The business behind Tesla opening its Supercharger network: selling ‘memberships’
While I believe Tesla’s move to open its Supercharger network to other automakers is ultimately going to have a great impact on EV adoption, it is also a smart business move from Tesla.
Here’s the business behind Tesla opening its Supercharger network.
Tesla, to no fault of its own, has been using its Supercharger network as a moat in the North American EV market.
While most other automakers selling electric vehicles left the charging experience in the hands of third-party charging networks, Tesla built its own network, which is now widely recognized as the best, most extensive, and most reliable one.
It helped Tesla sell its electric vehicles and retain customer loyalty as Tesla owners would have a hard time going to another automaker and not being able to use the Supercharger network anymore.
However, Tesla never really intended to use the network as a moat. It simply happened as it developed its own charge connector early while the rest of the industry decided to go with the subpar CCS connector.
In 2022, Tesla ended up opening its charge connector, now known as NACS, to try to make it the new industry standard and North America. Over the course of the last year, all automakers ended up adopting the standard.
Ford was the first to get the ball rolling, and today, Ford EV owners are the first to get access to the Supercharger network. Soon, almost all EV owners in North America will be able to use the Supercharger network. First, with an adapter, but soon the NACS charge connector will be standard in all vehicles.
Tesla Supercharger Network becoming a business
It wasn’t long ago that Tesla wasn’t even charging Tesla owners for using the Supercharger network. It was purely a perk meant to create a better experience for Tesla owners.
As the fleet grew, Tesla naturally started charging for Supercharger usage.
Now that Tesla is onboarding Ford EV owners on the network, we are learning more about the business behind it and Tesla’s approach.
Unsurprisingly, Tesla is charging Ford EV owners differently than Tesla’s own EV owners. Looking at the costs at different charging stations in the US and Canada, it looks like Tesla is charging Ford EV owners about a 30% premium per kWh of charging at Superchargers on average.
That can get expensive really quickly.
Tesla offers a solution. Non-Tesla EV owners, like Ford’s EV owners, can pay a $13 per month Supercharging membership to pay the same price per kWh as Tesla owners:
It’s not a bad deal. If you use the Supercharger more than once a month, you’ll probably save money by having a Supercharger membership.
How popular is it going to be?
Electrek’s Take
There are currently over 2.5 million electric vehicles on US roads. Now, most of them are Tesla vehicles. So we can forget about the Supercharger membership for them.
But regardless, that number is expected to reach over 10 million vehicles by the end of the decade.
At that point, I can see Tesla selling Supercharger memberships to as many as 1 million EVs in North America alone. That would be a revenue of $13 million a month or $156 million a year, and that would likely only be a small fraction of its overall Supercharger revenues, which should be in the billions of dollars at that point.
I could see Tesla making over $1 billion a year in revenue just from non-Tesla EVs using the Supercharger network in North America by the end of the decade.
Globally, it should be three times that. Then, you include Tesla’s own EVs into the mix, and the Supercharger network is on a path to be a $10 billion business a year.
Last year, Wedbush estimated Tesla’s Supercharger network to be a $10 to $20 billion business per year by 2030.
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GM is recalling nearly 23,000 Chevy Equinox EV and Cadillac Optiq models due to a defect where the tire tread could fall off.
GM is recalling more Chevy Equinox EV models
In a letter sent to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), GM said it has decided to issue a safety recall for certain Chevy Equinox EV and Cadillac Optiq models from model years 2025 to 2026.
This time, it isn’t necessarily GM’s fault. The vehicles may be equipped with 21″ all-season tires that Continental Tire is recalling.
According to Continental, the tires were produced during the week of October 6, 2024, and may have a defect where the tire tread could partially or fully detach. The records show the defect is due to a nonconforming tread base rubber compound.
Owners of affected vehicles may notice unusual tread wear or bulging, vibration while driving, or tire noises. GM is unaware of any incidents related to the defect, but is issuing the recall out of an abundance of caution.
