Tesla is selling more and more cars in France. Consequently, one could fear the worst concerning the waiting files on the Supercharger terminals. The figures show that there is nothing to worry about.
In the 100% electric car segment, Tesla’s success is undeniable. A few years ago, coming across a car from the brand aroused astonishment. Today, riding alongside a Model 3 has become commonplace, even in France. This raises an essential question: are there enough Superchargers available for users in France? The answer is yes.
Internet user passionate about technology and vehicles, Bertrand Moreau, has compiled data from various reliable or official sources (Tesla, Tesla Owners Club France and Automobile Propre) for several graphs shared on Twitter December 17. The first is related to sales, which have increased sharply since the appearance of the Model 3 (70,000 copies returned, as of December 19, 2022). The second looks at the number of Teslas per Supercharger. In November, the ratio stood at 44.
Should we be afraid of waiting files on Tesla terminals?
A Supercharger for 44 cars: this data is not worrying about the appearance of plugs on the terminals installed by Tesla. It is impossible to imagine a situation in which 44 owners would need to refuel in the same sector, knowing that a station includes several terminals. Bertrand Moreau also specifies: ” Most of the time, Superchargers are unoccupied, so the margin is relatively large. In fact, this means that there are fewer cars for a single Tesla terminal than the statistics announce. During our many tests, we only experienced a German queue once (and that was at the border). For the time being, we must rather fear volatile prices.
Of course, the more Tesla cars there are on the road, the worse the ratio will get. Unless the American firm manages to keep pace in terms of opening new stations. In a press release received by Numerama in October, Tesla announced that France exceeded 1,500 terminals, spread over 125 different sites. In the summer of 2021, the network was approaching 1,000 charging points. According to Bertrand Moreau’s graph, there was one Supercharger for 34 cars at the time. To maintain this data in November 2022, Tesla would have had to inaugurate more Superchargers. We note, however, that the figure has been stable since January 2022, a month which observed the same ratio as in November.
Please note that the reported data does not take into account that some Superchargers are now accessible to third-party cars. In September 2022, Automobile Propre indicated the figure of 722 terminals concerned, i.e. half of the fleet. This precision makes Bertrand Moreau’s calculation much more complex, which is only part of the Tesla ecosystem and does not take into account the other terminals on which the brand’s cars can be connected either.