Tesla Superchargers opened up to other EVs: How much non-Teslas will pay

By Nuno Cristovao

Elon mentioned this summer that Tesla would be opening up their Superchargers to other vehicles. Just a few months later and Tesla has now opened up their first Superchargers to non-Teslas vehicles.

Tesla is starting the program in The Netherlands where Tesla and non-Tesla EVs use the same CCS port. Initially Tesla is making ten Supercharging locations available to other EVs in The Netherlands, but the goal is eventually open up all Superchargers worldwide.

Other vehicles will be able to charge at Tesla Superchargers by utilizing the Tesla app. This is a big advantage for Tesla as it gets non-Tesla owners into the Tesla ecosystem.

Tesla opens up Superchargers to non-Teslas
Tesla opens up Superchargers
@olympusdev_/Twitter

In order to charge, owners will need to create a Tesla account and add payment information. From there they will be able to start a charging session by choosing their stall and tapping Start Charging. While in the app, they'll also be able to browse Tesla models and even place an order for a Tesla.

Price

The price that Tesla charges for Supercharging varies by region and sometimes time of day, because electrical rates vary by region and time of day as well. It looks like non-Tesla owners in The Netherlands will be paying about €0.57/kWh. The price is significantly higher than what Tesla owners pay at the same chargers. In fact, it's almost 2.5 times more costly than charging a Tesla.

Membership

Tesla will also be offering a membership for non-Tesla vehicles. The membership will give owners lower pricing per kilowatt hour. In The Netherlands, the membership will cost €12.99/month and let you charge for the lower kWh pricing that is offering for Tesla vehicles.

It's likely that the pricing for the charging membership and Supercharger use will be similar in other markets.

Order a Tesla right from the Tesla App
Order a Tesla right from the Tesla App
@olympusdev_/Twitter

We don't yet know what the membership cost will be, or how much it will lower charging per kWh, but it looks like the membership will only be available to non-Tesla owners. We imagine the rate with a membership will drop considerably but will remain higher than what Tesla owners will pay.

Why This is Good for Tesla Owners

The topic of whether Tesla should expand Supercharging to non-Tesla vehicles can bring differing opinions. Most Tesla owners are worried about a degraded experience at a Supercharger if Tesla opens it up to other EVs.

Superchargers, especially in the Bay Area are already congested, Tesla owners have had to wait over an hour just to start charging, so I can definitely understand their reasoning for being cautious with Tesla expanding Superchargers to other vehicles.

Electric vehicles are the future, there's no doubting that. Along with more EVs there will come more charging solutions.

Back in 2012 Tesla created the first Supercharger because there weren't any options for fast DC charging. Superchargers aren't meant to be a revenue stream for Tesla, but something Tesla needed to offer in order to be able to sell their vehicles.

Tesla has a choice here, they can keep their charging network exclusive to Tesla owners and keep Supercharging as a profit neutral service, or they can turn it into a revenue stream and become the de-facto standard for EV charging.

By turning Tesla's Superchargers into a revenue stream Tesla will be able to more quickly expand their reach, resulting in more Supercharger locations for Tesla and non-Tesla owners.

There will be a large player in the EV charging infrastructure. If Tesla doesn't open up their Superchargers to other vehicles, they're likely to see someone do it and become the predominate player.

The result will be a worse experience for Tesla owners. If Tesla isn't the major charging network, Tesla owners will be left in a less than ideal situation. They'll need to buy an expensive adapter to go from Tesla's proprietary connection to the standard CCS port, or they'll need to find another charging station.

Tesla owners will also be the ones that will need to download another app, create an account, add payment information, etc. They'll need to do all of that, instead of what they do today. Just plug in.

Tesla Owners Have Advantage

Charging a Tesla at a Supercharger will always be the ideal solution and provide the best charging experience. Not only will Tesla owners benefit from faster charging times by having your car precondition the battery for optimized charging, but they'll also have a seamless charging experience that doesn't require them to open the Tesla app, choose their stall and press the start or stop charging buttons.

Idle fees are only charged when the Supercharger is more than 50% full. Non-Tesla cars will not be exempt from idle fees and will need to follow all the same rules as Tesla vehicles.

Idle Fees

In order to prevent cars from taking up precious Supercharging spots while other vehicles are waiting to charge, Tesla started charging idle fees several years ago. The idle fees are high and often much higher than what the cost of charging.

CSS port in the US?

So as Tesla expands their Supercharging network and offers non-Tesla vehicles fast DC charging, we face the question, why is Tesla still using their proprietary adapter? Sure, it was necessary in 2012, but in 2021 where so many things have changed, it doesn't add many benefits over a CCS connection. It prevents Tesla owners from charging at CCS stations, it prevents some non-Tesla owners from their at Tesla chargers and it requires Tesla to build and manage multiple parts for their cars.

We believe Tesla will switch to the CCS charge port globally in the future, instead of using their proprietary Tesla port. Tesla will slowly switch over Superchargers to use a CCS connection and offer an adapter at the station for non-CCS Teslas. This will also allow Tesla owners to charge at any charging locations without purchasing an expensive CCS adapter.

