Parkway.

Tesla hopes to open the Supercharger, which will feature multiple charging units, by the end of this year, according to the company's website.

Here's the vicinity map:

Tesla Plans 15 new Supercharger Stations for Florida in 2017 (Public)

Mon, 24 Apr 2017 19:59:11 GMT

Today Tesla discussed their plans to expand the Supercharger Network in an article entitled Charging Is Our Priority. They also updated their interactive "Coming Soon" Map of Superchargers and we received some exciting news.

The map shows that in addition to our existing 15 operational Supercharger Stations in Florida, that they have plans to add 15 more stations. Although we don't have official word, some of the new stations are likely to be expansions of existing stations. Here, in no particular order, is the list of new Supercharger Stations planned for 2017.

Live Oak (Operational)
Altamont Springs
Orlando
West Melbourne (Location found)
Yeehaw Junction
West Palm Beach
Boca Raton
Plantation
Aventura
Miami - Wynwood
Miami - Brickell
Florida City (Operational)
Fort Myers
Sarasota (Operational)
St. Petersburg (Operational)

You will notice that Tesla has finally updated the map and the navigation systems of the Tesla fleet with the information regarding the new Naples Supercharger Station.

We have determined that item 12 on the list, the Florida City Supercharger Station, is currently coming along nicely. It is an 8-terminal station located in the parking lot of Sonny's BBQ in Florida City. For photos go to Supercharger Station Being Constructed in Florida City, FL

Tesla Explores: SuperCar Week in West Palm Beach (Public)

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 20:57:59 GMT

Tesla Motors will be participating in the free SuperCar Week festivities at the West Palm Beach waterfront this Sunday, January 15th from 11:00 am to 5:00 pm at Clematis Street.

Tesla Explores: SuperCar Week in West Palm Beach

Please invite interested family and friends to get the complete Tesla experience and design the Model S or Model X of their dreams at a Tesla mobile gallery. Pulled by a Model X SUV, an Airstream trailer is retrofitted with a full Tesla Design Studio and staffed with Tesla product specialists to give a taste of what life is like with a Tesla.

The Tesla mobile gallery will be featured near the Green Street area at the general location shown in red on the map below:

In addition, on Sunday a one mile length of the West Palm Beach Waterfront will be laid out as an auto enthusiast city scape displaying hundreds of car. There will be music and entertainment with designated areas for SuperCar Street, Muscle Beach, Memory Lane, Green Street for Electrics, Corvette Court, Viper Blvd., ArtCar Ave., Marine Village for Off Shore PowerBoats, and the Race Village of Race Teams and displays of race vehicles.

We hope that you can make it.

Here's some photos of the event taken by club member Daniel.

Inside Tesla Mobile Design Studio

All electric Zero bikes

Airstream trailer houses Tesla Mobile Design Studio towed by Model X

The Naples Supercharger is nearing completion (Public)

Sun, 15 Jan 2017 20:47:05 GMT

The Naples Supercharger is nearing completion. Most of the major work is done. The parking lines have be correctly repainted and the utility power transformer has been set. The meter is not installed. Waiting for permits and minor work to be completed.

Tesla Explores with their mobile design studios (Public)

Wed, 23 Nov 2016 21:22:19 GMT

Tesla is hitting the road across North America with their first-ever Tesla mobile Design Studios.

Get the complete Tesla experience and design the Model S or Model X of your dreams as their fleet of mobile galleries roams to destinations near and far. Pulled by the Model X SUV, which can tow up to 5,000 lbs, each Airstream trailer is retrofitted with a full Tesla Design Studio and staffed with Tesla product specialists to give you a taste of what life is like with a Tesla.

If you re curious about Tesla and don't have a convenient store nearby, visit one of the following three events:

Tesla Explores: Art Basel

Tesla Explores: Winter Park

Tesla Explores: Fernandina Beach

Corvette - Tesla Ice Cream Run (Public)

Sun, 13 Nov 2016 18:31:23 GMT

How about two iconic American Cars clubs getting together for a short, local Ice Cream Run?

The Skyway Corvette Club of Sarasota-Bradenton invited our Southwest Region to join them in a meet and greet on Veteran's Day.

We started by meeting at the University Town Center Mall (UTC) in Sarasota and caravaned over to the Culver's of Sarasota 4 miles away.

It was an informal, fun, local event with about 30 cars and around 60 people in attendance. Even some of the UTC Tesla Store staff joined us at the mall parking lot.

We had a nice turn out at the UTC mall. Probably over 60 people.

We had a number of Model Xs

Some of the UTC Tesla Store staff joined us.

We all caravaned over to the Culver's of Sarasota for some wholesome custard

Some selected car photos courtesy of the Skyway Corvette Club

Please Vote NO for Amendment One in November (Public)

Mon, 26 Sep 2016 20:12:26 GMT

Please Vote NO for Amendment One in November

In general, our Florida electric utilities have been helpful advocates promoting electric vehicle adoption in the state. However, the same can not be said for promoting solar energy when it comes to supporting policies beneficial to residential customers and small businesses.

Like the automobile dealerships fighting Tesla in selling directly to consumers, the electric utilities are spending millions to prevent small solar businesses from pursuing a free-market solution of leasing solar panels directly to consumers thereby limiting up-front costs to homeowners.

Floridians for Solar Choice started a citizens' initiative to deregulate the solar market to allow third-party power providers to sell rooftop solar-generated power. To confuse voters with competing Amendments, Florida's four largest electric companies created the "Consumers for Smart Solar" initiative which will appear on the November ballot as Amendment One, masquerading as a pro-solar energy initiative.

Please take the time to read the Tampa Bay Times editorial by Paula Dockery, a syndicated columnist who served in the Florida Legislature for 16 years as a Republican from Lakeland.

Dockery: Don't be fooled by anti-solar Amendment 1

Interview with club members Roger & Matt Pressman at the Model 3 unveiling (public)

Sat, 17 Sep 2016 16:59:19 GMT

Zachary Shahan of Clean Technica produced this great 20 minute video of club members Roger & Matt Pressman at the Model 3 unveiling. A very entertaining example of Florida Tesla Enthusiasm!

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