Tesla rolled out one latest version of its superchargers in Europe earlier this week, and it looks like these could eliminate a major headache for non-Tesla electric vehicle owners.
On Wednesday, the electric car maker announced that it had opened a station with its V4 superchargers in Harderwijk, in the Netherlands. The company gave few details about the new station at the time, but said the chargers are currently open to Tesla vehicles only, though they will “soon welcome all electric vehicles.” It is not clear when they will arrive in the US.
Last month, Tesla began opening some supercharger stations to non-Tesla EV drivers in the US. Some non-Tesla owners who tested them were quick to identify weaknesses in the system.
The complaints included that the cables were not long enough like to reach the location of the charging port in their vehicles. Also, the charging system was not optimized for non-Tesla charging at full speed.
Now, Tesla seems to have started to fix both problems with the V4s. Steven Bink, a Model S owner from the Netherlands, has commented on Twitter that the cables on the new chargers appear to be around 3 meters long, more than a meter longer than the previous version.
That extra cable length will help those without a Tesla who previously had to maneuver their charging port closer to the charger.
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The company has not provided any information on expected charging speeds for the new superchargers, although it is known that the V3s are currently limited to 250 kW, which equates to a charging speed of around 1,000 kilometers per hour.
According to Bink’s images, the new supercharger has the same 250 kW power output, but a higher electrical current.
The higher amperage could allow the systems to charge non-Tesla electric vehicles, as well as newer-model Teslas, at a faster rate, according to Teslarati. However, Bink has revealed to Business Insider that his car, a 2018 model, didn’t charge faster.
Bink has been one of many Tesla owners who have posted photos and videos of the new charging stations on social media. Esther Kokkelmans, a Model S owner, has also shared a video of her charging experience.
