Until now, Tesla uses its own proprietary connector on both its vehicles as well as its Supercharger stations. Non-Tesla owners thus are barred from using the company’s supercharging facility, unless they carry a CHAdeMO or CCS adapter. All this is about to change now. Tesla had already announced its plans to open its Supercharger network to all-electric vehicles everywhere across the globe, but the rollout had been slow. Now, some solid commitment towards this plan comes from Tesla’s mention in a ‘fact sheet’ released by the White House.
White House’s memo describes actions that would help in building 250,000 charges per year leading to more than 2000 employment opportunities. The document focuses on the current government efforts toward expediting setting up EV charging infrastructure throughout the United States. It mentions more than $700 million in investment coming from the private sector. Among these efforts by private brands Tesla, finds a mention at making investments at its Gigafactory in Buffalo, NY to manufacture more Tesla Solar Roofs and Supercharger stations. What also finds a mention in the document is the tech giant’s plans to make available its Supercharger network to Non-Tesla EVs.
This makes sense considering that Tesla has finally adopted the CCS standards in Europe that are being followed by every other automobile manufacturer in the EV segment. Tesla’s supercharger stations are already equipped with CCS connectors. All that an EV driver has to do is open the Tesla Smartphone app to view all Tesla stations and choose “Charge Your Non-Tesla” to locate a charging station that is equipped with the necessary adaptors.
