What is a Tesla Supercharger? Everything you need to know

What is a Tesla Supercharger? Everything yous need to know

(Image credit: Kuang Da/Jiemian News/VCG via Getty Images)

There are a lot of benefits to owning a Tesla, exist it Autopilot, in-machine engineering, or the absurdly long range. Only in that location'south also the Tesla Supercharger network, a serial of rapid charging stations across the world.

Information technology's likely that you've heard of Superchargers, but might not accept a complete moving-picture show of what they are or what they do. If yous have questions, we have answers, including what Supercharges are, how much they toll, and how you can find one.

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What is a Tesla Supercharger?

Tesla Model 3 charging at station — (Epitome credit: Tom's Guide)

A Tesla Supercharger is a kind of electric car charger, specifically designed for what's known as "rapid charging ." In simple terms that means they offer incredibly fast charging speeds, of a kind that should be able to recharge an electric car bombardment in under an hr.

However Superchargers are exclusive to Tesla, and will only work with the Tesla Model S Model X, Model 3, Model Y and other upcoming Tesla cars like the $25k hatchback and Cybertruck. Other cars, including the original 2008 Tesla Roadster, won't exist able to use one.

The Supercharger network is the collective name for all the Superchargers across the world. They're all endemic and operated by Tesla itself too, whereas other charging networks are operated by third parties. The network is pretty vast, with more than than ii,500 locations (or hubs) beyond the world — ane,000 of which are in North America lone.

Each location is made up of multiple charging points, meaning multiple cars can be plugged in at the same time. Currently there are more than than 23,000 individual Tesla Supercharging points around the planet.

Types of Tesla Superchargers

There are three unlike kinds of Supercharging stations out in the world: V1, V2 and V3 Superchargers.

V3 Superchargers are the latest and most advanced Superchargers, which offer upward to 250 kW charging speeds. The V2 and V1 Superchargers, meanwhile, are limited to slower 150 kW speeds instead.

The current rumor is that V3 Superchargers may go an upgrade, potentially offering up to 324kW speeds in the near future.

But, across the maximum charging speed available, there's no major departure between the different kinds of superchargers. However, considering V1 and V2 stations are withal in operation just be enlightened that you lot won't always get the 250 kW maximum speed. Thankfully Tesla'due south ain Supercharger map does make information technology articulate what speeds are available.

How to find a Tesla Supercharger

Tesla Model 3 dash display — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

Finding a Supercharger is remarkably easy to attain. Not but does Tesla proceed a map of every single Supercharger location on its website, you can employ both the Tesla app and the in-car navigation system to track downwardly your nearest Supercharger locations.

In fact, if yous detect yourself out on an extended road trip, Tesla'south navigation organization volition automatically have charging into account. That means the car will send y'all to a Supercharger along the way to your destination, to ensure that yous have enough power to comfortably become at that place.

Tesla too keeps tabs on what civilities are bachelor by each Supercharger (like restrooms and Wi-Fi), how many charging bays at that place are, and what the opening hours are. The app and in-car systems tin too run across whether Supercharger bays are available or not, so y'all don't arrive to discover them all in use.

How does a Tesla Supercharger work?

Tesla's Superchargers are very simple to employ. All yous do is park upwardly next to a motorcar, plug in, and expect for the cable to lock in place. The Supercharger will then begin delivering power, and the logo next to your charging port will plow green.

Because each car is already linked to an account with the Tesla app, there's absolutely nothing else that needs to be washed. Other public charging networks often rely on drivers confirming their charge in a carve up smartphone app.

You lot'll exist able to see the progress of your recharge session on the car's cardinal display. It shows you how fast you lot're recharging, how many miles of range have been added, how many miles yous have in the battery, and how much this charging session has price so far. This information is likewise visible in the Tesla app, should you accept to leave your machine unattended.

Information technology'southward too worth mentioning that your actual charging speed will fluctuate throughout the recharging session. The master factor is whether any other cars are plugged in at the same location, since they all end upward sharing the power. In other words you won't exist getting 250 kW speeds if there are three or four other cars plugged in.

The other factor is one that affects all electric cars, and that is that charging slows down as the bombardment level rises. This is most noticeable after you hit 80%, at which betoken charging slows downwards to such a point that it might barely authorize as rapid charging. You're amend off unplugging and driving off than you are waiting to attempt and reach 100%.

