To complement its long-awaited V4 Supercharger cabinets, Tesla has announced that it will finally deliver 500 kW charging. Tesla has been deploying its new charging stations for two years and calling them “Supercharger V4”, but it has only been deploying the charging stalls.
Supercharger stations consist of two primary components: the stalls, where the charging cables are located, and the cabinets, positioned further back, housing the power electronics.
Until now, Tesla’s new “Supercharger V4” stalls have been paired with V3 cabinets, limiting their power output to 250 kW.
Today, Tesla officially unveiled its new “V4 Cabinet,” which, according to the company, can deliver up to 500 kW for passenger vehicles and an impressive 1.2 MW for the Tesla Semi.
Following are the main features of the V4 Cabinet as per Tesla:
- Faster Charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet – Charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
- Faster Deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
- Next-Generation Hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.
Tesla reports that its first sites with the new V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. The company expects its first sites to open next year. However, Tesla’s has also open its new Oasis Supercharger project, which includes larger solar arrays and battery packs to operate the charging station mostly off-grid.
In the early days of the Supercharger network rollout, Tesla pledged to equip all stations with solar arrays and batteries, with Elon Musk even claiming that most locations would be capable of operating off-grid.
Although Tesla has installed solar and battery systems at a handful of Supercharger stations, the vast majority lack independent power systems or feature only basic solar canopies.
When I asked Musk about this in 2016, he responded that it was now feasible due to the availability of key components like Supercharger V3, Powerpack V2, and SolarCity.
