One of the most frustrating parts of Tesla’s big investment in electric cars is about to be reversed and is a huge win for all EV owners.
Tesla is about to change one of its most polarising features.
The company’s chief, Elon Musk, announced on Twitter the company would open its supercharging network to all electric vehicles later this year.
Tesla has been at the forefront of EV charging, building its own network of a reported 25,000 ultra fast chargers at more than 2500 locations globally on its own steam.
https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1417593502351826946
The company has built a supercharging highway in Australia that would allow owners to drive from Brisbane to Adelaide and is currently expanding it and adding more stops along the way.
Tesla’s latest superchargers can send up to 250kW of power to the battery, which can add hundreds of kilometres of range in half an hour.
Currently these superchargers are only available to Tesla electric vehicles that use a charging plug that is unique to Teslas. Teslas are able to use other charging networks.
Not everyone was happy with the news, Telsa owners vented their frustration on Twitter saying the move was a mistake and the exclusive charging network was on of Tesla’s big selling points.
Lack of fast charging infrastructure is one of the biggest hurdles electric car owners have to overcome. There has been little to no government investment and instead the work has fallen on private companies.
The NRMA in NSW and others such as Chargefox are expanding their networks of fast chargers in Australia.
The NRMA superchargers are free to use for all electric vehicle owners, but on a recent electric vehicle test by News Corp Australia we found the free NRMA charger occupied by a Tesla vehicle while the Tesla superchargers directly next to it were unoccupied.
Late in 2020 Tesla announced it was increasing the price for using its supercharger network to 52 cents per kW, a sharp rise of 24 per cent. The company has since changed the charging rate dependent on location with the highest price of 51 cents per kW.
According to the government’s Green Vehicle Guide the cheapest Tesla Model 3 Standard Range Plus, which is priced from $59,990 (before on-road costs), uses 13.2kWh per 100km. This equates to $6.73 per 100km when charging exclusively on the brand’s supercharger network.
This compares to petrol powered machines such as the BMW 330i at $8.00 per 100km and the hybrid-powered Lexus IS350h at $6.76 according to previous analysis by electric car experts at EVCentral.com.au.
In Europe carmakers such as BMW, Mercedes-Benz, Ford and the VW Group have joined forces to build a wide ranging network of fast chargers.
Volkswagen is building a network of chargers in the US to help drive EV take up in the world’s biggest economy and improve its image in the wake of the dieselgate emissions cheating scandal.
Tesla hasn’t given a time frame for when it would open its network in Australia, but Musk said all countries would be given access over time in another tweet.
Extracted from news.com.au