Swedish union’s refusal to activate Tesla Superchargers under investigation

Recent reports have emerged stating that Sweden’s Energy Market Inspectorate is currently investigating if the country’s electricity companies are not violating any laws by blocking Tesla Superchargers from being connected to the grid.

Tesla Superchargers and sympathy strikes:

• IF Metall’s strike against Tesla Sweden has been ongoing since late October 2023. 
• While Tesla Sweden has been able to find workarounds for several of the unions’ protests and blockades, some sympathy measures from IF Metall’s allies have caused headaches for Tesla Sweden.
• The most notable of these is the sympathy strike from the Electricians’ Union, which resulted in the activation of new Tesla Superchargers being blocked. These include Superchargers that are already completed and ready to be activated.
• This resulted in an incident earlier this month when electric vehicle owners ended up waiting in long lines for available Superchargers across Sweden. This was despite Tesla Sweden having more than 100 Supercharger stalls ready to be activated.
• In Sweden, Tesla Superchargers are used not just by Tesla owners, but by drivers of non-Tesla electric vehicles as well.

The investigation:

• As per previous reports, local energy companies typically deny the connections of installations like EV charging stations due to issues like lack of network capacity or other “specific reasons.”
• It remains to be seen if the unions’ protests against Tesla Sweden qualify as “specific reasons.”
• Jerker Sidén, an analyst at the Energy Market Inspectorate, noted that the agency currently has an “ongoing review case in this matter,” as stated in a CarUp report.
• Sidén also noted that the Inspectorate is looking into whether electricity companies are obliged to activate Tesla’s completed Superchargers.
• The analyst estimated that the investigation into the matter may be completed in early 2025.
• “The Electricians’ Association as such does not commit any crime by taking sympathy measures. This is because we don’t really have any supervisory responsibility towards them. On the other hand, the electricity network companies in Sweden are covered by regulations that fall under our supervisory responsibility. One of these provisions is that the grid companies have an obligation to connect facilities to their electricity grids upon request unless there are special reasons.
• “There are also provisions that the connection must take place within a reasonable time. However, there is relatively little guidance as to what this type of special reason could be and we have not previously decided a similar issue, which means that we cannot currently answer whether the regulations are followed or not,” Sidén noted.

The unions’ stance:

• Mikael Pettersson, head of negotiations at the Electricians’ Union, maintained that its sympathy measure against Tesla Superchargers will continue until further notice or until IF Metall secures a collective agreement with the electric vehicle maker. 
• “IF Metall has requested sympathy measures for its endeavor to sign a collective agreement for its members at Tesla’s company in Sweden. The Swedish Electricians’ Union organizes the installation industry for electricians and works daily with signing collective agreements with employers who employ electricians. It is one of the cornerstones of a functioning labor market model, which has been in place since 1906. The hope is that Tesla’s Swedish company signs a collective agreement with IF Metall as soon as possible,” Pettersson noted.

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