Tesla to Install 12 Supercharger Stalls at its HQ for R&D & Test Vehicle Charging

Tesla is installing Superchargers at its headquarters in Palo Alto for exclusive use for test vehicles and related research and development. Twelve V3 Superchargers will be closed for public use and employee car charging.

Marco/Twitter has revealed that Tesla will install a new Supercharger at its 3500 Deer Creek Rd headquarters in Palo Alto, which will have an interesting assignment. The project, which includes 12 V3 stalls, will be completely closed for public use or for charging employees' cars. All 12 stalls, which is a fairly large number, are intended for exclusive use for charging test vehicles of the company and for related research and development.
"These new Supercharger spaces are for the exclusive use of charging Tesla's fleet of test vehicles and for performing related research and development. These new Superchargers will not be used to charge employees’ private vehicles nor to charge visitor vehicles."

TESLA is in the process of getting 12 V3 Superchargers installed at their HQ (3500 Deer Creek Rd) for the purpose of "research and development" and charging Tesla test vehicles. These stations will NOT be open to the public nor to employees (more info on 2nd slide). pic.twitter.com/sSBklsEAWA

— Marco (@MarcoRPTesla) June 28, 2021

The appointment of the new Supercharger indicates that Tesla will be charging test vehicles. This may hint at testing vehicles that use the new 4680 battery cells the company unveiled in September 2020.

At the moment, Tesla has a small production line of the new battery cells at Fremont. The test line, a small battery factory, is already sizable compared to usual standards. The company expects it to achieve a production capacity of 10 gigawatt-hours per year in 2021. During the Q1 2021 Earnings Call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk reported that the company has made quite a few cells, but has not yet come to the point where they are reliable enough to be shipped in cars. Nevertheless, Tesla is already approaching this point, which is a great sign. Two months after this announcement, there is every reason to believe that the company has made great progress, and perhaps the cells are already ready for testing in cars.

Since the 4680 cells are new, the company needs to thoroughly study how they will behave in the real world during daily vehicle use. Among other things, charging should also take place under close supervision, as one of the most important stages of testing. That is why constant monitoring of the process, without outside attention, is a necessity.

 

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Article edited by @SmokeyShorts, you can follow him on Twitter

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