Tesla Deployed a Ludicrous Number of New Supercharger Stations in 2022

Tesla did what others thought would be impossible. The brand revolutionized an industry that many considered to be too conservative to ever be properly challenged by a newcomer. Through a bunch of clever tricks, impressive engineering, great technology, smart partnerships, disruptive (and nearly free) marketing, a customer-oriented sales approach, rapid expansion into key markets, fast production, and many other things like selling directly to the buyer, this brand did it all. This is why it bears much of the responsibility for the current race among legacy automakers and startups for supremacy in the battery-electric vehicle (BEV) sector.

But Tesla is not only a carmaker. In some states, it offers insurance programs that may come with better premiums. The company is also actively involved in becoming one of America’s newest energy providers through its utilities-focused side of the business, solar panel products, and energy storage solutions. It has already helped a couple of places in its home country and other communities around to globe to avoid blackouts by installing Megapacks and the necessary software.

The EV maker is also starting to refine minerals needed for batteries in the U.S., where a new factory is being built right now in Texas. Granted, these ventures aren’t as interesting as launching a zero-tailpipe emission, heavily modified Lotus Elise and sending it out into a world where the absence of an engine was unnervingly confusing. However, Superchargers are!

Road tripping with a battery-electric vehicle gets a lot simpler when you can count on an energy source that won't stop you from driving for hours. But besides that, many Tesla customers are also investors in the company. If you're among them, then you'll want to continue reading. Tesla's working hard in silence - for now.

The race to charge your car’s battery (and your card)

Superchargers are needed by virtually every Tesla owner at some point. It's fast, simple, convenient, and, for some lucky buyers, even free! However, experienced EV drivers know that Supercharging isn't the way to go if you want to save money. Right now, plugging into a fast charger is expensive because electricity has increased in price, and Tesla aims to keep expanding its network, which requires constant investment. But knowing that on longer trips, it will not matter where you drive your electric car is a calming thought. That's what most Tesla owners will experience soon because there will be a high-power energy source a couple of miles away, almost anywhere in America. And with the help of the Route Planner, making sure you won't be stranded is easier than ever.

But let’s stop dreaming or guessing about predictable guilt-free driving and look at the facts. A good example in this regard is that Tesla expanded its existing Supercharger network with 314 new locations last year, just in the U.S. alone. This resulted in a staggering number of new stalls – 3,415! Most of them were silently inaugurated in California and Texas, but 2022 brought new fast-charging spots in all the states. And when you find a 250 kW-capable spot, you’ll only need around 15 minutes to add 200 mi (322 km) of range if battery preconditioning is enabled.

Abroad, Tesla chose China as the place where it invested heavily in its dedicated high-power charging offering. In 2022, it deployed 57 new Supercharger locations. The EV maker also focused on Western Europe but did not give much thought to Africa, Australia, South Asia, and Eastern Europe.

This development might seem like a lot, and… well, it is! In the summer of 2022, Tesla celebrated the activation of the 35,000th Supercharger. Just five months later, in November, the network reached the 40,000 mark. Currently, Superchargers are found in 46 countries after 10 years after their first deployment.

A breakdown of the Supercharger expansion in 2022 is available at the end of this article. The attached document shows where Tesla focused last year and might indicate future actions when it comes to development.

The company’s CEO said the long-term vision for this division of the automaker includes solar roofs and batteries. This way, locally green vehicles can make use of clean energy to move around. However, that’s still a plan for the upcoming years. Right now, most Superchargers don’t even have a basic roof to protect drivers and their cars from bad weather.

Other industry players should be afraid

Things start to make a lot of sense when we look at the brand’s service revenue and discover that it increased by more than 80% in just one quarter. So, the numbers and the effort to constantly add more stalls Moreover, it is currently estimated that the Supercharger network will Help Tesla rake in around $25 billion per year. And some rivals like Mercedes-Benz understood (admittedly, a bit late) that they should go on this route as well.

But Tesla already has its foot in the door and stands to gain the most out of this global investment. Opening the network to other brands that produce EVs was also one of the smartest moves possible. It secured government funding for further development and connects owners of EVs from other brands with the Tesla ecosystem. Some may switch, and others might not. What’s certain is that nearly everyone will pay for electrons.

Plus, it still wants businesses to host a Supercharger or even a Destination charger. This only increases the availability of the network, even though the latter option can't replenish your vehicle's battery as fast as a high-power stall can.

And things keep getting better for the American manufacturer. Tesla started 2023 with haste. Its first new Supercharger was activated in Pooler, Georgia on January 3rd. It has 11 stalls. However, the company keeps expanding its charging network. Other stalls have already been inaugurated in South Korea, Denmark, and the following U.S. states – Florida, Washington, Texas, New Jersey, Japan, California, Pennsylvania, and Minnesota.

Tesla customers from North America, Asia, and Europe have also expressed their wishes about new Supercharger locations through online voting. The American manufacturer will add new high-power stalls in:

• California: Big Bear Lake and Morro Bay;
• North Carolina: Sylva;
• Florida: Okeechobee;
• Georgia: Dalton;
• Italy, Hungary, and Germany in Europe;
• South Korea and Japan in Asia.

Besides these winning locations, Tesla might also pick other spots or will continue with its already existing plans for making the Supercharger network better, faster, safer, and more attractive for the company’s customers and other battery-electric vehicle buyers. The automaker’s partner, which enables this aggressive deployment – Black & Veatch – says the efforts for establishing America’s “largest contiguous electric vehicle charging system in the world” are ongoing. Both entities worked together on a project management tool that allow them to monitor progress in real-time.

The American EV maker will most likely continue to add more and more Supercharger locations as time goes by. This network will come in handy for the company’s revenue when new car sales will start to slow down. And the latter might happen a lot sooner than many anticipate.