Tesla has started selling its charging stations at Best Buy in the US amid trying to make its charge connector the new standard in North America.
Earlier this month, Tesla surprised many by announcing that it is opening its EV charge connector with the aim of making it the new standard in North America.
The automaker is challenging the CCS connector, which has been adopted by virtually all other automakers selling vehicles in North America, in the hope that its sleeker and more powerful design will win by force of sheer numbers.
Tesla dominates the EV market in America to such a degree that even though all other automakers currently selling EVs on the market are using the CCS connector, there are still more EVs in North America using the Tesla connector, now known as the North American Charging Standard (NACS).
The Supercharger network is also undoubtedly the best and most extensive DC fast-charging network in the market.
All of that, on top of a clearly more efficient design, are strong points for Tesla’s connector, which still faces quite an uphill battle as it would need to be adopted by other automakers – aka competitors to Tesla.
Now Tesla has started selling its charging stations with both its own connector and the J1772 connector (part of the CCS family) at Best Buy in the US.
While Tesla has had deals with distributors in the past, they have been mostly through installation services.
It’s the first time that Tesla is selling its charging stations through a large direct-to-consumer retailer like Best Buy.
The automaker is offering two products at Best Buy:
The prices are the same as they are on Tesla’s own website: $550 for the station with the J1772 connector, and $400 for the station with the Tesla connector.
The move to sell through a third-party retailer could be an attempt to show that the company is not trying to own the entire distribution of the charging stations.
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