Tesla has finally agreed to allow non-Tesla drivers to top-up their cars’ batteries at Supercharger stations in a move meant to boost EV adoption. Based on a White House announcement, Tesla would make at least 7,500 chargers available to all EVs by the end of 2024. The Biden administration has been pressuring Tesla for quite some time to open up its chargers.

The Supercharger network is arguably Tesla’s most important asset. Public chargers’ availability is essential for EV owners who want to plan long trips. Tesla has built the largest EV charging network in the U.S., with nearly 18,000 charging posts. It’s more than double the number of its closest rival, Electrify America. Tesla Supercharger network covers most parts of the U.S., with around 1,700 charging stations available on interstates, highways, and city centers. This means that it’s almost impossible to run out of battery during a road trip.

Nevertheless, the Supercharger network is a Tesla-only affair. You’re out of luck if you drive a different electric car and need to charge at a Tesla Supercharger. For once, the charge plug is different, just like an iPhone charger plug is different. And even if you could find an adapter, a non-Tesla EV still won’t be able to communicate with the charger to initiate the session. This is set to change thanks to intense lobbying from the Biden administration. On Wednesday, the White House announced that Tesla agreed to make “at least” 7,500 chargers available for all-electric vehicles by the end of 2024.

A month ago, senior White House officials met with Elon Musk and tried to convince him to make the Tesla Supercharger network usable for non-Tesla owners. The government had leverage, considering it plans to spend $7.5 billion on building fast-charging stations, and Tesla wants a piece of the pie.

Tesla agreed to only 3,500 DC fast chargers open to non-Tesla owners, representing roughly 20% of the total number of Tesla DC fast chargers available today. The other 4,000 chargers will be slower Level 2 chargers. This helps Tesla have its cake and eat it by maintaining its competitive advantage. It also allows enough stations to remain exclusively available to Tesla owners.

The rumors of opening up the Superchargers to non-Tesla EVs surfaced long ago. Tesla already did this in Europe and Australia. Nevertheless, Tesla cars and charging stations in these regions already use the CCS connector, so it was just a matter of flipping a switch to let other EVs charge. Tesla does that via the Tesla app, where owners of non-Tesla vehicles can create an account and pay for charging.

It’s a different story in the U.S., where Tesla uses its NACS proprietary connector. Allowing other EVs to top up their batteries means that Tesla must fit its stations with different plugs, like CCS and CHAdeMO. Rumors indicate that Tesla would do this using an intelligent adapter called Magic Dock. This allows non-Tesla owners to charge their vehicles without worrying about adapters.

Tesla recalls 362,000 U.S. vehicles over Full Self-Driving software

WASHINGTON, Feb 16 (Reuters) - Tesla Inc (TSLA.O) is recalling 362,000 U.S. vehicles because its Full Self-Driving (FSD) Beta software may cause a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said on Thursday.

The auto safety regulator said the Tesla software allows a vehicle to "exceed speed limits or travel through intersections in an unlawful or unpredictable manner increases the risk of a crash." Tesla will release an over-the-air (OTA) software update, free of charge. Tesla said is not aware of any injuries or deaths that may be related to the recall issue

The recall covers 2016-2023 Model S, Model X, 2017-2023 Model 3, and 2020-2023 Model Y vehicles equipped with FSD Beta software or pending installation.

"The feature could potentially infringe upon local traffic laws or customs while executing certain driving maneuvers," NHTSA said. Possible situations where the problem could occur include traveling or turning through certain intersections during a yellow traffic light and making a lane change out of certain turn-only lanes to continue traveling straight.

NHTSA said "the system may respond insufficiently to changes in posted speed limits or not adequately account for the driver's adjustment of the vehicle's speed to exceed posted speed limits."

Last year, Tesla recalled nearly 54,000 U.S. vehicles with FSD Beta software that may allow some models to conduct "rolling stops" and not come to a complete stop at some intersections, posing a safety risk.

Tesla and NHTSA say FSD's advanced driving features do not make the cars autonomous and require drivers to pay attention.

Ousted Tesla cofounder Martin Eberhard sounds off on Elon Musk, how the company has changed, and the EV wars

Tesla started retrofitting select Supercharger stations in the U.S. with Magic Dock adapters in preparation for supporting non-Tesla EVs. The pilot program has officially gone live in California and New York. Tesla has also launched the Supercharger membership packages for Non-Tesla EV owners, with two plans available.

