Tesla highlights growth in China, says 1,000 Superchargers online by end of the year

Tesla grew its business in China significantly since a tough launch back in 2014 and the company highlights its progress in a new video with testimonies from owners.

Tesla China tripled its sales in 2016 to over $1 billion with over 11,000 deliveries and they continued their streak during the first quarter 2017 with a record quarter.

That’s despite the company not having access to all EV incentives in the country and its vehicles being subject to a 25% import duty.

Earlier this year, they announced a new expansion with more Supercharger stations and new stores. They wrote in a press release (translated from Chinese):

“In the fourth year since our introduction in China, Tesla continues to strengthen its commitment to investing and expanding the service network and facilities in order to allow more Chinese customers to join us and to experience intelligent, convenient and environmentally friendly pure electric mobility.”

Tesla’s investments in China have so far been limited to retail, service and charging infrastructure, but the company is working with the Shanghai government to establish manufacturing capacity in the country.

The EV market is expected to grow rapidly in China over the next few years as the government’s ZEV mandate is accelerating and they are considering to eventually ban gas and diesel-powered cars.

Those initiatives are being driven by the direct impact of air pollution in the country’s many megacities.

Nonetheless, EVs still represent only a fraction of what is now the biggest car market in the world and therefore, there’s still a lot of room to grow and people to convince that EVs are right for them.

In a new video released this week, Tesla shared testimonies from current Tesla owners in China to show that it’s possible to go electric from Tibet to Beijing:

In the video, Tesla announced that they are aiming to have 1,000 Superchargers in China.

The country currently has just over 150 Supercharger stations with more than 700 Superchargers – second only to the US for the total of Superchargers.

China’s new Superchargers are an important part of Tesla’s plan to reach 10,000 Superchargers worldwide by the end of 2017. They are also getting more urban Supercharger stations, which are likely going to be the new type of Supercharger that Tesla unveiled this week.