Introduction
Trip to visit all the southern lower Michigan Tesla Supercharger sites open to non-Tesla vehicles. Site visit on July 21, 2025
The Family Fare in Grand Rapids station was the 9th charging stop on my trip to check the southern lower Michigan Tesla sites. This is one of the newest sites, and thus is supporting the V3.5 hardware. Based on the usage chart in the Tesla app, this site sees steady use throughout the day, but never a point where few chargers are available. (This station opened in January 2025).
Accessibility
This Family Fare site is in the parking lot of the supermarket business. The site is 1.7 miles from I-196 at exit 75. Heading west from the exit following M-45. In the southwest corner of the parking lot. The charge points are easy to locate from the nearest intersection. The stalls are arranged along the outer edge of the parking lot. The dispenser in the corner is placed with accessibility in mind. There is no pull-through spot at this location.
Amenities
Dining options include: Starbucks, Westside Social
Shopping options include: Family Fare Supermarket
Car-related services (windshield cleaning, air): Speedway gas station across the street
Concentration
This is a smaller 8 stall V3.5 location. The dispensers are arranged along the outer edge of the parking lot. The power cabinets and transformer are placed at the end of the row of dispensers. The 8 stalls are using the newer V4 cabinets that have the longer cables, thus eliminating most parking concerns for vehicles that don’t follow the Tesla charging port location practice.
Location
This site supports I-96 east/west interstate and the US-23 north/south highway. About 170 miles to Detroit and 75 miles to Lansing. To the north, Traverse City 150 miles and South Bend, IN about 120 miles.
50 Mile Loop:
100 to 150 Mile Range Estimate:
Speed
The currently installed V3 power cabinets can produce up to 500V and 600A. The power cabinets are connected by the high voltage DC bus, and thus can share power amongst all the dispensers. Of course, this 500V limitation reduces the peak charging speeds for some 800V architecture vehicles, but the 600A output works well for lower voltage higher amperage vehicles. Since I am on this trip with Elektra, the 200A, 80kW limit of the vehicle will not be stressing these units at all. With only two 250kW cabinets the 750kVA transformer provides plenty of site power.
Summary
This was another stop where I saw other non-Tesla charging. In addition to the Model 3 and the Model Y at this site there was also a Nissan Aryia. After another quick charge, I was off to see the construction status on the soon to be open NEVI funded site in Grand Rapids and then onto the next charge.
What I paid for this stop:
Total Cost: $2.57
Total kWh: 6.7681 kWh
Time: 7 min
Average Charge Speed: 58 kW
Cost per kWh: $0.38
(From 62% to 70%)
Alternatives:
Meijer – 2425 Alpine Ave NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49544 - $0.56/kWh – 350kW x 6
(Electrify America)
Meijer – 2425 Alpine Ave NW, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49544 - $0.67/kWh – 300kW x 6
(Rivian)
Questions or Comments:
dantheevman@gmail.com
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