During the Tesla Model S Plaid Delivery Day, Tesla's CEO Elon Musk hinted at an upcoming Supercharging power increase, beyond the current V3 level of 250 kW.

Musk noted that initially, in 2012, there were no Superchargers, but now the network consists of more than 25,000 stalls. The older V2 units were upgraded from around 120 kW to 150 kW, while the latest V3 units are ready for up to 250 kW.

For quite some time (about a year or so), both the Long Range versions of the new Model S/Model X and Model 3/Model Y cars were able to utilize the peak output of 250 kW. With the introduction of the refreshed Model S/Model X, the power will go up.

Elon Musk mentioned a few numbers - 280 kW, 300 kW, 350 kW, which suggests that it will go up in steps. Anyway, at some point it's expected to match the CCS Combo's 350 kW level, envisioned for passenger cars. There is no word about exceeding 350 kW, but we guess that it can't be excluded in the future.

187 miles (301 km) in 15 minutes!

The image that presents the Tesla Model S Plaid indicates that the car has 390 miles (628 km) of EPA range and can replenish 187 miles (301 km) in 15 minutes. That's about 48% of the range.

The average rate of range replenishing would be then 12.5 miles/minute (20 km/minute), which is a very good result (in WLTP test cycle the numbers would be even higher). Probably state-of-the-art.

Tesla Model S Plaid

If we will apply an average energy consumption of 300 Wh/mile (186 Wh/km) - using as a reference the EPA efficiency ratings for the numbers for the discontinued Model S Performance - then it will turn out that the average power over the 15-minute period would be around 225 kW! Tests will reveal whether the peak is 250 kW or more, but it's clear that the averages will be much better than in the case of previous Model S.

One of the reasons behind higher power are completely redesigned power battery modules, battery packs (still using cylindrical 1860 cells) that improve cooling. That's should translate into higher power when charging, and repeatable acceleration. Tesla said that number of high-speed quarter-mile runs was increased 5-times compared to the prior architecture.

General info

New Tesla cars can charge at up to:

Tesla Superchargers peak output:

  • V2: 150 kW (compared to 120 kW originally)
  • V3: 250 kW
Got a tip for us? Email: tips@insideevs.com