TESLA SUPERCHARGER STATION COMING TO BETHESDA (PHOTOS)

Westfield Montgomery Mall in Bethesda has a Tesla Store, and now Tesla owners will have a new reason to visit - a supercharging station that will give them 200 miles of range from a 30 minute charging session. The mall's prime location - by 2 interstate highways - dovetails with Tesla Motors' plan to create a nationwide network of supercharging stations that will allow Tesla owners to drive America's interstate highway system free of charge. 

Remember the car-free future the media has been droning on about for the last few years? It's never coming. Tesla and other zero-emission vehicles are here now, and the autonomous car is on the way (actually, they're here now too, but not yet being marketed to the public). And people are going to travel in those cars on... highways. The demise of which has been greatly, greatly, greatly exaggerated.

Tesla's Supercharger station will have several stalls, where drivers will leave their vehicles while shopping or dining at the mall.

One interesting technological detail, is that you can charge 80% of your battery's power in 40 minutes, but a full charge takes 75 minutes. Why is the last 20% so much slower? Tesla likens it to reducing the flow of a water spigot to carefully top off a glass of water. The company says drivers can easily reach the next Supercharger station on the map on an 80% charge.

Supercharging stations can be located on Google Maps via the Tesla Model S dashboard screen.

Images courtesy of Tesla Motors