Elon Musk reveals how Covid-19 has impacted use of Tesla Superchargers

Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk has shared an interesting chart that reflects how the various stay-at-home measures to contain Covid-19 across different global regions has reduced use of Tesla DC Superchargers.

Breaking the globe up into North America (NAM), Europe, the Middle-East and Africa (EMEA), China and Asia-Pacific (APAC), the chart shows three very big dips – first China, then in tandem, North America and the Europe/Middle Eastern continent (Tesla does not have outlets in Africa, and two only in the ME – UAE and Jordan).

The dips in these three regions are significant. China, North America and Europe all saw a dip of as much as 70% from before governments responded to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Notably, China’s supercharger use saw a 10-week turnaround from when Supercharger use first dipped. Now, it seems more or less back to normal, albeit with what seems to be a monthly peak.

North America and Europe on the other hand have started to recover, going by Supercharger use – but still have a fair way to go.

Standing out like an annoying blip is Asia Pacific, where Supercharger use only reduced by about 15%. In the Asia-Pacific region (excluding China), Tesla sells vehicles in Hong Kong, Macau, Taiwan, Japan, South Korea, Australia and New Zealand.

In response to a breakdown of how the chart could be interpreted (that 1. China is back at around 90%+ of its previous trend 2. APAC barely even flinched 3. North America and EMEA saw almost identical pullbacks to China and to each other – and both are starting to recover), Musk replied, “Exactly”.

But there are some deeper takeaways, that perhaps are better explained by the numbers of Superchargers in different regions.

Looking at Tesla’s own Supercharger map, it is clear to see that there are far larger numbers of Superchargers in North America, Europe and the Middle East, and China.

Therefore, there are more Superchargers not being used, perhaps equating to larger dips in non-use.

From an Australian perspective, while Australia does not have a “shelter-in-place” order such as in the US, it has had a “lockdown” on all but essential travel. Of course, Australia (and New Zealand for that matter) is a very limited market both in terms of electric vehicles and Tesla Superchargers – so not much impact overall for the Asia-Pacific region.

Other regions in the Asia-Pacific however – notably Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan – did not have shelter-in-place measures as noted by the Japan Times.

With very low infection numbers for Hong Kong and Taiwan in particular (1,041 and 440 respectively according to data collated by John Hopkins), it might be presumed Musk is sharing the chart to bolster his argument that North America be allowed to return to work.