Nissan and BMW are reportedly interested in discussing with Tesla the possibility of creating charging networks for vehicles of all three automotive manufacturers.
Nissan and Tesla are first and third highest-volume plug-in electric car companies, respectively, according to Green Car Reports. BMW is also extremely interested in producing electric and plug-in hybrid cars.
Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, said last week that he had just met with BMW. Musk's statement follows the announcement that Tesla, under certain circumstances, would offer other automakers access to its patents.
While some have criticized Musk's decision to provide access to Tesla's patents as sign of weakness, others have praised it as a way to increase the growth of the electric vehicle market, PC Magazine reported.
"Given that the annual vehicle production is approaching 100 million per year and the global fleet is approximately 2 billion cars, it is impossible for Tesla to build cars fast enough to address the carbon crisis. By the same token, it means the market is enormous. Our true competition is not the same trickle of non-Tesla electric cars being produced, but rather the enormous flood of gasoline cars pouring out of the world's factories every day," Musk said. "We believe that Tesla, other companies making electric cars, and the world would all benefit from a common, rapidly evolving technology platform."
BMW's new i3 battery-electric car is currently on the market, Green Car Reports said.
Tesla is currently making access to its Supercharger network available to owners of the Model S with built-in Supercharging capability. The network is available to these owners for free.
The report came from undisclosed sources who told the Financial Times that BMW and Nissan would be interested in developing universal vehicle charging standards with Tesla, according to PC Magazine.
"It is obviously clear that everyone would benefit if there was a far more simple way for everyone to charge their cars," the sources said.
Tesla has been involved in similar partnerships, having worked with Mercedes-Benz to combine its charging system with the automaker's B-class Electric Drive.
