Tesla will build new, faster Superchargers and update cars to use them

Enlarge / The plug design will remain the same, but you’ll know a V3 Supercharger by its thinner cable. (credit: Tesla)

On Wednesday night, Tesla announced that it has developed a new, faster Supercharger for its electric vehicles. Currently, the company’s almost-13,000 Superchargers top out at 120kW.

This was class-leading when Tesla started building out the network; at the time, the fastest DC Fast charger you could find for CHAdeMO or CCS maxed out at just 50kW. But times change, and companies like ElectrifyAmerica and ChargePoint are rolling out new DC Fast chargers for these standards that are capable of recharging a car at much higher power—350kW in the case of ElectrifyAmerica and 500kW in the case of ChargePoint.

Rather than be left behind, Tesla got busy developing its own solution. It’s called the V3 Supercharger, and it can support up to 250kW per car, from a cabinet that’s rated at 1MW. Tesla says that “[a]t this rate, a Model 3 Long Range operating at peak efficiency can recover up to 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes and charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour.”