Tesla confirms plan to open Supercharger network to other automakers next year

Tesla has confirmed to Norwegian officials that it plans to open the Supercharger network to other automakers by September 2022.

The news comes amid several rumors of Tesla opening up its extremely valuable electric vehicle fast-charging network.

It’s hard to put a number on that value, but there’s no doubt at this point that Tesla’s Supercharger network is the most extensive electric vehicle fast-charging network in the world.

Instead of relying on third-party charging networks like most other automakers, Tesla developed its own network from the ground up, which was more of a necessity, considering how early Tesla was with electric vehicles.

A decade after deploying the first Supercharger, Tesla now has over 25,000 Superchargers at over 2,700 stations around the world.

Unlike third-party networks, like Ionity, Electrify America, or ChargePoint, only Tesla vehicles can charge on the Supercharger network.

However, Tesla has often indicated that it is open to the idea of sharing the Supercharger network with other automakers, but it would be dependent on coming to an agreement on sharing the cost.

The automaker has been rumored to be in discussions with other automakers to come to such a deal in the past, but we have never seen any actual results.

Last year, CEO Elon Musk even said that Tesla Superchargers are now being used “low-key” by other automakers.

The rumors of Tesla opening up the Supercharger network have been ramping up lately. A German official recently announced that they have been in talks with Tesla to open up the network to other automakers.

Now, we have an even better indication that this is actually happening.

Tesla has been in contact with Vestland fylkeskommune, the governing body of Vestland county in Norway, about getting access to incentives to deploy charging stations.

However, the government only gives incentives to charging stations open to all automakers.

In minutes of a council meeting obtained by Electrek (hat tip to Hillmann Hunter), government officials confirmed that Tesla told them that it plans to open the Supercharger network to other automakers by September 2022, and therefore, they agree to approve the incentives as long as Tesla goest through with the initiative.

Here’s the relevant segment of the meeting (translated from Norwegian via Google Translate):

“The condition for benefits is that infrastructure must be developed with a publicly available offer. Tesla applied for benefits to expand 5 fast-charging stations. Tesla’s charging stations today are just available for Tesla cars. That type of infrastructure is then only open for use by one group and not for the general public otherwise. In the application, Tesla describes the relevant charging stations will nevertheless be publicly available from the third quarter of 2022. The administration considers that the charging stations for which benefits have been applied for will then be eligible for the scheme, provided that the benefits paid out after Tesla opens the charging offer for all car brands no later than the end of September 2022. The administration recommends that Vestland County Municipality take note that the benefit can be removed if the conditions are not met.”

For the first time, this put an actual timeline for Tesla opening its Supercharger network to other automakers.

In this case, the automaker is only talking about a specific Supercharger in Norway, but sources have confirmed that the plan calls for a wider opening of the network.

As previously mentioned, Tesla has recently been in similar talks in Germany.

Update: A few weeks later, Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla planned to open the Supercharger network to other automakers globally.

It would be easier for Tesla to open the network in Europe, where its Supercharger network uses the CCS connector, which is standard in the region.

In North America, Tesla would have to offer an adapter since it uses a proprietary plug on its vehicles and charging stations in that market.

Electrek’s Take

This is a big deal. It’s the best source of information about Tesla opening up the Supercharger network to date, and it also gives us a timeline.

The timeline should also be reassuring to people since one of the big concerns was that opening up the Supercharger network would result in more traffic and create possibly longer wait times.

However, with over a year to plan the move, Tesla has some time to prepare and improve capacity where needed in order to welcome more EV owners on the network.

Obviously, this will be a new source of revenue for Tesla, which it can then pour into expanding the Supercharger network.

But more importantly, it will enhance the charging experience for every other EV, which will help Tesla’s mission to accelerate EV adoption.

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