Tesla has already installed more than 35,000 Supercharger charging stations around the world, but exactly how it chooses locations can be a mystery. The company is running a new Twitter poll asking the public to tell it where they want to install their next chargers, TechCrunch reports.
Some of the most popular locations are the least accessible, including U.S. national parks, Vancouver Island, Hawaii, and Alaska. If you’ve ever been to British Columbia, you’ll notice plenty of Tesla EVs there, but Vancouver Island only has a couple of Supercharger stations in Victoria and Nanaimo.
Similarly, Alaska has only one station in Soldotna, and Honolulu has a lone station with six bays. It also makes sense to install Supercharger stations at the gates of national parks, often located in remote regions.
In the U.S., Tesla has 1,469 Supercharger sites, with the number of charging points at each station varying widely. However, the growth in the number of stations has lagged behind the growth in Tesla EV sales, with sales up 87% in 2021 and Supercharger installations up only 35%. This may soon become a bigger problem. The fact is that the company has said it will open up its Supercharger network to non-Tesla vehicles.
The installation of the stations is not so easy either. Tesla recently posted a job posting for its Canadian Supercharger design team, noting that applicants needed experience with building permits, feasibility studies, utility requests, etc.
The company recently told Supercharger sites that it’s a good fit for business, with average monthly visits to Supercharger locations in Vancouver, British Columbia, ranging from 2,000 to 5,000.
