Tesla owners built charging stations in Russia to make it from Europe to FIFA World Cup in Moscow

Tesla is currently planning to “soon” expand its Supercharger network in Eastern Europe in order for drivers to be able to make road trips all the way to Moscow.

But for now, there’s a big gap of charging stations that makes the trip difficult.

Ahead of the FIFA World Cup in Moscow, Tesla owners in Russia have teamed up to build two stations to facilitate the trip.

Not unlike what recently happened in Australia, where the Tesla owners club teamed up to create a charging network across the country, the Tesla owners club in Moscow led the effort to deploy the two charging stations in Vyazma and Smolensk.

They described the effort in an email:

“The project was carried by Moscow Tesla Club and our partners – “Amphora” hotel in Vyazma and “Usadba” hotel in Smolensk, where the stations were deployed. While going from Moscow to Europe, the first charger is located in Vyazma (230 km / 143 miles from Moscow), and the second one in Smolensk (400 km / 248 miles). Next charge may be performed in Belarus with a wide net of chargers located there. On the other hand, there was no chance to get from Europe to Moscow or counterwise before the deployment of new stations, since the distance from Moscow to first charger in Belarus is more than 500 km (310 miles) that is still too much for most electric vehicles nowadays.”

They inaugurated the stations at the hotels:

The stations are capable of 22 kW charging and they are free to use – not unlike Tesla’s own destination charging network, which is also popular at hotels.

The Moscow Tesla Club thought that the project would be useful in time for the FIFA soccer championship in Moscow this month.

Tesla’s charging network in Europe currently leaves a significant gap in Belarus and Russia to get to Moscow:

The two new stations should make the trip easier both ways once on the Russian side.

As we previously reported, Tesla owners in Russia are some of the most hardcore out there.

Since Tesla is not officially selling in the country, they had to import the vehicles themselves and they have to take care of their own support because Tesla has no service center in the country.

They ended up teaming up to build their own service center in Moscow.

Tesla now plans to have Superchargers in the country “soon” and local media reported last year that Tesla has been looking at locations in Moscow and St. Petersburg for stores and service centers.