The Tesla Model S was the first electric car to use Tesla’s Supercharger network for long-distance charging.
Tesla opened its first Supercharger stations in 2012, when the Model S entered customer production. The network was designed to make battery-electric travel between cities practical by supplying much more power than ordinary household outlets and earlier public chargers.
The original Supercharger rollout began in California and expanded across the United States and other markets. Model S owners could use the network to add substantial driving range during a trip, helping address the range anxiety that limited public confidence in electric cars.
The Tesla Roadster preceded the Model S as a production car, but it was not the vehicle for which the Supercharger network was introduced. Later Tesla models, including the Model X, Model 3, and Model Y, also gained access through compatible charging hardware.