Ahead of promised availability in the US, Tesla has started offering CCS adapters to its car owners in South Korea. The long-awaited move was announced without much fanfare or explanation as to why it was happening at this precise point in time, with South Korean Tesla owners joining those in Europe in being able to easily access non-Tesla charging stations.
Quoted by Autoweek, European buyers have had this option for a while compared to those in North America—European-market Teslas now use CCS connectors. But its arrival in the US as an official Tesla item is still on the horizon, dengan Tesla hanya menunjukkan bahwa itu akan tiba di Amerika Utara “segera.” Jika harga di Korea Selatan merupakan indikasi, such an adapter can be offered for approx $255 or approx 3,7 million rupiah.
This adapter cannot be equated with (or purchased with confidence) that this adapter will allow non-Tesla EVs to charge at Supercharger stations in the United States. The device is still not offered by the automaker, although CEO Elon Musk indicated earlier this year that it would come later in the year 2021.
The debut times for both types of adapters are believed to be close for a number of reasons, including the fact that third-party stations have grown in number to the point where they will offer additional flexibility to Tesla owners, while the number and variety of non-Tesla EVs has begun to reach the point where opening up the Supercharger network to other brands may make sense for Tesla now that the case for excluding other EVs has diminished.
Tesla has used its own connector as a selling point for most of its existence and it continues to be a purchasing factor for Tesla buyers. But as the number of non-Tesla EVs has grown, there is hope that connector standards will eventually enable interoperability, because Tesla owners may become a minority in the future.
The second type of adapter that allows non-Tesla EVs to use Tesla Superchargers could pose some technical hurdles of its own, as non-Tesla EVs may require software to allow them to connect to Tesla Supercharger stations, and could be a process that may need to occur on a brand-by-brand basis.
Depends on when both types of adapters arrive, these events should serve to promote EV ownership overall now that the number of third-party stations is starting to swell, compared to roughly half a decade ago.
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