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The Tesla supercharging destinations open to all

Earlier this year Tesla opened up 15 of its UK supercharging network destinations to non-Tesla vehicles.  These offer DC charging at rapid and ultra-rapid rates (150 or 250 kWh) through CCS.  EV Expert Lewis went to investigate with a VW ID.4 which can charge at 125kWh at our “local” in Wokingham (RG41 5DG).  Here’s our top tips and findings.

You need to download the Tesla app from your android play or apple app store onto your phone, which is free of charge.  Once you have created a Tesla account, the app lists which charging stations you can use (choose “non-Tesla”) or “enable location” and it will find the nearest to you.  You then need to add a payment method/billing address and you’re ready to charge.

Once at one of the fifteen you can use any of the chargers, but the cables are short and so you need to get really close.  In some EVs you might need to be creative with your parking.  It did take a couple of attempts to get the charger, car and app to sync and we didn’t reach ultra rapid speeds, but it was minus 5 degrees and all sixteen units were in use.  We did get to 50kWh within a couple of minutes.

We paid 57p/kWh because we were there before 4pm.  Between 4pm and 8pm the charge is 77p/kWh, with discounts available if you join as a member.

The app also details the facilities available at each of the sites, but we didn’t find this 100% accurate.  For example, at Wokingham it stated there would be toilets, WiFi and refreshments and in fact it was a car park with a nearby DoubleTree by Hilton hotel.

In England you can use the stations at the Eurotunnel terminal in Folkestone, at shopping centres Lakeside in Grays and Trafford in Manchester and at dedicated sites in Banbury, Birmingham (St Andrews), Thetford, Trumpington (near Cambridge), Uxbridge, Wokingham and Flint Mountain in Chester.

In Scotland they can be found in Berwick (Adderstone), Dundee and Aviemore.  In Wales at Aberystwyth and Cardiff.  There are destinations available in France too.

The Tesla supercharging destinations are open 24/7, are well lit, and in our experience, busy.  They might be conveniently located for your EV adventures so why not contact us today to understand which EVs work best at these facilities.