Tesla unveiled a new Supercharger location yesterday that will be a shot in the arm for Tesla owners travelling between Sydney and Melbourne and suffering from range anxiety.
A new bank of six Superchargers has been installed behind Oliver's Real Food Organic Restaurant at the popular stop on the Hume Highway near Gundagai, close to the famed Dog on the Tuckerbox.
The bank of six supercharger units in Gundagai became operational a week ago but was officially unveiled as part of the Melbourne-Sydney Tesla Supercharger Rally, a drive between the two capitals held for customers and the press yesterday.
The Gundagai site brings the number of official Tesla Supercharger stations between Melbourne and Sydney to three; the other two are located at Goulburn, NSW and Wodonga, Victoria.
There are also two Supercharger units in the parking area of the Shell Euroa service station, although Tesla deems it a temporary measure until a larger number of units can be installed. Tesla won't specify a timeframe, only that it hopes to have a at least six Supercharger points at the Euroa site in the near future.
The Gundagai site brings the total number of Tesla Supercharger locations to seven, all on the east coast from Melbourne to Sydney. While the southern capital has just one Supercharger installation in Richmond, in Sydney there are two —one at the Tesla store in St Leonards, and another at Star City in Pyrmont.
The Supercharger units at all sites share the same output capacity that will see a Tesla Model S charged to 80 per cent of battery capacity in 30 minutes.
Tesla is well on its way to delivering its promise made a year ago to have a Brisbane-to-Melbourne Supercharger Network operational by the end of 2016, and augurs well for the brand as it expands late next year with its Model X SUV, just launched in the USA.
Tesla also has 37 Destination Chargers sprinkled around Queensland, NSW, ACT, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, and like the Superchargers, Tesla owners can use them for free. Predominantly located in shopping centres, carparks and hotels, the Destination Chargers are compact high-power wall units that offer up to 40 amps of current, adding about 50km of range per hour of charging time.
Pictured: Supercharger station at Wodonga