Tesla has launched its new Oasis Supercharger, the long-promised EV charging station of the future, with a solar farm and off-grid batteries.
Tesla pledged to equip Supercharger stations with solar panels and batteries early in the network’s development, and CEO Elon Musk even claimed that the majority of the stations will be able to run off the grid.
While a small number of Tesla stations already have solar and batteries, the great majority lack a power system of their own or have very small solar canopies.
These components have all been present for years, and Tesla has recently switched from the Powerpack to the Megapack. Additionally, the Supercharger network is switching to V4 stations.
Although the deployment of solar and batteries hasn’t increased considerably in the ten years after Musk made that remark, it is at last taking place.
A new type of Supercharger station with a solar farm and battery storage that allows off-grid operations was part of the “Oasis” project, which Tesla revealed last year in Lost Hills, California.
Tesla has now unveiled the project and turned on most of the Supercharger stalls:
The project is one of the biggest Supercharger stations in the world, with 168 chargers, half of which are currently in use. But that’s not even its most noteworthy feature.
The station has 10 Tesla Megapacks with a combined energy storage capacity of 39 MWh and 11 MW of ground-mounted solar panels and canopies covering 30 acres of land.
According to Tesla, it can be run off the grid, which is what it is at the moment.
Tesla was on the verge of bringing 84 stalls online with off-grid operations in time for the Fourth of July holiday weekend. Later this year, a lounge and the remaining stalls will open.