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The UK is peppered with Tesla charging stations, with chargers dotted across the country to all points of the compass. There are around 880 Tesla Superchargers - these can charge a car very quickly - spread across 90 locations, and many more ‘Destination’ chargers; these may not be quite as quick at charging your car, but make up for this by being more common, being often found at hotels, theme parks, golf clubs and the like.

Superchargers are among the fastest EV charge points around, delivering electricity at up to 250kW (kiloWatt) - though 150kW Superchargers are more common. Destination chargers are much slower, at 7-22kW. And while Superchargers will often be located at motorway service stations and similar stop-off points, the clue is in the name for Destination chargers: these are found at places that are typically final destinations for drivers.

Yes and no. Teslas bought prior to 2 November 2018 got free Supercharging access, but since then the firm has supplied Supercharger ‘credits’ with new cars, with drivers having to pay for charges once these have been used up - although free Supercharging was reintroduced for people buying a new Model S or Model X between August 2019 to May 2020. Destination chargers are free to use, but there is typically an expectation that you will be a patron of the businesses at which they are located.

Historically, only Teslas have been able to use Superchargers. Tesla is opening the network up to EVs from other car makers, but at present this is only happening as a pilot scheme, with 158 chargers at 15 UK sites taking part in the trial. Similarly, some Destination chargers have a chargepoint that can be used by other EVs as long as they have a Type 2 charge port.

Using a Supercharger is easy if you’re a Tesla owner, as the chargepoint will automatically communicate with your car and your Supercharger account for a ‘plug and play’ experience. You can monitor how the charge is progressing either via the car’s infotainment screen, or the Tesla smartphone app. Non-Tesla owners will need to download the app, create an account and link a bank card to it if they want to use one of the open-access Superchargers that are part of the pilot scheme.

This depends on what type of charger you’re using, and how fast it is. The latest 250kW Superchargers can take a Model 3’s battery from 10-80% in around 30 minutes, or add roughly 170 miles of range in just a quarter of an hour. Destination chargers are significantly slower, with a 7kW charger taking 11 hours to fully recharge an EV with a 77kWh (kiloWatt hour) battery, for example.

As discussed above, Destination chargers tend to be free, while some Teslas came with free Supercharger use for life. Supercharger fees vary from unit to unit, but Tesla owners pay an average of £0.26 per kWh. Non-Tesla owners using the trial units will be charged £0.60 per kWh, though this is reduced for drivers who opt to pay £10.99 a month for a membership deal.