On September 18, 2025, GM inspected the assembly plant and confirmed there were no suspect tires in stock. The 21″ tires come standard on RS trims and are optional on LT1 and LT2 grades.
Although GM is recalling 22,914 Chevy Equinox EVs and Cadillac Optiqs, it estimates that only about 1% of them have the defect.
The recall includes:
- 2026 Cadillac Optiq: 214
- 2026 Chevy Equinox EV: 1,832
- 2025 Cadillac Optiq: 3,468
- 2025 Chevy Equinox EV: 17,400
GM dealers will check all four tires and replace them if needed, free of charge. Dealers were notified on October 16. Owner notification letters are expected to be mailed out on December 1, 2025.
You can contact Chevrolet’s customer service number at 1-800-222-1020 or Cadillac’s at 1-800-333-4223. GM’s recall number is N252525030. Owners can also call the NHTSA hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or visit the nhtsa.gov website for more information.
The Chevy Equinox EV is now the third best-selling EV in the US, trailing only the Tesla Model Y and Model 3. Meanwhile, Cadillac’s entry-level Optiq SUV is the fifth-most-popular luxury EV. The recall is minor and only affects a small percentage of models, so it’s not expected to have a major impact.
If you want to test one of them for yourself, we can help you get started. Check out our links below to find available Chevy Equinox EV and Cadillac Optiq models near you.
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In the Electrek Podcast, we discuss the most popular news in the world of sustainable transport and energy. In this week’s episode, we discuss Tesla’s earnings madness, Rivian layoffs, Ford pausing F-150 Lightning, and more.
The show is live every Friday at 4 p.m. ET on Electrek’s YouTube channel.
As a reminder, we’ll have an accompanying post, like this one, on the site with an embedded link to the live stream. Head to the YouTube channel to get your questions and comments in.
After the show ends at around 5 p.m. ET, the video will be archived on YouTube and the audio on all your favorite podcast apps:
We now have a Patreon if you want to help us avoid more ads and invest more in our content. We have some awesome gifts for our Patreons and more coming.
Here are a few of the articles that we will discuss during the podcast:
Here’s the live stream for today’s episode starting at 4:00 p.m. ET (or the video after 5 p.m. ET:
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Some Tesla Cybertruck owners thought they were victims of vandalism, but it turned out that it was just a factory defect.
Earlier this year, amid Elon Musk’s controversial involvement in politics, there was a noticeable surge in vandalism against Tesla vehicles, particularly Cybertrucks.
Therefore, it’s not too surprising to see some owners worried that they were victims of vandalism when strange inscriptions appeared on their electric trucks.
Earlier this week, a Tesla Cybertruck owner posted on a Cybertruck Facebook group:
Any ideas how to remove a hydrochromic paint? Some person vandalized my truck. It only appears when wet.
The owner shared images of what he believed was invisible ink being used to vandalize his truck:
Several other owners chimed in and confirmed that they weren’t alone with this issue.
However, it is not vandalism. It’s a problem with Tesla’s protective film at the factory.
Another Cybertruck owner, Christian Maciel, had the same issue. He brought it to the Tesla service and shared the technician’s report.
The report mentioned “other owners report different initials (‘MPS’, ‘BLT’, ‘WC’)” showing up on the B pillar when wet – confirming that it is a widespread problem.
The culprit is an imprint from the factory protective film. Tesla wrote in the report:
Technician inspected the driver-side B-pillar and verified the presence of a persistent mark (‘BVT’) that appears when wet, confirmed as residue from factory protective film. The issue was caused by residue left after the removal of the factory’s protective film. Technician replaced the left-hand B-pillar applique to address the issue. The fix was validated by ensuring the mark no longer appears when the surface is wet.
They had to fully replace the part:
Tesla Cybertruck had about a dozen safety recall since going into production two years ago.
However, there are many more non-safety defects that led Tesla to conduct large-scale service of the Cybertruck.
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