Tesla Will Webcast Supercharger Quick-Charge Unveiling Tonight

By John Voelcker

2,884 views Sep 24, 2012

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2012 Tesla Model S

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It all began with a late-night tweet two weeks ago by Tesla Motors CEO Elon Musk.

In it, he announced that Tesla would unveil its much-discussed Supercharger network of dedicated quick-charging stations--usable only by 2012 Tesla Model S drivers--on September 24.

Well, today's the day.

And this evening, the world can watch to learn details of a device that, Musk says, "will feel like alien spaceships landed at highway rest stops."

OK, then.

Tesla Motors [NSDQ:TSLA] will reveal not only the looks and details of the Supercharger, but also its deployment plans, in a webcast tonight from an event that starts at 7:30 Pacific (10:30 pm Eastern).

Starting at 8 pm Pacific (11 pm Eastern), you can watch a webcast of the Supercharger event online.

It calls tonight's event, to be held at the company's Design Studio in Hawthorne, California, not an unveiling or a launch but a "Premiere."

The announcement, it should be noted, appears to have caught Tesla's communications staff slightly off guard. Rumor has it they first learned of today's date via Musk's tweet.

The need for quick charging has to do with the large lithium-ion battery packs of the Model S variants. The 85-kilowatt-hour pack would take 12 hours or more to recharge fully using a conventional 240-Volt, Level 2 charging station.

Thus far, here's what we know about the Supercharger:

• The 90-kilowatt charging station is said to add as much as 150 miles of range to a Model S in half an hour
• The unique charging connector on the 2012 Tesla Model S accepts both Level 2 AC charging and Supercharger DC quick-charging over the same set of pins
• Last year, Tesla confirmed it would build a Supercharger corridor between the San Francisco Bay Area and Los Angeles

2012 Tesla Model S Charging Connector

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For more beyond that, tune in to tonight's event.

If past events, including the first public showing of the Model S prototype and the unveiling of the Model X crossover concept early this year, are any indication, the event will follow a set format.

It will have questionable lighting for photography, hordes of fans and reporters crowded into roped-off areas, and a lot of tired-looking Tesla employees applauding enthusiastically.

Again, the URL for the webcast is: http://www.teslamotors.com/supercharger

We'll provide a rundown of the details and the event later in the week.

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