car news

Tesla’s first V4 Superchargers are in the Netherlands!

March 16, 2023

The V4 Superchargers have a different look than Tesla’s already familiar fast charging stations. They are slightly taller and no longer have the “see-through” look that the earlier Superchargers had. The taller design makes room for a longer charging cable. Those hoping for higher charging speeds must be disappointed: in fact, the V4 Superchargers can still charge at a maximum of 250 kW. Faster, in principle, is also not necessary, since that is also exactly the maximum charging speed of current Tesla’s and most other EVs do not reach that charging speed at all.

Especially useful for non-Tesla’s

For Tesla owners, the longer charging cable does not make much difference. After all, the previous Superchargers were already geared to Tesla’s, in the sense that the length of the cable was sufficient for the fixed charging point at the left rear.

Especially for electric drivers who don’t have a Tesla but want to charge at Tesla, the longer cable is a godsend. This is because the location of the charging point varies from car to car, and the short cable of the current Superchargers made it challenging in many cases to plug the cable into the car. Mainly in cars with the charging point just behind the front wheels, such as the Jaguar I-Pace, Porsche Taycan and Audi e-tron, the Superchargers’ short cable posed a problem. So the latter will be a thing of the past in the future.

Future of V4 Superchargers

Tesla will now test the V4 Superchargers in Harderwijk extensively, and soon other Supercharger locations in Europe will get the latest charging stations. They are currently open only to Tesla drivers, but after Tesla completes testing, non-Tesla drivers will be able to charge there as well. Exactly when that will be possible is not clear at this time.