With the launch of supercharger V4 and the expansion of the charging network to none Tesla EVs, 2022 has been a great year for Tesla’s supercharger network. However, adding the icing on the cake, with few days to go until the end of the year, today Tesla has announced it has officially launched the 10,000th supercharger in mainland China.
Tesla first launched the supercharger network back in September 2012 with 6 stations located throughout California. And since then, the supercharger network has become Tesla’s biggest advantage in the EV world. As of the end of Q3 2022, Tesla announced that the EV maker’s superchargers have grown to over 38,000 stalls at more than 4000 locations.
This makes Tesla’s supercharger by far the biggest and most extensive DC fast-charging network in the world. Not only that, Tesla places supercharger locations strategically along major highways, meaning, beyond sheer numbers, this makes superchargers even more useful for long-distance travel.
When Tesla first unveiled the supercharger V1, it had a maximum output of 100KW. And later on, Tesla increased this number to 145KW with V2 superchargers. And in 2019, Tesla made another leap in charging technology.
In 2019 the EV maker not only announced it increased the max charging rate to 250KW with V3 superchargers but also introduced On-route Battery Warmup. This enabled Tesla vehicles that are en route to supercharger stations to warm up their batteries so that the vehicle arrives at the optimal temperature for charging. This decreased supercharging times by a further 25%.
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All these factors added together have made Tesla’s superchargers the fastest and most convenient means of charging an electric vehicle for a while. However, Tesla doesn’t seem to be resting on its laurels.
At the recently held Semi delivery event, Tesla officially announced the next-generation V4 supercharger. According to Tesla, the new supercharger has 4 times the capacity of the V3 superchargers with a charging speed of 1000KW (1MW).
Although we have yet to see these chargers in public use, according to Tesla, the V4 supercharger not only can charge at over 1MW but also has 3 times the current density. And even more impressively, Elon Musk has also shared that the V4 supercharger "is going to be used for Cybertruck."
Tesla has also currently opened the supercharger network as a pilot program for none Tesla EVs in 16 European countries, with Italy being the latest country to be added to the supercharger pilot program.
All these added together have meant that it has been a great year for Tesla’s supercharger network. However, adding the icing on the cake, with few days to go until the end of 2022, today Tesla has announced it has officially launched the 10,000th supercharger in mainland China.
And to add to this monumental achievement, Tesla has chosen to locate the 10,000th mainland Chinese supercharger next to the Shanghai Oriental Pearl Tower, which is the 6th largest building in Asia and the city’s most iconic landmark.
This is certainly exciting and shows all the advancements Tesla has been making on the supercharger network. And even though 10,000 stalls in mainland China is an impressive number, Tesla still seems to only be getting started when it comes to the supercharger network.
And we will be sure to keep you posted as Tesla keeps progressing on the charging front. Until then, make sure to visit our site torquenews.com/Tesla regularly for the latest updates.
So what do you think? Excited to see Tesla’s supercharger network expand at such a rapid pace? Also how long do you think it will be till supercharger V4 stations start popping up all over the place? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below.
Image: Taken from Tesla’s Twitter page
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Tinsae Aregay has been following Tesla and The evolution of the EV space on a daily basis for several years. He covers everything about Tesla from the cars to Elon Musk, the energy business, and autonomy. Follow Tinsae on Twitter at @TinsaeAregay for daily Tesla news.