Tesla Expands Urban Supercharging Presence in New York
More access to Tesla’s charging network is popping up in the ‘Big Apple.’
Tesla currently controls one of the most mature electric vehicle charging networks in the United States, allowing nearly the entire population to live within 150 miles of its fast-charging systems, known as a Supercharger. According to Electrek, the automaker is expanding its presence of urban charging infrastructure to allow more owners to make use of its flagship platform.
While its goal is to use the Supercharging system to enable long-distance travel in its cars, Tesla also knows that in order to conquer the market, it needs to cater to the vastly different needs of different owners; some of whom live in the middle of suburbia, while others are jam-packed into apartments throughout a large city. Nevertheless, both of those scenarios require a way to charge a vehicle at home and on the go, and it's considerably more difficult for city dwellers to charge their vehicles when living in an apartment or with on-street parking.
Tesla's urban Superchargers aren't a new endeavor; the company has been rolling out similar chargers for some time around more densely populated areas. However, Tesla is showing rapid expansion of its charging system across the U.S. and its recent investment in Level 2 destination chargers shows that awareness is in mind when choosing its recent investments.
"We just expanded our Supercharger network across New York City, making Tesla ownership more convenient for those without direct access to charging at home or work," Tesla reportedly wrote in an email to nearby customers and reservation holders. "Located in public garages near local amenities, these new Supercharger locations are specifically designed for efficiency in high volume urban areas—providing a consistent charge time of around 45 to 50 minutes."
The chargers are placed throughout Chinatown, Lower East Side, Jamaica Queens, Midtown East, Upper West Side, and Williamsburg, strengthening the availability of chargers for Tesla owners in the area. Unlike the Level 3 fast-charging Tesla Superchargers which are placed at high-volume highway interchanges to promote long-distance travel, the urban chargers operate at a reduced rate of 60 percent, pushing 72 kilowatts of juice to a connected vehicle as opposed to the full 120 kW. This makes the urban placement ideal for slightly longer destination charging once owners reach their journey's end.
In total, Tesla is nearing 11,000 chargers around the world, allowing owners to have ample opportunities to recharge their vehicles on the go, allowing the automaker's entire fleet to traverse long distances.
