Tesla Tripling Its Supercharger Station Network, Making Cross-Country Road Trips Possible
Get your cross-country playlists ready.
Ah, the Great American Road Trip! An open highway, stretching before you across the states, giant balls of yarn and mystical sights awaiting the moment you drive up to see just how awesome that one cornfield in Iowa actually is. In an effort to woo drivers willing, ready and able to cruise the 2,000+ miles from New York City to Los Angeles, Tesla is tripling the number of its supercharger stations across the country.
Tesla’s CEO Elon Musk is upping the electric car’s game with the expansion program, which will be completed by the end of June. Before that, there were a smattering of supercharging stations open between Washington D.C. to Boston, as well as in California and parts of Nevada, notes CNNMoney.
The expanded network will cover most major metropolitan areas in the United States and into southern Canada, and allow drivers to charge cars up in about an hour.
The charging stations are pretty darn important, as without them drivers can’t go on long journeys as they could get stranded in say, the middle of a desert wasteland.
“It is very important to address this issue of long-distance travel,” Musk said. “When people buy a car, they’re also buying a sense of freedom, the ability to go anywhere they want and not feel fettered.”
That “fettered” feeling was apparent in a New York Times review of the Model S earlier this year, when the reviewer claimed the car ran out of power during a test drive from Washington to Boston. When our benevolent benefactors at Consumer Reports took the Model S for a spin, however, the car earned a nearly perfect score.
Now someone needs to make sure there are beef sticks and prepackaged sandwiches at these supercharger stations, as everyone (or just me) knows that those are absolutely necessary for any road trip pit stops. Especially if you’ve got an hour to kill before hitting the road again.
Tesla tripling supercharger network for LA to NY trip [CNNMoney]
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