I central point to remember is that lithium batteries don't similar beingness made to recharge faster, and regular rapid charging isn't good for it. So try and limit your Supercharger use to long car journeys and road trips, and use slower Air-conditioning charging for your regular day-to-24-hour interval driving.

How much does a Tesla Supercharger price?

Supercharging fees you accumulate will be automatically billed to you, since each private car is linked to a specific Tesla account. That means you don't really demand to worry about having any cash or credit cards with yous.

But, by Tesla'south own admission, the cost of using a Supercharger can vary from place to place, and may even fluctuate depending on what fourth dimension of day you charge. Prices are either charged by the minute, or by the number of units (measured in kilowatt hours or kWh) y'all really depict from the filigree.

Some locations will also charge idle fees to any cars that remain plugged in later their charging session is over. But again, this will vary from location to location.

If you're using a Supercharger that charges by the minute, rather than by how much power yous use, yous are charged based on a tier organisation. There are four tiers in total, each i more than expansive than the last, which changes based on how fast your car is charging.

Tier one is the cheapest and applies to speeds under 60KW, while Tier two is 60kW to 100kW. Tier 3 applies to 100kW-180kW speeds, while the more expensive Tier 4 is everything above 180kW.

In the past Tesla has offered gratis Supercharging to certain customers, including those who bought cars before a certain date or who earned them through the company'south referral programme. At the time of writing it seems these perks have been discontinued, and means anyone buying a Tesla right at present will take to pay for all their Supercharging.

Can non-Tesla cars utilise a Supercharger?

The short answer is no. Tesla Superchargers are built, maintained, and owned past Tesla itself, and correct at present only Tesla-fabricated cars are able to use them. All the same, Tesla CEO Elon Musk has confirmed that this will not exist the case for long, and non-Tesla cars will exist able to plug into Superchargers in the nearly futurity.

This came well-nigh cheers to Tesla's dealings in Norway, where the company was told information technology had to stop Supercharger exclusivity if information technology wanted to exist eligible for certain government incentives. Musk later on confirmed that the Supercharger network would be opened to other EVs starting sometime later in 2022.

This later proved to exist true, with a airplane pilot scheme opening up in the Netherlands in November 2022. Non-Tesla drivers can use the Tesla app to locate their nearest compatible charger, and have to confirm their accuse before any power will exist provided. In other words it'southward the same as whatever other third party charging network.

It does cost more than for Not-Teslas, notwithstanding, though pricing varies from location to location.

Elon Musk previously promised that Non-Tesla charging will come up "over time, to all countries." Just no specifics on the rollout have been revealed only nevertheless. However Tesla is using this pilot scheme to study the bear on of this move on existing Tesla drivers.

While the pilot scheme is only available to cars with the standard CCS plug, the same one Tesla uses on its cars in Europe, Musk has claimed adapters would be available where needed —solve the problem of Tesla standing to use its own proprietary charging port in the The states.

What is a Tesla Megacharger?

You may have heard about a different kind of Tesla charger, the so-chosen 'Megacharger'. In short, these are more powerful versions of the Supercharger designed to exist used with the Tesla Semi — an all-electric truck.

However since the Semis isn't available yet, it means existing Megachargers are off limits to the public. Not that you lot'd be able to apply it anyhow.

We don't know a lot about the Megacharger, other than the fact Tesla was aiming for it to be able to offer 400 miles of range after 30 minutes of charging. There'due south too speculation that a single Megacharger volition be able to offer over 1MW charging speeds — which is iv times faster than the current 250kW maximum found at Supercharger stations.

All of which sounds incredibly impressive, but not at all surprising considering Megachargers are beingness congenital to power heavy semi trucks rather than regular road cars.

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Tom is the Tom'south Guide'south Automotive Editor, which means he can ordinarily be found knee deep in stats the latest and best electrical cars, or checking out some sort of driving gadget. It's long manner from his days equally editor of Gizmodo United kingdom, when pretty much everything was on the table. He's usually found trying to clasp another behemothic Lego set onto the shelf, draining very large cups of java, or lament that Ikea won't allow him purchase the stuff he actually needs online.