Tesla unveils its 2017 Supercharger network expansion plans

Last night, Tesla updated the Supercharger network map on its website to show its expansion plans for next year. With only a few weeks left in 2016, the company had fallen behind on its 2016 expansion plans for its network of DC fast-charging stations and the current Supercharger maps, which should have looked like the “2016 maps,” were missing several stations.

Tesla Supercharger “2016 maps” are replaced with “2017 maps” showing some new Supercharger expansions in Hawaii, Mexico, Taiwan, Korea and New Zealand.

North America:

In North America, Tesla announced new Superchargers in Hawaii and Mexico, and expansions to extend the coverage in the US and Canada that were originally planned for 2016 were pushed to next year.

We are talking about more extensive coverage on the west and east coast as well as expansions in states currently without any stations, like North Dakota or Arkansas, that were supposed to get some Superchargers in 2016, but which are now on the 2017 map.

Here are the relevant maps per region. The first map represents the current Supercharger stations. The second map represents the planned network for 2016 that Tesla has now abandoned and finally, the last map is the new planned network for 2017:

Europe:

Not much has changed from the 2016 map of planned Superchargers in Europe to the 2017 map. More stations are planned for central Europe and France, but expansions in Eastern Europe and along the Mediterranean sea that were originally planned for 2016 have now been pushed to next year:

Asia-Pacific:

Same thing for Asia, Australia, and New Zealand. The new map only confirms Supercharger expansions that were announced in the last few months after the market introductions of Tesla in Taiwan, South Korea, and New Zealand.

Tesla will also continue its expansions in China and Australia.

Tesla currently operates over 4,800 Superchargers at over 769 locations around the world. The company aims to almost double that number by the end of next year in preparation for the Model 3 hitting the market during the second half of 2017, and in even larger numbers in 2018.

In order to accelerate and finance the deployment of more stations, Tesla announced last month the end of unlimited free Supercharging and the change to a ‘Supercharging credit program’, which gives owners roughly 1000 miles of free charging at Superchargers each year. After reaching the threshold, owners will have to buy ‘Supercharger Credits’.

Also, though the company’s goal is not to make money on its recent $.40/minute overstay fee on chargers, it will inevitably make some. More importantly, it will incentivize people to free up stations, allowing more people to use them.