Announced since last year, Tesla’s V4 superchargers are slowly starting their rollout in Europe. This is how they present their new design and a new essential function to charge cars that are not Tesla. But ultimately power should not be revised upwards.
We’ve been hearing about V4 Superchargers for a while now. the new generation that will succeed the V2 and V3 currently in service worldwide. Because if Tesla broke a sales record last year with more than a million cars delivered on all continents, the firm must also accelerate in the development of its network of fast charging stations. Thus, in June 2022 it inaugurated its 35,000th Supercharger worldwide, while in October it exceeded 10,000 in Europe.
A completely new design
In France, 32 new Superchargers were opened throughout the past year, while the brand already plans to install more in the coming months. If nothing has been confirmed at the moment, it is not ruled out that some are V4, while its deployment has already begun in Europe according to certain images posted on Twitter by owners of models from the American manufacturer.
The businessman Fritz van Ens is precisely one of the first to have seen these new fast terminals, whose design had already been leaked last July. The patent filed by the brand had been posted on Twitter, giving a first glimpse of what to expect. And judging by the photos, Tesla kept his promises.
Thus, we discover terminals with a more refined design since the hole in the center of the totem now disappears. The brand name is spelled out at the top, while Fritz van Ens notes that it will be illuminated at night. He also specifies that the bollards are 2 meters high. While this is hard to confirm by looking at the photos, although our source confirms this in a post on LinkedInthe charging cable should be longer.
Thus, it would facilitate access to the terminals for some cars, so the length of the cable was not always adequate. We remember that most of Tesla’s Superchargers are already open to other brands. In this case, the collection rate is higher, although you can opt for a monthly subscription billed at 12.99 euros in France.
No power increase
These new fast charging stations are also equipped with a CSS socket, again making it possible to connect all electric cars. Which further increases the chances of recharging, while the number of sales points continues to slowly increase in France. However, and despite the arrival of many operators such as Fastned or Allego and TotalEnergies, we are still far from the goal promised by Emmanuel Macron of 100,000 terminals.
This new station which will soon open in the city of Harderwijk in the Netherlands, therefore, marks a new turning point for Tesla. However, drivers of electric cars with 800 volt architecture will be in for a big disappointment. Indeed, and according to the photos published on Twitter by the electric car specialist Esther Kokkelmanspower does not change.
Pictures of the first V4 supercharger in the Netherlands today! This will be the first to open worldwide 💪🏻 🫶 Can’t wait! Thank you @Tesla for being so fast! 📷Tesla drivers and friends pic.twitter.com/QYv9vQshb3
— Esther Kokkelmans (@EstherKokkelman) March 4, 2023
At the moment, Tesla superchargers cap at 250 kW (631 amps max at 500 volts) but some rumors claimed that the V4 would increase this value to 350 kW thanks to the step up on 800 bolts. Thus, the manufacturer could have competed with Ionity, without matching Lidl and Kallista Energy with their 360 kW terminals. According to the technical information noted in the terminal, this is still limited to 250 kW.
In fact, this does not change anything for the drivers of a Tesla, since the electric cars of Elon Musk’s firm do not support a higher power. It is rather the owners of an 800-volt car (Porsche Taycan, Hyundai Ioniq 5, Kia EV6, etc.) who will be disappointed. It will also be interesting to see if V4 superchargers finally solve the charging problem with Hyundai group cars.
A few months ago, a patent also mentioned the possibility of these V4 Superchargers running on solar energy thanks to photovoltaic panels and a large battery that stores electricity. And yet, there is no trace of this device in the recently published photos. Maybe this will go live in the US first?
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