Part of the Tesla promise for buying a car are the freely-available Superchargers that are much faster in topping up the battery than a conventional wall socket. They not only speed up the process considerably, but are also placed in convenient places, along major roadways to make long distance travel possible.
In the US, the network is already quite advanced in its development, and while it’s still far from what could be called complete, it has a head start over Tesla’s European operation.
In the Old Continent, they are only starting out with the Superchargers, but have recently announced the opening of additional ones in the Netherlands, Germany, Switzerland and Austria – the map posted below shows the extent of their planned expansion by late 2014 (not the current state).
Germany, purportedly Europe’s most green-oriented heavily-industrialized country, seems to be at the core of their expansion strategy, as they have planned to cover 50 percent of its population by March of this year. By cover, they mean the 50 percent will find themselves less than 320 km (200 miles) away from the nearest charging point; total coverage is planned for the year’s end.
Now, it’s theoretically possible to drive a Model S from Amsterdam to Cologne and Brussels, and in Switzerland from Zurich to Geneva. Moreover, with the improvement in the wattage of the charging stations themselves, it now reportedly only takes 20 minutes for a half-charge.
By Andrei Nedelea
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