(Yicai Global) April 25 -- Tesla will start to allow other electric vehicle marques to use its EV charging network in China to encourage more people to buy electric cars and to consolidate its dominance in the charging field, the US new energy vehicle startup said today.

Some 10 super-charging stations and 120 normal ones will be made available in the first instance, a company insider told Yicai Global. At present, the California-based firm operates 1,600 super-charging stations and 700 regular ones in major cities across the country.

“The move will help make the EV maker’s charging standards become the norm in China as obviously the more they are used, the more profitable the business, the more stations will be built and the more widespread the network will become,” said Zhang Junyi, partner at US management consulting firm Oliver Wyman.

The super-charging stations that are being made available to non-Tesla EVs are mainly located in downtown business districts and shopping areas in Beijing and Shanghai, which have a strong concentration of NEVs, while the other charging stations are spread across 50 cities and regions in Beijing and Shanghai as well as the eastern province of Jiangsu and Guangdong province in the south, he said.

Those vehicle owners who wish to use Tesla’s charging services can locate the facilities nearest to them by downloading the Tesla app, the person said.

Tesla has extended the use of its charging services to non-Tesla vehicle owners in 18 countries and regions since the carmaker first started to set up a worldwide network in November 2021.

But the EV giant has not expanded the client base of its charging services in the mainland until now. “Tesla has not granted wider access to its charging services mainly out of safety considerations as Tesla’s charging technology needs to match with non-Tesla vehicles’ in-car battery management systems,” Global Vice President Tao Lin said earlier.

Editors: Tang Shihua, Kim Taylor