Tesla opens two Supercharger stations in US

San Francisco, Sep 12
US electric car maker Tesla on Monday opened its first two "city centre" Supercharger stations in Chicago and Boston.

"Now, as part of our commitment to make Tesla ownership easy for everyone, including those without immediate access to home or workplace charging, we are expanding our Supercharger network into city centers, starting with downtown Chicago and Boston," the company said in a blog post.

The Chicago station can charge 10 vehicles at a time, while the Boston station can charge eight.

Supercharger stations in urban areas will be installed in convenient locations, including supermarkets, shopping centres and downtown districts, so it's easy for customers to charge their car in the time it takes to grocery shop or run errands, Xinhua reported.

The price will be the same as other Supercharging stations.

"Superchargers in urban areas have a new post design that occupies less space and is easier to install, making them ideal for dense, highly populated areas," Tesla said.

To increase efficiency and support a high volume of cars, these Superchargers have a new architecture that delivers a rapid 72 kilowatts of dedicated power to each car, which means charging speeds are unaffected by Tesla vehicles plugging into adjacent Superchargers, and results in consistent charging times around 45 to 50 minutes for most drivers.

Tesla announced earlier this year that it planned to increase the number of Superchargers worldwide in 2017.

"We will continue to expand our charging networks so that Tesla owners always have abundant and reliable access to charging wherever they go," the company said.