• Electric vehicle drivers in New York, New Jersey and Pennsylvania will be majorly affected by the removal of dozens of Tesla Superchargers along the Interstate 95. 
• Applegreen Electric chargers will take their place. The two networks co-exist at some plazas. Going forward, they won’t be allowed to co-locate.
• Tesla offered better terms and upgrades. But NJTA awarded exclusive rights to Applegreen for the chargers at travel plazas along the Turnpike.

At a time when the U.S. desperately needs more EV chargers across its cities and highways, something bizarre happened over the weekend.

Tesla Charging said on X that the New Jersey Turnpike Authority (NJTA) asked it to decommission 64 Supercharger stalls along one of the busiest highway corridors in the Northeast. Starting June 2, those stalls will be replaced with chargers made by Applegreen Electric, according to an NJTA service advisory.

The move could be a setback for EV drivers in the region. The Turnpike, or Interstate 95, isn’t just vital for drivers in New Jersey. It’s a key artery for motorists in New York and Eastern Pennsylvania too. The Northeast is one of the fastest-growing EV markets in the U.S. and Tesla’s Supercharger network is ubiquitous in the area with arguably the best reliability and uptime. It’s now opening to non-Tesla EVs as more automakers adopt the Tesla-developed North American Charging Standard (NACS).

Here’s what Tesla said:

“NJTA’s decision to remove, rather than add, critical charging infrastructure is a setback for New Jersey’s EV adoption goals of 100% Zero-Emission New Car Sales by 2035. It removes Turnpike access to the most reliable (99.9% uptime), least congested (<1% waiters) and cost-effective (~30% lower $/kWh) charging.”

InsideEVs reached out to NJTA for a comment, but did not hear back at the time of publication.

Tesla says it’s been preparing for this outcome for years, by installing 116 Supercharger stalls off the Turnpike. Its onboard trip planner will now automatically reroute drivers to those locations. But it’s not just Tesla owners who’ll feel the impact. Drivers of non-Tesla EVs from Ford, GM, Rivian, Hyundai and others who’ve also been using these Superchargers will now be forced to use an alternative network that likely won’t match Tesla’s reliability.

 

Applegreen is an Irish company which operates travel plazas in the U.K., Ireland and the U.S.—many of which are on the NJ Turnpike. A few years ago, it won a bid to operate key travel plazas in New Jersey and also install charging stations at those locations. That agreement gave them the exclusive right for charging stations, as our pals from YouTube channel Out Of Spec Reviews have noted—meaning they would be the sole charge point operator at these locations. But by that time, Tesla had already massively invested in the region with its Superchargers.

Some of the Applegreen stations offer up to 400 kilowatts of maximum charging speeds and they also have Tesla-style NACS cables. But they appear to have far fewer stalls per charging station compared to Tesla Superchargers, which often have up to 12 dispensers and sometimes even more. Most Tesla fast chargers in the U.S. have 250 kW of maximum output, although the upcoming V4 dispensers are designed for a maximum 500 kW, though they haven’t hit the market yet.

The automaker apparently tried to negotiate with NJTA to allow its Superchargers to coexist alongside the new Applegreen stations. It offered what it called “above-market commercial terms,” including building Superchargers at every Turnpike service plaza and upgrading existing stalls so non-Tesla EVs could charge there too—something the company has been rolling out nationwide. Tesla argued that co-location—having chargers from multiple providers at a single site—eases strain on any one network and improves access for everyone. But NJTA seems to have rejected Tesla’s offer regardless.

“Tesla offers to have both NACS & CCS1 natively for these locations, eliminating the need for adapters and truly serving all EVs at each stall. Tesla offers to co-locate and advocates against exclusivity. Reliable chargers should be added, not removed.”

Some Reddit users claim the Applegreen Electric chargers are cheaper than Tesla Superchargers, citing a flat $0.35 per kWh rate. But that doesn’t hold up. A quick check on the Tesla and Applegreen apps shows Superchargers along the NJ Turnpike range from $0.20 to $0.45 per kWh depending on the time of day. Applegreen, on the other hand, varies from $0.35 to $0.59—meaning it’s actually more expensive, not less. Although the Superchargers cost marginally more during peak hours.

Over the past two years, I’ve used multiple charging stations along the NJ Turnpike. It’s always the non-Tesla ones that have caused troubles for me. At one station in Elizabeth near the Jersey Gardens Mall, there are a dozen Tesla Superchargers and a handful of Electrify America stalls. The EA chargers are frequently out of order, with long lines and wait times—though, to be fair, they’re improving. Nearby EVgo stations face similar reliability issues, even as they slowly get better.

Meanwhile, watching Tesla drivers pull in, charge and drive off effortlessly is undeniably enviable. That seamless experience is finally expanding to non-Tesla EVs too, thanks to the growing adoption of NACS plugs.

Here’s hoping the industry doesn’t make a habit of decommissioning functional chargers. EV chargers are critical infrastructure. The more, the merrier.

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