At the tail end of 2025, I had the pleasure on visiting Santiago, Chile for vacation. It was a much needed escape to South America as the weather was beginning to get nasty back home in Canada. Chile is a fascinating country with delicious food, rich culture, and natural beauty. But as an EV enthusiast, I also know it was Tesla’s first South American market when the launched to the country in 2024. Join me on a video tour of a typical Tesla showroom in Chile, below.
What did I learn during my trip to Santiago? Other than it’s amazing city that everyone needs to experience?
- Tesla chose to use the Type 2 / CCS2 charging connector for the South American market. This is the same setup as they use in Europe, and kind of makes sense because South American countries follow many European standards. There is a Type 2 top connector for Level 2 charging, and the full combo CCS2 connector with two large DC charging pins below. This helps avoid the messy NACS/CCS1 format war we had to endure in North America.
- Tesla offers two models in Chile, the Model 3 and Model Y. A quick VIN check revealed that both models are imported from Giga-Shanghai factory in China. This makes sense to keep costs more affordable, and Giga-Shanghai was already exporting Euro-spec models.
I saw two Cybertrucks on display the showrooms, but it was only there for marketing. The Cybertruck is not yet available for purchase in Chile. In fact, at the time of writing, South Korea is the only market where the Cybertruck is sold outside of North America. - The Model 3 & Y are actually competitively priced in Chile with starting prices at 35,900,00 ($39.5k USD) and 40,900,000 Chilean pesos ($46.2k USD) , respectively. While it’s still expensive by local income standards, the cars are not tariffed or marked up substantially like often the case in other international markets. I believe the base models feature the smaller LFP battery packs, but these models still offer plenty of driving range in mild climates.
- Chile is one of the more developed South American economies with a lot of mineral wealth. The energy grid is something like 70% renewable. Tesla doesn’t only sell cars in Chile, there is actually a substantial Tesla Energy presence with a large 900 MWh megapack installation supporting the grid in the North of the country.
- The Supercharger network in Chile is in its infancy, but there are two carefully selected locations near Santiago enabling longer distance travel. There is one location north of the city, and another one near the coast near the Viña del Mar beach town. You definitely want have home charging, if you’re buying a Tesla in this market.
- There is a growing appetite for electric vehicles in the country. During my time there, I’ve noticed EVs from Tesla, Volvo, BYD and others on the local roads. The majority of the city busses on the streets of Santiago are also 100% electric.