Follow us today...
Across Tesla groups on social media, Tesla owners are expressing frustration that non-Tesla brand EVs are now charging at “their” Supercharger network. In groups for other brands, people are reporting conflict with Tesla owners when they try to charge. Let’s start with a Tesla owner's post:
These folks with a charge port in the front don’t know which way or which stall to pull in. This idiot took up two stalls to charge her EV. SMDH (Smacking my - Head)
This post appeared in a Tesla vehicle group on Facebook. The person who posted it expressed frustration that a non-Tesla EV was parked in such a way as to gain access to the charging cable. Tesla Superchargers have extremely short charging cables. It was not a bad idea when they were originally rolled out. All Tesla vehicles had charge ports that these very short cables to reach. However, Tesla later opted to open up the Supercharger network. Now the other models from other EV brands have difficulty parking in such a way that the cables will work.
Tesla knows this is a problem and offers drivers the option to occupy two spots in order to charge. Tesla even offers diagrams and instructions (shown above) on how to do so. Still, Tesla owners are upset because they feel this is somehow the fault of the non-Tesla owner. Here’s what some fellow Tesla owners said in response to the original post. First, some Tesla owners who share the irritation and outrage that their special chargers are being used by the unwashed masses:
CD - “Auto manufacturers knew their customers would be using Tesla chargers (for 2025+ models anyway) and they still chose to put the port on the wrong side.”
SJ - “Any EV besides Tesla is a joke anyway.”
JS - “Had someone do this in Louisville Ky at a charger. Very nicely, I mentioned to them about blocking multiple chargers. They could’ve cared less.”
PP - “That guy needs to be educated in charging. What a (expletive deleted).”
RB - “Tesla should make a mandatory video regarding charging and parking etiquette that needs to be watched when signing up to be charged on the Tesla grid.”
SB - “They should be grateful that Tesla let them use a Tesla charger.”
Now, a few comments from Tesla owners who see the situation in a different light.
BI - “They’re told to park "over the line" by Tesla and take up two spots. I'm surprised this isn't widely known yet.”
RD - “How do you suppose the driver could have parked? The cables aren’t long enough for the driver to back in and plug it in, nor could the driver pull in the opposite way to plug in correctly.”
In a Mustang Mach-E group, an owner shared that he was insulted by a Tesla owner simply because he had the nerve to charge at a Supercharger. He posted:
Had my first extremely upset Tesla driver who demanded I leave because their chargers are for their cars! It got pretty heated. He even called the cops, and the cop put him in his place. The Tesla owner even began to mock my “Piece of (expletive deleted) Ford Mustang Mach-E!
A fellow Mach-E owner had a very good explanation from one point of view on why Tesla owners are upset. He posted, “Not acceptable behavior, but I do get their frustration. They were sold this elite Tesla dream where they would get access to a private network of chargers that only their cars would work for. All of a sudden, the private club went public and they have to wait in line. You’d think they would remain civil, but they did get screwed. Imagine paying top dollar for a private country club and not being able to get a tee time because they opened it up to any yahoo with a hundred bucks to play 18. You’d be pretty angry too.”
Indeed, when the Tesla Supercharger network and Tesla vehicles were still new, Elon Musk and Tesla promised Tesla shoppers that the Superchargers would not only be for them exclusively, but that charging would be free. That later changed, of course, and Tesla ended free charging. We covered that change and said that Tesla had created a “second class of Tesla owners.”
Our Own Experience Charging Non-Tesla Vehicles at Tesla Superchargers
As our readers know, we test over 100 new vehicles for weeks at a time each year here at Torque News. We’ve had great success charging at Superchargers in non-Teslas, just as we have had success charging non-Fords at the Ford Blue Oval Network of DC chargers. The difference is that the Tesla Superchargers are not all compatible with non-Teslas. Only some are. Also, you have to use the dedicated Tesla app to make it go smoothly. Many DC chargers we have used in public take a credit card swipe, which sure saves time if the charging stop was unplanned.
Indeed, we did have trouble parking in just one space. We needed more than just one space to successfully charge the Hyundai Ioniq 5 Limited in the image we posted above. It has an NACS charge port, which is a very helpful plus. However, as discussed, the Tesla cable is too short for practical use. So we took a little more than a single space and crowded the one next to ours. In our charging experience, most Tesla Superchargers in our Metro Boston area are empty during work hours. So nobody batted an eye when we needed two of the dozen or so stalls to get the car charged up. Plus, we only occupied the space for about 20 minutes.
Charging Will Change - For the Better
More and more DC chargers are opening up every day. California brags that it has more DC charge points than gas pumps. Couple this with the fact that EV market share has gone from around 8 percent to under 6 percent in recent months, and it appears we will be increasing chargers a lot faster than the small minority of EV shoppers are taking new EVs. Also, Tesla is well aware that it messed up the Supercharger cable lengths and is planning to replace them with ones of appropriate length.
What do you think? Are Superchargers for everyone, or are Tesla owners entitled to have them just for themselves? Our comments section is very lonely. Please drop a comment and tell us your experiences charging.
Image Notes: Top of page image by John Goreham. Image of Tesla Supercharger instructions and diagram courtesy of Tesla, Inc. Image of Ford charging at a Tesla Supercharger courtesy of Ford. Image of Chevy Bolt charging used with the permission of Torque News reader James H.
John Goreham is the Vice President of the New England Motor Press Association and an 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. He is a member of the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE int). In addition to his fourteen 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 connect with John on LinkedIn and follow his work on his personal X channel or on our X channel. John employs grammar and punctuation software when proofreading, and he sometimes uses image generation tools.
Follow us today...
