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Tesla reveals its plans for its supercharger V3 stations.
One of the considerable drawbacks of electric cars is their considerably longer charging time compared to the time it takes a to fill a gas tank. However, companies like Tesla are hard at work improving chargers to increase customer satisfaction by decreasing waiting times. Elon Musk has recently teased the company’s plans regarding their next Supercharger V3 generation.
Tesla currently has an expansive network of supercharger stations across the United States, where Tesla owners can freely charge their car. The network currently consists in over 769 stations in the US, with considerably fewer in other countries. As impressive as this may seem, Tesla is only getting started.
Tesla is expected to create a similar network of superchargers in China but at a greater scale. The company is currently looking for partners in China, considered to be the largest automotive market in the world. The company recently announced their 100th supercharger station in Beijing in June 2016. Overall, Musk has suggested that the global network of superchargers will be expanded to around 7,000 throughout the world by the end of 2017.
However, the expanded network is not even the icing on the cake for Tesla. Elon Musk recently responded to a person’s question regarding the company’s plans for their supercharger V3 plans, asking if it was capable of 350 kW. In response, Musk characterized that charging speed for Tesla’s supercharger V3 as a mere children’s toy.
This is quite a bold claim even for Musk, as current supercharger stations only have a capacity of 120 kW, and the first 350kw charging station is still under construction in the US. If that wasn’t enough, Musk even hinted that the stations will possible integrate solar arrays. Although Musk is not known for making unbacked claims, it remains to be seen how soon the supercharge V3 plans will become a reality.
In a related matter, Tesla’s supercharger stations across the US has increasingly become crowded due to both an increase in car sales as the fact that Tesla owners keep their cars parked at the station. Tesla has implemented a fix for both situations, by charging idle fees after the car has been fully charged as well as limiting the free access to supercharger stations after a 1,000 miles, at a considerably lower cost than gas stations.
Image source: Flickr
