Yesterday Elon Musk introduced the Tesla Supercharger. The Tesla Supercharger is an electronic station like a gas station that can fully recharge a Tesla car in 30 minutes. He plans to cover the US with these stations so it will be possible to traverse the US with a Tesla car.
The Supercharger stations are completely powered by solar energy and Tesla owners won't have to pay anything.
He already built these in parts of California and he says he will achieve full US coverage in the next 2 years. He plans to build more of these stations later in the rest of the world.
So if you own a Tesla car, you will be able to drive 100% green and free anywhere in the US. The only downside compared to a standard car is that recharging takes half an hour.
how can electricity be free and 100% green? wtf €: read more about it and it really sounds promising, especially the way how they promote their cars with the free electiricty at those stations
looks good. 3 hours is too little though. If they could double that, I'd be happy. But on long trips (say 12 hours), I don't really want to stop 3 times and wait 30 min.
that + what happens when theres a couple of cars ahead of you in the que? 1 and a half hour wait every 3 hours?
On September 27 2012 00:03 Excludos wrote: looks good. 3 hours is too little though. If they could double that, I'd be happy. But on long trips (say 12 hours), I don't really want to stop 3 times and wait 30 min.
that + what happens when theres a couple of cars ahead of you in the que? 1 and a half hour wait every 3 hours?
Not even if you won't pay for gas? For instance i drove for 700KM's in this weekend and spent 60€.. i wouldn't mind stopping for 1 hour in beetween and spare 60€ ...
This is great, even if it doesn't work it will push the technology and interest even further.. we do have to leave oil once and for all..
@ Excludos: I think everyone (edit: a lot of people anyways, not the guy above me) feels that way, I would think people who can afford a Tesla just have another vehicle available.
Tesla always sounds very impressive, then you look up their finances.
This seems like a waste of money since they are literally losing millions every month. They are losing twice as much as they were this time last year. I have almost no faith in Elon Musk' ability to actually make this thing profitable.
On September 27 2012 00:03 Excludos wrote: looks good. 3 hours is too little though. If they could double that, I'd be happy. But on long trips (say 12 hours), I don't really want to stop 3 times and wait 30 min.
that + what happens when theres a couple of cars ahead of you in the que? 1 and a half hour wait every 3 hours?
That, and the fact if you just wanted to use the car for a commute but the nearest supercharger was 50 miles away...
On September 27 2012 00:03 Excludos wrote: looks good. 3 hours is too little though. If they could double that, I'd be happy. But on long trips (say 12 hours), I don't really want to stop 3 times and wait 30 min.
that + what happens when theres a couple of cars ahead of you in the que? 1 and a half hour wait every 3 hours?
Not even if you won't pay for gas? For instance i drove for 700KM's in this weekend and spent 60€.. i wouldn't mind stopping for 1 hour in beetween and spare 60€ ...
This is great, even if it doesn't work it will push the technology and interest even further.. we do have to leave oil once and for all..
I'm all for it. But I don't want to make my 12 hour journey a 20 hour journey just yet. How many cars do you think enter a city gas station pr half hour right now? Even with 20 of these pumps, you'd be waiting hours and hours in queue.
The biggest problem with electric cars right now is that we're going backwards in convenience, not forward. And in today's society, thats what people look for the most. Having the electricity be free is certainly a good step towards that, but waiting forever to fill up your car every 3 hour is not.
I still think this is a good step forward though. Like you said, it should push the technology even further even if it doesn't work. Hopefully they'll be able to address these problems in the future.
Bumping this due to a major update from Elon Musk:
Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company will be tripling its supercharger coverage throughout the country at the D11 Conference today. By the end of this year, Musk expects that it will cover most of the metropolitan coverage, allowing electric car owners to drive coast to coast, from Los Angeles to New York City.
The technology was developed because traditional charging happens too slowly, so they made something that was quick to charge, Musk said. The chargers are available in California and on the East Coast today, but the company plans to heavily expand coverage by the end of the year.
Musk was planning on announcing the expansion of the network on Thursday, but gave the office at the conference a bit of a sneak peek a day ahead. A map of the new superchargers should be available at the announcement, but it should give increased coverage in existing metropolitan markets, as well as coverage throughout the country. That will enable electric car owners to drive cross-country, from Los Angeles to New York City, Musk said.
20 minutes is a long time to hold up a spot at a station. Imagine Tesla cars become popular; then waiting for a spot at one of these stations would take longer than charging it. Although it would make for an interesting meetup spot for all the Tesla travelers.
On June 01 2013 11:42 Najda wrote: 20 minutes is a long time to hold up a spot at a station. Imagine Tesla cars become popular; then waiting for a spot at one of these stations would take longer than charging it. Although it would make for an interesting meetup spot for all the Tesla travelers.
Bathroom breaks, getting something to eat then drive another 350 miles or w/e the limit is. Not too bad.
On June 01 2013 11:42 Najda wrote: 20 minutes is a long time to hold up a spot at a station. Imagine Tesla cars become popular; then waiting for a spot at one of these stations would take longer than charging it. Although it would make for an interesting meetup spot for all the Tesla travelers.
Bathroom breaks, getting something to eat then drive another 350 miles or w/e the limit is. Not too bad.
I think he just means you are taking up a charging station for 20 minutes, so that's a spot nobody else can use The cars would have to get quite popular for that to be an issue though haha.
EPT
The cars would have to get quite popular for that to be an issue though haha.