It's been over a year since Tesla launched the non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot in Europe. Since then, the EV maker has gradually expanded the program with new countries and locations. The U.S. was more complicated because of Tesla's proprietary connector, but the EV maker has finally found a solution. Thanks to the Magic Dock, a CCS-compatible adapter is dispensed with the cable when a non-Tesla EV initiates a charging session.

After testing the new adapter in the last week of February, the non-Tesla Supercharger Pilot has finally launched in the U.S. The first CCS-enabled charging stations are located in New York and California, with more to come online soon. They were already stormed by EV enthusiasts who wanted to test the new service, so you can find many videos on social media describing the experience.

EV drivers who want to charge their non-Tesla car at a Supercharger station must first install the Tesla app and create an account. QR-code signs leading to an instruction webpage have been installed at Supercharger stations opened to non-Tesla EVs, so this should be straightforward. Once logged in, you need to indicate the station and the number on the charging stall, and you can then detach the cable with the CCS adapter from the Magic Dock. Plug the cord into the car, and the charging session starts.

Non-Tesla EV owners are offered two Supercharger membership plans to access the Tesla charging network. The Pay per Use plan is a simple, pay-as-you-go membership, and the fees vary from station to station and with the time of day. As a rule of thumb, Pay-per-Use prices are $0.10-$0.12/kWh higher than what Tesla owners pay at the same station. Tesla also offers a $12,99/month subscription to access the Supercharger network, which makes the prices drop to match what Tesla owners pay.

The first plan is probably good for those who only occasionally charge their cars at a Supercharger. However, Tesla bets most EV owners would opt for the paid subscription thanks to its advantages. Tesla Supercharger is the country's most reliable charging network, and unfettered access to its chargers is a major benefit, encouraging non-Tesla owners to ditch third-party networks and become Tesla customers.

The first videos posted on Twitter show that the charge rate is pretty decent, at more than 150 kW of power in the case of a Rivian R1T pickup. Based on how easy it is to hook a Ford F-150 Lightning to the charger, we'd say the cord length is just right to reach charge ports further away from the vehicle's corner. There's one problem, though, as we've already said before: charging most non-Tesla EVs means occupying the wrong parking spot. This makes the adjacent charging stall to become unusable for Tesla EVs.

Toyota is the world's largest automaker, and it builds pretty much every type of vehicle you can think of. But if there's one area it is lagging behind, it's electric cars.

The Japanese automaker sold only 24,466 BEVs worldwide last year, which is a drop in the ocean compared to the 2.6 million hybrids it sold during the same period – or the 1.3 million electric vehicles delivered by global EV leader Tesla in 2022.

Still, Toyota is determined to catch up. After the recently announced executive reshuffle effective April 1, which will see CEO Akio Toyoda replaced by former Lexus head Koji Sato, Toyota has pledged to revamp its EV strategy by accelerating the EV rollout and launching a dedicated BEV architecture by 2026.

In the meantime, Toyota is trying to understand what Tesla is doing right, and its engineers recently conducted a teardown study of the Tesla Model Y, according to a report from Automotive News.

What they found went beyond exposing key technological secrets of the world's best-selling electric vehicle model; engineers were reportedly stunned by the Model Y's simplistic yet efficient vehicle structure built with an advanced manufacturing prowess.

"Taking the skin off the Model Y, it was truly a work of art. It's unbelievable," said one Toyota executive who analyzed the Tesla part by part. They were particularly amazed by how different the latest versions of the Model Y were under the skin compared to earlier versions that looked the same on the outside.

Manufacturing breakthroughs like the use of giga casting to eliminate countless parts and brackets, and the structural battery pack that acts as the car's floor itself were singled out by Toyota engineers.

According to their estimates shared with Automotive News, Tesla's approach eliminated hundreds of parts and up to 220 pounds (100 kilograms), while increasing battery range and slashing overall costs.

One executive said, "It's a whole different manufacturing philosophy," while another added, “We need a new platform designed as a blank-sheet EV." Those are stunning admissions coming from executives of Toyota, a company renowned for its designed-for-manufacturing expertise.

The teardown showed how far behind some old-guard automakers like Toyota really are when it comes to EVs. Engineers concluded that the Japanese automaker needs a great leap forward to catch up with Tesla's way of building electric vehicles.

They reportedly identified four main areas where Tesla has a big advantage over Toyota: dedicated platform, advanced battery, designated EV production site, and software-defined architecture. Tesla has all four of those, Toyota has none – at least not yet.

Head over to Automotive News' detailed report to find out what Toyota plans to do in the coming years to close the gap with Tesla.