Tesla has finally started to open some Supercharger stations to non-Tesla electric cars owners in the US and it explained how it works.
It has been a long time coming, but we also knew it was finally coming soon as we started to spot Tesla installing the “Magic Dock” at some Supercharger stations in the last few days.
While those stations were now equipped with the integrated CCS adapter to work with non-Tesla EVs, the automaker had yet to officially open them up through the app and start onboarding electric cars owners to its charging network.
Today, Tesla officially started to do that:
As we previously reported, everything is handled through the app. Non-Tesla EV owners simply have to download the Tesla app, create an account, add a credit card for payment, and then they can roll up to some of the select few Supercharger stations now equipped with a Magic Dock – primarily in New York for now.
In the app, electric car owners can see the station and select the stall where they park. After, they simply have to grab the handle where the CCS adapter will come out of the Magic Dock:
Tesla does warn that it can take up to two minutes to charge, which is longer than with a Tesla vehicle – presumably because the station has to talk to the car through the app instead of directly.
The automaker produced a quick video to show non-Tesla EV owners how to use the Supercharger network:
At the moment, it appears that only half a dozen stations in the state of New York are available to non-Tesla EV owners, but the number is expected to grow rapidly as Tesla deploys the Magic Dock at more stations and builds new ones.
Electrek’s Take
It’s pretty impressive that Tesla managed to create an experience for non-Tesla EV owners at Supercharger stations that is almost as frictionless as the experience for Tesla owners.
I’d argue that the experience is going to be as good if not better than at third-party stations, which were supposed to be designed for non-Tesla electric vehicles.
Hopefully, this should force charging network operators to elevate their customer experience and network reliability, which is something that the Supercharger network has been dominating.