Tesla also releases Supercharger for third-party brands

Tesla owners have hardly ever experienced charging problems. The reason for this is the sophisticated charging network that the e-car manufacturer makes available to its customers. Until now, the in-house Supercharger network has been one of the big selling points of Elon Musk’s car company. Buyers of other e-cars, on the other hand, have a different story. Since more and more vehicles with electric motors are being sold, but in parallel no appropriate charging infrastructure is being built, there are already sometimes small queues in front of the charging stations. Tesla is now opening up its Supercharger locations bit by bit to other electric cars. The Netherlands is to be the first to do so.

Political pressure from the transport minister

What may sound like a real revolution had actually been announced by Tesla time and again for years. Now it seems that the company is finally following its words with action. However, the e-car builder’s actions do not seem to be based entirely on its own initiative. After all, German Transport Minister Andreas Scheuer (CSU) had only recently called on Tesla to finally keep its promise.

The Tesla-exclusive Superchargers should thus finally be opened regardless of brand in order to be able to cope with the growing number of registrations of e-cars. A look at the infrastructure that Tesla has built up in Europe in the meantime is astonishing. The U.S. company has now installed a total of 6,000 Superchargers in our climes – a not inconsiderable number of additional charging stations.

Elon Musk promised opening years ago

The fact that the Superchargers will also be opened to third-party brands has been in the air for years. CEO Elon Musk announced this step a long time ago and since then has regularly reiterated and reaffirmed it. However, the luminary in the field of electromobility ties his promise to a comprehensible condition. Only if the other manufacturers of e-cars also participate in a further expansion of the Supercharger will he open up his infrastructure. There has not yet been any confirmation from the competition in this regard. This seems to be due to the fact that e-cars are currently selling like hot cakes at almost every automaker. The reason for this is probably not least the fact that the purchase premium could probably be drastically reduced as early as next year.

But Musk has now jumped over his own shadow and started opening up European Superchargers to third-party brands. The first of these will be a few charging stations in the Netherlands. A total of ten locations in Germany’s neighboring country will no longer be accessible only for Tesla’s in-house electric runabouts, but also for models from other brands. But before you hop in your ID3 or IONIQ 5 and drive to pretty places like Naarden, Sassenheim, or Breukelen to charge your car, you should read the fine print. Charging will only be possible for vehicles that are registered in the Netherlands. The second requirement should not be a problem for most people. So you need the current Tesla app from 4.2.3.

More locations to follow

Of course, this is not the end of the line. Since Tesla has over 600 locations across Europe with plenty of Superchargers, this would also be just a drop in the bucket. The Dutch charging stations should rather serve as test objects for a further opening. In particular, the e-car manufacturer wants to make sure that its own customer base doesn’t miss out on the whole thing. If it turns out that the opening leads to displeasure on the part of Tesla drivers due to extended waiting times at the Superchargers, a further opening of the Superchargers could probably come to nothing in the foreseeable future.

To achieve this, Tesla wants to make sure that the Superchargers are still more attractive for drivers of its own models than for owners of e-cars from other manufacturers. The price in particular is supposed to be the key to success. If the reactions of the first “third-party users” of the Superchargers in the Netherlands are to be believed, vehicles from other manufacturers have to pay far more for the kilowatt hour. While Tesla drivers pay 24 cents for the kilowatt hour, the Supercharger charges other makes more than double that, at 57 cents per kilowatt hour. That could likely be because customers of other e-car manufacturers now have to bear the shares of the Supercharger infrastructure expansion.

The company commented on this pricing policy as follows:

“The prices for non-Tesla drivers reflect the additional costs of supporting charging for a wide range of vehicles and adapting our locations to accommodate them.”