Tesla recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of its first Supercharger installation in Europe and commemorated the occasion by making the use of its superchargers on the continent free for a day. Now, in perhaps an even better commemoration, the electric vehicle company has received nearly $150 million from the European Union to expand its Supercharger network.
The Alternative Fuels Infrastructure Facility awarded 352 million euros (about $377 million) in grant money to clean energy transportation companies, with a whopping 44% of the total money going to Tesla (split between Tesla Italy and Tesla Poland), per InsideEVs.
Tesla Italy will install or replace 6,458 chargers capable of delivering 250 kilowatts each in 613 locations across 16 countries: Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Romania, Slovakia, and Sweden InsideEVs reported.
Tesla Poland will install or replace 740 equally powerful chargers in six countries: Croatia, Czechia, Greece, Hungary, Poland, and Slovenia.
"The numerous applications for AFIF funding received underline the transport industry's interest in pushing ahead with the switch to more sustainable transport," European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean said in a statement.
In the United States, Tesla's attempts to receive federal funding to expand its Supercharger network have been delayed and complicated somewhat by the fact that Tesla uses its own proprietary charging port — the North American Charging Standard — as opposed to the Combined Charging System port used by most other U.S. EVs. In Europe, however, Tesla does not have that same problem, as European Teslas use the CCS-2 charger that is standard there.
News of the deal left the commenters on InsideEVs in high spirits.
"It is money well spent. Tesla is pretty efficient at installing chargers and I presume that they are required to be available to all vehicles with CCS2," wrote one commenter.
"The Europeans are getting a real bargain, taking advantage of Tesla's mature design and in-house manufacturing efficiency," wrote another.
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