Tesla opening superchargers to non-tesla vehicles in the US

[Sam James]

Several Buc-ee's locations are adding CCS1 DCFC to their locations using VW Dieselgate money, and EA has several stations hosted by Love's. I would be surprised if truck stop chains don't leverage the upcoming flood of infrastructure money to further build out their charger amenities--they're perfect for charging stops since they have a complete 24/7 set of amenities for humans and dogs, and seem safer at night than random Walmart parking lots.

Buc-ee's is amazing. So happy to see them expanding outside of Texas. Unlike @RickLightning I never tried their awful coffee, so I have no complaints. They're building one near us and I'm hopeful they won't go with solely SC installs.

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[GDN]

Buc-ee's is amazing. So happy to see them expanding outside of Texas. Unlike @RickLightning I never tried their awful coffee, so I have no complaints. They're building one near us and I'm hopeful they won't go with solely SC installs.

Their BBQ and fudge will make up for the bad coffee. If those don't settle well with you at least you have the cleanest and most number of restrooms you'll find .

 

[FlasherZ]

Their BBQ and fudge will make up for the bad coffee. If those don't settle well with you at least you have the cleanest and most number of restrooms you'll find .

Serve up a big bag of Beaver Nuggets. They're so bad for you, but so so delicious.

 

[2000Firehawk]

To add further on my experience - there is also a Walmart right there with essentially unlimited parking where an EA station would be perfect. I talked to probably 10 EV owners who were all struggling on the July 4 weekend down there. Unfortunately, Royal Farms - who essentially owns the large gas station market in Maryland - had limited fast-ish chargers, but they are all disabled and wrapped in plastic bags. Interestingly enough, Ford Pass still shows them as viable options so be wary of the Ford Pass or navigation. I wasn't relying on them since I use Plug Share, ABRP, etc., but Ford Pass showed it as available so I checked it out just to be sure, and it was indeed in a bag next to all the Superchargers.

 

[Theo1000]

God! Not again. Can we post if it actually opens. Not these endless will/won't silliness. This has been going on for 3+ years now.

Having driven 3,000 + miles on my lightning last month never felt the slightest need to even think of a TSLA station. To be honest they missed the boat by going with a closed proprietary standard. If the electricity is cheap enough I might think of it but I doubt its going to be cheap. And no interest in buying another dongle.

Honestly TSLA folks have no idea how quickly the CCS network is expanding. Personally I think the window is closing and it is just another charge network at this point.

 

[jefro]

TSLA folks don't want Tesla to open the network. They (US owners) don't care about CCS.

 

[805Badger]

I dunno. I’m supercharging now and all stalls are full with a wait.
This is my view out my windshield.

 

[Amps]

Royal Farms - who essentially owns the large gas station market in Maryland - had limited fast-ish chargers, but they are all disabled and wrapped in plastic bags. Interestingly enough, Ford Pass still shows them as viable options so be wary of the Ford Pass or navigation.

Royal Farms needs to throw in the towel, post the sad pictures, and report their chargers permanently out-of-order to Plugshare and the major apps. I would have a lot more respect for them if they would. The Delmarva peninsula is a nightmare.

 

[jefro]

Where do they have both superchargers and CSS/Chadmo?

 

[GDN]

Where do they have both superchargers and CSS/Chadmo?

It is not that picture, but Denton TX has a SC and EA in the same parking lot.

 

[Rob G]

If this happens, it'll be a disincentive to buy a Tesla. While all other EVs will be able to access the SC network, Teslas still won't be able to access CCS networks. From an infrastructure perspective, that'll instantly put Teslas at a charging disadvantage.

Not to mention annoyed Tesla owners, finding non-Teslas parked in the wrong charging spot. I'd imagine they'd need to bring back free supercharging for owners to keep their customer base.

Tesla will be selling a Tesla to CCS adapter to Tesla owners—they already do in certain countries. Tesla owners in the US have been buying an adapter from Tesla South Korea and using them in the CCS network. Most Tesla vehicles built in the last few years have the software and others can be upgraded. This was easy because Europe required it.

Tesla CCS Adapter discussion

 

[beatle]

Having driven 3,000 + miles on my lightning last month never felt the slightest need to even think of a TSLA station. To be honest they missed the boat by going with a closed proprietary standard. If the electricity is cheap enough I might think of it but I doubt its going to be cheap. And no interest in buying another dongle.

Honestly TSLA folks have no idea how quickly the CCS network is expanding. Personally I think the window is closing and it is just another charge network at this point.

