Tesla in March highlighted the first of its new folding supercharger units, designed with the aim of speeding up the rollout of reliable charging sites across the globe. The first batch of these units has now made it to Europe and has been commissioned at a site in Norway.
In a post on X, William J, an EV charging enthusiast, shared the opening of the new site by saying: ā500 kW Tesla Supercharger officially live in Norway! If these can boost past 500A for non-Teslas itāll be a game changer. So many HPCs in Europe have cable limitations.ā
The site has 28 V4 supercharger stalls, each featuring up to 500 kW of power, which is ideal for EVs that support 800 V platforms such as Hyundai, Kia, Xpeng, Zeekr and others that can make the most of the new superchargers.
Previously, Tesla shared an image of the first foldeable hardware arriving in Europe. The image showed Tesla V4 superchargers and a power cabinet sitting on a concrete base, which was being lifted off the ground by a forklift, showcasing the ease of installation, straight from the back of a truck.
That image highlighted the information released by the company in March, where these units are pre-assembled before heading to the site, making the whole installation process a whole lot easier.
When these units get to the site, they are unfolded into 8 units when on site, all powered by the companyās latest 500 kW V4 supercharger cabinets.
Tesla has also previously shared that the new layout ensures that up to 16 supercharger stalls can be transported on the back of a truck before being unfolded on site, with cabling unfolding as the charger units do.
On top of that, the added transportation advantage space saving means that 33% more stalls can be loaded onto the back of the truck, lowering trips to the site.
Another key benefit of this new method that it offers 20% lower cost while allowing for 2 times faster installation times on site, which of course helps with more efficiency for installation teams.
DC fast charging sites normally take many months of planning, hardware acquisition, and construction before they are ready to be commissioned for use by EV drivers.
The foldable method will help deliver better charging sites, both faster and cheaper, while also making it easier for the installation contractors, helping them deliver more sites faster.
With Tesla already using pre-fab site construction in Australia in recent years, the latest foldable supercharger commissioning could be heading to Australia the coming years, as we have seen with other tech the company has rolled out in Europe.
That would make the rollout of bigger, more reliable, and cost-effective fast-charging sites even easier. It would also be welcomed by EV drivers since 20,000+ new EVs are now entering Australian roads every month.
