Tesla Opens Largest Supercharger Station In The World
Tesla has launched the largest single Supercharger station in the world in Shanghai as part of its goal to have over 10,000 Superchargers online by the end of the year.
The new Supercharger station which is located in the garage of the Lilacs International Commercial Centre in the Pudong district has 50 Superchargers. The station was still under construction last month but it appears that it is now fully operational.
The station is unlike the company's newer Supercharger stations with high numbers of stalls per station. Instead, Tesla decided to use its original Supercharger system, but with simply a lot more stalls than usual. With this new station, Tesla has now over 1032 Supercharger stations in the world with a total of over 7,300 Superchargers.
What it lacks in aesthetics though, it makes up for in capacity. The station already beats California's two new 40-stall Supercharger stations still under construction and is also extremely powerful to potentially supercharge up to 50 cars at the same time. If current Supercharger standards apply to the station, it could have a peak power output of over 3 megawatts.
With China expected to be the biggest market for electric vehicles due to the government's plans for total electrification of its vehicle fleet, it's very likely that more large capacity Superchargers will be constructed all over the country. The new 50-vehicle Supercharger is the 17th station in China most of which have been added somewhat recently.
In addition to its Supercharger stations, the company also reached a deal with Shanghai's government to construct a "gigafactory" in the city's free trade zone. CEO Elon Musk has been eyeing a factory in China for years and stated that the new Shanghai factory could cut vehicle costs in the country by up to a third.
These recent developments undeniable give Tesla a unique edge in a massive market. However, many experts are worried about the idea of Tesla doing its business in China due to the country's reputation for "borrowing" Western technology.