Certain non-Tesla vehicles in China can now charge at select Superchargers, the company said tuesday. Expanded access will also be available at certain destination charging points, which are wall connectors available in public locations.
To start, 10 Supercharge stations in Beijing and Shanghai, as well as 120 destination charging points in 25 provinces and cities, will be available for non-Tesla electric vehicles, according to Tesla.
This marks the first time Tesla has opened its non-Tesla EV supercharging pilot program in China. one of its largest markets, but the automaker has steadily increased access to its network of more than 45,000 Superchargers around the world. In February, the company duplicated access to Superchargers in the US in response to President Joe Biden’s $7.5 billion electric vehicle charging initiative. Tesla has also recently opened its network in parts of europe.
Historically, Tesla’s Supercharger network has used a proprietary connector that only fits Tesla vehicles. However, there have been reports that the company has come up with a solution called magic springmaking it easy for non-Tesla vehicles to access their chargers.
Tesla operates more than 1,600 Supercharge stations in China, in addition to more than 700 destination charging points.
In mainland China, around 37 models will be able to use Tesla’s chargers, including vehicles from Airways, BMW, Porsche, BYD, Dongfeng, Ford, Geely, Zeekr, Polestar, Nio, Volvo, XPeng and more.
Drivers will need to download the Tesla app, create an account and select “Charge non-Tesla vehicles” to find and use the nearest station.
As Tesla has done in other markets, the company is likely to gradually expand the pilot program to more stations and models in the future. China has the world’s largest EV market, with EV sales in 2021 occupying more than half the world market share.
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