You can install our site as a web app on your iOS device by utilizing the Add to Home Screen feature in Safari. Please see this thread for more details on this.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
Simple answer, they won't. The supercharger network is the moat that protects the Tesla Model S castle. As long as other luxury cars are anchored to one city, it will be a huge uphill battle for car makers to convince anyone, especially Americans (drivers who want at least the perception of freedom, regardless of if they actually take lots of trips), that a car will satisfy their needs if it can't leave the outskirts of the city they live in.
Simple answer, they won't. The supercharger network is the moat that protects the Tesla Model S castle. As long as other luxury cars are anchored to one city, it will be a huge uphill battle for car makers to convince anyone, especially Americans (drivers who want at least the perception of freedom, regardless of if they actually take lots of trips), that a car will satisfy their needs if it can't leave the outskirts of the city they live in.
One possibility: If you have a fully autonomous self-charging fleet, range and recharge times don't matter. They tough it out with current tech until full autonomy is available.
Hail a car. Get in. If your trip exceeds the range, then when the first one is exhausted you change cars to another one that's charged. Maybe it's at a depot with restrooms, refreshments, etc. Sort of like an inter-city coach station, only with autonomous cars coming and going instead of buses.
Gee, wouldn't that be convenient. Every 50 miles you have to unload one car and load another. Non-starter.One possibility: If you have a fully autonomous self-charging fleet, range and recharge times don't matter. They tough it out with current tech until full autonomy is available.
Hail a car. Get in. If your trip exceeds the range, then when the first one is exhausted you change cars to another one that's charged. Maybe it's at a depot with restrooms, refreshments, etc. Sort of like an inter-city coach station, only with autonomous cars coming and going instead of buses.
Porsche as a brand is not going to have the resources
Okay, but surely they are planning *something*? At this point - 2016 - they must have a plan. Tesla is not a joke any more, its sales are on an exponential curve. The competition isn't going to die without a fight, and it is well funded. And all the CEO's of the other automakers are obviously also aware that there is a "moat" issue with Tesla's charging network. So, theoretically - what could their plan be?
ALSO - let's talk Apple. They have no ICE business to worry about cannibalizing. They of course are also aware of the charging network moat problem. They are also starting from zero. Yet they are clearly putting hundreds of millions, if not billions, into developing an EV. What could their plan be WRT the charging network problem? Will they aim simply for a city car in the short term, and wait for battery tech to dramatically advance before building a long distance car?
One possibility: If you have a fully autonomous self-charging fleet, range and recharge times don't matter. They tough it out with current tech until full autonomy is available.
Hail a car. Get in. If your trip exceeds the range, then when the first one is exhausted you change cars to another one that's charged. Maybe it's at a depot with restrooms, refreshments, etc. Sort of like an inter-city coach station, only with autonomous cars coming and going instead of buses.
Not have the resources? Porsche is a much much bigger company than Tesla, not to mention that they are part of the VW megacorp.
Any other company could easily have done what Tesla did and do it much faster if they wanted to. Tesla put in ~250 superchargers in 2.5 years. One of the biggest hurdles they faced in doing so was getting local authorities to understand the chargers and why they are needed. With that groundwork laid it will be significantly easier for another automaker to copy them. Any of the big automakers could easily do that in a year, far sooner than any EVs will hit the market with he possible exception of the Bolt.
GM has 23.5$ Billion in cash and short term investments. Not to mention that they already have an existing network of real estate locations that they could use as a basis for a charging network. The only thing they lack is the desire to build a network, which could change at the drop of the hat. While the supercharger network is a great feature for Tesla, I would stake anything on the fact that it will remain a competitive advantage.