According to Car.info, the Tesla Model Y is the best-selling car in Sweden in 2024, followed by the Volvo XC60. One of the reasons may be that Tesla has aggressively promoted its 0% interest rate campaign for car loans.
Malung Tesla Chaos
Tesla's popularity in Sweden has led to other "problems". Recently, long queues formed at Tesla's charging stations in Malung, which is on the way to and from the skiresort Sälen. There were reports of 150 cars waiting in line at Tesla's stations.
Jan Olof Löfving who got stuck in the Tesla queue describes the situation to Aftonbladet
We stood in line for an hour and a half. It was an incredibly long queue. It wasn't the best, I don't understand why they didn't do better, it's actually 2025 and Tesla cars are not new, he said.
Furthermore:
It's poorly developed at that station, but it wasn't a major problem. It took a little time, but that's it. We're on vacation.
Tesla´s Swedish Trade Union Conflict
Tesla has been in conflict with the Swedish trade union IF Metall since 2023, as Tesla's Swedish employees lack a collective agreement. Tesla has not given in, and since October 2023, IF Metall members have been on strike, along with sympathy strikes from several other trade unions.
Tesla and Max de Zegher, the head of Tesla's Superchargers, blame the Swedish trade unions and claim that the problem would not have occurred if the sympathy strikes had not taken place.
As forecasted, Swedish EV drivers are suffering and EV infrastructure is not keeping up unless Superchargers get energized by the utilities blocking them from getting energized. Tesla Superchargers are critical infrastructure, especially for peak travel days like this. 100+ stalls in Sweden would have been energized this winter, if it wasn’t for sympathy strikes.
We'll see if this type of problem with charging can pose a threat to Tesla's sales of electric cars in Sweden.
