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WASHINGTON, Dec. 26 (Xinhua) -- To the pleasant surprise of Tesla fans, CEO Elon Musk on Christmas Eve responded to many of their questions on Twitter and talked about the company's exciting enhancement plans.
Supercharger stations are a network of fast-charging stations built by Tesla Motors to allow longer journeys for their all-electric vehicles through quick charging of the battery packs.
Tesla began building the network in 2012, and as of today there are more than 760 Supercharger stations globally with some 4,800 chargers.
Responding to the question on the upcoming Supercharger enhancement, Musk hinted at the company's plans to eventually incorporate solar arrays at Supercharger stations.
"There are some (solar powered stations) installed already, but full rollout really needs Supercharger V3 and Powerpack V2, plus SolarCity," he tweeted.
When asked about the power of Tesla's next generation Supercharger technology, Musk replied that even 350 kilowatts would be akin to a "children's toy."
As a point of reference, current Supercharger stations have a capacity of up to 145 kilowatts of power. The upgrade, if completed, would be more than twice the current level.
Musk also indicated that expansion of its Supercharger network in Canada should complete in 2017 to make it possible to drive across the whole country.
Supercharger stations have become more and more crowded as the number of Tesla owners skyrocketed in recent years.
In November, the company announced that Tesla vehicles ordered after January 2017 will receive an annual free supercharging credits of 400 kilowatt-hours, roughly 1,000 miles (1,600 km).
Beyond that, Tesla owners will have to pay a small fee to supercharge their vehicles, the company said, but the cost will be less than the price of filing up a comparable gas car.
