Rumors about Tesla’s upcoming V4 Supercharger are swirling throughout the community, with various details about the new charging stacks being speculated against. Tesla Superchargers are the most populous on Earth and have also started to expand to other automakers in some regions, like Europe. However, the company is looking to bring out a new design and also a potential adoption of CCS support for non-Tesla owners.
Tesla’s current top-of-the-line Supercharger is the V3, which is capable of 250 kW charging speeds that can give owners 1,000 miles of range per hour. The introduction of the V3 Supercharger was during my first days as a journalist at Teslarati, and I remember it vividly. It was incredible to see such fast charging speeds and a controlled and calculated rollout of Tesla’s new tech. But of course, even new tech becomes outdated.
The new V4 Supercharger could have a completely updated design, according to @MarcoRPTesla, who stated that the new design will be taller, slimmer, and more streamlined than previous Supercharger shell designs.
As for the V4 design, it looks like Tesla will be using a different shell than the current V2 and V3 models.
While I have yet to determine the new shape, I was able to find the dimensions so that it can be compared to the current model. pic.twitter.com/QQhtDgHfCJ
— MarcoRP (@MarcoRPTesla) July 9, 2022
One could argue that the design of the upcoming V4 Superchargers are similar to the Megachargers Tesla will utilize for the Semi. Teslarati showed exclusive images of the Megacharger design at the Frito-Lay factory in Modesto in June, and it is similar to the drafts of the V4 Supercharger design.
Credit: Teslarati reader Timke Klinker
As you can see from these drafted designs, the new V4 Supercharger could be completely different in terms of dimensions and could be an advantage when used with Tesla’s upcoming Cybertruck as it is a larger vehicle.
The front page of a report also leaked from Tesla that showed the company is planning to develop a Supercharger Charge Post that has Dual Cables that are suitable for both V3 and V4 charging speeds and could also include a potential CCS charging port for third-party automakers to use.
Now, Tesla has discussed opening Superchargers to third-party companies for several years, and it’s already started in the form of a Pilot Program in Europe. The same type of program could be launched in the United States later this year, and it likely will start with the V4 Supercharger. After all, the White House said in late June:
“Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers.”
V4 supercharger deployment starts this year, first locations will be in Austin, Texas. Higher max charge rate and voltage will be supported, as well as both CCS and Tesla cables @elonmusk $TSLA
— Whole Mars Catalog (@WholeMarsBlog) July 13, 2022
Earlier this week, automaker Aptera pleaded to Congress that Tesla’s Supercharger should be the standard in the United States. “While electric vehicle technology has rapidly advanced, the charging standard in the U.S. has not,” Aptera wrote in an email to Teslarati. “CCS and SAE J1772, the US’s common standards, are clunky, cumbersome, and expensive.”
Tesla’s non-Tesla Supercharger pilot program expands to France, Norway
It is unlikely that Tesla’s Supercharger design will be adopted as the Standard, but the inclusion of CCS-compatible charging connectors on upcoming Superchargers would be a huge advantage for e-mobility and the adoption of EVs as a whole.
I’d love to hear from you! If you have any comments, concerns, or questions, please email me at joey@teslarati.com. You can also reach me on Twitter @KlenderJoey, or if you have news tips, you can email us at tips@teslarati.com.
In Pennsylvania, we got between 10 and 12 inches of snow over the weekend as a nasty Winter storm ripped through a large portion of the country, bringing snow to some areas and nasty ice storms to others.
I have had a Model Y Performance for the week courtesy of Tesla, which got the car to me last Monday. Today was my last full day with it before I take it back to my local showroom, and with all the accumulation on it, I decided to run a cool little experiment: How long would it take for Tesla’s Defrost feature to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla’s Defrost feature is one of the best and most underrated that the car has in its arsenal. While every car out there has a defrost setting, Tesla’s can be activated through the Smartphone App and is one of the better-performing systems in my opinion.
It has come in handy a lot through the Fall and Winter, helping clear up my windshield more efficiently while also clearing up more of the front glass than other cars I’ve owned.
The test was simple: don’t touch any of the ice or snow with my ice scraper, and let the car do all the work, no matter how long it took. Of course, it would be quicker to just clear the ice off manually, but I really wanted to see how long it would take.
Tesla Model Y heat pump takes on Model S resistive heating in defrosting showdown
Observations
I started this test at around 10:30 a.m. It was still pretty cloudy and cold out, and I knew the latter portion of the test would get some help from the Sun as it was expected to come out around noon, maybe a little bit after.
I cranked it up and set my iPhone up on a tripod, and activated the Time Lapse feature in the Camera settings.
The rest of the test was sitting and waiting.
