Tesla Superchargers Found To Be ‘Illegal’ In Germany
Tesla Superchargers that can be used by non-Teslas have been considered “illegal” in Germany.
Tesla has faced a few issues in Germany recently especially with the FSD/Autopilot terminology arguments. This unfortunately was not the last problem the EV maker would face in Germany, as Superchargers for Teslas as well as other EVs have been deemed “illegal” as they do not have a kWh counter.
The extensive global network of Superchargers has been expanding rapidly over the last year. Tesla started a pilot programme in November 2021 of ten Supercharger stations in the Netherlands for Teslas as well as other electric vehicles. When Tesla announced the programme, they explained that they were planning on extending this to other areas depending on how successful it was.
Come January 2022, Tesla revealed that they were bringing more of these stations into Norway and France. A month later, the programme was in all Supercharger stations in the Netherlands. The pilot scheme is now also in some stations in the UK, Spain, Belgium, Austria, Sweden, Denmark, Finland, Switzerland, Luxembourg and Germany.
Opening up the Supercharger stations to enable non-Tesla EVs to charge up there means that Tesla have to comply by slightly different rules in some countries, this is why it has become an issue in Germany.
German business newspaper, Handelsblatt, reported that the Supercharger’s are “illegal” due to not having a kWh counter. They said (translated from German):
“Every charging station at which charging current is billed according to kilowatt hours must comply with calibration law in Germany , i.e., have a meter that precisely measures the charged current. This applies to public space, but also to company and private premises.”
Usually, customers use the Tesla app to keep track of the charging sessions and the Supercharger stations do not have screens to show this like a conventional petrol/gas station would have. Head of Bavarian State Office for Weights and Measures, Thomas Weberpals, explained that it is down to Tesla to rectify the issue by fitting the screens at the stations, which Tesla are reportedly going to do.
