Blog Tesla Announces Supercharger Push in Urban Areas

Tesla announced today a new Supercharger station design that aims to better accommodate owners in urban areas.

According to a Tesla blog post:

Superchargers in urban areas have a new post design that occupies less space and is easier to install, making them ideal for dense, highly populated areas. To increase efficiency and support a high volume of cars, these Superchargers have a new architecture that delivers a rapid 72 kilowatts of dedicated power to each car. This means charging speeds are unaffected by Tesla vehicles plugging into adjacent Superchargers, and results in consistent charging times around 45 to 50 minutes for most drivers.

Tesla says the urban Supercharger stations will be installed in convenient locations like supermarkets, shopping centers and downtown districts “so it’s easy for customers to charge their car in the time it takes to grocery shop or run errands.”

Chicago and Boston will receive the first of the urban Superchargers.

 

[alcibiades]

Okay, it appears that my guess was wrong. Current owners on the unlimited free Supercharging plan can use these new chargers for free, as far as we know right now. Interesting.

You've pulled the idea out of thin air. Of course it was wrong. There is absolutely no reason to believe that these "wouldn't count as superchargers". It's one thing to pass on a rumor; it's another to be the person making it up to begin with.

 

[scaesare]

View attachment 247029 looks like someone on reddit already found the one in chicago, and didn't have to pay for the charging, but did have to pay to park at the structure:

Say hello to Tesla's new superchargers • r/teslamotors

Cool pic... I wish I knew if those conduits led back to an AC panel or a separate charger cabinet. I suspect it's the former...

 

[minderbinder]

So how fast would these chargers charge a Tesla from empty to full. I know many different battery sizes. Just looking for ballpark. The 72kW information is confusing me.

It makes less difference than you might think. The existing chargers start tapering right away, so there's some level of charge at which it makes no difference at all. Cars with bigger batteries taper less quickly, they'll see a bigger effect.

For my 85, I calculate a worst case (come in at 0%) difference of about 8 minutes, i.e the new chargers would take 8 minutes longer to get to a given level. Coming in at 20% would be 4 minutes longer, and at 40% or higher the times are the same.

 

[minderbinder]

Cool pic... I wish I knew if those conduits led back to an AC panel or a separate charger cabinet. I suspect it's the former...

Good question - I bet you're right (AC connect). That would make them easier to install. They'd have to have some kind of cooling built into the pedestal.

 

[scaesare]

Good question - I bet you're right (AC connect). That would make them easier to install. They'd have to have some kind of cooling built into the pedestal.

Yeah, that's what I was musing about in my earlier post in this thread:

I wonder if there's any chance the actual chargers themselves live within the pedestals themselves. Assuming they use a stack of the new 72A chargers also used in cars, that would imply needing 4-ish of them. They are slimmer, however they are a "solid" cabinet. The Tesla post implies they aren't shared, and hence don't need a single back-end cabinet. It would also seem to ease installation somewhat. But I don't see any cooling provision..

I wonder if there are cooling vents on the back side we can't see....

 

[Missile Toad]

All things being equal, if I need to add 100 mi to my 70D battery, I'm only going to go 3 extra miles out of my way to reach a 120kW Supercharger as opposed to the newer 72kW (metrocharger) Supercharger... and maybe 5 miles out of my way if its on a highway.

 

[ecarfan]

TMC member @krtrice has posted photos of the new Chicago Supercharger location in this thread 2017 Supercharger Plan: New Chicago city location?

In the closeup photo posted of the front of one of the new chargers there are no cooling vents visible, perhaps there are on the back side. But in one of the photos there is a chain link fence visible on the far left but I can't tell what is behind the fence. I've asked @krtrice if there is Supercharger equipment behind the fence.

Us Tesla geeks want more info.

 

[KJennerator]

Any pictures of the new superchargers at the Prudential center in Boston?

 

[nikeykid]

Any pictures of the new superchargers at the Prudential center in Boston?

how about a video?

 

[KJennerator]

how about a video?

That looks awesome! Thanks!

 

[MP3Mike]

how about a video?

@scaesare Well there we go. No vents, and labeled with an input voltage of 410 VDC. So the chargers are not in the pedestals.

 

[KJennerator]

@scaesare Well there we go. No vents, and labeled with an input voltage of 410 VDC. So the chargers are not in the pedestals.

200A at 410V should be 82 kW peak...makes sense for their 72 kw goal.

 

[scaesare]

@scaesare Well there we go. No vents, and labeled with an input voltage of 410 VDC. So the chargers are not in the pedestals.

Yep. And you can see the supercharger cabinets off at the end of the rows against the walls starting at about 24 seconds in on the video...

 

[minderbinder]

@scaesare Well there we go. No vents, and labeled with an input voltage of 410 VDC. So the chargers are not in the pedestals.

Yep, another wonderful theory shot down by facts. Electrek has photos of the cabinets.

 

[brkaus]

Yep, another wonderful theory shot down by facts. Electrek has photos of the cabinets.

Perhaps damage risk too high?

I would have thought a self contained unit would be a great move. Not sure this is really much different from a regular charger.

 

[MP3Mike]

Not sure this is really much different from a regular charger.

Well it is probably cheaper, and more reliable, as they don't need the switch gear to switch the stack of 8 chargers between two stalls depending on SoC. Each stall gets 4 chargers all to itself.

 

[ecarfan]

Tesla's blog post at Supercharging Cities does not clarify as to whether or not current owners with unlimited free Supercharging can use these new charging locations for free or not. As one of those owners, I would be fine with Tesla charging me (and everyone) for use (and idle fees) since that would make these new charging locations more usable and accessible for all Tesla owners. Since Tesla's blog post makes no mention of current unlimited use owners being able to use these new Superchargers for free, my guess is they won't be available for free use.

Okay, it appears that my guess was wrong. Current owners on the unlimited free Supercharging plan can use these new chargers for free, as far as we know right now. Interesting.

You've pulled the idea out of thin air. Of course it was wrong. There is absolutely no reason to believe that these "wouldn't count as superchargers". It's one thing to pass on a rumor; it's another to be the person making it up to begin with.

In both my posts I labeled my thoughts as a "guess". See above, in case you didn't read what I actually wrote. I was not "passing on a rumor". I was speculating and labeling it as such. And you criticize me for making things up "out of thin air". It must be entertaining making things up so you have something to criticize.

 

[alcibiades]

In both my posts I labeled my thoughts as a "guess". I was speculating and labeling it as such. And you criticize me for making things up "out of thin air".

Correct.

 

[ZeApelido]

Strange that they decided to start with Chicago and Boston, when all initial Model 3s are delivered in CA. And LA and Bay Area superchargers are already full even without Model 3s

Hoping the new San Antonio Center in Mountain View that looks close to opening has these...

 

[appleguru]

Doesn't appear to be a way to use the Boston ones without paying the pru's parking fees? Which... really sucks.

I live downtown. I pay to park in a garage across the street from my apt, that does not have charging facilities.

I was really excited to finally get a super charger nearby so I didn't have to drive to dedham or pay the lenox valet fee every time we want to take a trip or we need a top up. But to use these, it seems the minimum parking fee would be $12. I really hope they come up with a parking validation scheme for tesla owners or these are nearly completely useless for urban owners like me/will basically never get used (only in an emergency).

On the technical side, these seem to be "standard" 135kW paired supercharger cabinets, so the only reason these are limited to 72kW is that the new smaller charging pedestals are only rated for 200A: