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Last summer, a dirt parking lot on First Street in downtown McCall was paved as part of a project to rebuild the roadway and add sidewalks to the street.
Plans for the improved public parking lot included eight electric vehicle charging stations installed by Tesla, but so far there is no sign of the chargers despite work on the parking lot being complete for months. One reader asked Valley Lookout why.
It turns out the cost of electric infrastructure needed to serve the eight charging stations was more expensive than Tesla expected, prompting the Austin, Texas, company to scale back its plans.
“Tesla requested a quote from Idaho Power for the infrastructure upgrades needed to support eight Superchargers, but the costs were too high for the project,” McCall City Engineer Morgan Stroud said. “As a result, staff collaborated with Tesla to move forward with installing at least four superchargers.”
The quote Tesla requested from Idaho Power indicated that it would cost $700,000 to install the infrastructure necessary to support eight superchargers. That would include upgrading about a half-mile of underground electric lines and a new transformer, according to the quote.
An alternative for about half the power, included in the same quote, was estimated to cost “more than $100,000” and did not call for any off-site upgrades.
Council review coming up
Tesla is expected to submit its updated plans for review by the McCall City Council at its Feb. 27 meeting.
The charging stations would be installed this summer if the council approves the plans, Stroud said.
The work will not require tearing up the new pavement in the parking lot because conduit was installed by the city last summer before the lot was paved.
Tesla originally planned to lease eight parking spaces from the city so that the superchargers could be installed. The annual lease rate for the eight spaces was about $20,000 per year.
What cars can use the chargers?
The chargers, known as Tesla Superchargers, would be able to charge several types of electric vehicles, including models made by Ford, GM, Honda, Subaru, and Hyundai.
Gas vehicles would not be allowed to park in the spaces occupied by the charging stations in the First Street lot, which has 66 parking spaces.
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Tesla is responsible for electric infrastructure upgrades required for the charging stations, while the city will pay for routine maintenance costs like snow removal.
The infrastructure installed by Tesla would belong to the city even if the company removed the charging stations in the future.
Fast charging
The superchargers would be installed in place of four charging stations the city planned to install in the lot with grant funding. Tesla’s chargers can fully recharge an electric vehicle’s battery in about 30 minutes, compared to about six hours for the stations the city planned to install.
Currently, the only public charging stations available in McCall are in the rear parking lot of May Hardware. Charging stations at Shore Lodge are available only to the resort’s guests.
McCall city staff recommend installing electric vehicle charging stations in 10% of all public parking spaces to prepare for expected demand in the future. The recommendation is based on data included in an EV strategy published by the International Code Council.
That would mean that McCall would need 66 charging stations, based on the total of 665 public parking spaces in the city.
