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Elon Musk promises 100 percent Tesla Supercharger coverage in Europe next year [theverge.com]

Entering into the seasonal spirit of giving, Elon Musk has promised [twitter.com] a big present for Tesla owners: 100 percent Supercharger coverage in Europe by next year.

Musk made the claim on Twitter yesterday, responding to a soon-to-be Tesla owner in Ireland who was worried about coverage in his home country. The Tesla CEO said the Supercharger network, which can charge a vehicle to around 80 percent battery capacity in 40 minutes, would spread from “Ireland to Kiev, from Norway to Turkey.”

Yes. Supercharger coverage will extend to 100% of Europe next year. From Ireland to Kiev, from Norway to Turkey. https://t.co/7FQZgLCTVJ [t.co]

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 26, 2018 [twitter.com]

The promise fits previous claims made by Musk, including a comment [twitter.com] this November in which he said that Supercharger capacity would be doubled by the end of 2019, putting chargers “within range of 95% to 100% of population in all active markets.”

While there’s no doubt that Tesla’s charging network has grown quickly in recent years, it’s worth remembering that Musk has a history of over-promising on exact expansion rates. As EV site Electrek notes [electrek.co], Tesla originally wanted to have 18,000 Superchargers up and running by the end of 2018, but currently falls well short of that goal with 11,853 chargers online at the time of publication. (It also missed a similar target in 2017 [insideevs.com], though by less of a margin.)

A follow-up tweet from Musk suggested charging stations would also be coming to Africa by 2020, though it’s not clear in what numbers. (Tesla currently has zero Superchargers in Africa and according to its coverage map [tesla.com] none are “coming soon.”)

2020

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 27, 2018 [twitter.com]

Still, you can check out the full expanse of Tesla’s impressive Supercharger network here [tesla.com].

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