Tesla Has Been Slow to Make Its Chargers Accessible to Other EVs
The EV market leader will get a revenue jolt from sharing its Superchargers, but so far only about 100 of the company’s 2,500 US Supercharger stations are retrofitted for other car brands.
A Chevy Bolt electric vehicle charges at a Tesla Supercharger in Scotts Valley, California.
Photographer: Philip Pacheco/BloombergTesla Inc. promised to drop the wall on its so-called charging “walled garden” two years ago, making its Superchargers accessible to all EVs. In turn, virtually every brand in the auto industry pledged to put Tesla ports in its electric vehicles.
Those commitments, once fulfilled, will make Tesla the standard for automobile plugs in America, particularly given Tesla’s reputation for its reliable, widespread network of EV fueling stations. But none of that is working yet for Mirriam Ferraro, a 45-year-old nurse in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Ferraro regularly drives her Kia EV6 to visit her sister in Wilmington, 160 miles away. Charging stations are sparse and the nine Tesla Superchargers on the way still don’t support cars like hers. Kia has promised a Tesla charging adapter for the EV6, but it won’t ship until January. Many carmakers are waiting for Tesla to send them adapters, so they can deploy them to their customers. When it does ship, Ferraro will have to pay for it.