This story about the world’s largest Tesla Supercharger facility was first published on Gas2.
China is a huge market for Tesla and it has committed to having 1,000 Superchargers installed and operating within the country by the end of 2017 to support its sales efforts there. From the evidence supplied by a new video uploaded to YouTube by German source TeslaMag, somewhere between 40 and 60 of those Superchargers will be located in the parking garage below the Lilacs International Commercial Center in Shanghai.
They won’t be the new compact 72 kW chargers Tesla announced just last week. Looking at the video, these appear to be Tesla’s conventional chargers rated at 125 kW of power. A Tesla spokesperson has confirmed to the folks at Teslarati that installation of the charging equipment is underway but declined to give any further details until after the process is complete. On Reddit, the new location is being referred to as a “superstation” that will serve as an important link for those travelling between Beijing and Hong Kong.
At the present time, the largest Tesla Supercharger facility is located in Nebbenes, Norway, a rural town 40 miles outside Oslo. It features 20 stalls. Several similar installations are underway in the US, particularly in California as Tesla races to fulfill its promise to have 10,000 Superchargers in operation worldwide by the end of 2017.
The Tesla Supercharger network is one of the most powerful sales tools for the Silicon Valley startup, as many of its competitors are sitting on the sidelines waiting for someone else to take the issue of electric car charging infrastructure seriously. Porsche’s new electric 4 door sedan is said to be capable of an 80% recharge in only 15 minutes using its proprietary 800 volt charging equipment. The problem is, there are fewer of those than there are real Fabergé eggs.
When stock analysts rave about how much Tesla stock will be worth in the future, they often overlook the importance of the Supercharger network the company has created and continues to expand aggressively. That infrastructure, though, is what allows Tesla to sign up hundreds of thousands of new customers for its automobiles when other companies are running around complaining that no one wants to buy electric cars.
No. What people don’t want is to buy electric cars if there is no convenient way to recharge them away from home. That’s the simple fact that most auto company executives can’t seem to grasp. Or want to pretend doesn’t matter.
Source: Teslarati
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