Tesla Motors could have a nice problem on its hands come 2018
New data released by a Tesla club member shows the electric automaker may encounter claustrophobia issues as volume increases with the Model 3 launch in the next 12-24 months if its Supercharger network does not grow proportionately.
Tesla Motors Club member ‘Troy’ has recorded data on the expansion of Tesla EV fleet for years, comparing it with the number of Supercharger stalls and finding the average number of vehicles per stall. With the production of the large-scale Model 3 under way and over 400,000 units ordered, the Supercharger network is expected to expand to 7000 and destination charging to 15,000 by 2018. Currently there are 685 stations with 4201 Superchargers.
According to Troy, the average number of Teslas per stall at the end of Q2, 2016, was 34.1 vehicles, up 3.5% since the same time last year – with an increase of 1358 stalls globally.
Currently Italy has the least crowding with just 2.7 Teslas per stall, due to the disproportionate 104 stalls with only 282 Teslas on the road, versus The Netherlands with 5352 vehicles and only 52 Supercharger stalls. Norway is about to receive a huge 20-stall Supercharger station north of capital Oslo.
The Netherlands’ lower house of parliament this week announced it would officially ban the sale of new petrol and diesel internal combustion vehicles by 2025. in 2015, Dutch new vehicle registrations consisted of 449,347 of which 9.6% of the market were electric vehicles – a total of 43,000 vehicles.
