Tesla Supercharger network to be opened to rival EVs
Other electric cars will soon be able to use the Tesla Supercharger network, founder and CEO Elon Musk claims
Electric cars other than those made by Tesla will be able to use the Tesla Supercharger network later this year, company CEO Elon Musk has said.
The network - which consists of 2,500 stations and 25,000 charging points worldwide, including more than 600 across the UK and Ireland - is currently exclusive to Tesla drivers.
Opening these up to all EV users would be a significant boost to early adopters: Zap-Map estimates that only 1,137 of the near 25,000 charging devices in the UK are capable of ‘ultra-rapid’ rates of 100kW or more.
“We created our own connector, as there was no standard back then & Tesla was only maker of long range electric cars,” Musk wrote on Twitter. “It’s one fairly slim connector for both low and high power charging. That said, we’re making our Supercharger network open to other EVs later this year.”
Asked if the network would be open to all EVs in specific territories, Musk replied: “Over time, all countries.”
While the businessman has a habit of making impromptu announcements on Twitter, his tweets are often taken with a pinch of salt. In 2019, Musk and Tesla were each forced to pay a $20 million fine by the US Securities and Exchange Commission after he falsely claimed he had “funding secured” to take the company private, damaging investors.
The deal with the SEC compelled him to step down as chairman for at least three years and his tweets regarding the company now have to be pre-approved, although the regulator believes the latter term has been broken at least twice, according to documents recently seen by the Wall Street Journal.
In any case, Musk’s latest claims don’t go into detail about the difficulties of opening up the Supercharger network to all electric cars. In the UK Superchargers offer both Type 2 (for the Model S and Model X) and CCS connectors (for the Model 3), but charging points in the US would need an adapter. The move could also prove unpopular with Tesla owners, who view the exclusive Supercharger network as a key benefit of buying one of the US firm's cars.
There’s also the issue of pricing: certain Teslas can use the Supercharger network for free, while others are charged a rate of 28 pence per kilowatt-hour after exhausting an annual allowance of 400kWh. It’s not clear if non-Tesla drivers would be charged more, or if they’d be entitled to the same charging speeds of up to 250kW that equate to 1000 miles of range per hour on some models.
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