Tesla’s V3 Supercharger cuts down charging times by half

Tesla is speeding up charging with the third generation of its Supercharger.

Unveiled on Wednesday, the carmaker said in a blog post that the new V3 Supercharger will boast charging rates of up to 250 kW. 

At its peak, V3 can charge at rates of 1,000 miles per hour, and can top up a Model 3 Long Range with 75 miles of charge in five minutes. Perfect for those quick bathroom stops.

There’s no power splitting, in which drivers experience slower power rates if other stations are in use. V3 allows drivers to charge their vehicles at the full power their battery can handle. 

Tesla said V3 is an entirely new architecture for supercharging, and aims to cut down the amount of time customers spend charging by 50 percent.

Another neat feature is something called on-route battery warmup. When drivers navigate to a Supercharger, the vehicle will begin to warm the battery to an optimal level, thus resulting in less time spent charging.

Tesla will roll out the first of these updated Superchargers in Fremont, California, but it’ll only be available to those in its early access program.

The V3 Superchargers will come to U.S. sites in Q2 and Q3 this year, with Asia-Pacific and Europe to follow in Q4. 

They’ll also be made available to Model 3 vehicles first, with Tesla to assess performance before rolling them out to the rest of the range.