Charging solo at Holydene. Image: Giles Parkinson
Tesla, Australia’s best-selling EV brand, has opened up nearly half of its 63 Supercharger sites in Australia to non-Tesla owners in a major boost to the travelling plans of electric vehicle owners.
The company has made 30 of its 63 sites nationally open to non-Tesla EVs following a trial program that began in January where five pilot sites in NSW were opened to non-Tesla EVs. These included Bathurst, Dubbo, Hollydene, Narooma and Tamworth.
The full list of sites available to non-Tesla EVs is detailed at the end of the article, but it excludes some of the heaviest used sites along major highways and within major population centres.
The move will be welcomed by the EV community, particularly given that the Tesla network is clearly the most reliable with an uptime of more than 99.5 per cent. The Tesla sites have multiple charging bays, meaning that – outside of peak holiday periods – there is rarely any queues.
Tesla plans to monitor utilisation trends and get feedback on usage after the new sites become available to more drivers so it can manage any potential congestion at supercharger sites. All the sites are powered by renewable energy.
Tesla’s founder and CEO, Elon Musk has previously said that the company aims to open various parts of the technology and infrastructure it develops to further support the transition to EVs and cleaner energy.
At an earnings call back in 2021, Musk said: “I think we do want to emphasize that it is our goal to support the advent of sustainable energy, it is not to create a walled garden and use that to bludgeon our competitors, which is sometimes used by some companies.”
The latest news will allow thousands more EV owners and drivers to travel further, reducing the charger and range anxiety faced by many drivers when doing road trips around many parts of Australia.
As part of the update to the pilot program, Tesla supercharger sites can now be accessed by non-Tesla drivers via the Tesla app. Tesla provides four steps on how to charge while driving a non-Tesla EV:
Supercharger Locations Open to Non-Tesla EVs:
Tuggeranong, ACT
Tailem Bend, SA
Mount Gambier, SA
Clare, SA
Berry, NSW
Blaxland, NSW
Campbelltown, NSW
Knockrow, NSW
Tenterfield, NSW
Wollongong, NSW
Bathurst, NSW
Dubbo, NSW
Hollydene, NSW
Narooma, NSW
Tamworth, NSW
Gympie, QLD
Rochedale, QLD
Toowoomba, QLD
Bendigo, VIC
Box Hill, VIC
Cann River, VIC
Colac, VIC
Geelong, VIC
Moe, VIC
Mornington, VIC
Shepparton, VIC
Yea, VIC
Warrnambool, VIC
Margaret River, WA
Williams, WA
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.
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