November 4, 2021
Tesla has announced long-awaited plans to open 10 of its “Supercharger” sites in the Netherlands to electric vehicles (EVs) from other manufacturers, in a pilot project that could eventually see the company’s network of 25,000 charging sites around the world opened to all EV drivers.
The Superchargers first appeared in 2012, a couple of years after the first Tesla cars, but until now have been open only to Tesla drivers, seen as a major competitive advantage for the company in the flourishing EV market, not to mention a key privilege of owning a Tesla. The company’s CEO Elon Musk has maintained for several years that the company was intending to open its charging services to other EVs eventually, and the Dutch pilot scheme is a first of this kind.
In a blog post announcing the pilot scheme, Tesla stated that: “It’s always been our ambition to open the Supercharger network to Non-Tesla EVs, and by doing so, encourage more drivers to go electric. This move directly supports our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.”
The selected sites are all in the Netherlands, namely Sassenheim, Apeldoorn Oost, Meerkerk, Hengelo, Tilburg, Duiven, Breukelen, Naarden, Eemnes, and Zwolle. Dutch drivers of any other EV that uses the Combined Charging System (CCS), including electric models from BMW, Mercedes-Benz/Daimler, Ford, and the Volkswagen group (including Audi and Porsche), can access the Supercharger services by downloading the Tesla app, though the scheme is only available to those who are resident in the Netherlands. These sites will continue to be accessible to Tesla drivers as normal, and the company will monitor congestion and seek customer feedback to assess the viability of future expansion.
In addition, non-Tesla EV drivers will pay a surcharge, reflecting “additional costs incurred to support charging a broad range of vehicles and adjustments to our sites to accommodate these vehicles.” The company has not indicated how much this surcharge will be, but notes that it will vary site-by-site.
It comes as no surprise that the first pilot trial of this kind is taking place in Europe, where EU rules stipulate that charging cable connectors must be standardised, and Tesla therefore already uses the same CCS connectors as the other manufacturers included in this trial. In the United States, where 6,400 of the company’s Superchargers are in operation, Tesla cars are fitted with a bespoke connector, which will likely delay the opening up of charging services. However, more European countries are expected to see Superchargers opened up before September 2022, including Norway, an EV pioneer where sales comprised over 50% of total car sales last year, a world first.
Tesla surpassed $1tn in market capitalisation for the first time last week, following record figures for deliveries of its cars amid surging demand, despite the widely-cited supply-chain issues affecting the rest of the industry. The company produced 237,823 cars in the third quarter of 2021, with revenues of $13.74bn, net income of $1.6bn and a gross margin of 30.5%. In other good news for the company, car rental firm Hertz concluded a deal the previous week for 100,000 cars, estimated to be worth $4 bn. The huge potential increase for “try-before-you-buy” EV rentals plays into the company’s word-of-mouth marketing approach, and may prove pivotal in breaking down remaining scepticism among consumers about EV utility and reliability. The opening of Superchargers could be an even more significant game-changer for the industry, and an important step on the road to EV ubiquity. As the company notes in its announcement post, “More customers using the Supercharger network enables faster expansion. Our goal is to learn and iterate quickly, while continuing to aggressively expand the network, so we can eventually welcome both Tesla and Non-Tesla drivers at every Supercharger worldwide.”
