Tesla Opens Superchargers in the U.S. to Other EVs: Price and Membership

Tesla officially opens up select Superchargers in the U.S. to all EVs

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Tesla has officially opened up select Superchargers in the U.S. to all compatible electric vehicles. This comes on the heels of news that Tesla has been retrofitting various Superchargers with its Magic Dock solution that allows Tesla to easily support the standard CCS connector in addition to Tesla's own NACS connector.

Europe

Tesla has previously opened up Superchargers in several countries around the world, although that was significantly easier for Tesla since Tesla uses the standard CCS connector in most countries outside the U.S. and Canada. In the U.S. Tesla needed to retrofit Superchargers with provide a solution that would support multiple connectors.

Magic Dock

Tesla needed to develop a solution to be able to continue to support their own NACS connector in addition to the CCS connector. The Magic Dock does that in an elegant and simple way. The Magic Dock houses a CCS adapter inside that locks onto the Tesla plug only when needed. Tesla owners will be able to continue charging at these stations without any changes.

Cost for Non-Teslas

Non-Tesla vehicles charging at Superchargers will pay a slight premium over their Tesla counterparts. An early look at Superchargers that Tesla has opened up reveals that Tesla is charging about $0.10 more per kWh to charge other EVs. This is about a 25% premium over Tesla's standard rate, although Supercharger prices vary by station and time of day.

Membership

Tesla is also offering a monthly membership option for non-Tesla owners who wish to reduce their price per kilowatt hour. For $12.99/month, non-Tesla owners can subscribe to lower their charging rate to be the same as Tesla vehicles.

There are currently no other benefits to the membership and non-Tesla owners are limited to the same Superchargers whether they have a membership or not.

The membership is only open to non-Teslas and will not lower the charging rates for Tesla owners, although that could be an interesting option if Tesla decides to consider it.

Idle fees

Tesla charges idle fees for vehicles that stay in a Supercharging spot after their vehicle has finished charging. The idle fees vary depending on how full the station is and they're waived if the station is at less than 50% capacity.

Tesla is charging the same idle fees for Teslas and non-Tesla vehicles.

Compatible EVs

If your EV uses CCS, or you have an adapter for your vehicle that can connect to a CCS1 connector then you'll likely be able to use Tesla's Superchargers. The only other physical requirement is that your vehicle's charge port has to reach Tesla's Supercharger cable without blocking access to others.

Congestion

While Tesla owners are right to be concerned about issues such as Supercharger congestion and dock blocking, Tesla is doing everything it can to minimize these issues.

Tesla has no plans to open up all of its Superchargers. Tesla told the U.S. government that it was going to open up 7,500 Supercharger stations to all compatible electric vehicles. This number includes current and future Superchargers.

The most popular Tesla Superchargers will likely remain exclusive to Tesla vehicles as Tesla doesn't want to make congestion worse at its most used locations.

However, non-Tesla vehicles will bring additional traffic to smaller Superchargers that are solemnly used, resulting in additional profit for Tesla, which will allow them to further expand their Supercharger network.

In fact, without Tesla opening up Superchargers to other EVs, some Supercharger locations may not be possible. When Tesla decides to open a new charging location one of the things they're looking for is the number of vehicles that will take advantage of the Supercharger and how long it will take Tesla to recoup the cost of opening the location.

Dock Blocking

Dock blocking is going to be a new term that we're unfortunately going to hear and experience more often. The term refers to vehicles in Supercharger locations taking up more than one spot and blocking access to other vehicles.  Tesla's Superchargers feature very short cables to reduce damage and risk. This works well for Teslas since their charging ports are all located in the same location.

However, not all EVs have a charge port that can easily reach the end of a Supercharger cable. Depending on the vehicle, this could lead to a vehicle taking up two spots, or going over the line to be able to reach the Supercharger's cable.

Stations Opened

Tesla appears to have opened up about eight stations across the U.S. yesterday. These stations are in various parts of New York and California but expect Tesla to open more stations soon.

In typical Tesla fashion, Tesla rolls out changes slowly as it gathers feedback. If Superchargers are working as expected Tesla will slowly open up more Superchargers as it retrofits old locations with its Magic Dock.

Although many Tesla owners may be worried about a worse experience at Superchargers, this is a big win for not only Tesla but for sustainable transportation. Tesla provides some of the faster and most reliable charging stations in the world and this change will help convince more vehicle buyers into choosing an EV.

Musk Confirms Robotaxi on Track for June, More Cities Coming, Customer-owned Cars in 2026

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Tesla signaled its intention to launch its first Robotaxi network in Austin, Texas, with company-owned and operated vehicles, back in January. This network will be Tesla’s first foray into truly autonomous vehicles - ones that aren’t being directly supervised by a driver. Later in February, Tesla’s executive team confirmed that the plans were on track for the launch of the Austin network both on X and during several interviews that they participated in.

