EVwire brief: More than 250 Tesla Supercharger stalls across 20 locations in Sweden are about to come online. Some have been fully built since 2023, sitting finished but powerless.
Locally, they've been called "ghost stations." Union sympathy actions from Seko, Elektrikerna, and Vision blocked electricity companies from connecting the stalls to the grid for the duration of IF Metall's strike against Tesla, Sweden's longest at 1,021 days.
The blockade lifts on Wednesday. Once connected, Tesla says the additions will expand its Swedish Supercharger network by more than 20%, to over 1,600 stalls at 100+ locations.
During the strike, Tesla expanded several of its existing Supercharger stations, including this site in Löddeköpinge, Sweden, which was upgraded to 20 V4 stalls. (Source)
"Now Tesla becomes like any other customer," Fortgens added. How quickly the stalls come online depends on local queues at the electricity companies, but for prepared stations, the connection work itself is quick.
"On Wednesday they will probably be there and screwing it in," said Mikael Pettersson, head of negotiations for Elektrikerna.
Tesla framed the end of the strike as a victory. In a media release, the company pointed to more than 90% of staff remaining through the conflict, over 40,000 cars delivered, and the Model Y finishing as Sweden's best-selling car in both 2023 and 2024 despite the unions’ blockades. Two new Tesla Centers opened in Jönköping and Kalmar during the strike, plus a flagship store and body shop in Stockholm.
Tesla Director of Charging Max de Zegher highlighted the negative effects of the unions’ Supercharger blockade on X back in 2024: (Source)
“August 19 is a big day for all electric car drivers throughout Sweden and tourists traveling with electric cars to our country. Tesla can start opening over 250 new charging stations in 20 locations from north to south, when the unions' blockade against the power supply is lifted.”
Tesla also accused the unions of having "limited all electric car drivers' access to fast charging and slowed down Sweden's electrification."
On collective bargaining, the company was direct: "Tesla Sweden and our employees have chosen to exercise our legal right not to enter into collective bargaining agreements [...] Since it is voluntary whether you want to be a member of a union or not, we believe that we meet the main points of the Swedish model."
To get around the unions’ blockade, Tesla connected some of its Supercharger stations to Megapack batteries. (Source)
Context:
The dispute began in October 2023 when IF Metall struck after Tesla refused to sign a collective bargaining agreement. In Sweden, roughly 90% of the labor market is covered by such agreements. Over 30 separate sympathy actions followed, blocking everything from license plate deliveries to postal service to Supercharger grid connections.
EVwire has tracked the conflict from the start. For the full background, see our Tesla Sweden strike timeline.
Source: Dagens Arbete, CarUp, Tesla press release. All quotes translated from Swedish.
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