Competing fast charging standards are a major impediment to electric road trips. If Tesla’s vast Supercharger network could be used by other automakers’ EVs, it would do much to remove this roadblock. Elon Musk has discussed this possibility in the past, and at a recent press conference in Germany, he hinted that it may soon become a reality.

“Our Supercharger network is not intended to be a walled garden,” said Musk. “It’s intended to be available to other manufacturers if they’d like to use it. The only requirements are that the cars must be able to take the power output of our Superchargers, and then just pay whatever their proportion their usage is of the system. We’re actually in talks with some manufacturers about doing just that, and it will be exciting to share that news.”

“The general philosophy of Tesla is to do whatever we can to accelerate the advent of electric cars,” added the Ambassador of Electrification. “Electric cars…are really the key to a sustainable future. It’s incredibly important that we transition away from fossil fuels.”

Musk also praised his hosts for being “the world’s leader in solar power.” Germany generates so much solar energy that at times supply outstrips demand, and power must be sold to neighboring countries. The solutions? More electric cars to absorb and buffer that power. And of course, stationary storage.

Updated 9/28/2015 – 2:30PM EDT

Speaking at the Economy for Tomorrow Conference in Berlin, Musk hinted at one automaker that has recently expressed interest in sharing the Supercharger network.

“The CEO of one European car company, not a German car company, has approached us recently about doing exactly that, and we’re super supportive of anyone who wants to do that.”

Supercharging corridors Tesla plans to enable in 2016

Sources: Tesla, scope nieuws

Top Image: Jeff Cooper (CC BY 2.0)

