Faster Tesla Superchargers rolled out in new site deployments

Tesla’s superchargers are one of the main reasons for many drivers to choose a Tesla over other electric vehicles. The superchargers are reliable and widely available, and Tesla has been talking about even faster superchargers being developed.

Now there seems to be confirmation that the first faster Tesla V4 superchargers are being deployed in Europe, more specifically in the Netherlands.

A 16-stall V4 Supercharger site has been spotted by a fast-charging enthusiast, electricfelix and shared on Twitter.

Although the stalls were covered in the shared photo, the deployment of the individual V4 supercharger stalls seems to be taller than the current V3 supercharger stalls.

The 16 stalls at this site appear to be fed by four Tesla power cabinets which indicates that each cabinet will be capable of delivering power to four stalls.

The V4 superchargers are expected to deliver up to 350 kW of power per stall which is higher than the 250 kW charging speed the current V3 superchargers can deliver. 

The majority of the Tesla EVs are equipped with CCS2 charging port which could see the V4 superchargers arrive in Australia by the end of the year as well.

This would more than likely be at newer sites rather than an upgrade to existing ones. 

Previously Tesla had plans to roll out its first 350 kW V4 Supercharger stations in Arizona last year according to panning documents shared in September. It’s unclear how that project has progressed.

All of the Tesla supercharger sites in Australia are a combination of V2 and V3 superchargers. 

The latest data compiled by carloop shows that there are 56 active Australian Tesla Supercharger sites with combined 301 stalls. The older V2 superchargers make up 64.3% of the sites found across the country. 

The remainder of the sites are equipped with the faster V3 superchargers that can charge some Tesla vehicles at up to 250 kW per stall. These sites make up 103 of the total 301 stalls found across Australia.

Many of the newer sites have multiple stalls and in recent times have grown as high as 12 V3 stalls. This was seen with the Box Hill supercharger site that opened in December 2022. 

This site remains to be Tesla’s largest commissioned deployment so far with plans for future sites to be a lot bigger.

With the CCS2 plug on the superchargers, it’s a lot easier to allow non-Tesla EVs to charge at these sites too. 

In January, Tesla opened five superchargers to non-Telsa EVs. BYD Atto 3 and other EVs have been seen charging at these sites. 

Non-Tesla EVs can charge at these supercharger sites at 79 c/kWh which is higher than what Tesla drivers need to pay.

Since most EVs do not share the same charge port location as Tesla’s do, longer cables may be needed for certain models to be able to reach the non-Tesla vehicle’s charge port. 

Previous information surrounding the V4 superchargers showcased a longer cable on a taller stall. A longer cable at V4 supercharge sites will also ensure that non-Tesla EVs do not take up multiple charging bays while generally charging slower than Tesla vehicles.

More details will emerge in the coming weeks as Tesla continues to develop this site in Harderwijk, the Netherlands. 

The Driven’s take: This is a great step forward for EV uptake in Europe and around the world. With the rollout of Tesla V4 superchargers, they continue to bring new charging technologies to market while enabling more EVs to charge faster at the newer supercharger sites.