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Tesla visited our distillery today


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This was a cool visitor to our distillery today.

Our first Tesla showed up at the distillery today to use our newly installed EV charger.

The owner purchased a case of our spirits and took a tour while she recharged her car.

Suggestion to all distillery owners, install an EV charger and make it available for free electricity to EV owners.

They will likely buy a few bottles. The cost of the electricity is negligible.

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I'd like to install a couple of chargers at my downtown store and distillery. Since it's right off I-81 it could be a draw for the more affluent. Did you get the equipment form Tesla and what was the cost?

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Tesla will give them to you for free if you are willing to connect them to 100 amp circuits and make them available for free to your customers.

If you install two of them on your property, Tesla will add your location to the navigation system in the cars.

Right now only Supercharger locations are in the car maps, but in a few months they are going to be sending an online update to all cars with all of these other locations like hotels and other destinations that offer these charging locations.

For example, here is what the Tesla map says about Grand Teton Distillery.

We plan to add a second Tesla unit so our location is added to the car navigation system.

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/?search=store,service,supercharger&place=dc1527

It is mostly hotels that have them now.

But I asked and Tesla agreed that our distillery was a useful location and sent us a free High Power Wall Connector (HPWC)

We installed it on a 100 amp circuit so that it will deliver 208 volts and 80 amps (16.6 kW) to an EV.

Superchargers are even more insane levels of power.

Those deliver almost 400 volts and 300 amps (120 kW).

Tesla puts those on highways every 120-150 miles.

http://supercharge.info/

Here is the map where hotels and other destination are located. This extra info will soon be sent to the car owners and be in the navigation system.

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/

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The electric car charging standards are a wee bit of a mess at the moment. If you're interested in supporting only Teslas, their unit is about $2700 and requires a 100A feed.

It is only $750 now. If you have a good location, they will give two of them to you for free in certain circumstances.

http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/model-s-charging-adapters/products/high-power-wall-connector

It doesn't need a 100 amp circuit. That is the maximum that it can utilize.

You can also connect it to a 50 amp or any level of power available. Most people do 100 amp circuits, but anything from 20 to 50 amps is also fine.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I think this is a great idea but how has this impacted your electric bill? Is the distillery covering the electrical cost or does the user pay for the battery "top off". I don't think the kWh charge would be that much but what is the peak kW you are seeing when a car is plugged in?

If you are running a bunch of equipment in the shop (especially if you are running an electric still) plugging in a high amp charger could drive your peak kW charge much, much higher resulting in a surprisingly large electric bill especially if it happens during 'on-peak' demand times, which is typically the hours a shop is open....

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I think this is a great idea but how has this impacted your electric bill? Is the distillery covering the electrical cost or does the user pay for the battery "top off". I don't think the kWh charge would be that much but what is the peak kW you are seeing when a car is plugged in?

If you are running a bunch of equipment in the shop (especially if you are running an electric still) plugging in a high amp charger could drive your peak kW charge much, much higher resulting in a surprisingly large electric bill especially if it happens during 'on-peak' demand times, which is typically the hours a shop is open....

Our local electricity is hydro and we have solar panels on the roof. So our cost of electricity is VERY low per kwh at 10 cents or so.

At 10 cents per kwh that is roughly something like $1.00 to $3.00 of electricity consumed by a Tesla visitor. That first Tesla owner purchased a full case of our spirits and spent $250+ in our distillery. So I am sure overall we came out profitable on the visit.

We offer the electricity for free. The max power draw is 17 kW (208 volts, 80 amps) It has it's own dedicated circuit, just like any piece of equipment such a dryer would, so it is not causing any issue on our power panel.

The full battery pack on a Tesla Model S is 85 kwh, but most EVs are not arriving empty. A visitor more likely would arrive with around 50% to 70% remaining on their battery pack. So any given person using it would likely only recharge for 30-60 minutes while taking a tour or grabbing a bite to eat at a nearby restaurant. So in reality, 10 kwh to 30 kwh it more likely to be the amount of electricity consumed.

Since that first visit we had a second Tesla also visit. That second Tesla owner also took a tour and bought a few bottles. So overall I am not worried about losing money on electricity. I can tell already that they are spending way more money than the electricity expense.

