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Tesla blog post - Charging Is Our Priority

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Charging Is Our Priority

As Tesla prepares for our first mass-market vehicle and continues to increase our Model S and Model X fleet, we’re making charging an even greater priority. It is extremely important to us and our mission that charging is convenient, abundant, and reliable for all owners, current and future. In 2017, we’ll be doubling the Tesla charging network, expanding existing sites so drivers never wait to charge, and broadening our charging locations within city centers.

As always, the most convenient way to charge is to plug in overnight where you park. However, to better serve the needs of owners who are traveling or those who don’t have access to reliable home charging, we will continue to aggressively expand our public charging networks. Since we first energized the Supercharger network in 2012, Tesla has built over 5,400 Superchargers with the goal of enabling convenient long distance travel for more than 200,000 Tesla owners around the world. In parallel, we’ve built a network of more than 9,000 Destination Charging connectors that replicate the convenience of home charging by providing hotels, resorts, and restaurants with Tesla Wall Connectors. But we know that to truly advance electric vehicle adoption, we must continue investing in charging infrastructure.

We started 2017 with over 5,000 Superchargers globally and by the end of this year, Tesla will double that number to total more than 10,000 Superchargers and 15,000 Destination Charging connectors around the world. In North America, we’ll increase the number of Superchargers by 150 percent, and in California alone we’ll add more than 1,000 Superchargers. We’re moving full speed on site selection and many sites will soon enter construction to open in advance of the summer travel season.

Toward that goal, Tesla will build larger sites along our busiest travel routes that will accommodate several dozen Teslas Supercharging simultaneously. In addition, many sites will be built further off the highway to allow local Tesla drivers to charge quickly when needed, with the goal of making charging ubiquitous in urban centers.

supercharger-expansion-02.jpg


Tesla will continue to lead the industry with the fastest, most advanced charging technology in the world and continue to build the only cars capable of leveraging that power. The ongoing expansion of the networks will ensure that Tesla drivers are able to quickly and easily charge their vehicles no matter what, and that a seamless charging experience remains our priority.

Interactive Supercharger map and network expansion plans here.
 
And obviously this is not in any way a response to the charger installations that have been announced by VW as part of their "fine".

And not a response to Audi taking reservations for their announced e-tron BEV.

I think it very obviously _is_ a response. It's nice to have more info on locations but there's a bunch of long-open Superchargers that are listed as coming soon and some other errors (e.g. Fredericksburg, TX says Fredericksburg, VA in the popup). Looks like another Tesla rush job. Hopefully they'll get the data fixed quickly because it's just an embarrassment right now.
 
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The post has important context. The doubling is referring to stalls (which means it includes expansions at existing superchargers). Previously many were operating under the assumption that doubling is referring to stations, which excludes a good part of the expansion.
 
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And obviously this is not in any way a response to the charger installations that have been announced by VW as part of their "fine".

And not a response to Audi taking reservations for their announced e-tron BEV.

I think it very obviously _is_ a response. It's nice to have more info on locations but there's a bunch of long-open Superchargers that are listed as coming soon and some other errors (e.g. Fredericksburg, TX says Fredericksburg, VA in the popup). Looks like another Tesla rush job. Hopefully they'll get the data fixed quickly because it's just an embarrassment right now.
Not sure how you come to that conclusion. The official reason is to prepare for Model 3 (as well as growing Model S/X demand). And this reason makes the most sense. We had plenty of threads about how when Model 3 comes, it'll make superchargers a complete nightmare in terms of traffic. This was always a major concern for buyers. Even if VW didn't do the network, I'm pretty sure this expansion is necessary.
 
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And obviously this is not in any way a response to the charger installations that have been announced by VW as part of their "fine".

And not a response to Audi taking reservations for their announced e-tron BEV.

I think it very obviously _is_ a response. It's nice to have more info on locations but there's a bunch of long-open Superchargers that are listed as coming soon and some other errors (e.g. Fredericksburg, TX says Fredericksburg, VA in the popup). Looks like another Tesla rush job. Hopefully they'll get the data fixed quickly because it's just an embarrassment right now.

The timing is certainly suspicious, but I don't think the VW announcement is any sort of threat to Tesla - VW is planning to have those stations online by the end of *next* year, and there aren't any cars that are really ready to take advantage of them anyway.
 
And obviously this is not in any way a response to the charger installations that have been announced by VW as part of their "fine".

And not a response to Audi taking reservations for their announced e-tron BEV.

I think it very obviously _is_ a response. It's nice to have more info on locations but there's a bunch of long-open Superchargers that are listed as coming soon and some other errors (e.g. Fredericksburg, TX says Fredericksburg, VA in the popup). Looks like another Tesla rush job. Hopefully they'll get the data fixed quickly because it's just an embarrassment right now.

Yeah, I don't see this as anything more than a response to the Model 3 reservation number, and impending production.

VW isn't actually adding chargers that will help the new longer range BEVs until 2018...and even then I wouldn't call it significant.
 
VW is planning to have those stations online by the end of *next* year, and there aren't any cars that are really ready to take advantage of them anyway.
I'm more than ready to take advantage of them with my Bolt EV... My car is unlikely to take full advantage of their charge rate capability (although I expect a ~20% gain while charging the lower half of the pack) but the many added locations will enable more easy trip destinations.

VW isn't actually adding chargers that will help the new longer range BEVs until 2018...and even then I wouldn't call it significant.
Not in 2018 but by mid-2019 VW expects to essentially mirror today's April 2017 Supercharger network in California.

By the end of 2020 VW should have 300 highway charging locations with 1,500 or so stalls across the US and this does not count the "community depot" charging with 50 kW and 150 kW chargers in 16 metro areas which will likely add a few hundred extra stalls. By my count, Tesla today has about 360 metro and highway US Supercharger locations with a bit over 2,200 stalls.

I believe Tesla's newly announced Supercharger goals would triple the number of charging stalls in California by the end of the year (~450 to ~1,500) and more than double the Supercharger stalls in the rest of the country (~1,800 to ~4,000) for a total of more than ~5,500 stalls (~2,250 with 150% increase of ~3,350 is more than ~5,500).

Do those numbers look right to other folks?
 
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This "opening soon" is funny, as the Flagstaff Supercharger has been open for a long time.

The same is true for Waco, Texas. I have (perhaps prematurely) interpreted this to mean that they plan on expanding the location. See this sentence from the blog post:

Toward that goal, Tesla will build larger sites along our busiest travel routes that will accommodate several dozen Teslas Supercharging simultaneously
 
I'm more than ready to take advantage of them with my Bolt EV... My car is unlikely to take full advantage of their charge rate capability (although I expect a ~20% gain while charging the lower half of the pack) but the many added locations will enable more easy trip destinations.


Not in 2018 but by mid-2019 VW expects to essentially mirror today's April 2017 Supercharger network in California.

By the end of 2020 VW should have 300 highway charging locations with 1,500 or so stalls across the US and this does not count the "community depot" charging with 50 kW and 150 kW chargers in 16 metro areas which will likely add a few hundred extra stalls. By my count, Tesla today has about 360 metro and highway US Supercharger locations with a bit over 2,200 stalls.

It's great that they plan to add more than they've officially outlined for CARB, but I was discussing the plan they submitted (and I guess was accepted).
 
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