When Tesla flipped the switch on its Supercharger network to include Ford vehicles on Feb. 29, Tom Moloughney was one of the first F-150 Lightning owners to plug in.
The process was simple. Moloughney, who lives in New Jersey, snapped the official Ford charging adapter onto the Tesla charger cable and inserted it into the Lightning’s charge port. In less than a minute, electric current surged into his pickup’s battery, signaling a new era for public EV charging in the U.S.
“This means now that Ford customers have over 15,000 more charging points — right now — than they had 12 hours ago, across the country,” Moloughney said that day on his EV-focused YouTube channel State of Charge. “This is a good day for electric vehicles in North America, not just for Ford.”
As Tesla grants Supercharger access to more automakers in the coming weeks, EV adoption should improve across the country as driving range and charging concerns ease, analysts say. The opening of the Tesla network about doubles the number of fast chargers available to the general public.
“It basically takes the worry about charging out of the buying decision,” said Loren McDonald, CEO of consulting firm EVAdoption. Tesla dominates the EV segment, in part, because Superchargers nearly eliminate those consumer concerns, he said.
Now, the charger availability opens up a world of new makes and models to potential EV buyers not interested in a Tesla.
“If I now know that when I buy an Audi or a Ford or a Rivian that I can charge at 15,000 Superchargers, it almost levels the playing field,” McDonald said.
About three weeks after Tesla opened its charging network to Ford, Rivian was granted access. BMW, General Motors, Honda, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Toyota, Volkswagen and many more automakers are up next, with access staggered over the next year.
“Fast charger access just doubled,” Rivian said in a social media post on March 18. “Rivian vehicles can now tap into 15,000+ Tesla Superchargers — rapidly expanding the fast charging experience for our customers.”
Rivian has also said it will open its own fast-charge network, the Rivian Adventure Network, to all auto brands this year. The U.S. Department of Energy said on its website that Rivian’s network had 433 chargers, mostly in coastal states.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk had long said his intention was to open the Supercharger network to other brands to promote EV adoption. Ford was the first automaker to reach a deal in the U.S. with Tesla last year, followed by more than a dozen others.
Those automakers also agreed to adopt Tesla’s smaller charging connector, called the North American Charging Standard, which will be built into future vehicles starting next year. Most non-Tesla EVs currently use a bigger plug, the Combined Charging System.
“Transitioning the entire EV industry in North America to a single plug will not only open up many more charging locations for non-Tesla owners but will simplify charging because owners won’t have to make sure a charger is compatible before navigating there,” Moloughney told Automotive News.
Moloughney, whose channel reviews public EV chargers and home units, said there are four different plugs in service for public use on DC current and home use on AC current. Tesla’s plug will replace the three others.
In addition to its Supercharger network as it stands today, Tesla is rapidly expanding charger locations across the country and participating in a government program that offers funding for new stations.
Some Wall Street analysts see Tesla turning the Supercharger network into a future profit center.
Sam Fiorani, vice president of global vehicle forecasting at AutoForecast Solutions, estimates that Tesla’s charging business could generate revenue of $6 billion to $12 billion a year by 2030. Tesla doesn’t disclose charging revenue currently.
Said Moloughney: “Now that Tesla is allowing EVs from other manufacturers to charge at Superchargers, it’s likely the company will be even more incentivized to ensure the network proliferates.”
Moloughney also owns a Rivian R1S and has owned EVs from Tesla and BMW.
While most EV charging is done at home, public fast charging is needed for longer trips or for EV owners and potential buyers who don’t have access to home charging. For that reason, reliable public charging is considered critical to EV adoption.
Tesla’s Supercharger network ranks significantly higher than rivals, such as Electrify America, on metrics such as ease of use and reliability in independent studies. The U.S. Department of Energy lists more than a dozen fast-charge providers, including Tesla, with about 40,000 total chargers at around 9,500 locations.
Tesla said on its website that it’s also equipping some stations with built-in adapters for non-Tesla vehicles. A year ago, Tesla began a pilot program at a small number of chargers that it opened to all automakers through the use of its “magic dock” adapter.
One of the pilot stations is in Scotts Valley, Calif., not far from Tesla’s assembly plant in Fremont. Reviews by non-Tesla owners on the charging app PlugShare are mostly positive.
“Magic Dock working well,” said the owner of a Rivian R1T pickup in February.
“Super easy and quick, great stop on a trip from the Bay Area to Big Sur,” said the owner of a Volvo XC40 Recharge in January.
But the pilot program showed there are going to be new issues for non-Tesla vehicles when a Supercharger location is full because of the way the stations are designed.
Tesla puts the charging port on the far rear of the vehicle on the driver’s side, requiring owners to back into parking spots for the charging cable to reach the port. The cables are long enough to reach Tesla vehicles but not other EVs where the charging port is farther away.
An F-150 Lightning owner commented on PlugShare that they had to park at an angle at the Scotts Valley station for the cable to reach the port, which is on the driver’s side over the front wheel. A BMW i4 driver made a similar comment.
On its website, Tesla advises that some vehicles from other brands may need to park outside the lines to reach the Supercharger cable.
“Avoid parking diagonally to reach the cable and try to obstruct as few charge posts as possible,” Tesla said.
Tesla’s newer, V4 Supercharger units have longer cables to accommodate different charging port locations, but those are only starting to roll out.
Tesla opened Superchargers to non-Tesla vehicles in Europe in 2021. Social media posts from drivers there offer tips for non-Tesla owners on how to share the space without blocking adjacent chargers.
“Initially, it may be inconvenient for Tesla owners because now they have to share the network,” Moloughney said. “But that problem will be corrected over time, and Tesla continues to build out the Supercharger network at a very aggressive pace.”
So while the opening of Tesla chargers in the U.S. is a big step forward for EV adoption, there’s still a long road ahead. The challenges are not just parking, but the use of charging adapters and software issues that will likely arise as Tesla’s chargers interact with dozens of non-Tesla EVs, analysts said.
“It will be very Wild West still,” said Matt Teske, CEO of Chargeway, which makes a smartphone app for EV owners. “The Tesla Supercharger network is not a silver bullet solution for all the problems that relate to the charging experience.”
Charging variables have grown for EV owners. Most Superchargers allow non-Tesla vehicles, but not older V2 units that aren’t compatible, Teske said. And some stations with a mix of V2 and newer V3 units may be reserved for Tesla owners.
The Chargeway app uses colored pins and numbers to steer EV owners to charging locations compatible with their vehicles and that provide the desired amount of power. The app shows fast chargers and slower chargers from multiple providers, including Tesla.
The app also has an option for whether the EV owner has an adapter. That can be a non-Tesla owner with a Tesla adapter or vice versa. Non-Tesla stations are open to the public regardless of vehicle brand.
For example, choosing the Tesla adapter option on the Chargeway app for a Ford Mustang Mach-E shows non-Tesla charging stations in green and Tesla charging stations in red. It also indicates the power output of the chargers to best match the vehicle.
“When you’re driving a non-Tesla vehicle, you have to figure out the landscape of different networks, different charger designs, different connector types, different power levels, different payment options, and that’s complicated,” Teske said. “The general public, they want someone to figure it out for them.”