EVwire Brief: Pilot J and Tesla announced they'll build charging sites for heavy-duty electric trucks together. These will be located at Pilot J's premium truck stops initially across five states, feature 1.2MW per stall, and four to eight stalls per site.
Construction of Tesla's Semi Chargers will begin in the first half of 2026 at select Pilot travel centers planned across California, Georgia, Nevada, New Mexico and Texas.
Are these sites open to other manufacturers?
Good question, two answers.
Dan Priestley, lead of the Semi program at Tesla, replied on X:
"Other EVs will be able to use these assuming they're equipped with MCS and ensure interoperability with charging equipment."
Yet in the Pilot J press release, they write:
"This network will initially focus on providing charging infrastructure for Tesla’s Semi trucks. In the future, it may be expanded to be compatible with heavy-duty electric vehicles from other manufacturers."
Either way, MCS is the name of the game.
Jason Gies from the Tesla Semi team lays out the key points of the sites:
Premium Pilot Flying J truck stops drivers already use
Megawatt-scale charging for truck + trailer
Built for regional and long-haul freight
Designed to scale as fleets scale
Dan Priestley, Semi lead at Tesla, says:
