Soon, Tesla drivers in Europe and Israel might see thousands of third-party fast charging stations in the navigation system, on top of the company’s Supercharging network.
Tesla has just announced a new program, which will automatically add third-party fast chargers if they meet the company’s performance and reliability standards to Tesla’s navigation as Qualified Third-Party Chargers.
The initiative is expected to improve access to third-party fast chargers. Initially, it will be rolled out across Europe and Israel.
In terms of requirements for Qualified Third-Party Chargers, the company intends to add only chargers with compatible connectors (that’s obvious), high-reliability rate (success rate of at least 90%) and those that already popular among Tesla drivers.
“For a charging station to be included in Tesla’s navigation system, it must meet these conditions over a 60-day period:
- At least one compatible charging connector
- Frequently used by Tesla drivers at least once every four days
- Average charge success rate is 90% or higher”
Once a charging location is added to the Tesla’s navigation system, it has to continue to perform well (although the requirements are lowered):
“To detect inoperable chargers quickly and provide the best experience for our customers, stations will be removed from Tesla’s navigation system if any of the following conditions are met over a 14-day period:
- No charge sessions detected
- Average charge success rate falls below 70%”
That’s an interesting move by Tesla, which should make a driver’s life a little bit easier when planning a trip and searching for the most suitable charging sites. Not everywhere does the Tesla Supercharging network have an advantage over other charging networks. Of course, the drivers will still have to comply with the particular charger’s authentication and payment system to charge.
The launch of the program in Europe (and Israel) is not a surprise, as just like in the case of the Non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot, the key is the compatibility of charging connectors. New Tesla cars in Europe, as well as new Superchargers, are natively compatible with the European CCS Combo 2 connector.
The same thing in North America would require having on-board a CCS1 to Tesla (NACS) adapter.
So far, probably the only fast chargers listed in Tesla’s navigation in the US are the EVgo units with Tesla’s connectors. That happened about two years ago through the CHAdeMO adapter built into the chargers.
However, with the opening of Tesla’s proprietary charging standard, we might see a similar program in North America too (once the charging networks add NACS-compatible connectors).
