Tesla announced that the installation of its Supercharger reached over 30,000, with 29,281 Superchargers already in place by the end of Q3, and an additional 700 constructed in just over 40 days. According to statistics, Tesla is currently developing at a rate of nearly 2,400 stations per quarter. Among them, there are over 7,600 Superchargers in China, and this speed can’t be achieved without the efforts of the Shanghai factory.
Advantages of Superchargers
Tesla Superchargers have always been one of the core competitiveness of the Tesla brand, as the biggest pain points of electric cars are their endurance and recharging capabilities. At present, people still care about the single endurance capacity because the charging speed and convenience are not as good as gasoline. Tesla’s self-built Supercharger system can be regarded as a benchmark among electric car brands, with a good user experience ensured in terms of station number, coverage, recharging speed, and facility maintenance.
Open to Other Brands
In the summer of this year, Elon Musk replied to a Tesla fan’s tweet that “Tesla will open its Supercharger network to other electric cars later this year.” As November 1 arrived, Tesla opened 10 Supercharger stations in the Netherlands to the public, and anyone with Tesla App version 4.2.3 or higher can use them. In China, all electric cars use the same national standard charging interface, making it easier to open up to other brands than in other countries. Of course, the higher charging fees for Tesla compared to other brands may make some users feel unworthy. Whether the V3 charger’s recharging speed can reach its maximum power of 250 kW after opening to other brands also needs further consideration after the launch in China.
300 kW V3 Chargers
Elon Musk previously tweeted that “Superchargers will soon be upgraded from 250 kW to 300 kW, which will give Tesla a new lead in recharging field.”
Currently, the V3 Supercharger can reach a maximum charging power of 250 kW. The garage has tested the V3 Supercharger, and a long-range rear-wheel-drive Model 3 from 10% to 90% charging only took 35 minutes, with a maximum charging power of 245 kW during the actual charging process. Undoubtedly, increasing the V3 charging station to 300 kW will further shorten the recharging time, especially for those high-capacity models.
Influenced by Tesla, new players are also providing their own solutions in the field of supercharging. NIO’s current supercharger has a power of 180 kW, and Xpeng recently announced its own charging data, with a maximum power of 220 kW. Everyone’s fast charging speed is continuously approaching Tesla, the industry benchmark.
Last
As one of Tesla’s major core competencies, it was the earliest to deploy the supercharging system.
30,000 superchargers, opened to the public, and 300 kW of power. These three elements together mean the same thing as when the Model 3 entered the Chinese market. Entering the market as an industry benchmark, breaking the current chaos in the charging industry, and improving the service standards of the entire industry.
With the continuous increase in the capacity of power batteries, there are already many 100 kWh battery packs on the market, and with major car manufacturers successively launching 800 V architecture, the significance of V3 supercharging stations for electric vehicles’ charging speed can be truly reflected. At that time, with improved cruising range and charging speed, I believe range anxiety for electric vehicles will be forgotten by people.
🔗 Source: insideevs
This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.