At the end of February, we also found out that Tesla has applied for a Supervised Robotaxi license in California, where the network will also launch, but with safety drivers in place.

This is an ambitious plan, but FSD has really come a long way in the past year. FSD V12 was a massive step forward from V11, and V13 has made the experience smoother and safer than ever before. FSD V14 is expected to be another big step up with auto-regressive transformers and audio input.

Still on Track

Now, Elon has tripled down on the fact that Tesla will be launching their first autonomous robotaxi network in Austin - just two months away at this point. It seems that Tesla is fully set to launch their first fully unsupervised self-driving vehicles that will carry paying passengers in June.

Additional Cities

The best part is that Elon also confirmed that they’re targeting robotaxi networks launching in many cities within the United States by the end of this year. However, remember that this will be a Tesla-run network at first - Tesla owners won’t be able to add their vehicles to the Robotaxi fleet right away.

Adding Customer Vehicles

It will take some time before Tesla meets their strict internal safety requirements before it lets customers add their own vehicles to the network. Tesla’s executive team mentioned that they intend to let owners add their own vehicles to the fleet sometime in 2026. This happens to be the same time frame that Tesla plans to launch the Robotaxi across the United States, Mexico, and Canada — something that could only be done with customer-owned cars.

That final step will be bold—and it may come with complications, especially given that autonomous vehicle approval spans municipal, state or provincial, and even federal levels. There are plenty of regulatory hurdles ahead, but this is undoubtedly shaping up to be one of the most exciting times for Tesla.

Launch Event

With the Robotaxi network launching and Unsupervised FSD just around the corner, there’s a lot to get excited about. Tesla is expected to host a launch event at Gigafactory Texas in Austin to mark the debut of its first Robotaxi network. The company previously hinted that referral code users could receive invites—offering a rare chance to score an early ride in a Robotaxi outside the Hollywood studio lot.

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Tesla Mule Model 3 Spotted With Front Bumper Camera

Ready_Medium_6693 on Reddit

Tesla’s engineering mule vehicles—used to test autonomy for future platforms—have resurfaced after an extended absence. The last time we saw them was back in July, when Tesla was gearing up for its initial We, Robot event. Since then, sightings have been scarce.

These vehicles typically signal that Tesla is testing new camera placements or validating FSD ground-truth data. This time, however, they appear to be outfitted exclusively with the updated camera hardware seen on the Cybercab.

New Sightings

The mules have now been spotted in Boston, Massachusetts, and Concord, New Hampshire—their first known appearances this far east. This suggests Tesla is actively collecting data to evaluate and optimize FSD performance in new regions. Thanks to Reddit user Ready_Medium_6693 for catching the one in Concord.

Elon Musk recently mentioned that Tesla plans to expand Robotaxi networks beyond the initial Texas and California launches. So while these sightings aren’t entirely unexpected, the speed of their arrival is. It suggests Tesla is confident in its ability to train FSD for local traffic rules and driving behaviors to the point it no longer needs a driver.

Bumper Cameras

The vehicle that’s been spotted in Boston is the usual Tesla engineering Model 3… except with one unique twist. It includes a front bumper camera. Shout out to @Dylan02939106 for catching the bumper camera in these photos.

The Refreshed Model 3 Mule with a Bumper Camera!

@Dylan02939106 on X

We previously released an opinion piece regarding whether the front bumper camera would be required for Unsupervised FSD. In our eyes, Tesla will require a bumper camera for Unsupervised FSD - if only to improve direct visibility in the bumper area of the vehicle. This is key for low-speed maneuvering in crowded areas like parking lots and garages, as well as for key features like Actually Smart Summon. 

It isn’t surprising that Tesla is continuing to evaluate vehicles with a bumper camera - the Cybertruck, Cybercab, and Refreshed Model Y all have them now - and the rest of the lineup, including the flagship Model S and X, as well as the refreshed Model 3 - were supposed to eventually receive them as well.

With the Model S and Model X set for refreshes this year—and the front bumper camera on this Model 3 looking well-integrated rather than a temporary setup—it seems likely that front bumper cameras will soon become standard across Tesla’s entire lineup.

The Robotaxi Mule in Boston

@Dylan02939106 on X

In fact, Tesla’s newest iteration of the FSD computer has a slot for the Bumper Camera on all AI4/HW4 vehicles, so a future retrofit could even be possible.

These are some pretty exciting times - we may see Robotaxi networks actually deploy in time for Tesla’s lofty goal of “sometime in 2026” for cities throughout North America. Once many American cities begin to accept their deployment, it will be easier to seek homologation in Mexico and Canada, enabling deployment throughout the continent.

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