Southern California — Ford and Rivian electric vehicle owners can now use Tesla Superchargers by using a simple adapter. But What do current Tesla drivers think of this? I spoke to three Tesla owners at giant Supercharger sites in Baker and Barstow, Calif. to find out.
Other EVs made by General Motors, BMW and Volkswagen will also gain access to Tesla superchargers by the end of 2024 or start of 2025. In 2025, most manufacturers will add Tesla’s NACS charge ports to their EVs so that adapters will no longer be necessary. By the way, NACS stands for “North American Charging Standard.”
I asked the following questions: How long does it take to charge your Tesla at a Supercharger?
“I think about 20-30 minutes but it really depends on how busy the chargers are,” said Anna Joy from Las Vegas.
“A maximum of about 30 minutes about,” said Sahib from Riverside, Calif.
“For today, it’s recommending about 15 minutes but I’ll probably go 20 just to get home,” said Jim from Orange County, Calif.
Have you ever had to wait in line to access a Supercharger?
“No, charging has never been an issue,” Jim answered. “That’s Tesla.”
“Not here in Barstow, but I will say smaller charging sites around Riverside or Orange County, I do have to wait about 15-20 minutes during peak hours,” Joy explained.
“Yes, I have had that,” Sahib said. “That was originally from a previous Tesla that we used to own. There were noticeably less chargers in our area but within six months another charger had opened up in Moreno Valley. Yeah, within a short period of time they had opened up another facility.”
How do you feel that Tesla Superchargers are being opened up to other EV owners such as Ford and Rivian?
“The Teslas come with one of those little attachments too in case we have to use those chargers over there,” Joy answered. “I’m actually really excited to have more electric cars have use of this because I think it will lead to more widespread electric vehicle use.”
“No, it’s not a concern,” said JIm. “There’s plenty of chargers out there and Tesla is going to keep growing their charging network. It’s not going to stop.”
“I think Tesla positioned themselves incredibly strategically,” Sahib explained. “Overall, I would say the experience charging with Tesla chargers is drastically better than using the other infrastructure. You can charge these cars on the other charging stations as well—it’s just not as fast and the up time, as far as I’ve seen, is lower. You can see those devices actually shut down. When these [Tesla] chargers are down, they seem to be back up within a short period of time. It seems they’ve got a dominance in the market.”
Do you have any other comments about Tesla Supercharging?
“I actually really appreciate my car because it has a longer range so I am able to make those trips from San Diego to Vegas,” Joy explained. “I think the only thing I could possibly ask for more at these type of charging stations would be more dog-friendly resources.”
“Because Tesla is so good about recognizing when and where they charging stations are…I can even see how many cars are waiting per charger at a current period of time,” Sahib said. “If I have the luxury of being able to wait a little bit and time myself out, it’s not as much of a concern. Relatively, if I was at a gas station, I wouldn’t be able to measure out if somebody would be available or not. But then again, you really don’t have the same issues.”
“The only thing I would say is, they need longer charging cables for the non-Tesla vehicles, because of where their charging connections are,” Jim answered. “I’ve already seen a lot of documentaries on that. Other than that, I don’t think it will be an issue. I think it will be great for everybody.”
Once again, Ford and Rivian EV owners can now use Tesla Superchargers with an adapter. More companies will be able to access Superchargers by the end of 2024 and beginning of 2025.
To find a Tesla Supercharger site near you, visit: https://www.tesla.com/findus.
Giant Tesla Supercharger site in Barstow, CA 
Teslas being charged near the Barstow Outlets 
Giant Tesla Supercharger site in Baker, CA 
Tesla’s NACS charging plug 
Teslas being charged