NJ Turnpike Authority drops Tesla in favor of universal EV chargers
The universal chargers work with all makes and models of EV and will be installed in all 21 Turnpike Authority service areas.
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The New Jersey Turnpike Authority is dropping Tesla charging stations on the NJ Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway in favor of universal chargers.
Starting June 6, service areas on the New Jersey Turnpike will begin transitioning fully to Universal Open-Access EV chargers. This will be in effect at the Vince Lombardi, Woodrow Wilson, Richard Stockton, James Fenimore Cooper, Joyce Kilmer, and Walt Whitman service areas. The chargers are expected to be operational at Molly Pitcher in July and at Clara Barton and John Fenwick this fall.
Motorist Saranya Subramony isn't sold on the universal charger just yet.
"The time for which it gets charged is pretty quick than if we go for the universal one, there’s a difference of how it’s getting charged, so that even affects how we plan our trips," Subramony said.
A spokesperson for Tesla issued a statement on X about the announcement.
"The New Jersey Turnpike Authority has chosen a sole third-party charging provider to serve the New Jersey Turnpike and is not allowing us to co-locate. As a result, NJTA requested 64 existing Supercharger stalls on the New Jersey Turnpike to not be renewed and decommissioned."
[twitter] https://twitter.com/TeslaCharging/status/1928498999549637029 [/twitter]
"Tesla had a license agreement to provide Tesla superchargers in eight Turnpike service areas. That license agreement has expired,” a spokesperson for the Turnpike Authority wrote in part.
Applegreen Electric is the company behind the universal chargers. They are not a new partner for the Turnpike Authority. The company already operates restaurants and travel marts on the Turnpike and Parkway. EV chargers were added in 2023 to the partnership.
Motorists impacted by this change say that it is still too early to tell how they will be impacted.
Driver Karen Krimin says will be back at the Joyce Kilmer next time she needs a charge.
"I’m going to try that one tomorrow, because I come home from Millstone, I come on the Turnpike every day,” she says. “So this is convenient for me to go here instead of going to Carteret.”
The universal chargers work with all makes and models of EVs and will be installed in all 21 Turnpike Authority service areas.
