charging stations

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Tesla’s new V3 Supercharger can charge up to 1,500 electric vehicles a day

Tesla has opened a massive next-generation electric vehicle charging station in Las Vegas that combines the company’s core products into one sustainable energy ecosystem, fulfilling a vision CEO Elon Musk laid out nearly three years ago.

The new V3 Supercharger, which supports a peak rate of up to 250 kilowatts, is designed to dramatically cut charging times for its electric vehicles. Tesla unveiled its first V3 Supercharger in March at its Fremont, Calif. factory. A second V3 Supercharger is located in Hawthorne, Calif., near the Tesla Design Studio. Both of these locations, which were initially used as test sites, lack two key Tesla products.

This new location in Las Vegas is considered the first V3 Supercharger. It’s notable, and not just because of the size — there are 39 total chargers in all. This V3 Supercharger also uses Tesla solar panels and its Powerpack batteries to generate and store the power needed to operate the chargers. The result is a complete system that generates its own energy and passes it along to thousands of Tesla vehicles.

The new Supercharger, located off the Las Vegas Strip, below the High Roller on the LINQ promenade, was built on Caesars Entertainment property. The site is part of Caesars Entertainment’s goal to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 30% by 2025.

There are caveats to the capabilities of this Supercharger station. Only one Tesla vehicle — the Model 3 Long Range iteration — can charge at the peak rate of 250 kW. The 250 kW results in up to 180 miles of range added to the battery in 15 minutes on a Model 3 Long Range.

The company’s new Model S and Model X vehicles can charge up to a 200 kW rate.

However, even older Model S and X vehicles and more basic versions of the Model 3 will experience faster charging rates at this location because there is no power sharing, a standard practice at Tesla’s other charging stations.

Improvements to charging times are critical for the company as it sells more Model 3 vehicles, its highest-volume car. Wait times at some popular Supercharger stations can be lengthy. Early adopters might have been content to wait, but as new Tesla customers come online, that patience could dwindle. And as more of these V3 Superchargers come online, potential customers might be encouraged to buy the pricier long-range version Model 3.

Tesla has said in the past that these improvements will allow the Supercharger network to serve more than twice as many vehicles per day at the end of 2019 compared with today.

The V3 is not a retrofit of the company’s previous generations. It’s an architecture shift that includes a new 1 MW power cabinet, similar to the company’s utility-scale products, and a liquid-cooled cable design, which enables charge rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour. Tesla uses air-cooled cables on V2 Superchargers.

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VW’s Electrify America will use Tesla battery packs to lower charging costs

Electrify America, the entity set up by Volkswagen as part of its settlement with U.S. regulators over its diesel emissions cheating scandal, plans to install Tesla Powerpack battery systems at more than 100 of its electric vehicle charging stations this year.

Electrify America aims to use the Tesla Powerpacks to offset the cost of charging for customers. Owners of electric vehicles face high costs if they charge their vehicles during peak demand hours. The Tesla Powerpack battery systems store energy drawn from the grid during off-peak hours. That stored energy can then be used during peak demand hours when charging costs are higher. Each site will consist of a 210 kW battery system with roughly 350 kWh of capacity, according to Electrify America.

“Our stations are offering some of the most technologically advanced charging that is available,” Electrify America CEO Giovanni Palazzo said in a statement. “With our chargers offering high power levels, it makes sense for us to use batteries at our most high demand stations for peak shaving to operate more efficiently. Tesla’s Powerpack system is a natural fit given their global expertise in both battery storage development and EV charging.”

Electrify America has committed to investing $2 billion over 10 years in clean energy infrastructure and education. The VW unit expects to have 484 electric vehicle charging stations with more than 2,000 charging dispensers installed or under construction by July 1.

The company will begin the next phase of installations this summer.

Electrify America’s bet on Tesla battery systems illustrates the deep need for electric vehicle charging infrastructure that is low cost, easy to access and as fast as possible. It’s not enough to simply dot highways and urban areas with public chargers.

The deal also represents a small, yet possibly fruitful area for Tesla as it tries to grow its energy storage business.

Electrify America says it has designed its sites and electrical systems to enable future upgrades. Fast charging is part of that vision. The Electrify America charging system features liquid cooled-cable 350 kW chargers.  These chargers — which currently no EV can actually use — can theoretically charge a vehicle at speeds up to 20 miles per minute – seven times faster than today’s most commonly used 50 kW fast chargers.

Porsche Taycan, the automaker’s first all-electric vehicle, is designed to have an 800-volt battery that can take a 350 kW charge. The Taycan is coming out late this year.

Electrify America’s charging locations will have an average of five charging dispensers, with some having as many as 10. The highway stations will have a minimum of two 350 kW chargers per site, with additional chargers delivering up to 150 kW.

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Tesla to help build on-site charging stations for its first Semi customers

 Tesla is going to be working with its first pilot customers for its all-electric Semi truck to build charging stations at their shipping facilities, Reuters reports. We know relatively little about how Tesla will be piloting its truck thus far, but this new info sheds some light on the charging component of the puzzle. Tesla will be working with Anheuser-Busch, Pepsi and UPS at least to build… Read More

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Carmaker venture for EV fast-charging teams with gas stations in Europe

 Automakers are laying the groundwork for a future in which electric cars are omnipresent – and at least as common a sight on roadways as traditional gas-powered vehicles. Last month, a group of car OEMs including Ford, BMW, Daimler, and Volkswagen Group created a new joint-venture called ‘Ionity’ to build out a charing network, starting with a series of fast-charging stations… Read More

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Tesla opens two largest Supercharger stations and a customer lounge

 Tesla has opened new Supercharger stations in California, the largest it has built to date. These are a new kind of Supercharger for the automaker, with not only the most stalls of any Supercharger station to date, at 40 per station, but also a dedicated “customer lounge” at one of the new locations. Read More

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As electric vehicles make a move to the mainstream, utilities are taking notice

 In a move highlighting the growing importance of electric charging stations to utilities, Italian power giant Enel has bought a small, fast-growing California developer of charging stations and power management software. Through its EnerNOC subsidiary, Enel acquired Electric Motor Werks in a transaction that could be a harbinger of things to come. Read More

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Nissan says EV chargers will outnumber gas stations in the UK by 2020

148558_10_5 A new study by car maker Nissan predicts the U.K. will have more electric vehicle charging locations than gas stations by 2020. It’s a bold prediction to estimate that EV chargers will outnumber places to gas up in just four short years, but Nissan is counting on both a continued decline in the number of operational gas stations, as well as new charge points coming online. The attrition… Read More

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ChargePoint raises $50 million to charge more cars

Charging Port Ford Focus prototype ChargePoint announced this month that it had raised $50 million in its latest round of funding, thanks in large part to Linse Capital. That makes a total of $164 million raised from investors like BMW iVentures and Siemens, among others. ChargePoint already has the largest EV charging network in North America, with 28,000 stations installed since 2007. According to the U.S. Department of… Read More

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