Tesla promises 1600km per hour recharging

The Tesla Supercharger network is about to get turbocharged, with the electric car company claiming its fast-recharge network will soon offer the capability of adding 1000 miles, or 1600 kilometres, per hour of recharging.

The so-called V3 Supercharging network is “a new architecture for Supercharging”, and the company claims that by the end of 2019 the network will be able to recharged twice as many vehicles per day.

How is that possible? Tesla claims its new one-megawatt Supercharger cabinets can support peak rates of up to 250kW per car, which will allow owners to be able to recoup up to 75 miles (120km) in as little as five minutes.

That means that, theoretically, cars with the capacity of today’s Model S (up to 632km) and Model X (565km) could take less than half an hour for a complete refill, and complete recharge times are said to be “cut” by “an average of 50 per cent, as modelled on our fleet data”. Currently, Supercharging will add up to 80 per cent charge in 30 minutes. 

In order to help the batteries charge at the best rate, Tesla will apply a new “On-Route Battery Warmup” system that pre-heats the battery pack to ensure it will charge faster when the car’s navigation system predicts you’re heading to a Supercharger. 

“With Model 3 now shipping globally in high volumes and Model Y on the way, V3 Supercharging enables us to deliver the fastest production charging experience at an unprecedented scale compared to other electric vehicle manufacturers,” the blog post stated.

The rollout of V3 Superchargers is slated for the second and third quarters of 2019 in the US, while Europe and Asia-Pacific will follow in the fourth quarter. The existing Supercharger network (V2) is set to see an update with up to 145kW charge rates “over the coming weeks”. 

This announcement comes just a few days after the brand announced pricing reductions in major markets including Australia, where the Model X and Model S saw price cuts of up to $85,000.

How fast does recharging need to be to convince you to go electric? Tell us in the comments below.