Tech 31 July 2026

Tesla opened its Superchargers for free to people fleeing the wildfires

Tesla made charging free at five stations around Bordeaux and four in Spain, inside the areas evacuated because of the wildfires. The measure runs at least until 5 August.

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People running from a wildfire rarely have time to think about battery percentage. That is the gap Tesla decided to plug: since midnight on 29 July, charging has been free at five Superchargers around Bordeaux — Arès, Bègles, Biganos, Bordeaux-Lac and Mérignac — and the measure holds at least until 5 August.

Where is Tesla charging free right now?

In France, at the five sites above, all inside or around the Gironde evacuation perimeter. In Spain, the company switched on the same waiver at stations in Castellón, Sagunto, Fuenlabrada and Majadahonda, in the areas under most pressure from the fires. There is no sign-up and no code: charging is simply not billed at those stalls while the measure lasts.

The idea did not come from head office. It started with a request from the Tesla owners’ club in France, which flagged drivers forced out of their homes without even time to plug the car in. It is one of those moments where evacuation logistics meet a very practical detail: an electric car on 15% battery and a queue of traffic leaving town is a genuine problem.

Does any of this reach Portugal?

Directly, no — no Portuguese stall is covered. Indirectly, yes, because plenty of Portuguese drivers take these roads in August, and because the same summer burning through the Gironde and Castellón has all of Portugal under warnings. The Gironde fire has already forced 220,000 people out, and charging networks have quietly become part of Europe’s civil-protection conversation.

The sceptical note is fair: gestures like this are also marketing, and Tesla knows it. But it is marketing that costs the company real money and solves a real problem for people on the road. Station status is on the official Tesla map.

By Oliver Grant

Image: Elliott Brown from Birmingham, United Kingdom / Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 2.0)

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