In This Article:
(Corrects attribution of quote to White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu (not National Climate Advisor Ali Zaidi), paragraph 8)
By Hyunjoo Jin and Jarrett Renshaw
SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 15 (Reuters) - Tesla will open part of its U.S. charging network to electric vehicles (EVs) made by rivals as part of a $7.5 billion federal program to electrify the nation's highways to cut carbon emissions, the Biden administration said on Wednesday.
Such a move could help turn Tesla into the universal filling station of the EV era - and risk eroding a competitive edge for vehicles made by the company, which has exclusive access to the biggest network of high-speed 'superchargers' in the United States.
By the end of next year, Tesla will open 3,500 new and existing superchargers along highway corridors, as well as 4,000 slower chargers at locations like hotels and restaurants, to non-Tesla customers, the administration said.
A White House official said at a briefing that Tesla would be eligible for a subsidy - including retrofitting its existing fleet - as long as its chargers would allow other vehicles with a federally backed charging standard called CCS to charge.
Tesla and Chief Executive Elon Musk did not respond to requests for confirmation and comment.
Tesla has 17,711 superchargers, accounting for about 60% of total U.S. fast chargers that can add hundreds of miles of driving range in an hour or less. There are also nearly 10,000 "destination" chargers with Tesla plugs that can recharge a vehicle overnight.
Opening up access to Tesla's network would be a quick win for an ambitious federal program to build 500,000 EV chargers by 2030, up from 130,000 currently.
Tesla was "one of the early folks out there in this space. It was critically important to us, that everybody be included in the conversation," White House Infrastructure Coordinator Mitch Landrieu said at a press briefing ahead of the announcement, calling Musk constructive and "very open".
In a conversation with senior government officials last year, Musk said "his intent was to work with us to make his network inter-operable," Zaidi said.
PLUG AND PAY
Tesla owners pull into a charger spot, plug in their car with Tesla's own charging device, and the station automatically adds battery power and bills the car owner's account. To add non-Tesla owners would require a potentially different plug and way to pay.
All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website, the administration said.