It takes a crew about 2 weeks, depending on size, weather, site conditions. Fortunately Tesla contracts all this work out, and there are many, many qualified contractors in Tesla's markets.
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Supercharger growth
- Thread starter Chickenlittle
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It takes a crew about 2 weeks, depending on size, weather, site conditions. Fortunately Tesla contracts all this work out, and there are many, many qualified contractors in Tesla's markets.
chickensevil
Active Member
Ok, So I tried really hard to take the Tesla maps (as pixelated and undefined as they are) to come up with how many new sites they have publicly announced as planned locations. I might be off a bit, especially when we are talking about Asia and some of the EU places where there are likely dots on top of dots that were really hard to count if not impossible for those Chinese mega-cities. Anyway, here are the numbers I came up with
137 - US
178 - EU
59 - Asia
Total: 374
So that all being said, if Tesla sticks with the roughly 1 site a day coming online then they should still be within the goal of hitting all of their stated goals for sites through 2015 (note the EU number is also counting 2016). So what I think we are likely to see is the density to start to go way up especially in the more heavily populated areas. But I guess, mostly, what I am getting at, is that the expansion path they have set forth seems like a very easy target to hit given their current average for the number of sites they are bringing online a day. I don't know that we will see the map fill out like they have projected, but I do think we will easily see 300+ new sites up through the end of 2015 which would put the total count up to around 600 by the end of next year.
137 - US
178 - EU
59 - Asia
Total: 374
So that all being said, if Tesla sticks with the roughly 1 site a day coming online then they should still be within the goal of hitting all of their stated goals for sites through 2015 (note the EU number is also counting 2016). So what I think we are likely to see is the density to start to go way up especially in the more heavily populated areas. But I guess, mostly, what I am getting at, is that the expansion path they have set forth seems like a very easy target to hit given their current average for the number of sites they are bringing online a day. I don't know that we will see the map fill out like they have projected, but I do think we will easily see 300+ new sites up through the end of 2015 which would put the total count up to around 600 by the end of next year.
well, while everyone was watching market, tesla did reach the 300 mark on superchargers. I have not seen any announcement of this achievement. Is there any reason for PR person to keep this secret?
Supercharge.info has the date of today for the last two openings so no, and I expect a tweet by the end of the week.
chickensevil
Active Member
It should also be noted that the website has been behind for a while on the number, they were previously (like a couple days ago) sitting at 292 and now only today are at 294. So they still have 6 more to account for on their website, so I think even though some chargers might be online, they might not be "officially" open yet, which is why there hasn't been any major news story about it.
Once their website catches up, I would fully expect a Supercharger Blog update post on this milestone.
Oh, and I have been watching supercharge.info a lot lately because the number there keeps going up and at 300 is where I had hope the stock would be by now lol.
Benz
Active Member
Here you can see the growth/expansion of the global Tesla Supercharger network, and also per continent and per quarter.
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Update including December 17th, 2014:
North America
2012: 0 + 0 + 2 + 7 = 9
2013: 0 + 2 + 11 + 28 = 41
2014: 32 + 16 + 19 + 26 = 93
Total: 9 + 41 + 93 = 143
Europe
2013: 0 + 0 + 6 + 8 = 14
2014: 0 + 10 + 46 + 44 = 100
Total: 14 + 100 = 114
Asia
2014: 0 + 3 + 16 + 24 = 45 (Including: 2 in Sydney, Australia)
Global total: 143 + 114 + 45 = 302
2014 total so far: 93 + 100 + 45 = 238
Q1 2014 total: 32 + 0 + 0 = 32
Q2 2014 total: 16 + 10 + 3 = 29
Q3 2014 total: 19 + 46 + 16 = 81
Q4 2014 so far: 26 + 44 + 26 = 96
First half of 2014: 32 + 29 = 61
Second half of 2014 (so far a total of 170 days): 81 + 96 = 177
Remaining days in second half of 2014: 14
177 new live Supercharger stations in 170 days (in second half of 2014), that's even more than 1 new live Supercharger station per day, that's extraordinary!!!
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Just as a reality check, 600 Superchargers would cover the U.S. very nicely. If each SC serves an area with 40 mile radius, then 590 covers 2.97 million square miles, the land area of the US excluding Alaska. Add 10 more for Alaska. Cross-checking, there are 47,714 miles of interstate highways, so 600 would put one every 80 miles -- which isn't even doing anything fancy about the fact that the system is a network, so putting SCs at nodes can do much better.
