By the End of 2024, Tesla will Allow Other Electric Vehicles to Use its U.S. Chargers

As part of its ambitious plan to have 500,000 electric vehicle chargers installed on U.S. roads by 2030, the Biden administration announced a series of initiatives on Wednesday to help make it a reality, including commitments from a variety of companies that build and operate charging networks, including Tesla, GM, Ford, ChargePoint, among others.

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A new set of federal standards, which were announced on Wednesday, will also be used by all of the companies in order to determine whether their proposed charging infrastructure projects will qualify for federal funding.

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It is believed that the White House has locked a commitment from Tesla, as part of this effort, to open thousands of its chargers to electric vehicles made by other manufacturers, officials at the White House said. Until now, Tesla Supercharging stations in the U.S. have only been accessible to Tesla owners or those who are drivers of Tesla vehicles.

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It has been agreed by Tesla that by the end of 2024, at least 7,500 of its publicly accessible chargers in the U.S. will be available for use by any compatible EV that is powered by electricity. Tesla will provide at least 3,500 of its 250-kilowatt Superchargers located along key highway corridors, as well as slower Level 2 destination chargers that the automaker provides at locations such as hotels and restaurants, as part of this total, the officials stated.

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As part of its agreement with the government, Tesla also agreed to triple the number of Superchargers in its U.S. network, making the new chargers in Buffalo, N.Y., according to the official. Some of the charging equipment that the company is developing has been assembled in Buffalo at a facility that was originally intended to be a factory for solar panels.

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Tesla has been planning to open up its charging network in the United States for quite some time now. Based on Tesla's most recent annual financial filing, it appears that the company began offering Supercharger access to non-Tesla vehicles in certain locations in November 2021 as part of its mission to accelerate the transition to a more sustainable energy future for the world.

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Deputy Infrastructure Chief Mitch Landrieu told reporters Tuesday that Elon Musk was one of many CEOs in the automotive sector involved in discussions with the White House about charging infrastructure last year.

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During the conversation, Landrieu emphasized how open and constructive he was. "At that time, he said that he had plans to work with us to make sure his network was interoperable with ours, and that was his intention.". “The other participants in the call agreed with him.".

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Landrieu added, “It was critically important to us that everybody is included in the conversation.”

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In addition to lauding the work of General Motors, Pilot Co., and EVGo, the White House also highlighted a separate deal that will see 2,000 fast chargers installed at Pilot and Flying J centers along U.S. highways as part of a charging network.

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By 2026, GM plans to install up to 40,000 public Level 2 EV chargers as part of its Ultium Charge 360 network, which will be accessible to all-electric vehicle drivers throughout the country, in addition to installing Level 2 EV chargers in cities and towns across the country by 2026.

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In order to meet the company's commitment, Ford has pledged to install DC Fast chargers at 1,920 of its dealerships by January 2024.

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As part of Hertz's electric vehicle charging initiative with oil giant BP, thousands of electric vehicle chargers will be installed in major U.S. cities to accommodate Hertz customers as well as the general public.  

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As part of Wednesday's announcements, the Departments of Energy and Transportation also detailed new charging standards designed to "ensure that everyone can use the network - regardless of what car you drive or where you live." The new standards include the following:

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• Combined Charging System plugs must be supported on all new chargers that are built with federal funds. It should be noted that most automakers other than Tesla use CCS as their standard.

• There will be a requirement to install at least a minimum number of DC Fast chargers at all new charging stations constructed with federal funds.

• As a requirement of federal funding, chargers must be up and running for a minimum of 97% of the time once they have been installed. 
• Chargers funded by the federal government must be assembled in the U.S., and their steel enclosures must be made here. At least 55% of the charger's components (measured by the cost of each component) must be manufactured in the U.S. by July 2024, as well.
• There are a variety of new chargers designed with federal funds that are compatible with new user-friendly technologies, such as "Plug and Charge," which - as its name implies - automates the process of paying for the charge.

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It has also been determined that new rules will ensure that drivers don't have to use multiple apps or websites to find and use chargers, by making information on charger locations, pricing, and availability public and available via mapping applications so that drivers will not have to use multiple apps.

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There is however one omission that will raise some questions among the staunchest environmentalists, and that is that the new EV chargers being funded by the federal government will not necessarily be powered by clean energy.

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EV chargers, which are federally funded, will be powered by renewable energy sources or "clean electricity," or they will simply be connected to the existing electrical grid, according to officials who said it would be up to the company.

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Globally, transportation has been estimated to be responsible for 25% of carbon emissions from human activity, based on estimates by the nonprofit International Council on Clean Transportation. Despite the fact that most of that pollution comes from tailpipe emissions, the carbon dioxide reduction benefits of driving an electric vehicle are further enhanced when the electricity is generated from clean or renewable sources.

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A study by Project Drawdown found that when electric vehicles draw their power from a conventional grid, compared to gasoline-powered cars, the amount of emissions produced by electric vehicles drops by 50%. The carbon dioxide emissions from an electric vehicle powered by solar energy fall by 95% compared to a comparable internal combustion engine vehicle fueled by gasoline that emits the same amount of carbon dioxide.

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The officials did suggest, however, that in the long run, it will all work out for the best. Jennifer Granholm, the secretary of energy, spoke at the briefing and stressed that the goal of the president was to have a "fully clean electric grid" by the year 2035.