Tesla sells first European fast chargers to third party

EV market leader Tesla will expand the European footprint of its fast-charging technology after the Elon-Musk led firm struck a deal with UK-based filling station firm EG Group to supply its ultra-fast chargers to EG’s charge point network throughout the UK and continental Europe.

EG expects the first of the Tesla charging units to be installed before the end of the year and says that the hardware will be branded as EG’s Evpoint charging network, not Tesla.

The chargers will support the plug and charge protocol, allowing the vehicle to charge with the only user step being to plug in the connector. EG also says that the hardware will be usable on EVs of all makes.

EG Group has installed EV chargers at more than 20 trial sites across the UK and Europe as part of its Evpoint business, and the company says it has “earmarked a broader rollout across many hundreds of our sites through to 2026”.

“Securing this best-in-class equipment from Tesla marks another milestone for Evpoint and is hugely exciting for us. It is the first deal of its kind entered into by Tesla with a third-party charge point operator in Europe and will transform how our customers charge their vehicles,” says Zuber Issa, co-CEO of EG.

“We have made significant progress to date on EV charging, with more than 600 chargers across 189 sites already deployed and a pipeline prepared with an ambition for Evpoint to roll out more than 20,000 chargers across c.3,600 of our own sites over time with opportunities across third party locations also being pursued,” adds Imraan Patel, CBO at the firm.

From Tesla’s side, the move follows the recent purchase of Tesla fast chargers by oil and gas heavyweight BP for installation at US sites in its BP Pulse network. In both cases, BP and now EG will integrate the Tesla hardware into their pre-existing network and will be the owner-operator of the chargers.

To this point, Tesla’s charging business has mostly been based on its own-brand network, within which the automaker owns and operates the hardware. But Tesla says it is open to further deals in the mould of the two recent decisions to sell its hardware.

“The rapid installation of reliable, easy-to-use EV charging infrastructure is the right step towards a sustainable future and a key area of focus for us at Tesla. For this reason, we are excited to make our fast-charging hardware available for purchase to EG Group, and other leaders in the space,” says Rebecca Tinucci, Tesla's senior director of charging infrastructure.