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Tesla boosts Superchargers to 145 kW, backs 'fastest' claim

UK group verifies Tesla's claim that its chargers supply the most power.

tesla supercharger station
tesla supercharger station
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Tesla Motors has upgraded the power-delivery capacity of its Superchargers and says it can rightfully claim that its charging stations are the "world's fastest," Electrek says. The California-based electric-vehicle maker has boosted some Superchargers' power capacity from 135 kilowatts to 145 kW. The Superchargers originally delivered 120 kW when the first ones were built in 2012. At the time, Tesla vehicles could only handle a maximum of 90 kW of charging, but that's gone up since then as well.

Tesla's Supercharger website still says the power delivery rate tops out at 120 kW.

Tesla disclosed the upgrade in response to an ongoing legal battle with UK-based energy provider Ecotricity, which took issue with Tesla calling its Superchargers the world's fastest. The UK's Advertising Standards Authority, verified that, between the upgrade and the charging capacity of Tesla's vehicles, the combination is rightfully characterized as the fastest. A Tesla Model S or Model X can be recharged fast enough to deliver about 170 miles of range in a half hour. Tesla didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Autoblog on Friday, and its Supercharger website still says the power delivery rate tops out at 120 kW.

Last we heard about Superchargers, Tesla chief Elon Musk was saying this spring that, unlike Model S and Model X drivers, buyers of the lower-priced Model 3 will need to pay for an upgrade to get unlimited charging from Superchargers. Musk said that the Supercharger charging cost would still be "far cheaper" that what a driver would pay to refuel for the same amount of mileage, though wasn't more specific about the upgrade cost. As of Friday, Tesla boasted 681 Supercharger stations with more than 4,100 Superchargers worldwide.

Tesla's tussles with Electrocity date back to 2014, when Electricity alleged that Tesla violated some non-disclosure agreements while attempting to sideskirt Ecotricity by trying to talk directly to some of the owners of the roadside stops throughout the UK. Tesla responded last year by accusing Electrocity of trying to enforce a monopoly over UK charging stations.

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