Tesla apparently wants to make a small number of superchargers available to all electric car brands from the third quarter of 2022, as new documents show.
According to documents from Vestland County, a municipality in western Norway, Tesla is considering opening five Superchargers to the public, which may confirm the comments made by Tesla CEO and co-founder Elon Musk last December on the accessibility of Superchargers.
European superchargers have – like in Australia – built-in CCS2 plugs, which means that it is physically possible to use the network for other makes with the same plug type if the software allows this.
In December, Musk responded to a question on Twitter about why other automakers didn’t accept Tesla’s offer to use the electric car maker’s superchargers, which is one of the largest electric car charging networks but is only available for Tesla cars.
“It is you, although it is somehow reticent. Tesla Superchargers will be made available to other electric cars, ”said Musk.
It’s you, though it’s kind of reluctant. Tesla Superchargers will be made available to other electric cars.
– Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2020
Now documents reportedly uncovered by Otto Kristofferson (via Alex Avoigt, an EV journalist) confirm that this may be done first in Norway, the world’s leading country in the adoption of electric vehicles.
“Tesla has applied for the expansion of five fast charging stations. Tesla’s charging stations are only available for Tesla cars today, ”the documents say.
“The type of infrastructure is then only available to one group and otherwise not to the general public. In the application, Tesla describes that the corresponding charging stations will still be publicly accessible from the third quarter of 2022. “
Tesla will open at least two publicly funded superchargers to other BEVs in Norway in the third quarter of 2022
The information from 🇩🇪 Federal Transport Minister Scheuer that he is in talks with Tesla about the opening of SC is confirmed by this step in Norway
Courtesy of @ottoKristoffers pic.twitter.com/HfPhEH1ewB
– Alex (@alex_avoigt) June 24, 2021
Teslamag, a German Tesla-focused news agency, reports that Tesla will receive a grant of 400,000 kroner (around AUD 62,000) for each supercharger made available to all electric vehicle manufacturers in the county of Vestland.
Tesla may be taking similar steps in Sweden as well.
According to Elbilen, the Swedish government wants to support the construction of fast charging stations for electric cars off the main routes and has advertised a total of 62 locations for funding.
In this context, 39 more stations are now to be built, 16 by the end of the year. TM Sweden AB – i.e. Tesla – appears six times on the official list, according to Ebilen.
According to Teslamag, a representative from the Swedish Ministry of Transport confirmed that Tesla had applied for funding and stated that the six new locations will be open to the public.
The ministry assumes that this will also be the case, although, according to the report, Tesla has not commented specifically on it, but has confirmed that a charging cooperation with other companies is being examined.
The news is significant to Australia, which alongside Tesla has an emerging EV market and relatively undeveloped charging infrastructure.
If EV drivers could take advantage of the supercharging network, it could open up more driving options for drivers who choose to purchase EVs other than Tesla’s while waiting for a different charging infrastructure to roll out across the country.
This would come at a price, however, because Tesla Supercharger tariffs are among the most expensive in Australia at 47 cents per kilowatt hour.
Bridie Schmidt is a senior reporter for The Driven, the sister company of Renew Economy. She specializes in writing about new technologies and has been writing about electric vehicles since 2018. She is very interested in the role that zero-emission transport must play for sustainability. She has participated in podcasts such as Download This Show with Marc Fennell and Shirtloads of Science with Karl Kruszelnicki and is co-organizer of the Northern Rivers Electric Vehicle Forum.