Tesla’s New, Faster V3 Supercharging Network Promises To Cut Waiting Times In Half

Tesla has released the details of its V3 Supercharging network, the third generation of the company’s charging infrastructure that promises rates up to 1000 miles per hour.

The new generation of Superchargers is based on a completely new architecture, featuring a 1MW power cabinet that supports peak rates of up to 250kW per car. Unlike the current Superchargers, Tesla’s new unit will not split the charging speed with the vehicle in the next stall, enabling owners to charge at the maximum rate their battery can take every time they plug in their vehicle.

Tesla claims that a Model 3 Long Range will now be able to recover up to 75 miles of charge in just 5 minutes, the equivalent of 1000 miles per hour. Combined with other improvements, the V3 Superchargers will cut the amount of time customers spend waiting by an average of 50 percent, with the typical charging time expected to drop to around 15 minutes.

In addition, Tesla is also rolling out a new feature called On-Route Battery Warmup. The new feature will pre-heat the battery pack of the vehicle when navigating to a Supercharger station, reducing the average charge time by 25 percent. Tesla will also unlock the 145kW charge rate for its 12,000 V2 Superchargers over the coming weeks.

The first public beta site for the new V3 Supercharger is in Bay Area, with Tesla making it incrementally accessible to owners registered in its Early Access Program. It will be initially available only to Model 3 owners, with Tesla planning software upgrades for the Model S and Model X in order to increase their charging rates as well.

The first non-beta V3 Superchargers will break ground next month in the US, with Europe and Asia-Pacific regions to follow in the fourth quarter of the year.