Penang is one of the big markets for Tesla in Malaysia with quite a number of 5,323 EVs sold (till June 20, 2024) being registered there. However, the owners have had to travel all the way to Cyberjaya to get aftersales support as the automaker has had its only service centre in the country situated there.
Service centre with Body & Paint facility
From today, owners in Penang don’t have to travel the 400 kms south as Tesla Malaysia has opened a service centre at the Seberang Jaya Industrial Park on the mainland side. The facility, which includes Body & Paint section for vehicle repairs, will also serve owners in the northern region up to the Malaysia-Thai border.
First V4 Supercharger station in Penang
Along with the opening of the service centre, Tesla Malaysia has also installed the newer V4 Superchargers at Gurney Plaza on the island. Until May this year, the company’s proprietary Superchargers installed in Malaysia (since Tesla arrived in July 2023) have been the V3 type which have been available since 2019, while the V4 type was first introduced in North America in early 2023.
Malaysia is the first country in Southeast Asia to have V4 Superchargers, with the first two having been set up in the Klang Valley at the IOI City Mall and IOI Mall Puchong located in Putrajaya and Selangor, respectively.
The most obvious difference between the V3 and V4 is that the V3 has a large vertical ‘hole’ in its design whereas the V4 is a solid panel. The V4 is also 260 mm taller but 127 mm narrower and has a black and white theme as opposed to the red and white of the V3 Supercharger.
The V4 cable is 3 metres long – one whole metre more than the one on the V3 – which should add to convenience when connecting to the car. At this time, the V4 Supercharger supports a DC power supply of only up to 250 kW per vehicle, which is similar to the rating for the V3.
It is, however, believed to be ready to handle power supplies up to 350 kW later on, and has been ‘future-proofed’ for other features. When using the 230 kW supply, a Model 3 Long Range can recharge up to 282 kms in 15 minutes.
12 Supercharger stations in malaysia
As of today, there are 12 Supercharger stations with 56 chargers and 13 Destination Charging stations with 69 Destination chargers (which provide slower AC charging) in Malaysia. The Superchargers are charged at a pay-per-use rate of RM 1.25/kWh, while Destination Chargers can be used at no charge by Tesla owners.