Tesla Motors will modify its Model S electric cars to comply with China’s new charging standards to allay concerns over its technology’s incompatibility in the country.
“We will fully cooperate with the Chinese government in drafting the national charging standards as well as building public charging infrastructure,” Zhu Xiaotong, country head for Tesla in China, said in the statement.
China has yet to release its charging standards, but Tesla says it will match them when they do. This change will likely help the company move more cars in the country and alleviate fears that potential customer may have about running out of juice without a charging station nearby.
Tesla has dished out millions of dollars to install Supercharging stations around the world to appeal to buyers worried about infrastructure. The Tesla Supercharger can recharge 80% of a 85 kilowatt-hour Model S battery in 30 minutes. Tesla has already built more than 50 supercharger stations in China, and plans to build 700 charging stations in 70 Chinese cities. This would give China the second-largest charging infrastructure outside the US.
However, its rapid-charge technology isn’t compatible with electric cars built by other manufacturers, raising concerns among Chinese consumers about the lack of access to charge Tesla cars.
The lack of sufficient charging infrastructure and Tesla’s current technology incompatibility with the Chinese government-initiated charging network are holding Chinese buyers back, analysts say.
Statistics from U.S. research firm JL Warren Capital show that fewer than 2,500 Tesla cars were registered in China in the nine months from April 2014, when the company started deliveries there. CEO Elon Musk said he would consider the launch of the electric vehicle in the country a success if it could sell 5,000 vehicles during that year.
