Tesla opens new V3 Supercharger with solar and battery – looks like EV charging station of the future

Tesla has opened a rare new V3 Supercharger station after launching the new generation of its EV charging infrastructure months ago.

It was worth the wait because this new Supercharger station in Las Vegas looks like the electric car charging station of the future with solar and battery power.

In March, Tesla launched the new version of its Supercharger to enable a new top charge rate of 250 kW.

The update has been long-anticipated because Tesla has been talking about it since 2016.

After unveiling the new Supercharger V3 4 months ago, Tesla only opened two partial stations with the latest charging technology, but the automaker has now officially launched its first full-fledged Supercharger V3 station.

It’s located in Las Vegas at the Ceaser Palace property and it features 24 Supercharger V3 stalls:

Along with the Superchargers, the station features a solar power array and Powerpacks for energy storage.

With the launch of the station, Elon Musk is fulfilling a 3-year-old promise to deploy more stations with solar and energy storage with the launch of Supercharger V3:

There are some installed already, but full rollout really needs Supercharger V3 and Powerpack V2, plus SolarCity. Pieces now in place.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 24, 2016

Musk has long been talking about deploying more energy storage and solar power with its Supercharger station in order to stabilize the cost of the Superchargers and make sure Tesla’s electric vehicles were powered by more renewable energy.

3 years ago, he linked the deployment of those technologies to Supercharger V3.

We asked Tesla about details on the solar power and Powerpack system installed at the site and we will update if we get more details.

On top of the 24 Supercharger V3 stalls on site, Tesla also installed 15 level 2 destination charge points at the new Las Vegas Superchargers.

Tesla says that prior to this new site opening, Las Vegas Superchargers saw an average of 6,500 Supercharging sessions per month.

Now the new Las Vegas Supercharger V3 station is going to be capable of serving 1,500 owners every day – significantly increasing the capacity of the market.

Here are a few pictures of the new Las Vegas Supercharger V3 station:

Electrek’s Take

That’s what I like to see. I know people often brush off solar at charging stations as a gimmick because it doesn’t generate enough power, but it’s a good start.

Also, the batteries make a big difference. Demand charges are a big part of the cost of operating charging stations.

If you can store solar power in batteries and reduce peak demand, you are going to reduce the cost of charging at the Supercharger station drastically.

Tesla’s Supercharger prices have increased over the last year and while it may seem to be counter-intuitive to add an expensive solar and battery system, it will have a positive impact on the long term.