Move over Superman and Superwoman – there’s a new super hero on planet Earth, and he’s got enough power to transport you to the Alps and back – free of charge.
Meet Supercharger. He’s lean, mean, green and could land in any shopping centre, stadium, high street, stately home or car park across the UK. He won’t cost the landlord anything to install or run and he intends to make the UK – nay, the world – a better, more environmentally friendly place to live.
And Supercharger’s “Justice League”? US-based electric car manufacturer Tesla Motors, which is using Supercharger as the weapon to make a powerful impact on the UK’s automotive industry.
Tesla, with the help of CBRE, is planning an immediate assault on the UK, looking to open at least 10 sites by next year. At the same time, it is preparing to build a huge network of Superchargers (charging stations) to fuel its Model S electric car, which costs, on average, just over £40,000 for the 60kWh model.
A 20 to 30-minute totally free electric boost – and “free” is a strict Tesla mantra: once you buy the car, recharging costs nothing – can take the luxury saloon the 200 miles from London to Manchester without needing a top-up. Hence the name Supercharger.
Georg Ell, Tesla’s country director of UK and Ireland, says the company aims to make the UK its number three in the market after the US and China, and number one in Europe. Last year the company, founded in 2003, sold 22,000 cars, which each take an average of four months to build, from order to delivery. This year, it is forecasting car sales of 35,000.
Size ranges
Its UK sites will range from 20,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft in larger cities such as Glasgow, Edinburgh, Manchester, Birmingham and Bristol, while those in smaller towns will average 15,000 sq ft.
The company, backed by PayPal founder Elon Musk (pictured above), chief executive and product architect of Tesla Motors, opened its first UK site in Westfield London last October. Taking space in a shopping centre typifies how Tesla works.
“How we choose our stores [as Tesla refers to dealerships] is that we want people to discover electric vehicles for themselves,” says Ell. “It means we don’t bombard them with glossy advertising, but they have an opportunity to see the car in the flesh and get behind the wheel.
“We will do some out of town, but… the only people that ever find us there are the people who deliberately set out to do so. Going into a variety of places, like Westfield in London, means people who are out and about doing their everyday shopping will stop and stare.”
Ell adds: “Westfield has never had a car manufacturer there before. It does occasionally have temporary displays, but as a permanent fixture, we are the first. It has been fantastic partnering with Westfield – it is very forward-thinking. It is extremely accommodating of what we do there and we hope to expand what we do with Westfield in the future.”
Getting the Superchargers in the right locations is vital for Tesla. And building a network of chargers is crucial to the success of an electric car launch. “We are doing stores and Superchargers in parallel,” he says. “But our top priority is to build a great Supercharger network and number two is to build a great real estate service and store network.
“Our goal is to make sure customers feel really confident in that the car they order today has multiple sites open for both servicing and Superchargering right across the country, so customers will be within reach of a service centre and will have their main routes energised by Superchargers by the end of this year.”
To make that happen, Ell is putting out a call to landlords to form a partnership with Tesla to install up to 10 chargers per site. But no money will change hands.
“There is no revenue implication,” says Ell. “We also typically do not pay for the sites we partner with, so it’s a nice investment proposition. We work with, say, National Car Parks or a supermarket, arena or football stadium, maybe a local council. Anywhere there’s a bit of land, we investigate whether we can get power to it. Is it safe for people, for instance if they are there late at night? Is it accessible 24/7? Does it have facilities where people can get a cup of coffee. Does it have a bathroom?”
Stately homes
Stately homes are another possibility, he says, given planning permission.
But, on the whole, planning is not an issue. “It’s something we deal with on a case-by-case basis,” says Ell. “The Superchargers tend to be good for the people we partner with: the landlord should benefit from our brand presence, which is pretty strong, plus the drivers who are coming to spend time at that location and using the facilities there.”
Ell says Tesla has been mostly using short, flexible leases “because we are growing quickly and it’s helpful for us to take advantage of the growth”.
But he adds: “We not averse to making long-term commitments where we feel the location is right and the site is right. We have done that from time to time. It’s very site-dependent, but where we can, we like to maintain flexibility.”
The UK aside, Europe is a hot spot for Tesla. “We are growing service, sales and Superchargers right across Europe,” says Ell. “We are opening two Superchargers a week in Europe at the moment.”
Super is definitely the buzzword for Tesla. Despite the company taking 10 years to make a profit in the US, it is clear that with its ambitious plans for growth, it really does seem ready to start an electric storm across the UK and Europe – with its zero-carbon emission electric cars making the continent greener.
“The most important thing for us is to build a phenomenal Supercharger network,” says Ell. “We really are looking for people who are excited about what that means for the British driver and what that means for Britain. After all, the second-biggest cause of deaths in the UK is poor air quality.”
In true superhero style, electric cars, from all manufacturers, are truly here to save the world.
Tesla facts
• Looking for sites in major towns and cities from 20,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft
• Flexible leases
• No charge for a recharge
Supercharger coverage for the Model S:
North America
Today – 98 stations.
Complete West and East Coast coverage.
Coast-to-coast travel.
2014 – 80% of the US population and parts of Canada.
2015 – 98% of the US population and parts of Canada.
Europe
Today – 24 stations
Asia
Today – three stations