We have added our location to all of the EV recharging maps used by the Tesla owners.

I believe that is how they are finding us. As more Superchargers are installed enabling easy long distance road trips to Yellowstone, we expect a lot more visitors in 2015.

http://www.plugshare.com

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#

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I think its a great idea also but I'm not sure everyone understands how most commercial electrical rates operate. A standard commercial rate incorporates both a kWh (consumption) and a pk kW demand charge. A residential rate is typically based only on kWh (but not always, demand is used in some locations).

kWh consumption is cumulative and is relatively cheap so charging a 90kWh battery would cost $9 at 10 cents a kWh. The demand charge is a once a month peak charge typically based on the highest kW avg over a 15 minute interval. For example when I plug in my forklift charger it pulls about 5kW continuously till its done charging. My meter would record a 5kW peak avg demand. My 'demand' charge is 5kW multiplied times the kW rate. In my area the demand rate is $10/kW so my demand charge is $50. So my final bill is whatever my kWh usage is plus the calculated demand charge.

If my tesla charger creates a 17kW pK demand than the demand charge is going to be 17x10 = $170 for the month which is $120 more then before. Add in the $9 kWh charge and the Tesla charge cost me $129. Now the demand charge is based on the single highest peak of the month so other Teslas charging later that month won't create additional demand charges, they will only create additional kWh charges. Someone charging at home won't see a demand charge as homes typically are kWh only.

Now if a distillery is using electric elements for their still their monthly pK demand is probably at least 17kW (or much higher) so if the still is not running and the Tesla charger is plugged in the kW pk never increases and the distillery bill only reflects the kWh charge. But if the still IS running (or a forklift charger is plugged in) then plugging in a Tesla charger will be adding another 17kW on top. At my rate this would mean an extra $170 on my bill.

To make matter worse some areas also have on-demand and off-demand rates that charge different rates for peaks at different times of the day. If your demand pks are too highthe utility will push you into an industrial rate structure where things get even more convoluted

The electrical rates in New England are crazy high so charges like this hit me harder than most. I'm just saying make sure you understand your electrical bill and your rates and how they work before you add any type of high demand appliance. It could be a Tesla charger or a 50kW steam generator.........

I still might go ahead and install a charger but I'll interlock it so my forklift charger can't operate at the same time.

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kckadi,

Those are all good points and I have to admit that I have never looked into that issue before.

We also have solar panels on the roof that help to offset about 30% of our energy and likely lowers those Peak Demand charges.

We do have electric steam boilers in our distillery, so our peak numbers are MUCH higher than the 17 kW from the EV charger.

Our electric steam boilers are 58 kW and 72 kW.

I am not going to worry about it. This is something we are going to offer because we expect the EV traffic to increase dramatically in the coming years. If it costs us a bit more money, we think the additional tasting room sales will more than make up for it.

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Hi TetonVodka,

It sounds like you guys have a great facility and your high kW demand boilers will 'hide' the car charger demand. I think your are right that its nothing for you to worry about, It sounds like a car charger is great investment for your place and won't really cost you much to operate. The only time you might see an additional demand charge on your bill is on a cloudy day AND your are running your 72kW boiler AND a Tesla plugs in. Probably not a likely scenario and the additional sales will most likely offset it.

I think from a marketing standpoint its a win/win for most. I'm going to contact Tesla about a charger and maybe put an additional 208 plug for other elecrics/hybrids. I think its worth the extra money just from a marketing perspective, if I find its not then I'll just remove them. PV is not a good option here in New England and my building roof is the wrong orientation anyway.

Cheers,

kckadi

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We also run every thing off electricity so it really hasn't impacted our electric bill in any significant way. I believe that the phone charging app that all the Tesla owners seem to have lets them dial back the amount of juice that their car sucks. We see about 3-4 cars a week that will generate 300-500 a week is sales.

Cheers,

P.T.

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Does Tesla supply any kind of information such as how many vehicles they have sold or are currently in your state/area?

Not by state. However your profile says Minnesota and Tesla does have a store and service center there. So odds are there are several hundred Tesla cars already in the area.

6801 Washington Ave S

Eden Prairie, MN 55344

http://www.teslamotors.com/findus#/bounds/?search=store,service,supercharger&place=edenprairie

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