Drive On: Tesla tripling 'supercharger' locations

Chris Woodyard | USA TODAY

Tesla Motors is tripling the number of high-speed charging stations it offers to customers of its Model S electric sedan -- and expanding the number of states offering them.

The automaker said Thursday that from eight stations now, six of which are in California, it will expand to 27 in the next few months. The "superchargers" will be situated next to busy highways connecting major cities. Texas and Illinois will both get two, Florida will get three and stations will be located in Colorado, Washington state and more on the East Coast.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who made the announcement, says they will allow free charges at 120 kilowatts in about 20 minutes, even less time than the previous 90-kilowatt superchargers that have been installed. The new ones, he says, put out power equal to about 60 houses and cost about $150,000, with the price doubling if they have solar-power capability.

Currently, the ones in Gilroy, Calif., south of San Francisco, and in Delaware, a key stop on the New York to Washington, D.C., trek, are the most popular, Musk says.

The 20-minute quick charge will be good for about 200 miles, or three hours, of driving in Model S sedans with the biggest battery packs. Interestingly, fast charging isn't available to owners of Tesla's previous electric model, the roadster, which don't have charging systems that are as capable.

Musk says Tesla is on track to have about 100 supercharging stations in place around the country by next year, each capable of handling multiple cars at a time. The goal is to have 200, including those on primary and secondary highways between big cities.

In order to sell electric cars, Tesla is banking that its supercharger network will assure drivers they won't be limited by distance. But they stations are costly to install and they aren't open to drivers of other makes, which so far isn't a problem because none have charging systems capable of using the high-speed infusion of juice.