Over the five years since its launch, Tesla has expanded its Supercharger network to include more than 5,400 outlets across the globe, but city folks looking to charge up their rides still aren't exactly flush with options outside their own home. The company has now announced plans to fit out downtown centers with Supercharger stations, to help ease the range anxiety for urban dwellers.
Tesla has played a big part in driving the adoption of electric cars themselves, but it is very conscious of the fact that extensive charging infrastructure will have an equally important role to play. To this end, it has quite aggressively expanded its network along highways and busy routes, recently announcing plans to double the total number of outlets to more than 10,000 by year's end, including a 150 percent increase in North America.
The stations for urban areas will have a more compact post design to better fit the cramped environments and make for easier installation. They will also sport a new kind of architecture, one that delivers 72 kW of power to the car without affecting the charging speeds of cars plugged into adjacent outlets. Tesla says charging times will be around 45 to 50 minutes for most drivers (the existing Superchargers take around 30 minutes), and will offer the same pricing as existing Superchargers.
Eventually, Tesla says these urban Superchargers will be found at places like supermarkets, shopping centers and downtown districts, so users can recharge their vehicles while grabbing a coffee or some groceries. The first installations will come to Boston and Chicago, with other locations to follow.
Source: Tesla