Really? EA is only growing at a rate of 10% a year even though that only means an additional 75 locations and 4 chargers per location. The supercharger network is much larger in the US (over 1,200 locations) and it still grows at 35% with normally twice as many chargers per location.

As others have already mentioned the DelMar peninsula is a disaster for CCS, and I-81 is another long road that's littered with broken CCS chargers. The EA stations in Staunton, VA and Fincastle have been half-broken or worse for like 2 months. Wow!

In a charging desert I'll take what I can get. But if I have a choice I'll go where I'll be able to charge without a hassle. I am not brand loyal to electricity. I just want to juice up and go no matter whose logo is on the pedestal.

 

[Theo1000]

In a charging desert I'll take what I can get. But if I have a choice I'll go where I'll be able to charge without a hassle. I am not brand loyal to electricity. I just want to juice up and go no matter whose logo is on the pedestal.

I have always said this. If you live in the TSLA bubble it is best to stay there. CCS is where the rest of the world is and it works with some glitches. This is where the general public will be. In my area there are half a dozen charge networks coming up. Not sure why folks are so obsessed with EA. Its just another network.

I looked at your del mar situation and I already have a strategy on how to charge there despite your royal farms issue. Don't really anticipate major issues. Still puzzled why folks go to a station that is reported as broken and then complain it is broken!!

There is an entire network of Hy-Vee chargers set up by Evergy (utility) in my area that will not work with both Mach-E and Lightning. Will never work. Just have to avoid stations that don't work.

 

[greenne]

Really? EA is only growing at a rate of 10% a year even though that only means an additional 75 locations and 4 chargers per location. The supercharger network is much larger in the US (over 1,200 locations) and it still grows at 35% with normally twice as many chargers per location.

As others have already mentioned the DelMar peninsula is a disaster for CCS, and I-81 is another long road that's littered with broken CCS chargers. The EA stations in Staunton, VA and Fincastle have been half-broken or worse for like 2 months. Wow!

In a charging desert I'll take what I can get. But if I have a choice I'll go where I'll be able to charge without a hassle. I am not brand loyal to electricity. I just want to juice up and go no matter whose logo is on the pedestal.

Where did you get that 10% factoid..I'm curious?

Our Zero Emission Vehicle Investment Plan | Electrify America

I'll also offer this up for discussion--
Electrify America edges out Tesla Superchargers in 2021 EV Charging Infrastructure Benchmark (teslarati.com)

The Tesla cult personalities are getting old really quick...

 

[beatle]

Where did you get that 10% factoid..I'm curious?

Our Zero Emission Vehicle Investment Plan | Electrify America

I'll also offer this up for discussion--
Electrify America edges out Tesla Superchargers in 2021 EV Charging Infrastructure Benchmark (teslarati.com)

The Tesla cult personalities are getting old really quick...

https://www.electrifyamerica.com/locate-charger/

This is at the bottom of that page:

Plugshare also shows very few "coming soon" 120+kw CCS stations. I can't find much data on the other providers like ChargePoint and EVGO. Much like EA's posted plans, like automakers moving to EVs, a lot of companies are quick to say what they "plan" to do in order to gain the public's faith and ensure future funding, and then they don't actually do the hard work to maintain that faith. What's wrong with putting out a map of coming soon stations like Tesla does every year?

I couldn't find anything useful in that article except this quote. "Superchargers excel in many important areas. It’s actually a little boring to test Supercharger stations because you just plug them in, and they reliably work.” It sounded like the article was a roundabout way of trying to justify a higher rating for other charging networks with arbitrary weighted scores for different aspects of a charging experience. Really, charging should be as boring as filling up with gasoline. The fact that there are articles and studies about its experience is telling that it's not so good.

That said, it's true that the supercharger network is not flawless either. Of the 46 times I've supercharged my car, I've had two failures where I needed to move my car to another charger. Since the experience is so seamless, I plugged in, walked away for lunch, and came back to an error saying that the charger was broken. That was not a good experience. Fortunately there were plenty of other chargers available. There are also often notable waits to charge at superchargers on the west coast, though I haven't experienced that myself. Without more CCS infrastructure though, we'll soon experience that as well once more CCS vehicles get on the road.

I am critical of the CCS charging infrastructure right now because it is crucial to having a good EV experience, and it's not all that great right now. I am also critical of Tesla's business tactics (taking features away post-purchase), slow/poor/expensive service, and their strong anti-right-to-repair stance. At the end of the day I voted with my wallet and bought a Ford. I knew I would be giving up the supercharger network, but I think the CCS charging infrastructure has a better chance of improving than Tesla having a change of heart at this point.

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