Tesla has chosen to forego millions of dollars in public funding for the construction of Supercharger stations in California due to a payment system integration requirement.
As electric vehicle charging infrastructure continues to receive public funding at all levels of government, Tesla faced a particular condition in California’s Clean Transportation Program Rural Electric Vehicle Charging program, where it was vying for $6 million in funding for four large Supercharger stations with 420 charge points.
However, Tesla decided to withdraw its application due to the payment infrastructure requirements of the program. Some incentives mandate charging stations to have screens and credit card payment systems on the station to be eligible for funding, while Tesla has always managed all Supercharger payments via its mobile app, which streamlines the design of the Supercharger stalls and eliminates a possible point of failure.
See also: Tesla Officially Opens Supercharger Stations to Non-Tesla EV Owners in the US
Tesla’s Policy and Business Development Lead in California, Jennifer Cohen, sent a letter to the California Energy Commission (CEC) indicating that Tesla was unable to use the award due to “unnecessarily cumbersome payment infrastructure requirements,” but acknowledged the CEC’s visionary role in expanding California’s electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
The CEC also required 50% of the charge points to have Combined Charging System (CCS) connectors, but Tesla has already begun deploying its Magic Dock CCS adapter at Supercharger stations to facilitate non-Tesla electric vehicles.
Tesla’s decision not to adapt for this particular incentive to obtain federal funding comes as the company continues to expand its Supercharger network across the United States, and as the federal government prepares to distribute $7 billion in funding to electric vehicle charging infrastructure.
