The new stations are located at highway rest areas in Milford CT and Wilmington DE. The company plans to install more stations along the Northeastern corridor in the future.
From the beginning, Tesla Motors has made a point of following a different path from other electric vehicle sellers, and if you judge results by stock market performance and glowing press, the strategy has been a resounding success. One headline-grabbing amenity that no other automaker offers is the company’s Supercharger network, which offers free fast charging to Model S owners (or at least to those who buy the more expensive models, and pay for an annual maintenance contract).
Last week, Tesla officially opened its first Supercharger stations on the East Coast, which make it possible to drive from Boston to Washington DC on electricity alone. The new stations are located at highway rest areas in Milford CT and Wilmington DE. The company plans to install more stations along the Northeastern corridor in the future.
Photo by Brian Hicks
The Model S with the optional 85 kWh battery pack has a range of 265 miles, according to the EPA’s rating. The 480 Volt Supercharger stations can add up to 150 miles of range in 30 minutes, using Tesla’s proprietary fast charging standard.
Tesla spokeswoman Christina Ra said that someday, all Supercharger stations will be supplied by solar power (which dovetails nicely with another of Tesla mastermind Elon Musk’s companies, Solar City, which went public this month). The stations currently work only with a properly-equipped Model S, but Ms. Ra said, “In the future, all Tesla models will be able to supercharge.”
The first Supercharger station, located between San Francisco and Los Angeles, opened in October to great fanfare, a stylish, futuristic structure topped by gleaming solar panels. When the New York Times’ Jim Motavalli paid a visit to the Northeastern stations, he found a more prosaic sight – a couple of conveniently-placed but ordinary-looking six-foot-high white boxes. Rain was pouring down, and an old gas vehicle was sitting in one of the spaces.
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