Yesterday BP made this announcement. Could be lucrative revenue stream for Tesla. But also, a harbinger of giant oil company offering Tesla a significant amount for their Supercharger "division"?
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You're right that's not what the article says. Maybe I could have chosen a better word than harbingerThat is not what I read in the article, but it is encouraging that BP is investing more in DCFC including buying the hardware from Tesla.
Tesla has made a business of vertical integration. They make the cars, parts, batteries, software, and charging. I don't think they'll interrupt the value chain to sell.
The current data on margins, costs, etc would point to the opposite conclusion but things will change as things grow and evolve.I just don't know how profitable the charging business will be (and this gets to @BobHinden 's point as well). Selling gas is extremely low margin (for the gas station owner anyway), but that can be made up for with volume. By its nature, charging is not high volume and the economics of demand charges and to a great extent competing with the cost of charging at home work against commercial charging providers. I don't think the charging itself is going to be lucrative, and may end up being a loss leader even. The benefit is going to come from pairing the charging with other entities that do make money, like convenience stores, coffee shops, restaurants, and grocery stores. The charging stations are merely an amenity meant to draw in customers, not to actually earn money.
Just like all the legacy automakers make their money selling gas now?I think the answer is No. After we complete the worldwide transition to EVs, I wouldn't be surprised there is more revenue in the charging side than in selling EVs.
Let's not forget the fact the hardware that goes into the charging station is essentially the same that goes into the on-board charger in the car. There are just more of them in the Supercharger. So while a third-party DC fastcharger company has to design & qualify AC/DC and DC/DC converters from scratch and then build them in relatively low volume, Tesla can (and has) just take those components out of their vehicles (which are manufactured in very high volumes) and put them into their Superchargers. I think this advantage is usually overlooked, and is one of the key reasons Supercharger hardware is comparatively inexpensive and more reliable.Another factor is that charging is much more deeply integrated with EVs that gas is with legacy ICE cars. Navigation, communication with the car when actually charging, charge ports, connectors, etc. There's benefits to an EV company building the charging that don't exist for gas stations.