With General Motors about halfway through what was meant to be a do-over year on the electric vehicle front, one major intended perk for its EV owners has yet to materialize: access to the Tesla Supercharger network. GM indicated that owners would be able to use America's best fast-charging network sometime in spring 2024.
But summer starts tomorrow, and a high-level industry source with knowledge of the Supercharger rollout tells us that GM won't hit that target. However, the company is in the "final steps" of the integration, so access should be coming soon. Here's what happened.
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Supercharger Rollout Woes
Tesla has finally started opening up its Supercharger Network of fast chargers to other automakers. But right as the transition was picking up steam, Elon Musk fired almost all of the Supercharger team. That's cast doubt on the initial timelines, and automakers like Polestar have already announced that they won't hit their original target rollout date. GM targeted either "spring 2024" or "the first half of 2024," depending on who you ask. But spring ends tomorrow
The first thing to know is that the deadline wasn't entirely set by GM. It was actually Tesla that put "Spring 2024" on its website as the target date for Ford, Rivian, Polestar, Volvo and GM vehicles. But apparently, automakers themselves didn't know that was the timing until Tesla posted it publicly.
Even still, the company looked to be on track to deliver by the end of spring, something a GM spokesperson reaffirmed to InsideEVs on May 30. According to the source—who spoke to InsideEVs anonymously because they were not authorized to speak publicly on the process—that characterization was still accurate at the time.
"There were certain agreement-level details that needed to be finalized [and] couldn't be" in time, they noted as one of the many last-minute hurdles. The "last mile" of getting access rolled out took longer than anyone expected.
One potential (but obvious) wrench in the plan may have been Tesla firing its entire Supercharger team in April, then scrambling to re-hire some of them after the ramifications of that decision became apparent. Still, it's not immediately clear why the process has taken longer than expected. Our source declined to comment on those discussions.
The software part of the plan, however, is done. The next batch of companies has had extra time to work on integration compared to rivals like Ford and Rivian, and our source doesn't think GM EV owners will face the same validation, handshake and payment problems that some Ford and Rivian owners have had while using Superchargers.
The source added that GM has the adapters in stock and ready to send out, and that Tesla has uploaded all of the different automakers onto its app.
When Will GM EVs Have Supercharger Access?
Very soon, our source indicated—in the coming weeks, although they declined to give a specific timeline. "There are a lot of variables to work through," they said.
Tesla does not respond to requests for comment from the media. GM, however, sent InsideEVs the following statement:
"We are working as quickly as possible to open up access to the Supercharger Network for our customers and delivering a seamless charging experience is our priority. GM continues to expand charging infrastructure throughout North America, with GM drivers currently having access to more than 195,000 chargers. We believe that access to charging is the best way serve our customers and grow the EV market."
That work should pay off soon. When Supercharger access rolls out to GM EVs, we'll keep updating you on how to get adapters, how the charging process works and how our initial testing goes.
It sounds like GM has had time to get this right, so for the sake of a lot of new Blazer EV, Cadillac Lyriq and Equinox EV owners, here's hoping it's the smoothest rollout so far.
Contact the author: mack.hogan@insideevs.com
