Tesla announces massive Supercharger expansion in China to support growth

Tesla announced plans to install 4,000 Superchargers in China this year alone in order to support its growth in the market.

Over the last five years, Tesla has deployed over 2,500 Supercharger stalls in over 150 cities in China.

At their Shanghai office last week, the automaker announced its plan to deploy 4,000 Superchargers in the country in 2020 alone.

This is a massive acceleration of Supercharger deployment for Tesla in China.

Wu Shuocheng, an independent car analyst, told the Global Times:

“Tesla’s move shows that the company places great hope in the Chinese market, as apparently the company is not only building the charging stations for its existing customers, but also for future potential customers,”

The Chinese government has been aggressive in deployment electric vehicle charging infrastructure and Tesla even adopted the local charging port standard to take advantage of the network, but EV owners could always use more charge points.

Wu added:

“So far, the number of NEV chargers in China, including the ones built by Tesla and the State Grid, are still far from enough to dispel people’s worries about charging inconvenience, but the anxiety has and will gradually ease with the construction of China’s NEV supporting facilities,”

Tesla’s announcement of a major expansion of its Supercharger Network in China comes as its sales in the country are rapidly accelerating due to its local production at Gigafactory Shanghai.

The automaker recently started deliveries of the new Model 3 Long Range RWD made-in-China car, which is expected to be popular in the market.

Furthermore, Tesla has reduced Model 3’s base price in China to regain access to local EV incentives after the country changed the base price for eligibility.

Now, the Model 3 now starts at just ¥291,800 yuan, which is equivalent to $41,300 USD, before incentives.

After incentives, the Model 3 effectively costs just 271,550 yuan or $38,450 USD in China.

New Supercharger stations are known to be great demand drivers for Tesla. CEO Elon Musk said that new service centers and Supercharger stations are the best ways for Tesla to increase demand.