Pilot of non-Tesla cars using Tesla Supercharger network has started in The Netherlands

[RichR]

Tesla really are going to open up the Supercharger network to non-Tesla cars. The initial pilot is 10 locations in the Netherlands, and if that is successful then they'll start expanding the application to allow charging at other locations across Europe, then the rest of the world.

Pricing will be higher than Tesla owners pay. I would guess maybe around Ionity kind of figure.

Some good information here: https://electrek.co/2021/11/01/tesla-la ... fHSX1OJe6Y

[Thomas419924]

It would help quite a bit but hopefully fingers crossed not IONITY prices.

[RichR]

Thinking about it though - they won't be any use to Enyaqs, ID.3/ID.4/Q4 etron or quite a lot of EVs. The charge point on all Teslas is at the rear left corner, and the cable on the charger is only just long enough to reach it. So any cars with the charge port on the right hand side won't be able to reach (unless it's at the front like the Taycan). I suppose in emergency you can park in the next space along but that's not really fair to others unless there are a lot of empty spaces.

[Miket]

I suppose this means another expensive adapter to go with the all the cables

[Thomas419924]

I thought they were ccs the same as Skoda.

[RichR]

Teslas in Europe use the same CCS connectors as everything else. The only reason you couldn't get a charge from a Supercharger before was that there's no software in the car to communicate with it to tell it your VIN and so who to bill.

[DazAutomatic]

But if VW group cars can't use Superchargers without blocking a bay because charging ports on the other side of the car, and short cables, we may all be buying 2m CCS extension cables, if that's even possible...

[RichR]

Heh - sadly CCS extensions probably won't be a thing. CCS cables are often water cooled, because pushing over 100kW through a couple of cables generates a fair bit of heat. Connectors have to lock and confirm lock electronically before current is allowed to flow - difficult to do if there's two connectors (extension + car). The risk of fire or shock of anything that isn't physically fixed to the charger (and hence up to certain standards and inspections) is probably too high for anything to be allowed to be sold.

Tesla have their reasons for opening up Superchargers (Elon's publicly mentioned two - helps increase the uptake of EVs, and makes Tesla billions of dollars which they can invest in more charger locations), but they were never meant to be used by anything other than Tesla vehicles, so there's no reason to expect existing ones to work with every EV out there.

But maybe the next generation of Supercharger units will have a longer cable if the trial works out, who knows? For now there is a workable solution (taking up two bays) for cars with the charge port not at the rear left or front right. The pricing they're using in the Netherlands undercuts Ionity's subscription cost, so it might also bring about more competition and more chargers to be installed by other companies.

[DazAutomatic]

"sadly CCS extensions probably won't be a thing. CCS cables are often water cooled, because pushing over 100kW through a couple of cables generates a fair bit of heat"

- Tis what I suspected. You may be right. Let's all agree on which side of the hub to park on, so we don't annoy too many Tesla owners...

[Deleted User 368]

I think this is a brilliant move by Tesla and totally applaud it ( although initially Tesla owners may not!). With the increasing adoption of EV’s there is now more need for DC chargers and they have by far the best charging infrastructure and experience bar none. It simply leads to a greater choice of places to stop and top-up. It will further help ease charger anxiety, add to Tesla coffers which should lead to them building more chargers and also make other charger companies take note. The charge port front/left/right thing is really a minor issue that will either be accepted or will be dealt with by Tesla retrospectively or on new chargers. I very much hope they open up some of their UK chargers early next year when I have got my 60; if Skoda can ever get around to start building it!!