It's been a long time coming, but Tesla has finally begun to open up its Supercharger network to allow non-Tesla EVs to charge in North America. We traveled 100 miles to the Brewster, New York, Supercharger location to test the new "magic dock" interface on a 2022 Ford F-150 Lightning, shortly after Tesla enabled it.
Eight Tesla Supercharger locations in New York and two in California were outfitted with the magic dock upgrade and are open for use. More are expected to come online soon, but Tesla isn't providing information on where and when that will occur.
Owners of electric vehicles with CCS DC fast charge ports that want to access the magic dock Superchargers need to first download the Tesla app and enter a credit card for billing. From there they can check the map for locations and get directions.
As is the case with Tesla Supercharging for Tesla owners, the cost will vary from location to location. However, we found that all of the New York locations besides Red Hook are charging $0.49 per kWh, with Red Hook at $0.51, and Both California locations cost $0.52 per kWh.
Tesla Magic Dock Supercharger locations:
New York
- Brewster
- Red Hook
- Malta
- Hancock
- Verona
- Parish
- Batavia
- Fredonia
California
- Scott's Valley
- Placerville
But Tesla is also offering a membership that costs $12.99 per month which offers reduced rates. With the membership. all of the New York locations cost $0.39 per kWh and the California locations cost $0.42 per kWh.
As a comparison, we pay $0.31/ kWh (going up to $0.36/kWh on March 6th) on the Electrify America network with a $4/month membership fee.
Our Experience
Besides having trouble reaching the charge port with the short Supercharger cable, the charging session went off perfectly. Using the app is very simple, and the vehicle connected and began charging very quickly.
The CCS adapter becomes locked to the Tesla connector once a user enables a charging session from the app. Before that, the Tesla connector can be removed to charge a Tesla vehicle without any prior action. Once it's locked, the user has to push the connector forward into the dock slightly, and the connector with the adapter is then released.
To end a charging session you can either stop charging from the vehicle or from the Tesla app. You then simply press the connector lock tab to release it from the vehicle and holster it back into the Supercharger's port.
We charged the F-150 Lightning from 25% to 80% in multiple charging sessions and the charging rate started out at 125 kW and peaked at 128 kW before lowering to 115 kW at 80% state of charge. That's not as high a charge rate as we see with the Lightning on Electrify America or EVgo stations, but with such a flat charging curve from 25% to 80%, it would probably only take about 5 minutes longer to charge on a Tesla Supercharger than it does on the other networks.
Summary
The short cable is a big issue, one that we imagine Tesla is already planning to remedy one way or the other. Non-Tesla vehicles will often need to take up two Supercharger stalls because they will be plugging into the supercharger meant for the adjoining stall - and that's if they can get the cable to reach their charge port.
If it doesn't reach the inlet while parking within the stall, they will need to park diagonally and occupy two or three parking spots, which will likely cause frustration and possible confrontations with other users.
However, everything else went off perfectly and it was an overall very good charging experience.
So check out the video and let us know your thoughts on this topic. Are you happy to see Tesla finally begin to open access to other EV makes, or are you against the move because you believe the public charging experience for Tesla owners will suffer?
