Tesla has finally turned on its first full V4 Supercharger (stalls plus cabinets), capable of 500 kW charging, marking the end of a confusing rollout of the next-generation chargers over the last three years.
The Supercharger network is by far the best large-scale electric vehicle fast-charging network in the world.
It is arguably the best thing Tesla has ever done.
The network leads in terms of scale, usefulness, reliability, and overall ease of use. In Europe and Asia, there’s decent competition, but in North America, there’s no close second.
However, there’s one aspect of fast-charging networks where Tesla doesn’t lead: charging rate and, therefore, time.
For a decade, other charging networks have achieved and even surpassed a 350 kW peak charge rate.
In fact, in 2016, when Tesla started talking about its next-gen V3 Superchargers, I asked CEO Elon Musk if it would be capable of 350 kW charging, and he suggested that it would be higher than that – calling 350 kW “a children’s toy”:
That comment didn’t age well as Tesla’s V3 Supercharger peaked at 250 kW, and it has been the norm for almost the last 10 years.
In 2023, Tesla started deploying “V4 Superchargers”, but the rollout has been confusing.
For the first time, Tesla claimed that V4 Superchargers finally achieved “children’s toy” capacity of 350 kW, but the automaker didn’t deploy genuine “V4” Superchargers at the time.
Instead, Tesla only deployed V4 charging stalls or posts, but the power actually comes from the charging cabinets, and those remained the same V3 cabinets.
The main change with the new charging posts was the introduction of a new, longer charging cable, which enabled easier accessibility for non-Tesla vehicles, many of which have different charge port locations.
Late last year, Tesla finally announced that the first full V4 Superchargers, featuring the new cabinets and up to 500 kW charging, would arrive in 2025.
Earlier this year, the automaker also announced that it managed to boost the capacity of its V4 posts with V3 cabinets to 325 kW.
Tesla’s first real V4 Supercharger is here
Today, Tesla confirmed that its first full V4 Supercharger station (with V4 stalls and power cabinets) has been activated in Redwood City, California:
The automaker shared an image of the first people to charge at the new V4 Supercharger station:
However, you can’t take advantage of the new capacity with a Model 3. Only Tesla’s Cybertruck can use the full capacity of the new V4 Superchargers.
Tesla shared a video of a Cybertruck reaching the max capacity:
The video showed the Cybertruck virtually completely depleted. Therefore, it’s unclear how long it can maintain the peak 500 kW charge rate, but the video suggests that it can charge from 0 to 80% state of charge in 35 minutes, which is a great charge time.
For now, only Tesla vehicles can charge at the new V4 Superchargers, but the automaker aims to make it available to non-Tesla vehicles soon.
Many more non-Tesla models can take advantage of the higher charge than Tesla models, which is limited to the Cybertruck.
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