Tesla Will Build A Supercharger Network In Australia

Buying a Tesla Motors electric car in Australia just got even more attractive. The electric car company will build a network of its Supercharger high-speed chargers around the country, letting Tesla owners recharge their vehicles for free.

Mat Peterson — founder of educational app developer Shiny Things, long-time Tesla fan, and Model S pre-order holder — just shared a juicy bit of info on Twitter:

Australian Supercharger network has been confirmed by Tesla enabling free road trips! + @evcricket — Mat Peterson (@heosat) May 20, 2014

That snippet comes courtesy of a posting on Tesla Motors Club — the semi-official forum for Tesla owners and aficionados — with a recent post sharing some great information that comes directly from Tesla Motors chief technology officer JB Straubel.

Apparently, the company “will develop, in time, a Supercharger network in Australia.” Those Superchargers shouldn’t be expected until at least early 2015, and that’s an estimate rather than a confirmed timeframe. For anyone that buys a Model S early, the car will also recharge at public EV charging stations using the IEC 62196 standard connector, used at ChargePoint and some other privately-run installations.

Beyond that, there’s a bit more clarity on Australian home charging for the cars. All Model S vehicles sold in Australia will use the same connector as EU-delivered cars, compatible with single- and three-phase power, and the car’s onboard charger is matched with a bundled 40-amp wall charger (with no house re-wiring needed). For any Australian charging station that doesn’t use the IEC 62196 standard, an adapter will be sold in early 2015.

There’s at least one Tesla Model S taking test drives around Sydney at the moment; we’ve heard that potential customers have been invited to look at a right-hand drive production version of the car — one of the first to be produced in right-hand drive at Tesla’s San Francisco factory. [Tesla Motors Club]