Tesla founder and CEO Elon Musk today announced a massive expansion of the company's Supercharging stations. The plan is to have enough charging stations in place to facilitate a cross-country drive from Los Angeles to New York (or vice versa) in a Model S without using any fuel.
Oh, one other thing - Musk said it will be possible by the end of this year. That's impressive considering there are only six charging locations throughout California at present: at Gilroy, Harris Ranch, Tejon Ranch, Barstow, Folsom and Los Angeles. There are also some stations dotting the east coast between Washington, DC and Boston but that's it.
It's a drastic acceleration of the rollout plan that Tesla initially unveiled late last year. At that time, Musk proposed a rollout that would blanket much of the middle and lower US within two years. The new plan will see Tesla triple the Supercharger coverage area in California by the end of June - a solid start.
Tesla is also boosting the power output at each charging station. At current, stations are able to pump out 100 kW which can give a Model S about three hours of drive time (at 60 mph) in around 30 minutes. The new stations will feature a 120 kW line that can produce the same three hours of drive time in just over 20 minutes. Customers will receive an update to the car's firmware later this summer to allow for speedier charging.