Elon Musk Hints at Tesla Supercharger V3 with Well Over 350 kW

No matter how much range they can achieve, electric vehicles won’t be quite as convenient as gasoline-powered vehicles until they can charge up much more quickly. Fortunately, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has a solution that could help make this goal a reality.

Over the Christmas holiday, Musk revealed more on Tesla’s plans to upgrade its Supercharger stations. In response to tweets from Electrek‘s Fred Lambert, Musk said that Tesla will continue to install solar arrays at more Supercharger stations, although a full rollout would require the automaker’s new “Supercharger V3.”

@FredericLambert There are some installed already, but full rollout really needs Supercharger V3 and Powerpack V2, plus SolarCity. Pieces now in place.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016

Earlier in 2016, Tesla upgraded its Superchargers to achieve a power output of 145 kilowatt. But in a series of tweets, Musk suggests this will output will increase to well more than 350 kW. That means faster charging, possibly in 15 minutes or less.

@FredericLambert A mere 350 kW … what are you referring to, a children's toy?

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016

Tesla’s new charging target could greatly surpass goals from others in the industry. Recently, BMW, Daimler, Ford, and VW teamed up to develop 400 ultra-fast charging stations through Europe. The new stations are estimated to provide up to 350 kW of charge.

It’s unclear when we can begin seeing these upgrades. But as Musk vaguely said, “pieces [are] now in place.” If the fast chargers are ready in the next few years, it could make the Tesla Model 3 an even more attractive deal.

Source: Electrek (1,2), Elon Musk via Twitter

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