Tesla Agrees To Open Thousands Of Its Chargers To Other EVs By 2024, White House Says

Topline

Tesla has agreed to open at least 7,500 proprietary chargers to other electric vehicles by 2024, as part of a wider policy effort by the Biden administration to establish a national network of 500,000 electric vehicle chargers across the U.S. by 2030.

Tesla owner Philip Benassi is seen at a charging station in Jessheim, southeast Norway.

AFP via Getty Images

Key Facts

The White House on Wednesday announced a series of initiatives, including federal funding to build electric vehicle chargers and finalizing a new technical standard for chargers that can be used by all makes and models of electric vehicles.

Besides Tesla, the White House said its initiative has received commitments from several other companies including General Motors, Ford, Hertz and ChargePoint.

Tesla’s commitment includes opening up at least 3,500 of its fast charging 250 kW Superchargers along highway corridors.

The remainder of Tesla’s commitment will be fulfilled by slower-charging Level 2 Destination chargers, which are usually located outside businesses, hotels and restaurants.

Tesla’s proprietary charging network can only be used by its own vehicles at the moment, but opening up some of these chargers will make the company eligible for federal funding.

Shares of Tesla, which have surged nearly 60% in the 30 days after nosediving sharply last year, were up 0.44% in pre-market trading on Wednesday.

Big Number

17,740. That’s how many operational fast chargers Tesla currently has across 1,664 charging stations in the U.S., according to data published by the Department of Energy.

News Peg

Federally funded chargers will have to adhere to a set of standards established by the Federal Highway Administration. These include consistent plug styles, power levels and a 97% uptime. The locations of these chargers will need to be publicly accessible through mapping apps and they must provide a single standardized method of using and paying for charges instead of separate apps or online accounts. By 2024, components that make up at least 55% of the cost of the chargers will need to be manufactured in the U.S.

Key Background

Tesla had previously indicated it wants to open up portions of its proprietary network to electric vehicles made by other manufacturers. In November 2021, the company began a pilot program in the Netherlands to open some of its Superchargers to other vehicles and this has since been expanded to other parts of Europe and Australia. In its most recent annual filing, the company said this was being done “in certain locations in support of our mission to accelerate the world’s transition to sustainable energy.” The company had previously applied for public funding from the states of California and Texas that would have required it to open its chargers to other vehicles. Tesla’s participation in the program is key as the company has more than five times the number of operational fast chargers across the U.S. compared to its next closest competitor Electrify America. At present, there are 130,849 public electric vehicle chargers across the country, 28,805 of which are fast chargers. The Biden administration’s initiative aims to increase the total number of chargers by nearly four-fold in the next seven years.

Contra

Tesla’s latest commitment comes despite CEO Elon Musk criticizing the Biden administration’s proposed $7.5 billion spending on building a national charging network. In December 2021, Musk said the federal government should “get out of the way and not impede progress.” A few months earlier he tweeted Tesla was not invited to attend a meeting of electric vehicle makers at the White House.