Tesla Superchargers now open in Singapore – report

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The relaunch of Tesla in Singapore is gaining pace, with the official website (replete with pricing) now live and a service centre in Toa Payoh due to begin operations this month. Now, The Straits Times is reporting that the first Superchargers are now operational in the island republic.

Three of these high-speed DC charging points have been installed in the ninth-floor carpark of the Orchard Central shopping mall along Orchard Road. They are of the latest V3 variety, providing up to 250 kW of power, slashing the average charging time down to just 15 minutes. More Superchargers will be made available to our southern neighbours in the coming months, the report stated.

Singapore’s transport minister S Iswaran said that the Superchargers were approved by the Land Transport Authority (LTA) under a “regulatory sandbox” launched this month, aimed at accommodating technologies that are set to be included in the country’s national charging standard. He added that the LTA has been engaging companies to submit specific sandbox applications for a case-by-case assessment.

For now, the use of the chargers is limited to Tesla owners. The Silicon Valley carmaker’s CEO Elon Musk has recently confirmed that the global Supercharger network will gradually be opened up to users of other electric vehicles starting later this year. Currently, the network consists of over 25,000 chargers at more than 2,700 locations around the world.

The decision to install Superchargers in shopping malls tracks with Tesla’s strategy of opening “experience stores” in these locations instead of standalone showrooms, with Raffles City and Jewel Changi Airport being two of the malls being earmarked. Of course, you can simply order your car online using the sales portal, instead of having to go to the stores.



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