I always assumed they would charge non Teslas more? Seems like a bad biz model to screw their own customers when literally going forward their SC network is the only real moat. Can’t imagine the loss of goodwill from loyal customers could be overcome by charging revenue
Elon has always said moats are lame. That it's lame for a company to construct moats around them to ward off competition.
The kind of "moat" that Elon can stand behind is that of offering superior value. Tesla has a very real technological lead and, probably more significant, a substantial advantage in terms of efficiency of manufacture. They can make higher quality cars for less money than legacy auto can. That's why they have nearly 30% profit margins while most legacy auto makers struggle to get 10% margins on ICE cars and to break even on EV's. That is Tesla's moat, the pricing power those high margins allow. If Tesla ever has trouble selling every car they produce, they can simply lower the price so they only have 20% margins. Or, lower prices further so they only have 10% margins like most legacy automakers get for ICE cars, Tesla can make up the difference on the high volumes those kinds of margins would allow. But Tesla has to continue expanding production before they can utilize that pricing power to increase their sales volume. Efficiency matters more than legacy auto knows.
We have been hearing about how "the competition is coming" since 2018 (and even before) but it still hasn't come. The competition is still ICE cars because legacy manufacturers are selling EV's at below cost just to get the Emissions Credits from them. That's not competition because they lose money on every EV they sell. It's not sustainable even at the low volumes they sell EV's at now. What kind of competition is that? Legacy auto is fat and lazy and they waste your money every time you buy their over-priced wares. They even force you to pay for expensive Superbowl ads and glossy color ads in magazines when you buy their products. They have corporate structures loaded with highly paid managers and executives twiddling their thumbs and having excessive meetings and basically doing little of value. Yet you have to pay for all that inefficiency every time you buy their overpriced junk. Their EV's are not real competition because they can't move high volumes, even when priced at a loss!
And if you think all of that is eye-opening, just realize that Tesla is not done learning new ways to make better cars for less. The gap is widening, not falling. Tesla doesn't need an exclusive Supercharger Network to compete with fat, lazy automakers who couldn't innovate themselves out of a cardboard box. They are pitiful at competing with Tesla and the release of Cybertruck next year will make that even more clear. Tesla was supposed to be bankrupt by 2020 because multiple manufacturers were coming out with superior EV's, but here we are in 2022 and we have seen the EV "competition" and it's no competition at all.
Opening the Supercharger Network to other brands is not bad for Tesla owners, it's actually a huge boon. Because the increased volume of charging customers will allow Tesla to not only install more stalls than they otherwise would have to install to keep up with the growing size of the Tesla fleet, but they will also install Superchargers in increasingly rural locations which will expand the charging opportunities for all Tesla owners as well. That is the power of an ever-increasing fleet size. I say, welcome the Ford's, GM's, Nissan's, VW's Kia's and the rest with open arms! The more the merrier. I've never had to wait for a Supercharger but I have wished they had even more numerous locations in rural areas. Those more rural stations will now pencil out sooner with an expanding fleet of fast charging customers.
The party is just getting going. Come one, come all!
