Tesla will soon deploy 400 charging points across 120 cities in China as part of its new partnership with Unicom.
Elon Musk's luxury brand for electric cars is responding to the growing demand for electric vehicles in China by building a reliable network of charging stations. The automaker signed a partnership deal with China United Network Communications, the country's second-largest mobile communications carrier, to use its widespread outlets as charging stations.
Lack of charging stations in the country is one the biggest setbacks for the EV ownership in China. The government has extended full support to the expansion of EV charging station networks with an investment of $16 billion. The country currently has about 170 Level 2 charging stations and only 17 Tesla Superchargers. Tesla is jumping into the country's development through its new partnership and has promised to deploy 400 Level 2 charging stations across 120 cities at China Unicom outlets, Tesla spokeswoman Peggy Yang told Bloomberg during a telephone interview on Friday.
The company also has plans to build 20 superchargers for the growing base of Model S owners. These super-fast charging stations work up to 16 times faster than the Level 2 chargers, Yang added.
"The deal represents our biggest investment so far in charging facilities in China," Yang told Reuters in a separate phone interview.
In July, Zong Yi, a Chinese businessman and an owner of Tesla Model S, paid for the installation of 16 charging stations between Beijing and Guangzhou, which is 3,750 miles , CSI Monitor reported.
Tesla's charging stations will be free and exclusive to Tesla car owners.
Tesla won't be alone with its network of charging stations, as BMW announced in May that it will also set up a network of chargers across the country through its partnership with State Grid power company.
