Tesla's new 'Megachargers' will give its Semis power for 400 miles in 30 minutes
Tesla's new Semi trucks are slated to boast a range of up to 500 miles per charge — but powering up those batteries will still be important to the truckers who have to drive long routes.
The automaker will introduce an entirely new kind of charging station for its new big rigs: Megachargers. The units will be even more powerful than the Supercharger network Tesla already offers for its cars.
Like the Supercharger network, the Megachargers will be built around the world to support the fleet, as Musk claimed truckers will be able to "travel anywhere in the world via the Megachargers."
The new Megachargers will be solar-powered, so charging with them won't take any juice away from the rest of the grid. Musk claims that truckers will be able to charge at their origin or their final destination while they unload their freight, or take a 30-minute break from the road, leave their rig on a Megacharger, and have enough power to drive up to 400 miles.
It's not clear where or when we can expect to see these new stations popping up or how much it will cost to use them, but Musk said the first Semi's will being production in 2019. Those trucks will hit the road soon after — so they'll need to have the new Megachargers ready to keep them up and running.
Topics Electric Vehicles Tesla Elon Musk
Brett Williams is a Tech Reporter at Mashable. He writes about tech news, trends and other tangentially related topics with a particular interest in wearables and exercise tech. Prior to Mashable, he wrote for Inked Magazine and Thrillist. Brett's work has also appeared on Fusion and AskMen, to name a few. You can follow Brett on Twitter @bdwilliams910.
