Since Tesla is steadily nearing the shipment date of its mass-production and affordable electric vehicle — Model 3, the automaker is well-aware of the fact that there will soon be an excessive need for Supercharging stations as well. Thus, Tesla has today taken to its official blog post to announce that it hasn’t forgotten about the said component.
The automaker plans to double its existing high-speed electric charger network, which currently stands at over 5,400 stations. It had started the year with around 5,000 stations and is looking to achieve the goal of around 10,000 Supercharging stations worldwide by the end of 2017. This means Tesla took around five years to install the first 5,000 Superchargers but is now eyeing to double the same in just one year of time.
With regards to the same, Tesla not only plans to expand the existing locations by adding ‘several dozen Teslas Supercharging’ stations simultaneously. Instead, it also hopes to broaden the approach towards expansion within city centers to make electric charging totally ubiquitous in urban areas. Further, the blog post continues to add,
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.
In North America particularly, the company aims to increase the total number of Superchargers by 150 percent. And in California, which seems to be one of the most popular states for Tesla, it has announced that around 1,000 Superchargers will be added. Tesla plans on kicking off construction soon, with a tentative goal to open them in time for summer — delivery of Model 3 sedan.
In addition to expanding their public charging network through exclusive Supercharging Stations, the automaker is also planning to expand its Destination Charging network. Under this initiative, Tesla partners with hotels, restaurants, as well as garages, to install a commercial equivalent of Tesla Wall Connectors in such locations.
This network currently stands at 9,000 stations but Tesla is eyeing the expansion of its Supercharger installations to over 15,000 by the end of this year. This eases the Supercharging process for EV owners, who no longer have to park their cars and block a charging spot at the nearest station. It further continues to add,
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.
This is a significant and much-needed improvement to the overall electric vehicle charging network across the globe. Tesla is already witnessing an increase in demand for its existing Model S and Model X vehicles. And the addition of Tesla Model 3, which has already bagged 400,000+ orders, will further add to the increasing number.
Also, the company plans to increase the production rate around 10,000 per week in the coming year. Along with one of the much-awaited inventions i.e Tesla semi-truck in the pipeline, Musk is taking a step in the right direction to further the reach of its vehicles and drive the sustainable revolution.
