Photo: Bjorn Nyland via Youtube
Tesla might’ve accidentally leaked the location of the first Supercharger station offering CCS compatibility for non-Tesla EVs. According to hawkeyed enthusiasts in the Tesla community, that would be in Hawthorne, California, close to Tesla’s Design Studio.
Tesla has been talking for a long time about opening up its Supercharger network to other brands, with a pilot program already working in Europe. The Supercharger network is arguably one of Tesla’s biggest assets and one of the main factors enticing people to buy its electric vehicles. Having its own charging network, the best out there, no less, is incredibly useful for Tesla and one of its unique selling points. So why would Tesla want to grant access to its network to other competitors?
That’s a good question, with the most obvious answer being that Tesla’s declared goal is to accelerate EV adoption and save the planet. Just kidding, it might be so, but money is also a factor, an even more important one.
Not necessarily the money earned from selling electricity, since Tesla claims it only charges a small premium over what it pays to the energy providers. But, more importantly, the money offered by governments as incentives to companies installing charging stations.
To qualify for this money, at least in the U.S., Tesla must have its charging stations open to other electric vehicles. This is easier in Europe and other markets where Tesla uses the CCS plug like everybody else. In the U.S., though, Superchargers are fitted with Tesla’s proprietary plug. Tesla might’ve open-sourced it as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), but it doesn’t mean anybody besides Tesla and Aptera currently uses it.
This poses a challenge for Tesla, as opening up its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs means retrofitting the stalls with CCS-compatible plugs. Earlier rumors indicated that Tesla would introduce a special CCS adapter called “Magic Dock,” which intelligently attaches to the cable when accessed by a non-Tesla vehicle. It appears that Tesla is very close to installing Magic Docks on its V3 Superchargers, and the first one to offer CCS compatibility would be in Hawthorne, California.
This was revealed thanks to a glitch in Tesla’s app and Supercharger map in the U.S. More specifically, Tesla owners who used the Find Us map on Friday discovered they could filter the Supercharger stations to show stations open to non-Tesla EVs. The filter displayed only one Supercharger location in Hawthorne. A similar filter was added to the Tesla app under the “Charge your Non-Tesla” menu. If you selected the station, you were given the option to choose the stall. This is where people found the first picture of a Supercharger fitted with the Magic Dock (see the gallery).
Guys from Teslascope were in Hawthorne and were able to check out the Supercharger location, but they found no sign of a Magic Dock. All the stalls at the charging stations were fitted with regular NACS plugs. The map filter and the Supercharger stall picture soon disappeared after Tesla Corrected the glitch. Nevertheless, Tesla should deploy the CCS compatibility rather soon, and Hawthorne might be the first place to offer it.
That’s a good question, with the most obvious answer being that Tesla’s declared goal is to accelerate EV adoption and save the planet. Just kidding, it might be so, but money is also a factor, an even more important one.
Not necessarily the money earned from selling electricity, since Tesla claims it only charges a small premium over what it pays to the energy providers. But, more importantly, the money offered by governments as incentives to companies installing charging stations.
To qualify for this money, at least in the U.S., Tesla must have its charging stations open to other electric vehicles. This is easier in Europe and other markets where Tesla uses the CCS plug like everybody else. In the U.S., though, Superchargers are fitted with Tesla’s proprietary plug. Tesla might’ve open-sourced it as the North American Charging Standard (NACS), but it doesn’t mean anybody besides Tesla and Aptera currently uses it.
This poses a challenge for Tesla, as opening up its Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs means retrofitting the stalls with CCS-compatible plugs. Earlier rumors indicated that Tesla would introduce a special CCS adapter called “Magic Dock,” which intelligently attaches to the cable when accessed by a non-Tesla vehicle. It appears that Tesla is very close to installing Magic Docks on its V3 Superchargers, and the first one to offer CCS compatibility would be in Hawthorne, California.
This was revealed thanks to a glitch in Tesla’s app and Supercharger map in the U.S. More specifically, Tesla owners who used the Find Us map on Friday discovered they could filter the Supercharger stations to show stations open to non-Tesla EVs. The filter displayed only one Supercharger location in Hawthorne. A similar filter was added to the Tesla app under the “Charge your Non-Tesla” menu. If you selected the station, you were given the option to choose the stall. This is where people found the first picture of a Supercharger fitted with the Magic Dock (see the gallery).
Guys from Teslascope were in Hawthorne and were able to check out the Supercharger location, but they found no sign of a Magic Dock. All the stalls at the charging stations were fitted with regular NACS plugs. The map filter and the Supercharger stall picture soon disappeared after Tesla Corrected the glitch. Nevertheless, Tesla should deploy the CCS compatibility rather soon, and Hawthorne might be the first place to offer it.
Nothing new here! Either a false-alarm or they haven’t begun installing the Magic Dock yet. pic.twitter.com/6gmuOjwlit
— Teslascope (@teslascope) January 21, 2023
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