Tesla expands non-Tesla Supercharger access to China

Certain non-Tesla vehicles in China can now charge at selected Superchargers, the company said Tuesday. The expanded access will also be available at certain destination charging points, which are wall connectors available in public locations.

To start, 10 Supercharging stations across Beijing and Shanghai, as well as 120 destination charge points in 25 provinces and cities, will be available to non-Tesla electric vehicles, according to Tesla.

This is the first time Tesla has opened up its non-Tesla EV Supercharging pilot program in China, one of its largest markets, but the automaker has been steadily increasing access to its network of over 45,000 Superchargers worldwide. In February, the company doubled access to Superchargers across the U.S. in response to President Joe Biden’s $7.5 billion EV charging initiative. Tesla has also recently opened up its network in parts of Europe.

Historically, Tesla’s Supercharger network has used a proprietary connector that only fits with Tesla vehicles. However, there have been reports that the company has come up with a solution dubbed the Magic Dock, which makes it easier to give non-Tesla vehicles access to its chargers.

Tesla operates more than 1,600 Supercharging stations in China plus over 700 destination charging points.

In mainland China, around 37 models will be able to use Tesla’s chargers, including vehicles from Aiways, BMW, Porsche, BYD, Dongfeng, Ford, Geely, Zeekr, Polestar, Nio, Volvo, XPeng and more.

Drivers will have to download the Tesla app, create an account and select “Charge non-Tesla vehicles” to find and use the nearest station.

As Tesla has done in other markets, the company will likely gradually expand the pilot to more stations and models in the future. China has the largest EV market in the world, with sales of electric vehicles in 2021 taking up over half of the global market share.