One of the biggest benefits of owning a Tesla is the use of Tesla superchargers on road trips. Tesla’s supercharger network is by far the most extensive – and most reliable – network of DC fast chargers in Australia.
And for years, and for good reason, only Tesla EVs have been allowed to charge at these supercharging sites.
That’s now set to change with new upcoming Tesla supercharger sites in some parts of Australia to allow non-Tesla EVs to charge there too.
This was first reported on the Ludicrous Feed YouTube channel when representatives from the NSW government were asked about the provision for non-Tesla EVs to charge at upcoming grant-funded Tesla sites.
The representatives’ response was that all sites funded under these new ultra-fast charging grants will be available to all EVs and not just Teslas.
This is good news for all current and future EV owners as it reduces charger anxiety on road trips with some Tesla sites having up to 15 bays. These will be some of the biggest charging sites in terms of stalls per site when they are completed.
These sites are part of the $39.4 million NSW state government grants for DC fast charging across the state, where another 500 fast and ultra-fast charging bays will be built over the next two years. This allocation of grants was announced in October by the NSW State treasurer and energy minister, Matt Kean.
In total, the 86 sites (including non-Tesla sites) will provide 500 new fast and ultra-fast charging bays, or an average of nearly six per site.
With the rapid expansion of EV infrastructure underway to try and keep up with the even faster increase of EVs on Australia’s roads, large Tesla supercharging sites will become a familiar sight where Tesla won’t be the only EVs charging there.
This is already happening in Europe with plans to roll it out in the US over the coming months. And it seems almost inevitable that, over time, it will occur at all Tesla Supercharging sites,.
Riz is the founder of carloop based in Melbourne, specialising in Australian EV data, insight reports and trends. He is a mechanical engineer who spent the first 7 years of his career building transport infrastructure before starting carloop. He has a passion for cars, particularly EVs and wants to help reduce transport emissions in Australia. He currently drives a red Tesla Model 3.