Reply To: Tesla to open Supercharger network to other EV brands

#159253
gothitjulie
Participant

    Tesla Superchargers currently only allow Teslas to charge here in the UK (and elsewhere).

    Tesla DESTINATION chargers, the 7kW/11kW AC charge points come in two varieties, the RED ones which are Tesla ONLY, and the WHITE ones which anyone can plug into using their Type 2 cable. If there is only 1 charger at a Destination it will likely be RED, if more than one then you’ll likely find the WHITE ones too.

    Things get a little more complex when you think about plugging other manufacturers cars into Tesla Superchargers, the newer ones are CCS but the way they work is different to a normal CCS charger, it’s the way the electricity is charged for. With a Tesla you simply plug into the Supercharger and the car & Supercharger communicate & the charge starts if it’s a Tesla using the SUBSCRIPTION method that goes with the CAR, so Tesla bills the Tesla owner depending on their subscription type about 24p per kWh.

    If you plug a BMW i3 into a Tesla Supercharger you’ll probably get stuck as it locks the cable in but doesn’t charge or let go, good luck with that at the moment, however, as we saw with Gridserve, the i3 can potentially communicate with the Charger & bill the owner. This doesn’t work with the VW ID3 as it doesn’t have the necessary logic as VW have gone with their own proprietary system (think Ionity chargers). Stellantis group cars I don’t know, I’ll try to find out from Gridserve (Not Stellantis Group as they’re prone to Gallic Shrugs, meaning they never thought about it but maybe their engineers did).

    So, Tesla Superchargers have no foolproof method of paying for a non-Tesla car to charge & this will be the sticking point that Tesla will want to work out & we may find some cars can & some can’t use these chargers.