So I'm not sure where 10,000 SCs would go. Based on the 600 number for the US, 2,000 would probably cover the US, Canada, Europe, China and Japan. Australia will need about 125 to cover the former National Highways. Hmm...
So I'm not sure where 10,000 SCs would go. Based on the 600 number for the US, 2,000 would probably cover the US, Canada, Europe, China and Japan. Australia will need about 125 to cover the former National Highways. Hmm...
What Tesla needs is charging capacity - number of stalls, not necessarily number of locations. One they have most routes covered, out may make sense to expand existing locations instead of opening new ones. On the other hand, having a different location, has advantages - less likelihood of losing all the capacity to one failure, more options for entertainment/food based on which spots you choose.Right now Tesla is adding spacial coverage - clearly important since every addition greatly increases the utility of the network as a whole. Once they have the ~2k you're talking about, the only value to more stalls will be handling more cars traveling - so I would expect Tesla to slow down and start carefully adding capacity where they see the highest utilization rates.Walter
Tesla website Supercharger map has been updated especially as you move the dot to coming soon and 2015.
Good thoughts. We can also hope that Tesla adds in-car information about the status of supercharger sites, including information about other people's plans based on navigation info. As the SC network gets denser, we'll be able to adjust routes and/or charging stops based on congestion.
I disagree. Having more locations increases flexibility in where to drive and when to stop. Not everyone's trip takes them along the route from one supercharger to the next, many are on smaller highways off the main interstates. Having 10 locations of 6 stalls each will satisfy more travel needs than 6 locations of 10 stalls each.
I agree that the number of stalls will be the next choke point. Then out of the way and destination sites will need to be added. However, Tesla will stop making SC at some point (sacrilege I know). There commitment is to enable travel by building SC and that they be free forever. They never committed to increasing density forever. Eventually they will (and should) consider their free network at saturation. Long before that period, I imagine 3rd party partners would add in sites. Like you can imagine at top California nodes, just making a restaurant/coffee house with a giant parking lot with 100 SC stalls (and 10 ICE spots for whatever). They could charge cost for electricity. You can take your chances at the free SC or go to the tesla cobranded location and know you are ok. (near electrical substations??)
None of this applies in Texas. I always hope I will see another tesla driver in the Waco SC location and it almost never happens.... So lonely...
None of this applies in Texas. I always hope I will see another tesla driver in the Waco SC location and it almost never happens.... So lonely...
SW2Fiddler
We Are Cognitive Dissidents
jhm
Well-Known Member
Austin, I think Tesla will continue to expand their network so long as is it motivates sales of new cars. It's primary function is and always has been marketing. So the basic question is, at what point will potential new car buyers see no added value in expanded SC options? It is really hard to anticipate what that will ultimately look like. Right now customers are thrilled with some really basic intercity connectivity. Consumer expectations will increase, and it can be hard to predict how consumer behavior around charging options will change. As SC density increases, utilization could go way up, particularly in metro areas where charging at home is a less prevalent option. Continued SC densification may be the key to reaching these markets. OTOH, perhaps other infrastructure will arise to offset this need. But I suspect that for as long as Tesla wants to lead the way and grow at a rate faster than the industry, it will invest heavily in expanding and densifying the charging infrastructure. They simply cannot wait for some other entity to do it for them.
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Yes this. Having too much distance between them means you may not be able to make changes in your driving plan, take the scenic route, etc.. If they're everywhere, there will finally be no restriction. Single stalls will suffice for the remote locations. If Tesla grows as they want - as they will - there will be millions of Model 3 on the road and you can't put 50 stalls in one parking lot.
jhm
Well-Known Member
I agree. Another limiting factor to consider is that currently Tesla is able to lease a few spots on very favorable terms. They owner of the parking lot values having a few stalls because it attracts business and does not interfere. If you have 200 parking spots and 4 are dedicated to Tesla, that's pretty nice. But if Tesla wants to take up 50 spots, that's an entirely different proposition. The parking lot owner will want much higher compensation per spot for 50 than for 4, because 50 could cost them opportunity to attract nonTesla traffic. So 10 locations with 6 stalls each may have a lower lease cost than 6 locations with 10 stalls each.
The last time I was there, there were two others besides myself.
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I'd say it won't end in my lifetime. I suspect I'm not the only person who prefers to drive on state highways rather than the interstate. So far there are zero state highways covered.
