All electric car drivers should start using Tesla Superchargers
With more than half of Tesla's Superchargers open to any EV, editor Paul Barker wonders why more drivers are not making use of them
This is a bit of a public service announcement (or ruining a well kept secret for those in the know). EV drivers: Use Tesla chargers! And not just Tesla owners, but anyone needing to top up on the go.
More than half of Tesla Superchargers, including all the latest V4 units, are open to any electric car with a CCS connection – which is most of them. You can find them via Zap-Maps or Tesla’s own site, but it’s clear that this is still not common knowledge.
With concerns over the availability of public chargers such a huge issue for plenty of buyers considering converting to EVs, this could be a massive help that many people aren’t aware of. The newest V4 units are even contactless, so you don’t need an app to sort payment, unlike earlier V3 chargers.
And here’s even more public service information...! We’ve previously been scathing about how prohibitively costly public charging is, and how too many chargers don’t have any pricing transparency. If you can top up at home for the vast majority of miles, then the numbers really stack up for an electric vehicle. However, if public charging is a regular fallback, then the cost is a lot less favourable versus petrol or diesel.
Predictably, and probably fair enough, Tesla charges owners of other brands’ cars more than it does its own army of loyal drivers, but the units, generally 250kW ones – so, super-fast – are significantly below the apparent current norm of 85p-plus per kWh you find at most service stations or highway chargers. Admittedly, with Tesla you do have to watch out for steep overstay charges designed to make sure you vacate the spot as soon as the car hits the required level. Don’t dwell too long over that coffee or comfort break, then.
I genuinely don’t want to sound like a walking Tesla advert – the company’s cars are generally great, but then so are a lot of other EVs, and those models don’t come with any baggage around the firm’s figurehead, if that sort of thing bothers you. But making life easier for the growing number of electric vehicle drivers is really important, and hopefully this column will act as a sneaky hack to help Auto Express readers get ahead in any public charging chaos during the summer getaway!
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