- Tesla increased the maximum charging speed of its V4 Supercharger stalls.
- The change went live this week in North America.
- V4 Superchargers account for 8% of all Superchargers in North America.
Tesla’s latest-generation electric vehicle fast charger, known as the V4 Supercharger stall, just got a bump in power across North America. According to the EV maker, all V4 stalls installed in the region can now output a maximum of 325 kilowatts.
That’s a healthy 30% increase from the previous 250 kW, which means charging stops will be shorter than before. However, it’s worth noting that the only Tesla EV that can currently take advantage of the increased charging speed is the Cybertruck, thanks to its 800-volt battery pack. The Model 3, Model Y, Model S and Model X (all with 400V battery packs) are currently still limited to a maximum of 250 kW, so there will be no improvement for the drivers of these EVs.
However, as the Supercharger network opens up to more and more non-Tesla EVs, more battery-powered vehicles from other automakers are likely to take advantage of the speed increase on V4 stalls.
Cars like the Lucid Gravity, Chevrolet Silverado EV, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and Kia EV6, which have 800-volt (and above) battery packs, will likely take advantage of the upgraded Supercharger stalls more than Tesla owners–at least for now. For example, a Hyundai Ioniq 5 can generally charge from 10% to 80% in 20 minutes or less on a 350 kW station, such as those from Electrify America. But on the previous-generation Tesla Superchargers, which were limited to 250 kW, an Ioniq 5 (with the larger battery pack) would charge from 10% to 80% in 29 minutes. In theory, the Hyundai should charge much more quickly on a Tesla V4 plug now.
Another thing to consider is that the number of V4 Superchargers in North America is still quite small compared to the older versions of the DC fast chargers. Tesla doesn’t offer numbers on this matter, but crowdsourced information from Supercharge.info shows that there’s a total of 2,656 Supercharger stations across North America.
Out of these, only 222 have V4 stalls, while the vast majority—1,812 locations—are still running V3 dispensers which are capped at 250 kW. The remaining 682 are equipped with V2 stalls that can only deliver 150 kW.
The good news is that Tesla is expanding the number of V4-equipped stations, with 103 sites currently under construction, according to Supercharge.info. Moreover, further improvements in charging speeds are also on the way. The V4 stalls are the monolith-like, white-and-black stations with a glowing red logo, and they include Tesla NACS plugs as well as built-in adapters for non-Tesla EVs.
Tesla’s recent announcement refers to V4 posts, which are most likely connected to V3 cabinets; the huge electrical boxes that do all the heavy lifting. But a new version of these cabinets—also called V4—is on the way, which can deliver up to 500 kW of power per stall.