It didn’t take long to see some difference. In fact, by the 20-minute mark, there was some notable melting of snow and ice along the sides of the windshield near the A Pillar.
However, this test was not one that was “efficient” in any manner; it took about three hours and 40 minutes to get the snow to a point where I would feel comfortable driving out in public. In no way would I do this normally; I simply wanted to see how it would do with a massive accumulation of snow.
It did well, but in the future, I’ll stick to clearing it off manually and using the Defrost setting for clearing up some ice before the gym in the morning.
Check out the video of the test below:
❄️ How long will it take for the Tesla Model Y Performance to defrost and melt ONE FOOT of snow after a blizzard?
Let’s find out: pic.twitter.com/Zmfeveap1x
— TESLARATI (@Teslarati) January 26, 2026
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor is proving to be a difficult task, according to some riders who made the journey to Austin to attempt to ride in one of its vehicles that has zero supervision.
Last week, Tesla officially removed Safety Monitors from some — not all — of its Robotaxi vehicles in Austin, Texas, answering skeptics who said the vehicles still needed supervision to operate safely and efficiently.
BREAKING: Tesla launches public Robotaxi rides in Austin with no Safety Monitor
Tesla aimed to remove Safety Monitors before the end of 2025, and it did, but only to company employees. It made the move last week to open the rides to the public, just a couple of weeks late to its original goal, but the accomplishment was impressive, nonetheless.
However, the small number of Robotaxis that are operating without Safety Monitors has proven difficult to hail for a ride. David Moss, who has gained notoriety recently as the person who has traveled over 10,000 miles in his Tesla on Full Self-Driving v14 without any interventions, made it to Austin last week.
He has tried to get a ride in a Safety Monitor-less Robotaxi for the better part of four days, and after 38 attempts, he still has yet to grab one:
Wow just wow!
It’s 8:30PM, 29° out ice storm hailing & Tesla Robotaxi service has turned back on!
Waymo is offline & vast majority of humans are home in the storm
Ride 38 was still supervised but by far most impressive yet pic.twitter.com/1aUnJkcYm8
— David Moss (@DavidMoss) January 25, 2026
Tesla said last week that it was rolling out a controlled test of the Safety Monitor-less Robotaxis. Ashok Elluswamy, who heads the AI program at Tesla, confirmed that the company was “starting with a few unsupervised vehicles mixed in with the broader Robotaxi fleet with Safety Monitors,” and that “the ratio will increase over time.”
This is a good strategy that prioritizes safety and keeps the company’s controlled rollout at the forefront of the Robotaxi rollout.
However, it will be interesting to see how quickly the company can scale these completely monitor-less rides. It has proven to be extremely difficult to get one, but that is understandable considering only a handful of the cars in the entire Austin fleet are operating with no supervision within the vehicle.
Tesla has given its biggest hint that Full Self-Driving in Europe is imminent, as a new feature seems to show that the company is preparing for frequent border crossings.
Tesla owner and influencer BLKMDL3, also known as Zack, recently took his Tesla to the border of California and Mexico at Tijuana, and at the international crossing, Full Self-Driving showed an interesting message: “Upcoming country border — FSD (Supervised) will become unavailable.”
FSD now shows a new message when approaching an international border crossing.
Stayed engaged the whole way as we crossed the border and worked great in Mexico! pic.twitter.com/bDzyLnyq0g
— Zack (@BLKMDL3) January 26, 2026
Due to regulatory approvals, once a Tesla operating on Full Self-Driving enters a new country, it is required to comply with the laws and regulations that are applicable to that territory. Even if legal, it seems Tesla will shut off FSD temporarily, confirming it is in a location where operation is approved.
This is something that will be extremely important in Europe, as crossing borders there is like crossing states in the U.S.; it’s pretty frequent compared to life in America, Canada, and Mexico.
Tesla has been working to get FSD approved in Europe for several years, and it has been getting close to being able to offer it to owners on the continent. However, it is still working through a lot of the red tape that is necessary for European regulators to approve use of the system on their continent.
This feature seems to be one that would be extremely useful in Europe, considering the fact that crossing borders into other countries is much more frequent than here in the U.S., and would cater to an area where approvals would differ.
Tesla has been testing FSD in Spain, France, England, and other European countries, and plans to continue expanding this effort. European owners have been fighting for a very long time to utilize the functionality, but the red tape has been the biggest bottleneck in the process.
Tesla Europe builds momentum with expanding FSD demos and regional launches
Tesla operates Full Self-Driving in the United States, China, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Australia, New Zealand, and South Korea.
Tesla winter weather test: How long does it take to melt 8 inches of snow?
Tesla Robotaxi ride-hailing without a Safety Monitor proves to be difficult
