Tesla 'donates' 100 Destination chargers to Norfolk in Virginia

Tesla’s Destination charging network is not getting as much attention as the automaker’s Supercharger network, but it is also growing fast.

Now, we’ve learned of a new deployment of 100 Destination chargers in a single deal with the city of Norfolk in Virginia.

Tesla operates two different charging networks. While Tesla’s Supercharger network is made of DC fast-charging stations for long distance driving, the Destination Charging network consists level 2 chargers, more specifically the ‘Tesla Wall Connector’, mostly installed at restaurants and hotels to charge once Tesla owners arrive at their destination, hence the name.

It’s growing exceptionally fast because Tesla covers the cost of the charge points while property owners have to cover the cost of the electricity.

Earlier this year, we released Tesla’s agreement with property owners and also found out that Tesla even covers the installation of charging stations for other EVs than its own.

But those generous deals generally only cover a few Wall Connectors, which makes this deal with the city of Norfolk different.

Local news reported that the City Council is expected to accept Tesla’s donation and installation of the charging stations during today’s meeting. They estimate the cost of each installation at about $550 per unit.

The city wants to install the stations in their city-owned parking garages and it expects that it will have to pay an average cost of $1.50 per charge. It sounds like they expect the average charge to be around 18 kWh since the local electricity rates are at around $0.08.

Earlier this year, Tesla had some issues in Virginia after it was granted approval for a second dealership in the state, but the local auto dealer association got in the way. It later managed to open its new store in Virginia and even won a contract to install solar at local colleges.

Tesla’s ‘Destination Chargers’ reached a total of over 5,000 locations around the world earlier this year and they recently made a deal with Hilton to expand the charging station program to up to 200 chargers at their hotels.

Tesla aimed to have 15,000 Destination chargers installed by the end of 2017. We can’t know for sure without the details of how many they have per location, but it looks like they must be pretty close to their goal.

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