New Jersey Turnpike to replace Tesla chargers after contract expires
The agency that runs the New Jersey Turnpike is replacing the more than 60 superchargers for Tesla vehicles along the highway after the state did not renew its contract with the electric-car maker.
New Jersey officials said in a statement Friday that the state would shift to another company that would provide universal charging stations. The change, already underway, will almost triple the number of charging stations along the turnpike and the Garden State Parkway, a second major toll road, where chargers are being added for the first time.
The decision drew an apparently irked response from the company's CEO, Elon Musk. "Sounds like corruption," he wrote Friday night on his social media platform, X, without providing any evidence. Musk did not immediately respond to a request for comment Tuesday.
Thomas Feeney, a spokesperson for the New Jersey Turnpike Authority, which operates the highways, said that the decision was both about increasing the number of stations and providing chargers that were compatible with more than just Tesla vehicles. "Our goal is to serve as many EV owners as possible across all our service areas," he said.
The state has amended its agreement with Applegreen, an Irish company that already manages restaurants and stores in the turnpike's service areas, to include its new line of fast charging stations to replace the Tesla equipment and build new stations elsewhere.
In a message posted Friday to X, Tesla said it would continue to offer its superchargers in New Jersey. "We have been preparing for 3 years for this potential outcome by building 116 stalls off the New Jersey Turnpike, ensuring no interruption for our customers," said the post, which included a map of the charging stations.
Tesla, known for its network of 30,000 superchargers across the country, plans to update its stations to make them more accessible to other EVs. (It offered to perform certain upgrades to its superchargers on the New Jersey Turnpike, according to its X post). But last year, it was reported that those plans began to stall because of software delays and hardware shortages. At the same time, Tesla sales started to plummet, in part, according to some business analysts, because of Musk's involvement with the Trump administration.
Despite its financial stumbles, Tesla continues to dominate in the American EV market -- it still accounts for 44% of electric car sales. But as its share of car sales continues to decrease while other EV makers slowly make gains, charging companies are also expanding their charging networks to meet demand.
But they are doing so during a time of crucial technological changes. Those changes could soon affect EV drivers, said Seth Leitman, an EV expert and author who previously worked for New York state on green vehicle and transport programs.
"We're going to find out really soon if there's going to be a charging problem on the highways," he said, referring to a growing hodgepodge of charging networks across the country and the EVs that depend on them.
The problem, he said, involves an industry in transition.
In recent years, Tesla's superchargers, which can fully power a car in about an hour, have eased so-called range anxiety -- fear of running out of power while on a long-distance trip -- among Tesla drivers. Until recently, other EV drivers did not have such reassurances.
But in 2023, other major automakers decided to embrace a new, uniform charging technology, with the idea that all electric vehicles could use it, called the North American Charging Standard. The standard was developed by Tesla, with the greater idea being that eventually, all EVs would be able to plug in at any charging station, including Tesla locations.
Last year, electric-car makers started to install new ports in vehicles using this new technology. But the corresponding charging units have been slow to come online. Tesla stations are still working out kinks in allowing other brands of EVs to use them. And charging stations run by other companies, like EVgo, continue to offer mostly older technology for older cars, Leitman said.
In New Jersey, Applegreen will offer both old and new charging options at its stations.
The transition to a uniform charging standard will take years, Leitman said. He advised EV drivers to buy adapters if they did not have them. This way, their cars will be compatible with both old and new chargers, which will help cut down on possible wait times at stations.
New Jerseyans and other drivers should expect to see 21 fast charging stations on two of its major tolled thoroughfares, with nine along the Garden State Parkway and 12 along the turnpike, by the end of next year, Feeney said. Six of them are already available on the turnpike, with three more coming online by this fall. Two service areas on the parkway now offer fast chargers.
Tesla drivers can use them too, he added.
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