Tesla to open Supercharger network to other EV brands

The Tesla Supercharger network will be opened to other electric vehicle brands later this year as confirmed by Tesla CEO, Elon Musk.

Musk made the announcement to his Twitter following, which means exact details on when Tesla will make its charging stations available to other manufacturers is yet to be confirmed. Tesla is also yet to announce which countries will benefit from the new arrangement.

Until now, the Tesla Supercharger network has been reserved for Tesla cars only, with the company controlling access in its older vehicles by engineering its own charging connector.

More recently, though, Tesla’s cars shifted to conventional Type 2 and CCS charging sockets, with the firm restricting access to its Superchargers through a software limitation.

When connected to a Supercharger, the new Tesla Model S Plaid can take on 200 miles of range in just 15 minutes thanks to the unit’s 250kW DC charging output.

Tesla’s UK Superchargers have also been Type 2 and CCS compatible since 2018, which means a quick software tweak and an adapter should be all that’s required to give cars ranging from the Kia e-Niro to the Porsche Taycan access to the chargers.

The decision also raises a question about billing. Currently, Tesla drivers are billed on the amount of electricity they consume in each charging session and the speed at which they charge their cars. The payments are automatically linked to their Tesla account.

Opening the Supercharger network to other electric vehicles would require Tesla to either add a contactless payment box on each of its stations or allow other EV drivers to create a Tesla account for the purpose of charging their cars.

Currently, the Tesla Supercharger network comprises more than 25,000 stations worldwide, which would make EV driver’s lives a little easier when hunting for a charging socket.

However, even if the Tesla Supercharger network is opened to British EV drivers, given the size of the Supercharger network here currently, it won’t be enough to satisfy demand once the sale of pure combustion vehicles is banned in 2030. 

The SMMT estimates that 700 charge points would need to be installed daily between now and the end of the decade to properly support the market. Currently, the installation rate stands at around 42 per day.

What do you make of Tesla’s decision to open its charging network to other brands? Let us know in the comments below…