The continuing expansion of Tesla’s pilot program to make its Supercharger network available to non-Tesla EVs seems to be progressing in Europe, with a Supercharger in the town of Limburg briefly accessible to non-Tesla owners this week.
According to several reports pointing to Twitter posts this week, the Supercharger in the German town of Limburg an der Lahn was briefly open for use by non-Tesla EV owners – though only briefly.
Twitter user @Tesla_Adri, citing another Twitter user, @Anduko, posted on Tuesday that the Limburg supercharger was open to the public, and that they had “already tested and verified with a non-Tesla EV.”
Supercharger Limburg (Germany) now open to the public. Already tested and verified with a non Tesla EV.
Odd thing: charging Price is the same as for Tesla drivers (0.55€/ kWh).
Picture credit:@Anduko pic.twitter.com/GOZWK3QpFg
— Tesla_Adri (@tesla_adri) June 14, 2022
Interestingly, the charging price was the same as it would be for a Tesla EV, at 0.55€/ kWh.
Four hours later the Supercharger was no longer available for non-Tesla EVs, raising the question of whether it was an accident or the prelude to a larger expansion for the pilot program in Germany.
Well, that was fast. Limburg is gone again https://t.co/TOptSYxCfF pic.twitter.com/IKWzJcYrfb
— Tesla_Adri (@tesla_adri) June 14, 2022
Tesla first opened its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs as part of its pilot program in the Netherlands in November 2021 and has expanding slowly across Europe ever since. Tesla extended the program to all its Superchargers in the Netherlands by February, following similar expansions in Norway and France.
All Superchargers operating in Norway were opened up to non-Tesla EV owners by May, and the UK was expecting a similar expansion of the pilot program in March.
Tesla CEO and founder Elon Musk told the Financial Times Future of the Car conference in May that “We ‘ve already opened Tesla Superchargers to other electric cars in Europe, and we intend to roll that out worldwide,” raising the hopes of non-European countries hoping Tesla Superchargers will add to local EV charging options sooner rather than later.
Australian hopes for the Supercharger program to be extended to our shores have been high ever since a photo of a Mini Cooper S electric hatch was shown charging at a Sydney Tesla Supercharger back in December 2021.
No further indication of an expansion to Australian shores has been forthcoming, though this is of very little surprise, considering Tesla’s general lack of announcements.
The Driven has reached out to Tesla for any indication of plans to open its Superchargers for use by non-Tesla EVs, and we will update if any comment is forthcoming.
Joshua S. Hill is a Melbourne-based journalist who has been writing about climate change, clean technology, and electric vehicles for over 15 years. He has been reporting on electric vehicles and clean technologies for Renew Economy and The Driven since 2012. His preferred mode of transport is his feet.