According to a tweet from Elon Musk, approximately 80% of the United States population is now ‘covered’ by the Tesla Supercharger network, which allows them to drive from New York to Los Angeles, and back for free.
Image Credit: Kompulsa.
Tesla Supercharger network now energized from New York to LA, both coast + Texas! Approx 80% of US population covered.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 26, 2014
The Tesla Supercharger network has approached the stage where Tesla vehicles have the greatest access to charging infrastructure by far and wide. To top it off, its free, and some of the charging stations are solar-powered!
They can charge Tesla Model S vehicles in as little as 20 minutes, rendering range anxiety a non-issue for these all-electric vehicles, which have more than 260 miles of average range, and seat seven people, despite the high-capacity battery bank which ranges from 60 kWh to 85 kWh. See a thorough winter test drive of this vehicle.
Charge time is of paramount importance to the issue of range anxiety. This is because drivers fear they will be stranded, as they won’t be able to recharge in time to get home, because it could take several hours without a fast charging station. Even if an electric vehicle’s range is a third of that of a typical gasoline-powered car (this would be 100-200 miles), if there are fast charging stations situated close enough to each other, these short-range cars could cover the entire country.
Will the rest of the car manufacturers take advantage of this and work with Tesla to make their plug-in cars compatible with this charging station network?
Source: Gas 2.
