German Federal Minister of Transport Andreas Scheuer urges that Tesla should make their Superchargers for all-electric vehicles. The main reason why the German government is supportive of Tesla’s Giga factory is because of economic growth. In addition to that, the country is pushing its carbon emission goals inclined with Europe’s goals.
In March 2021, Germany announced $6.5 billion euros funding for an electric car infrastructure plan. Which are made to be available till 2024. EU climate goals majorly include shifting towards electric vehicles and renewable energy resources. Germany being the hometown of some of the largest auto-makers has the need to meet these carbon emission goals.
Tesla Supercharging network
Tesla now has more than 6000 Superchargers in 601 locations in Europe (as of March 2021). And as announced by Tesla, “Since the Model 3’s arrival, Tesla owners have traveled the equivalent of more than 3000 return trips to the moon or around 22 return trips to Mars using Europe’s Supercharger network.”
Tesla’s network is enormous and impressive including the Supercharger fast charging. These chargers have 250kW capacity and can charge at 1000 miles per hour.
By giving exclusive features to Tesla cars, customers may tend to opt for Tesla cars. Though some say that Tesla is losing money by not providing charging to other EVs. However, it has worked well so far and they are focusing on setting up more charging stations in China and other places.
This is the first time a government or some person or group of major importance has urged differently. Having all EVs able to charge in Tesla chargers may be advantageous in short term.
Though it looks like it is most unlikely, Tesla’s CEO and Founder Elon Musk mentioned the availability of other EVs in the past.
They are, although it’s kind low-key. Tesla Superchargers are being made accessible to other electric cars.
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) December 21, 2020
Superchargers for all EVs
While individual companies like Fastned work on providing charging stations to different kinds of EVs. Tesla also has an alliance with Fastned to install chargers in the UK. But they make Superchargers only for Tesla.
Meanwhile, Germany’s funding in accelerating EV shift is mostly on charging infrastructure. And having Superchargers in their progress would improve their chances of reaching carbon emission goals by 2025.
In the interview with German media outlet Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung, the German minister said, “I am in direct contact with manufacturers like Tesla to ensure that the existing infrastructure, for example, Tesla Supercharger, is also opened for other manufacturers.”
Furthermore, the Minister spoke about the technical difficulties of paying for the charging services. He suggested that an app might make things better and that they are going to look into the solutions. He added,
“There is still a long way to go so that not every electric car trip becomes an adventure, but a new normal. That is the goal. And we’re getting closer to that with great strides.”
