Tesla (TSLA) released a promo video yesterday which went viral for a variety of reasons. It shows the upcoming developments for the automaker’s Supercharger Network and electric vehicle charging capabilities.
Last year, Tesla introduced its V4 Supercharger stalls. But V4 chargers needed the upgraded and more efficient power electronics system to unlock their full potential.
Yesterday, Tesla unveiled the V4 Cabinet for the V4 Superchargers. These new cabinets are engineered to utilize maximum energy from the V4 Supercharger stalls to enable even faster charging for Tesla and other EVs.
Tesla also posted some of the specifications and technical details of the upcoming V4 Cabinet on X (formerly Twitter).
This information confirmed that after the installation of V4 Cabinets, the V4 Superchargers will be able to support 400V-1000V architecture and provide a peak charging rate of 500kW for capable vehicles like the Cybertruck.
Tesla Semi is the only large vehicle right now that’s capable of charging at 1.2MW (1200 kW).
Tesla wrote:
Today, we’re announcing the V4 Cabinet — capable of delivering up to 500kW for cars and 1.2MW for Semi.
- Faster charging: Supports 400V-1000V vehicle architectures, including 30% faster charging for Cybertruck. S3XY vehicles enjoy 250kW charge rates they already experience on V3 Cabinet — charging up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.
- Faster deployments: V4 Cabinet powers 8 posts, 2X the stalls per cabinet. Lower footprint and complexity = more sites coming online faster.
- Next-generation hardware: Cutting-edge power electronics designed to be the most reliable on the planet, with 3X power density enabling higher throughput with lower costs.
Tesla’s Director for Charging in North America Max De Zegher also explained the upcoming V4 Cabinet on X. He said that there will be a single V4 Cabinet to power 8 V4 Supercharger stalls.
If all 8 posts are busy, a V4 Cabinet will distribute 1MW (1000kW) of power equally between all these stalls. This means that a fully engaged V4 Supercharger with V4 Cabinet will give at least 125kW to each vehicle. Although the V4 Cabinet is capable of 1.2MW (1200kW), Max only mentioned 1MW for 8-stall distribution.
He wrote on X:
Posts can peak up to 500kW for cars, but we need less than 1MW across 8 posts to deliver maximum power to cars 99% of the time.
No more DC busbar between cabinets. Power comes from a single V4 cabinet to 8 stalls. Easier to install, cheaper, more reliable.
Even some of the small incremental improvements matter. V4 Cabinet has a 2% efficiency improvement. Superchargers already deliver over 5 TWh/year, 100 GWh/year in waste heat that can be saved.
Cybertruck and Tesla Semi V4 Supercharging with V4 Cabinets
In the short promo video above, you might have noticed two slides — one for the Cybertruck and one for the Tesla Semi-truck.
According to Tesla, V4 Cabinets will unlock 500kW charging speeds for the Cybertruck and 1.2 MW for the Semi. Tesla started installing V4 Superchargers across the US last year but the peak charging rate initially stayed at 250kW — the same as the V3 Superchargers.
One reason behind the same peak charging rates of V3 and V4 Supercharger stalls are the legacy V3 Cabinets which cap the V4 power transmission at 250kW.
Tesla Cybertruck has a battery pack of 123 kWh which is fairly large compared to a Model 3/Y (~72 kWh) and Model S/X (~100 kWh). The Cybertruck battery is built on an 800V architecture which means it can charge faster compared to the rest of the Tesla vehicle lineup (except for the Semi).
A peak charging rate of 500kW of the Cybertruck translates to the 1,302 miles added to the vehicle per hour (mi/hr). This is roughly 30% faster than charging the Cybertruck on a legacy V3 Supercharger.
Tesla showed its Semi trucks charging at the V4 Supercharger station at Giga Nevada in 2021. At the time, it was called the Megacharger by the Tesla Community but now Tesla Semis can use DC fast charging using V4 Superchargers after V4 Cabinet installation.
Tesla plans to roll out V4 Cabinets starting next year (2025). According to Tesla, its V4 Cabinet sites are under permitting process in different states of the US.
“Our first sites with V4 Cabinets are going into permitting now. First openings in 2025,” the electric automaker announced.
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 unveils its next-generation V4 Cabinet that powers the V4 Superchargers for 500kW charging speeds for the Cybertruck and 1.2MW for the Semi truck.){kind=link}
How do you shove 500KW down the puny charging cable that is in the other normal chargers? There’s gonna be fires, just saying.