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Tesla Plans To Disconnect 'Almost All' Superchargers From the Grid In Favor of Solar and Battery Power (electrek.co)
Only half a dozen Supercharger stations or so out of the over 800 stations have solar arrays and batteries, but that may be about to change. Elon Musk said Tesla plans to deploy more battery and solar systems with the upcoming "Version 3" of the Supercharger, adding that "almost all Superchargers will disconnect from the electricity grid." Electrek reports: Previously, Musk said that Tesla's new Powerpack and solar arrays will power some Supercharger stations in sunny regions to go off-grid -- adding that "the grid won't be needed for moderate use Superchargers in non-snowy regions." While it makes sense to add solar arrays and battery packs, it's not clear why there would be a need to completely disconnect from the grid, which is often still useful -- especially if net metering is available. Even in regions where coal dominates electricity generation, electric cars are still more efficient than some of the most efficient gas-powered cars. Therefore, the argument could have ended here, but Musk apparently wants to take Tesla's Supercharger network off-grid as part of the company's mission to accelerate the advent of sustainable energy. Depending on the size and popularity of a Supercharger station, which generally varies from 6 partly used stalls to 20 stalls in almost constant use, Tesla would need some significantly large solar arrays at some stations -- almost football field in size. Unless there are some impressive advancements in efficiency, it's not clear how they would make it happen.
If they can get most of the Supercharger network off the grid, most electric cars wouldn't be powered by anything other than the sun.
The Supercharges network provides only a small contribution to the lifetime energy use of a Tesla car. You have to include the energy used to build the car and the 80+ percent of charging that is done at home. This study shows 98% of weekday charging occurs at home or work (for car owners with home charging stations). Indeed, I find never having to stop for gas (and very, rarely for electricity) is one of the big perks of plug-in EV ownership.
Also note that point of use generation of renewable energy solves a crucial problem in the renewable energy puzzle: the need to build transmission lines as existing infrastructure reaches capacity. Transmission lines cost about a million dollars per mile and are subject to lots of regional and political considerations.
Kudos to Tesla if they make this work. I'm still trying to wrap my brain around the size of the solar farm needed for a Supercharger station.