Tesla’s plan to let non-Tesla electric vehicles access its Supercharger network will finally kick off later this year as the company starts rolling out upgrades to its faster-charging stations.
The news was buried in a White House bulletin announcing $700 million in funding to private companies to ramp up EV charger production and expand access to chargers nationwide. Tesla’s upgrade will be welcome news to EV owners who’ve wanted to tap into the network of rapid chargers, which recharge at 250kW (soon up to 300kW) and juice up batteries faster than normal EV chargers.
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Tesla CEO Elon Musk originally announced in July 2021 that the Supercharger network would open up to non-Tesla EVs by the end of the year, but despite a trial program in several stations in Europe in November, it didn’t fully roll out in 2021.
Tesla did open up its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs and offer recharging at no cost to people fleeing Ukraine in March 2022, so it seems the company has figured out how to make it work. Now it’s unclear when in 2022 this functionality will come to North American Superchargers.
Tesla didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
