Tesla gets $160 million in EU funding to expand its Supercharger network in 22 countries

The European Union (EU) is providing €352 million ($378 million) in funding to support green transport infrastructure, and Tesla will get a large chunk of that money. The company's Polish and Italian divisions will receive a total of €148.72 million ($159.64 million) to install or upgrade 7,198 Superchargers across 22 countries, according to the EU's list of projects.

"The project aims at deploying 6,458 recharging points (250 kW) for LDV in 613 locations in 16 countries (AT, BE, BG, DE, ES, FI, FR, IE, IT, LV, LT, LU, NL, RO, SK, SE) along the Core and Comprehensive Network. The project foresees both the deployment of new recharging stations and the replacement of existing outdated recharging points not satisfying the requirement of the call in terms of recharging capacity and open-accessibility," the Tesla Italy project description reads. It states the same for Poland's Tesla division, while adding an additional six nations (CZ, EL, HR, HU, PL, SI).

Proposals for the project had an April 13, 2023 deadline, and the EU just announced the successful bids. It appears to cover a large chunk of Europe, but there are no details on a breakdown of new stations or upgrades yet. Much of the funding could go toward updates to Tesla's Supercharger V4, which offers a power output of 350 kW — up from the last model's 250 kW.

Tesla recently celebrated its 10,000th individual Supercharger connector in the EU, and counts 875 stations in total. The following is a breakdown for the top countries: Germany (143), France (123), the UK (100), Norway (95), Sweden (65), Italy (59), Spain (50), the Netherlands (39), Austria (27) and Switzerland (27).

It's a large percentage of funding for one company, but the EU's decision seems logical. Other car companies including Ford, GM, Volvo and Mercedes have said they'll switch to Tesla's North American Charging Standard (NACS) port, and struck deals with the company to use its Superchargers — meaning a lot of drivers will be able to access Tesla's network. Early in 2021, Tesla opened up its network to all EV users at select Superchargers in the Netherlands, France and Norway.

The EU greenlit 26 projects in total, with most dedicated to EV charging points but several relating to hydrogen refueling stations for heavy duty and other types of vehicles. "Our investment of €352 million will translate into approximately 12,000 charging points, 18 hydrogen refueling stations, and the electrification of ports and airports, including the port of Rotterdam and 37 Spanish airports," said European Commissioner for Transport Adina Vălean.