Tesla Adding To Supercharger Network In Cities Starting With Boston, Chicago

This year Tesla released the Model 3 to make the all electric car more affordable and accessible. Now the company is expanding its supercharger network to make it easier for city-dwellers to have one of the cars as well, starting with Boston and Chicago, the company announced Monday.

The announcement is part of a decision the company made to expand its charging network back in April. The expansion is in preparation for the first mass-market vehicle the company has produced. With the most affordable tier of the vehicle available the demand for superchargers is higher.

The new Model 3 can go 220 miles without a charge, which can get most people through a few days, but for a longer trip a charger would be necessary. Additionally, charging at home isn’t an option for all Tesla owners all the time. By expanding the network Tesla is making the car easier to own.

The expansion will start in downtown Chicago and Boston. The Superchargers, that provide a full charge in 45 to 50 minutes for most drivers, says Tesla, will be put into city centers near convenient locations. This is so drivers can charge their cars while they run errands or grocery shop. The new chargers will have a space-saving design that will make them easier to install and easier to fit in more crowded areas like cities.

So that they can charge as many cars as quickly as possible the chargers will deliver 72 kilowatts of power to each vehicle, said a release from Tesla. This shouldn’t change even if two cars are plugged into adjacent Superchargers. There are currently 951 Supercharger Stations that collectively have 6,550 Superchargers worldwide. Tesla has a website that shows all of the open and in progress charging stations, along with targeted openings for those that are still in the works. Some of those chargers include Destination Charging locations that are located at places like restaurants or hotels where drivers would look to stay for a few hours or overnight.

Tesla intentionally puts chargers along popular travel routes, but there’s also always the option of charging at home. Each car comes with an adapter to plug the vehicle into a regular household outlet. This method of charging takes some more time than the supercharger network though. It can charge up to 52 miles per hour, but for those who can charge overnight it’s not a problem.

The new urban Superchargers will cost the same as those in other areas, the company plans to make no mark-ups for the city location. After the announcement came Monday morning the company’s stock took a jump up to more than $360/share around 2:3 p.m., it had started the day at $350