Tesla’s +$255Bn Home Charger “CarBnB” Opportunity

[MarcFolch]

Was wondering if it might make sense for Tesla to consider making owners' home chargers and parking spots in high demand areas available for rent when the owner isn't using them. So as a holiday project I threw together a financial model, interactive Figma user experience mock up, and partial business plan.

I'd love to get the community's take on the idea. All the details can be found here on Medium Tesla’s +$255Bn Home Charger “CarBnB” Opportunity

PROBLEMS IT SOLVES:​

For Tesla:
1- Meeting increasing demand for public NACS charging is extremely capital intensive. Drawing funds that could otherwise further accelerate R&D or growth elsewhere. CarBnB can accomplish this with far less CAPEX, while preserving Tesla’s revenue opportunity from the resulting charger network.

2- Supercharger economics in dense city centers and low density rural destinations are harder. CarBnB creates viable economics for Tesla owners with spots in those locations to invest in a charger and make it available to others. Supplementing commercial operator availability.

3- The competitive advantage that the closed Supercharger network previously provided gets rekindled because initially CarBnB would be only for Teslas (needs car camera access to verify safety and parking spot accessibility)

4- Mass adoption requires lower cost EVs. More parking spots with chargers everywhere means less need for long range batteries. Expanding the addressable market for smaller battery models which more people can afford.

For EV Owners:
1- Nobody likes hunting for parking. It is a fundamentally better user experience to be able to book and pay for parking with a charger at destination within the Tesla navigation app.

2- Superchargers are hard on the battery, users must divert from their route to use one, and then move their car as soon as it’s done. Other than between long road trip legs, it’s a better overall experience to have a level 2 charger at destination.

4- Installing a home charger can be a significant expense, particularly in dense downtown locations like condos that require separate metering and line upgrades. However it would be much more attractive if owners could earn money when they are not using it. Further reducing the total cost of ownership of a Tesla.

5- Customers with regular range models can be usage-constrained today. However with accessible level 2 charger parking everywhere, even using only 20–80% capacity in very cold winter weather can comfortably enable a long one-way commute. Further eroding the range anxiety arguments against EVs.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

sounds like a good idea but open space is very hard to find and very expensive in high demand areas also to be a start-up. It would work on the parking garages

 

[DomDeWild]

More parking spots with chargers everywhere means less need for long range batteries.

Everything I've heard is exactly the opposite. Range anxiety seems to be on every non-EV driver's mind and is a main 'talking point' of Big Oil.

Just wondering too, how does the rental get paid to the owner?

 

[father_of_6]

I don't see it. L2 charging has to happen where the car is parked, or perhaps in small amounts during a shopping or restaurant visit.

You're suggesting someone would park their car in someone's driveway for a fee? But then what does the driver do? Do they sit in the car for 5 hours to charge? Do they walk home and walk back later? Uber back and forth?

Perhaps this might work for neighbors, but then it's a much smaller niche than what your numbers would imply.

If you live in one of these very high demand areas where both parking and L2 charging is expensive, then you *also* highly value your parking spot and charging setup. I can't imagine a lot of people wanting to rent those out. Where will they park their own car?

Also, Tesla *does* provide income earning opportunity as well as billing management software for 6 or more L2 wall connectors... so this is already possible today, just not with a single charger and spot.

I'm sure Tesla has already thought this through, considering they chose to provide it for 6 or more chargers. My guess is it would actually hurt their brand and mission. Look at all the bad false articles already written about them. Now imagine headlines like "Tesla lures woman into the hands of a serial killer to charge her car."

 

[rzn89]

Supercharging is not an issue. I just drove round trip from NY to Orlando then to Clearwater and back to NY. This was during possibly the busiest time of the year as all kids are out of school. I never had to wait once to supercharge. 2 times it did reroute me due to supercharger congestion. The craziest ones were a bowling alley in Georgia and a Casino in Maryland. The rest of stops where Sheetz Winn Dixie and Wawa all rite off 95.

 

[SpicyPaneer]

Range anxiety, I had last week. I was suppose to stop at 18% at a super charger and rerouted me twice and the last reroute was arrival at 4%. I rather wait at a supercharger than be stuck somewhere.

 

[father_of_6]

Range anxiety, I had last week. I was suppose to stop at 18% at a super charger and rerouted me twice and the last reroute was arrival at 4%. I rather wait at a supercharger than be stuck somewhere.

That, too shall pass.

 

[fhteagle]

You're missing a few other tangential benefits:

1. Helps to take the belly out if the duck curve in high solar penetration markets if people are L2 charging during the day.

2. Reduces the need to install a large fixed battery under California's NEM3, if a solar household can sell that electricity directly to a CarBnB patron for more $/kWh than they could sell solar to the grid

Honestly this doesn't need to be a Tesla thing, could just as easily be a feature of the PlugShare app instead. Automating the billing would be the major technical hurdle.

I see this working best if it's a long term standing arrangement. I.e., if person A could park in person B's spot close to where person A works during business hours, person B parks at person C's place, etc, this could be incredibly win win win...

Not saying it couldn't accommodate itinerant patrons and commercial spaces too, but the standing reservation situation is far easier to deal with, people get more comfy renting to those they know, etc.

 

[jjrandorin]

Maybe I am in the minority here, but I am not interested in the slightest at pulling up in some random homeowners driveway and parking my car, nor would I be interested in the slightest at offering it to someone else.

