Currently reading: Tesla installs 500th Supercharger device in UK
New Essex site brings Supercharger location tally to 63 across the UK and Ireland; further expansion planned

Tesla continues to expand its electric vehicle charging network to meet growing demand and has now installed more than 500 of its Supercharger devices across the UK and Ireland.

The devices, which first arrived in the UK in 2014, can now be used at a total of 63 locations, following the opening of new sites in Birmingham, London and Bristol since January. The latest addition to the map, on the A12 near Colchester, offers 12 charging posts, bringing the total installed so far this year in the UK to 42. 

Tesla said: “Despite most electric vehicle charging taking place at home, in 2019 alone, Supercharging facilitated over 60 million electric miles across the UK and Ireland, which is the equivalent of over 100,000 trips to the International Space Station and back.”

The latest iteration of Tesla’s charging device - the Supercharger V3 - offers Model 3 drivers up to 1000 miles of range per one hour, charging at a capacity of up to 250kW compared with the recently upgraded V2’s 150kW, which takes around 75 minutes to fully charge an entry-level 85kWh Model S to 100% capacity.

An added benefit of the new units is that charging times are not lengthened when two cars are plugged into the same device, and Tesla estimates that they will bring average charging times down from half an hour to around 15 minutes.

A new feature called ‘On-Route Battery Charging’ heats the power packs while en route to a charging station so that they are at the optimum temperature before being plugged in, further speeding up the process.  

To date, just eight V3s have been installed in the UK - all at the brand’s Park Royal service centre in London. The Model 3 is compatible with the device as standard, while the Model S and X are supplied with an adapter that allows them to use the same system. 

The firm said more Superchargers will be installed in the UK, with planned future sites in Brighton, Leicester, The Wirral and Edinburgh, among others. Also on the cards is a so-called ‘Megacharger’, which would be able to give Tesla’s new Semi HGV 400 miles of charge in 30 minutes with a likely output of more than one megawatt (1000kW).

Read more

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Felix Page

Felix Page
Title: News and features editor

Felix is Autocar's news editor, responsible for leading the brand's agenda-shaping coverage across all facets of the global automotive industry - both in print and online.

He has interviewed the most powerful and widely respected people in motoring, covered the reveals and launches of today's most important cars, and broken some of the biggest automotive stories of the last few years. 

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SmokingCoal 30 June 2020

They've sold the Model X for

They've sold the Model X for five years and customers are still seeing quality issues on newly delivered cars but at least they've got somewhere to charge them up. 

xxxx 1 July 2020

Model X queues

SmokingCoal wrote:

They've sold the Model X for five years and customers are still seeing quality issues on newly delivered cars but at least they've got somewhere to charge them up. 

Won't be a long Q as the Model X barely sells outside the states

lambo58 30 June 2020

Tesla, showing the way it

Tesla, showing the way it should be done- miles ahead of the rivals

Peter Cavellini 30 June 2020

Monopoly.

lambo58 wrote:

Tesla, showing the way it should be done- miles ahead of the rivals

I just hope whoever starts up competing,gets the same backing from whom ever is in power next week, month!

fadyady 30 June 2020

RIP competition.

RIP competition.