Tesla to build the world's biggest CCS-compatible Supercharger locations with Magic Docks

After being snubbed by Texas for EV charger subsidies, Tesla managed to win the proposed US$6.4 million in grants from the California Energy Commission for building four Supercharger locations, three of which are vying for the title of world's largest. The state's Clean Transportation Program Rural Electric Vehicle Charging project has awarded money to 17 out of 28 applications, and four of those belonged to Tesla:

• A 56-stall expansion in Baker, on the road to Vegas.
• New 100-stall Supercharger location near Willows in a "brownfield development located off Exit 603 along I-5"
• New 100-stall Supercharger place in Barstow at the Main Street exit off I-15.
• Record 164-stall Supercharger location in Coalinga.

The interesting part, besides the US$1.6 million per location that Tesla will be getting from the California Energy Commission, is that Coalinga is already home to a 98-stall Supercharger spot that is the current record holder. The new place for the world's largest Supercharger spot in Coalinga is tipped to be at the combined 160 parking spaces of a noodles joint and a Red Robin that are no longer operational.

For each of the new Supercharger locations, Tesla specifies that it will ensure at least 50% of the stalls to be compatible with the widespread CCS charging standard that other EV makers are using "as per the program requirements." While these are the conditions the California Energy Commission dispersed the grants on, Tesla may have an ingenious way to provide CCS connectivity at its own Superchargers called the Magic Dock. According to the schematics for the Magic Dock that leaked not long ago, these would simply be regular Supercharger stalls with a CCS adapter tacked on the Tesla connector.

This way, Tesla can both comply with California's Supercharger location funding conditions, and fulfil the requirements to provide access to its chargers to non-Tesla vehicles that are an integral part of the government's US$7.5 billion project for a nationwide cross-platform charging infrastructure buildout.

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