Tesla has already opened up their Supercharger network in more than a dozen countries across Europe. It looks like the automaker will soon be expanding their non-Tesla Supercharger program to another country on the other side of the world – Australia.
Last month Tesla was awarded funding to build 32 new Supercharger stations in Australia. The automaker was one of seven companies selected in the first round of funding from the New South Wales (NSW) government to help expand the country’s network of DC fast chargers.
The seven companies are planning to build 86 new fast charging stations with 500 connectors. For their part Tesla will be building 32 stations, and will account for more than half of the number of stalls (260).
The goods new for all electric vehicle (EV) owners in Australia is all of those 260 stalls will also be available to them.
As part of the requirements to receive the government funding, all connectors have to be available to all EV owners, meaning non-Tesla owners will soon be able to plug in to Superchargers in Australia.
News of the requirement comes from Dave Malicki, Team Lead, Net Zero Transport at NSW Department of Planning, Industry and Environment, who revealed it while speaking with the Ludicrous Feed YouTube channel last week.
“All stations with NSW government funding will be universally accessible to all EVs. The Tesla stations are no exception, all EV brands will be able to charge at them,” Malicki said.
While this mean Tesla will have to open these 32 new stations to all EVs, there is no requirement for them to do so with their existing stations, which were built without any government funding.
“Whether tesla will open their existing network to other EV brands is an open question and a business decision for Tesla,” Malicki explained.
It is unclear when Tesla will begin construction and open these 32 Supercharger stations, but the government program says they must all be built within the next two years.
Earlier this year Tesla attempted to receive similar funding in their home-state of Texas, but was inexplicably not chosen as one of the recipients of the $21 million that was available.
What made the decision difficult to understand was that Tesla was asking for as little as $30,000 per charger, while other who were selected were asking for the maximum $150,000 allowed under the program.
You can watch the interview with Malicki below, which will start of the point where he is asked about whether the Tesla Superchargers will be open to all EVs. (via The Driven)
