Supercharger Spreads

Tesla has had a stellar year for its charging technology.

A steady campaign to get the company’s North American Charging Standard to be named the actual standard in North America has led to some unprecedented partnerships with major companies across the automotive industry.

It makes sense then, that Tesla would hardly stop at just one continent.

First up, on November 10th, SAIC GM - a joint venture company which sells GM’s Chevrolets, Buicks and Cadillacs in China - announced that they had signed a deal with Tesla to allow their customers access to Tesla’s Chinese supercharging network - in a relatively similar deal to the one GM’s North American division struck back in June to make use of the NACS and Tesla’s system of supercharging stations over here.

And that’s a pretty smart move - just like in North America, Tesla is pretty much the biggest name in supercharging infrastructure in China - with over 500 thousand stations across the country. Making this deal lets SAIC GM utilise NACS-equipped vehicles in China just as easily as they will be able to in the US and Canada - especially once the company swaps out their CCS hardware for NACS in 2025.

But Tesla wasn’t finished.

On November 13th, EG Group - a charging infrastructure company operating in the UK and Europe - announced that they had made a deal to purchase some Tesla Supercharging units in an effort to build up their EV charging network from the current number of about 600 or so, to over 20,000.

This isn’t very different from a deal Tesla made with the Brittish gas mega company BP for the purchase of $100 million worth of Supercharger equipment back in October. That deal was so that BP could add Tesla’s superchargers to their gas stations across the UK. Now EG Group is gearing up to do the same.

And this shows how savvy Tesla is with their charging hardware.

They could have held on to it, and just made their own stations across Europe - but instead, they’ve been selling their tech and letting other, more established companies spread their infrastructure for them. It’s a solid way to grow other streams of income aside from selling their vehicles.

And on top of all that, it’s a clear and simple way to ensure that Tesla’s charging technology has a place in the international EV consciousness - and could maybe even become an international standard.