Two years ago Tesla launched their first V3 chargers, capable of charging at up to 1,000 miles per hour and Tesla said they'll be adding WiFi capability to Superchargers in the future.

Tesla Smoking While Supercharging? A Look at What's Actually Happening

By Karan Singh
Hot_Engineering3140 on Reddit

Winter is here, and temperatures are dropping, so one of the most common Tesla questions is about to resurface.

If you’ve landed here after frantically searching about “smoke” coming from your Tesla while Supercharging, take a deep breath—it’s completely normal.

Tesla Smoking While Charging

If you’re Supercharging in freezing weather—even with preconditioning—you might notice steam rising from your Tesla. But rest assured, your car isn’t smoking.

Your Tesla’s heat pump is hard at work warming both the cabin and battery to keep you comfortable and ensure optimal charging temperatures. Over time, condensation and ice build-up in the heat exchanger coils.

Why Does It Happen?

When you reach a Supercharger with your vehicle, the heat pump is still running hot, but without the cold air from driving to keep the heat exchanger coils cool, the ice and condensation quickly start to evaporate—creating what looks like smoke.

Since this typically happens near the front of the vehicle, where a car would traditionally have an engine, new vehicle owners can be startled by the discovery. However, rest assured that it’s just water vapor and it’s completely normal in cold weather.

In fact, this behavior can be experienced in any EV with a heat pump in cold climates. So, if you saw steam coming out of your vehicle and panicked, don’t worry—you’re not alone.

Now that you know what’s happening, go ahead and Supercharge with confidence.

Tesla Improves YouTube App With Smoother Playback

By Karan Singh
Not a Tesla App

Tesla made a lot of improvements in the 2024 Holiday Update, including more than 15 undocumented improvements that were included in the release. One of these was a stealthy performance improvement to the YouTube app.

Several people have mentioned they’ve seen improved performance on YouTube since this year’s Holiday Update - and there’s an interesting reason why.

YouTube Improvements

The improved YouTube performance in Tesla vehicles comes from an unexpected source—Tesla actually rolled back support for YouTube’s newer AV1 video encoding. Instead, vehicles now default to the older VP9 encoding standard.

While AV1 is highly efficient in terms of bandwidth, it requires considerably more processing power to decode and display videos. VP9, on the other hand, is less computationally demanding but uses more bandwidth to achieve the same video quality. This trade-off means smoother playback and better overall performance, even if it comes at the cost of slightly higher data usage.

Intel Inside

The VP9 video codec that the YouTube app is now using is much easier to decode, making it less taxing on the vehicle’s processor. This change is particularly beneficial for Tesla vehicles with Intel processors, which previously struggled to stream video at just 720p. When using AV1, these vehicles often experienced stuttering, sometimes forcing the YouTube app to automatically downgrade playback to 480p.

With this update, Intel-based Teslas should now be able to stream at 1080p smoothly. Streaming at 1440p is also possible, although occasional stutters still occur as the system keeps up with the decoding process.

Intel-based vehicles are the big winners with this change, but this appears to affect AMD Ryzen-based infotainment units as well, providing even smoother playback.

Chromium Web App

Tesla’s Theater apps aren’t native applications; instead, they run as chromeless web apps, leveraging the open-source browser built into Teslas known as Chromium (the open-source version of Chrome). Although this works quite well, there is a severe limitation - Chromium hardware acceleration isn’t supported on Linux, the operating system Tesla uses for their OS.

As a result, Tesla vehicles rely on software decoding instead of hardware decoding, which would otherwise handle video playback far more efficiently. A potential solution could be for Tesla to transition away from Chromium-based web apps in favor of a Mozilla Firefox-based browser, as Firefox does support hardware acceleration on Linux. This switch could also open the door to better streaming performance and the possibility of expanding Tesla’s in-car entertainment options.

However, Tesla’s choice of Chromium likely stems from Digital Rights Management (DRM) requirements for streaming services like Disney+ and Netflix, which rely on DRM-enabled playback. Firefox on Linux has had inconsistent support for DRM due to codec availability and variations in operating system versions.

We’re hopeful that Tesla will either adopt Firefox or develop a fully native application to improve video streaming, rather than continuing with the current web-based Tesla Theater. This shift could also pave the way for additional in-car applications built on Tesla’s native Linux environment—perhaps even reviving the long-rumored Tesla App Store.

Regardless, this update is a welcome improvement, particularly for YouTube, which remains one of the most widely used Theater Mode apps due to its accessibility, free content, and mix of short and long-form videos. It remains to be seen whether similar improvements are made for Netflix, Disney+, or other streaming platforms.

If you’ve noticed improved performance in Theater Mode, now you know why.

Latest Tesla Update

Confirmed by Elon

Take a look at features that Elon Musk has said will be coming soon.

More Tesla News

Tesla Videos

Latest Tesla Update

Confirmed by Elon

Take a look at features that Elon Musk has said will be coming soon.

Subscribe

Subscribe to our weekly newsletter