The White House said Tesla will open part of its U.S. charging network to electric vehicles (EVs) made by rivals as part of a $7.5 billion federal program to electrify the nation’s highways to cut carbon emissions.
Tesla will make at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024, according to the White House. At least 3,500 of those will be 250 kW chargers located along highway corridors. All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website. There will be 4,000 slower chargers at locations like hotels and restaurants, to non-Tesla customers, the administration said.
Tesla has agreed to more than double its supercharger network. Tesla currently has 17,711 superchargers, accounting for about 60% of total U.S. fast chargers that can add hundreds of miles of driving range in an hour or less. There are also nearly 10,000 “destination” chargers with Tesla plugs that can recharge a vehicle overnight.
Lars at Best in Tesla compiled the known cost information for superchargers. This was revealed when companies applied for up to a 70% Texas charging subsidy. Tesla only asked for $30,000 per charging station stall. This means Tesla costs were about $43,000 each per charging station stall. Competitors like Electrify America applied for the full $150,000 per charging stall which means their costs are over $200,000 per charger.
Electrify American also is making about 2500 chargers per year based upon company statements. Tesla reported built a $6.5 million charging station factory in China in 6 months. The Tesla charging factory has a capacity to make 10,000 chargers per year per factory.
Tesla would be eligible for a subsidy – including retrofitting its existing chargers – as long as its chargers would allow other vehicles with a federally backed charging standard called CCS to charge.
Opening up access to Tesla’s network would be a quick win for an ambitious federal program to build 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, up from 130,000 currently.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
Known for identifying cutting edge technologies, he is currently a Co-Founder of a startup and fundraiser for high potential early-stage companies. He is the Head of Research for Allocations for deep technology investments and an Angel Investor at Space Angels.
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