Supercharging For Everyone - Tesla Just Gave Away Its Single Biggest Ownership Advantage

When Tesla began its move toward the mainstream automotive world with its game-changing Model S, one of the biggest advantages to buying a Tesla was that charging would be free and exclusive to Tesla owners. When Tesla’s Supercharger network debuted in 2012, it promised buyers an incredible advantage reserved only for Tesla owners. Of its own volition, Tesla has now removed that advantage.

Read About Supercharging Non-Tesla Cars Here. 

For years, whenever any non-Tesla battery-electric vehicle received a positive review anywhere, underneath that story in the comments, the Tesla army would come out swinging. They would always point out that only Tesla models have access to a great fast-charging network. And at zero added cost! The savings were gigantic. It costs more to power a mainstream vehicle over its lifetime than it does to actually buy the vehicle. Tesla had somehow changed the game, defied economics, and pulled off a miracle. At least temporarily.

In 2016, Tesla dropped a truth bomb on its fans and owners. It turns out that giving away free power cannot work with mainstream vehicles forever. There is no way to pad the up-front cost enough to cover the money-bleeding charger network. So, in 2016, Tesla effectively created a second class of Tesla owners. Those who bought new would not have free charging forever. Those who owned Tesla vehicles (a small number at that time) could keep charging at no cost as long as they owned the vehicle. However, going forward, Tesla owners would have to pay up. 

Despite the caste system, Tesla shoppers could still feel special. Only they could access the rapidly growing Supercharger network. There was no real possibility that the unwashed masses driving lesser brands could ever intrude on this specialness. Heck, those goofy also-ran brands didn’t even have a charger port that could accept the Tesla charger handle! Tesla owners and fans could still, with gusto, post up comments explaining that anyone not buying a Tesla was nuts because the private Supercharger network was a massive advantage reserved for Tesla owners.

Then Tesla decided that it no longer needed to offer this special advantage to its shoppers and owners. The company announced that it would first open up its network to the other brands using a special Magic Dock handle as a sort of “wet your appetite” move. Step two would be to flush down the privy the single biggest ownership advantage Tesla offered, and open up the entire Supercharger Network to all brands that adopted its special (and far better working) Tesla charging standard, which it aptly renamed the North American Charging Standard.

This week, step two of Tesla’s plan to destroy its brand’s single biggest ownership advantage began. Owners of Ford vehicles are now charging at Superchargers using a temporary adapter. Ford is adopting the NACS, so starting soon, no adapter will be needed. All the major brands will soon follow the leader, and in no time, Superchargers will have lines of folks in Chevys, Fords, Jeeps, and (gasp) Toyotas in the long queue waiting for their chance to use the charging network that was once free and exclusively for Tesla buyers.

Tesla is led by a genius who has more business acumen than your author will ever dream of having. We are confident this won't end up a disaster for Tesla. Frankly, even if it does, Tesla may be disaster-proof. History has shown that when large automotive sector employers in important states do dumb things, the taxpayer ends up bailing out the company. If any company in history was ever too big to fail it is Tesla. 

If you are a Tesla owner, please post a comment under this story. Tell us how thrilled you are that a free-for-life service exclusive to just you and your fellow Tesla owners morphed into an expensive network anyone can use. We bet you can't wait to pay congestion fees. 

Image of 2024 Mustang Mach-E charging at Tesla Supercharger courtesy of Ford. Image of Chevy Bolt charging at Supercharger courtesy of Clair Sunspiral. 

John Goreham is an experienced New England Motor Press Association member and expert vehicle tester. John completed an engineering program with a focus on electric vehicles, followed by two decades of work in high-tech, biopharma, and the automotive supply chain before becoming a news contributor. In addition to his eleven years of work at Torque News, John has published thousands of articles and reviews at American news outlets. He is known for offering unfiltered opinions on vehicle topics. You can follow John on Twitter, and connect with him at Linkedin.