The first Tesla Supercharger station with a “Magic Dock” to allow non-Tesla electric cars to charge has been spotted in the US.
After opening its Supercharger network in Europe last year and indicating that it would do the same in North America by the end of the year, we were a bit disappointed when it didn’t happen.
However, we know that it is still imminent. It could really happen any day, or it might have already happened by way of a “soft launch.”
Unlike in Europe, where Tesla already uses the CCS connector, we knew that Tesla would have a tougher time opening its Supercharger network in North America because it uses its own proprietary connector in the market.
The move to open source its connector in an attempt to make it the new North American charging standard made the plan murkier late last year, but the automaker confirmed that it still plans to offer a CCS adapter at its charging stations to support non-Tesla electric vehicles.
We recently learned that Tesla’s solution is going to be deploying the “Magic Dock,” a new receiver for the Tesla charge connector on the Supercharger station.
When the Magic Dock is locked, the station can be used normally by any Tesla owner, but when it is unlocked through Tesla’s app, both the charger and the Magic Dock get pulled along with the Tesla Supercharger handle to become a CCS adapter – allowing it to be plugged into most electric vehicles.
Now a Redditor spotted what is likely the very first Supercharger station to feature the Magic Dock:
With a faceplate in the ground next to the charger, it looks like Tesla had just updated the Supercharger and is testing it with a Rivian R1T electric pickup truck.
Electrek reader Kenny sent us another picture with a close up of the Magic Dock:
The Supercharger is located in upstate New York – not too far from Buffalo, where Tesla is operating Gigafactory New York – a location used to build Supercharger stations, among other things.
Tesla hasn’t updated the information about this specific Supercharger station to disclose that it is open to non-Tesla EVs, as it appears to still be testing it.
Last week, Tesla and the White House have confirmed that the automaker will soon start to open “select” Supercharger stations to non-Tesla EV owners in the US and plans to double the size of its network to make 7,500 Superchargers available to all EVs by the end of 2024.
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