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:

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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:

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