Tesla 350KW V4 Superchargers, 750 KW Chargers and Next Megawatt Chargers

11 thoughts on “Tesla 350KW V4 Superchargers, 750 KW Chargers and Next Megawatt Chargers”

1. I regularly drive between Kentucky and Charleston SC. (615 miles). It isn’t a problem at all. Just put in your final address in the mapping system and the Tesla does all the calculations for when, where,and how many minutes you’ll be charging at each spot. Sooo easy. If you can follow instructions you’ll NEVER, experience range anxiety.

2. The biggest thing discouraging me from an electric car purchase, aside from the price, of course, is the charging, and all the issues around it.

   For my regular work commute, over night charging at home would work out just fine. Most days I only drive 20-30 miles all told. There are electric golf carts with that sort of range. If there were a REALLY cheap street legal car with just 50 miles range, an electric beater, as it were, it might be worth my while to use.

   But then comes the occasional weekend, when depending on our plans, I might drive as far as 700 miles on occasion.

   If I’m driving an ICE car? No problem, I just stop for a few minutes to top off every couple hundred miles. Maybe pick up a soda while I’m at it.

   Now, sure, maybe charging for 10 minutes to a half hour, instead of gassing up in 2-3 minutes, wouldn’t be horrific. I could get out and stretch my legs.

   And maybe the chargers will become as widespread as gasoline stations, so I wouldn’t have to plan my trips around charging opportunities.

   But, what happens if I screw up and end up with a dead battery somewhere? I’m pretty sure I can’t just hitch a rid to a gas station and bring back 20 miles of range in a can… How DO electric cars deal with that situation?

   • Which is why I would be much more likely to get a plug-in-hybrid.

     • No, which is why I’d just stick with the ICE car in the first place.

       Electric cars don’t just need a charging infrastructure. They need a “rescue you if you over-estimate how far you can go on that charge” infrastructure.

       I’ve written before that having the capacity to just hook up a genset trailer on occasion would solve most of the issues with electric cars, while providing people with handy emergency generators when they weren’t doing road trips. Just the ability to drive out of a disaster area without having had the foresight to have fully charged your vehicle in advance would be worth it.

       But EV proponents mostly aren’t pushing them as a rational option. They’re irrationally hostile to fossil fuels, so the idea of having an optional genset trailer is heresy.

       • I have an article with videos and info describing the Tesla driving and charging experience. https://www.nextbigfuture.com/2023/08/videos-teaching-the-tesla-ev-experience-for-charging-and-managing-range.html

         It is possible to rent a Tesla from hertz to experience it. You may also know people who own Tesla’s.

         • In fact, I do have a friend who has just purchased a Tesla. He has just retired, and took a disbursement from his retirement savings to do it.

           He reasoned that, given the reduced maintenance schedule, and the fact that he was no longer commuting to work, it would likely be the last car he’d ever need.

           No question that it’s a nice car. Too pricey for my taste, but a very nice car.

           But I do think they need some better answer for running out of charge between chargers than “just don’t” or “call a tow truck”.

           Because once electric cars are a significant fraction of cars on the road, and are in regular use, it IS going to be happening. A lot.

   • We have used the model Y here in UK to drive to Portugal and back etc.
     The key is the speed of the charge between 10-80%. You stop every 3ish hours charge from 10 to 80 time needed is less than the time it takes to stretch the legs, take a pee, or a snack at the motorway stop and get back to the car TBH. We don’t think when to stop either as the car/app tells you where to stop and how long.
     Sure we cant do 1000 miles on a single tank non stop, but who drives that far non stop?

     As for running out of Juice, the AA now carries a battery to charge you or can get you a tow. But I cannot recall running out of petrol and that was just using a petrol gauge and my head to figure fuel economy. The weather/wind speed and direction gets included in our cars calculation. We don’t worry.

   • [ maybe there are options for incremental conversion of ICEs or upgrading/tuning kits and interest for mild hybrids, extending battery capacity, while 1 starter generator is possibly ~10-15kW already ]

3. It’s all well and good having chargers which can deliver this level, but if the local grid can’t reliably supply the superchargers with the power to support it, then it’s pointless and misleading to the consumer. Think advertised broadband speeds vs real world speeds. In many parts of the world, the local grid struggles to supply sufficient power to run a small bank of fairly routine auto chargers, never mind a large bank of these superchargers.

4. Maybe the Cybertruck will utilize the high powered chargers.
   Given the American obsession with pickup trucks, there will probably be millions of them.

5. Seems like a very positive constellation of charging point developments. Sadly (I guess, maybe not dogmatically) this isn’t for the run-of-the-mill Tesla e-vehicle.

   The megapacks, and the freight-truck battery-and-electronics format is built and engineered to handle these increased voltages and currents. Cars, not so much. And maybe that’s OK.

   The most vexing thing in comparing general public e-vehicles to petrol vehicles is the rate-of-charge and the ubiquity of RAPID fill-up options. (And the opposite of ‘vexing’ whatever that is, of at-home and at-work top-offs.)

   Basically, at the new 250 kW rate, which is 250 kilowatt-hours per hour, which is about 850 miles of range per hour, one can figure a “just make it to my hotel” charge of maybe 100 miles in 10 minutes or so. PERFECTLY reasonable. Very much on the order of a petrol fill-up. (Gasoline, at 35 MPG, 6 Gal/min is 12,000 miles of range per hour equivalent)

   Still it is only 10 minutes. A more full charge (as in going from San Francisco to Los Angeles, and stopping at Harris Ranch hotel supercharge station about half-way through the trip) is more like 35 minutes (future) to 1.2 hours (today). Well … its a rest stop, and you can have a magnificent steak. Not the worst option.

   I’m pleased that the actively cooled (liquid) cable tech is handling my previously voiced ‘the cables will get too big’ issue. Its a good thing. And its also good (diving into the specs for awhile) that the charging systems are extraordinarily sensitive to any ground current leaks. Ground faults. Like as would happen at kilovolt charging through even microscopically leaky cables. Leaks at kilovolts are REALLY bad for consumers.

   Rosy future!
   Yay Tesla Team!

   ⋅-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
   ⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅

Comments are closed.