Durango City Council recently approved a contract with Tesla to install and maintain eight superchargers at the Durango Transit Center.
The contract, which was approved last week, consists of a license agreement that outlines the length of the contract, details about the proposed charging stations, a rental agreement with the city and other information.
The base term of the contract is 10 years, to be followed by renewals every five years. The contract allows Tesla to rent a 300-square-foot area of the Transit Center parking lot.
For the first year of the contract, the city will lease the space to Tesla for $1,000 per month. In subsequent years, rent will increase by 3% on the date the contract takes effect, according to the contract.
The contract says Tesla will be permitted to convert 10 existing parking spaces at the Transit Center into seven parking spaces, one pull-through space and 8 feet of extra parking width for disability access.
An overhead map of the Transit Center parking lot highlights where the supercharging stations will be installed at the south end of the lot.
The superchargers will be required to be compatible with non-Tesla electric vehicle models. Four of the superchargers will be required to serve as dedicated charging stalls. The remaining four superchargers will be designated as general parking spaces for up to 30 minutes. However, the contract leaves Tesla room to convert the latter four stations into dedicated charging stalls as necessitated by demand.
Tesla will also be required to provide the city quarterly reports about usage of the superchargers, including the average length of charging sessions and the average number of charging stations per reporting period. Tesla will retain the rights to the information provided, the contract says.
Durango Transportation Director Sarah Hill said in December that the addition of superchargers at the Transit Center will put Durango on the map for electric vehicle owners nationwide.
She said U.S. Highways 550 and 160 have been designated as “priority corridors” for supercharging sites by the federal government. Although the Transit Center already hosts two ChargePoint stations, Tesla’s service should be much higher.
Hill said then the superchargers should be installed and ready for operation by this fall.
cburney@durangoherald.com
