Tesla may hold the key to jump-starting a reliable electric vehicle charging network nationwide, and the Biden administration was wise to entice the automaker to share its resources.
EV charging infrastructure across the U.S. is largely unreliable. One in 5 public charging attempts failed last year, according to a J.D. Power survey, and nearly three-quarters of respondents who were unable to charge their vehicle said an outage prevented them from powering up.
An open Tesla Supercharger network could vastly improve charging reliability and access and ease anxiety.
Tesla owns and operates more than 16,000 chargers across the country, according to an estimate by S&P Global Mobility, and those chargers perform much better than many others.
Tesla’s network is exclusive to the EV maker’s customers, with a plug that connects only to Tesla vehicles. Those drivers can buy an adapter to charge at most non-Tesla charging stations, but non-Tesla EV drivers are unable to charge at a Tesla station.
As the Biden administration last week outlined new charging standards , it also said Tesla would open part of its proprietary network.
Tesla will open 3,500 new and existing Superchargers along highway corridors, plus 4,000 slower destination chargers, to non-Tesla drivers by the end of next year, the administration said. Doing so would make the automaker eligible for some of the $7.5 billion in subsidies that are part of President Joe Biden’s plan to install 500,000 EV chargers throughout the U.S. by 2030.
Tesla’s Supercharger network is known for better performance and more uptime compared with its charging peers. Tesla has an advantage in being both an automaker and a charging network owner and operator: Its charger points are chosen based on customer location and behavior, data that is more challenging for other charging companies to obtain.
Tesla has been a leader and disrupter in the EV space for more than a decade. Elon Musk’s original vision was to transform the economy from hydrocarbon power to solar electricity. This is a move that can help more people make the switch to electric.