Tesla starts deploying more charging stations directly with municipalities

We are starting to see Tesla deploy more charging infrastructure directly with municipalities and not just businesses. The move was announced earlier this year, but it went under the radar until now.

Maybe it could be an interesting solution for your local municipality?

Earlier this year, Tesla updated its charging infrastructure plan.

While the automaker’s charging stations have so far been focused on enabling long-distance travel, Tesla wanted to start paying more attention to urban areas where home charging can be more difficult.

The company even ended up unveiling a new “urban Supercharger” later on, but the Tesla Wall Connector remains the company’s best tool to enable urban EV ownership.

That’s why they also announced an expansion of their Destination Charging program to 15,000 charge points.

Under the program, Tesla generally deals with businesses, like restaurants, hotels, resorts, and shops, to install the charge points for free while the property owners pay for the electricity.

But now we are starting to see Tesla makes deals directly with municipalities for larger deployments of charging stations.

Last week, we reported on the city of Norfolk, Virginia working with Tesla to deploy 100 Destination chargers at properties owned by the city.

Now we learn that Barrie, Ontario is getting a similar deal for 54 charging stations to be installed at 4 different buildings owned by the municipalitydowntown.

Corporate facilities director Rick Pews said in a memo to councilors (via Barrie Today):

“This represents a significant investment by Tesla and an upgrade in both numbers of units and numbers of universal units than was anticipated during initial meetings with Tesla,”

Earlier this year, we released Tesla’s agreement with property owners and found out that Tesla is not only paying for the deployment of its own stations, but it even covers the installation of charging stations for other EVs than its own.

This new deal with Barrie is a good example since reportedly at least 10 charge points will be universal.

For Barrie, the new Destination chargers follow the installation of a new 20-stall Supercharger station earlier this month:

Check out the new 20-stall electric vehicle Supercharger on Bayfield in Barrie. Largest #Supercharger in Canada! Barrie is proud to be a leader in Canadian energy innovation. Thanks to @AlectraNews and @Tesla #climatechangeaction #leadingthecharge #evready pic.twitter.com/SXv4rmAqa6

— Jeff Lehman (@jedi_lehman) December 8, 2017

It looks like it’s going to be well covered in term of charging infrastructure for a city of about 150,000 people.

Electrek’s Take

For a while now, we have been saying that Tesla’s Destination Charging program is a great deal for property owners and they ought to look into it, but now it looks like municipalities might also have to throw their hat in the ring.

I’m sure there are some requirements regarding the popularity of Tesla vehicles in the area and other factors, but it could be a good idea to suggest this to your local municipal leaders.

What do you think? Let us know in the comment section below.