For full disclosure, I dont do AirBNB (I think its a plague, actually, since I would not want to live next to an AirBNB and most people if asked wouldnt want to live next to a short term rental either), I avoid uber, turo, etc.

That "person to person" stuff isnt for me, since my experience is that there is always someone looking to "get over" on people, and I can avoid a lot of that by doing business with actual businesses vs random people.

 

[Gndy]

that's pretty cool to see

 

[PowerSource]

There is no such thing as a Home Charger.. the charger for (AC) is built into the vehicle itself.

 

[SpartanToJo]

Pedantic much?

 

[rzn89]

Range anxiety, I had last week. I was suppose to stop at 18% at a super charger and rerouted me twice and the last reroute was arrival at 4%. I rather wait at a supercharger than be stuck somewhere.

I arrived at a reroute at 6%. On my way home from a 2700 mile rd trip it routed me to SC. This SC was 5 miles off the highway and I would of arrived at 11%. My house was 16 miles from the highway exit. I ignored it as I wasn't even close to running out of juice. it kept re routing me for miles until it gave up and set the course to my house. I arrived home at 9%

 

[HankLloydRight]

Honestly this doesn't need to be a Tesla thing, could just as easily be a feature of the PlugShare app instead. A

Agreed. That's all this is. Plugshare with payments.

 

[EatsShoots]

Mine is in my garage so I'd be out, but I can definitely see some people would be open to it depending on where their charges are. I could never tell on plugshare if an actual charge point was usable or not; never really trusted that their data was updated.

I don't want to use the plugshare app but at the same time I am not sure tesla wants to have their charge search filled with people's homes, apartments, etc.

 

[mikez10288]

There is no such thing as a Home Charger.. the charger for (AC) is built into the vehicle itself.

A distinction without a difference, in this case.

 

[MarcFolch]

sounds like a good idea but open space is very hard to find and very expensive in high demand areas also to be a start-up. It would work on the parking garages

I definitely agree, you likely wouldn't want to buy a new space for this. It's more about earning from a spot when you don't use it yourself. Would work with condo parking too, which tends to be very common downtown (at least around here).

My thinking is that there are a lot of people who live downtown and work in another part of the city or suburbs, but others who live elsewhere but work downtown near condos. So they rent their spot 9-5 when they're out and someone else wants to come in. Would be great to just drive over to a pre-booked spot and know I have a charger when I head into work.

 

[MarcFolch]

Everything I've heard is exactly the opposite. Range anxiety seems to be on every non-EV driver's mind and is a main 'talking point' of Big Oil.

Just wondering too, how does the rental get paid to the owner?

Great question! (How to get paid)

Tesla's level 2 wall chargers are already enabled to be software controlled and can be set to only work for specific Teslas. The renter (who already has a Tesla account with a payment card on file), just books the space with their navigation and their fee gets charged, then credited to the spot owner's account.

Check out the clickable user experience mock up in the link to see how it would integrate with the app's current interface.

For the "range anxiety" fears, I agree with you it's much less of a real world issue than interest groups make it out to be. My thinking was that if there are chargers close to nearly every destination whenever you need them, it's a lot harder to claim that's an issue.

 

[MarcFolch]

I don't see it. L2 charging has to happen where the car is parked, or perhaps in small amounts during a shopping or restaurant visit.

You're suggesting someone would park their car in someone's driveway for a fee? But then what does the driver do? Do they sit in the car for 5 hours to charge? Do they walk home and walk back later? Uber back and forth?

Perhaps this might work for neighbors, but then it's a much smaller niche than what your numbers would imply.

If you live in one of these very high demand areas where both parking and L2 charging is expensive, then you *also* highly value your parking spot and charging setup. I can't imagine a lot of people wanting to rent those out. Where will they park their own car?

Also, Tesla *does* provide income earning opportunity as well as billing management software for 6 or more L2 wall connectors... so this is already possible today, just not with a single charger and spot.

I'm sure Tesla has already thought this through, considering they chose to provide it for 6 or more chargers. My guess is it would actually hurt their brand and mission. Look at all the bad false articles already written about them. Now imagine headlines like "Tesla lures woman into the hands of a serial killer to charge her car."

Sort of, I agree with you that in the suburbs when there's nothing interesting within walking distance this wouldn't work. More for people who have homes or condos near city centres, office buildings, and attractions.

The spot would be rented when the owner is out. Eg. If you live downtown but drive to work, your spot is empty for at least 8 hours a day. Yet there are many other people who drive downtown to work and need a spot there. Under-utilized asset meets unmet demand, just like AirBnB.

The offering they have now is for commercial operators. This is closer to a combination of that model and the virtual power plant.

 

[MarcFolch]

Supercharging is not an issue. I just drove round trip from NY to Orlando then to Clearwater and back to NY. This was during possibly the busiest time of the year as all kids are out of school. I never had to wait once to supercharge. 2 times it did reroute me due to supercharger congestion. The craziest ones were a bowling alley in Georgia and a Casino in Maryland. The rest of stops where Sheetz Winn Dixie and Wawa all rite off 95.

Not saying it's an issue, I agree with you supercharging's great!

But wouldn't it be better if you're driving downtown and paying for parking anyway to be able to have your charge topped up while you're at work + knowing ahead of time exactly where you'll find a spot? It's just a better user experience. With dynamic pricing, this could even be set to slightly undercut the average parking price locally to make sure it's used most of the time.

Free money to the spot owner, better convenience and possibly cheaper price for the renter.