US electric carmaker Tesla this week unveiled its ‘Supercharger’ network of fast chargers in California, Nevada and Arizona.

The first six Supercharger stations in California promise to allow Tesla’s Model S sedan to travel longer distances across the state, before widening the scope of the network.

By next year, Tesla plans to install around 100 Superchargers on high traffic routes between Vancouver and San Diego, Miami and Montreal, and Los Angeles to New York, as well as in Europe and Asia.

The 100 kW Superchargers use electricity generated from a solar carport design devised by SolarCity, meaning that there are minimal energy costs after installation.

Each charging station will be able to recharge a Tesla in around 30 minutes to replenish three hours of driving at 60 mph.

Furthermore, the solar technology is designed to generate more electricity than would be consumed by Tesla vehicles using the charger over the course of a year, so that excess electricity can be transferred back to the grid.

“Tesla’s Supercharger network is a game changer for electric vehicles, providing long distance travel that has a level of convenience equivalent to gasoline cars for all practical purposes,” says the company’s CEO and co-founder Elon Musk. “We are giving Model S the ability to drive almost anywhere for free on pure sunlight.”

For further information:
www.teslamotors.com/

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GE builds wind-powered electric car charger in Spain (15-Aug)
GE Energy makes electric car charging simple with PayPal (16-Jul)

Tesla rolls out first electric sedans to Californian customers (26-Jun)
BMW, Ford and IKEA among companies helping deploy electric vehicles in US (22-Jun)

Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5410/