Tesla is deploying its first Supercharger V4, a new generation of its DC fast-charging stations, and it’s much bigger than the previous generation.
Last year, we reported on Tesla’s Supercharger V4 design being revealed in the plans for a new station. Tesla is believed to be ramping up production of the new charger in order to start deployment soon. The new charger is expected to feature a potential for a higher charge rate (which is currently capped at 250 kW for the Supercharger V3) and a solution to allow CCS charging for non-Tesla electric vehicles.
The CCS solution was later revealed to be the Magic Dock, but we have only seen it deployed on Supercharger V3 stations, and the V4 had yet to show its face until now.
Now we learn that Tesla has started to deploy the new Supercharger V4 with a station being spotted under construction in Harderwijk, the Netherlands:
Previously details about the Supercharger V4 pointed to a taller stall with a longer charging cable.
Now this new station in the Netherlands is still under construction, but we can still see the size of the new Supercharger stalls – and they are huge:
Unfortunately, we don’t get a good look at the cable, but if it is located where it was on the technical drawings, it will undoubtedly be much longer at that height.
A longer cable is critical for new Tesla Superchargers as the automaker is opening up the network to non-Tesla electric vehicles, which don’t necessarily have a charge port at the same location as Tesla’s.
It results in them sometimes having to park in weird ways to access the charger and sometimes even blocking other stalls.
A longer cable would be a solution.
Now with the first station being deployed, we should also soon learn more about the potential higher capacity of Supercharger V4. With the previous generation, Tesla sent out a rare press release to announce the deployment. We might see the same with Supercharger V4 any day now.