Tesla Opens Its Patents To Boost Electric Car Adoption

[Ampster]

........
I'm virtually certain that the car controls the charge rate, not the Supercharger. I'll eat my hat and yours if I'm wrong........

I believe you are correct. Ohms law, says that the resistance of the device in the circuit determines the current flow. For example, you can plug in a 1 Watt bulb on a 20 amp circuit, but if you put a 3000 Watt device on that same circuit the 20 amp breaker will trip.

 

[Todd Burch]

I believe you are correct. Ohms law, says that the resistance of the device in the circuit determines the current flow. For example, you can plug in a 1 Watt bulb on a 20 amp circuit, but if you put a 3000 Watt device on that same circuit the 20 amp breaker will trip.

The Supercharger and car must handshake before charging begins. Something like:

Model S: "Hey, someone plugged into me. Who plugged into me?
Supercharger: "Hi Tessie, it's me. Glen Allen, 3A. What's up?"
Model S: "Nuttin' much."
Supercharger: "Say Tessie, how much go-go-juice do you want right now?"
Model S: "Hmm. Let's start at 112 kW. I'll let you know when I need to ease back to 90 kW. I'm a little sore."
Supercharger: "Whatever you say, Tessie!"

With other manufacturer's cars, the conversation might be:
Nissan Leaf, v4.0: "Hey, someone plugged into me. Who plugged into me?
Supercharger: "Hi Leafy, it's me. Glen Allen, 3A. What's up?"
Nissan Leaf, v4.0: "Nuttin' much."
Supercharger: "Say Leafy, how much go-go-juice do you want right now?"
Nissan Leaf, v4.0: "Hmm. Let's start at 33 kW. I'll let you know when I need to ease back to 15 kW. I'm a little sore."
Supercharger: "Whatever you say, Leafy!"

- - - Updated - - -

Of course, this is assuming any other manufacturers jump on board. And I don't think they will. The gift has been offered, but I suspect they are to stubborn to accept it.

I'm beginning to think this will be the case too. Too much "pride" out there. Nissan might accept, MAYBE Mercedes, but I don't see others accepting at this point. We'll see I guess.

 

[capt601]

Great idea but very few people are mentioning the already very long waits on weekends at some chargers. This will make it even worse. Currently a 2 hour+ wait in Barstow on weekends. That is already unacceptable, and this will make that worse. This will have the reverse effect on EV's. People will be laughing at others waiting in line to charge.
Look at all of the city chargers taken up by volts. Even if hybrid cars like that use them for 15-30 minutes, that is time a tesla will not be able. Do they limit it to pure EV's? Hybrids like volt, ELR,? Battery size, range? Etc...
Building more stations will not necessarily help, as they need many more stations to make it convenient for all.

 

[Tommy]

Getting other manufacturers to help with the SC build out is all well and good, however my thinking is if Tesla could entice government entities to participate in installing SC's, doing so would accomplish two objectives: adoption of a fast charging standard and rapid expansion of the SC network.

That enticement is making the SC patents "free source"; available to all that want to use it. This allows Tesla to make the argument to government entities that installing SC's are a public benefit and not Tesla's. No proprietary stumbling block to prevent the government from participating.

Here on the west coast the infrastructure for hydrogen fueling stations and CHAdeMO charging is being taken up by state governments and the result is (will be) rapid deployment of these networks. Tesla needs to expand as rapidly as possible and it is a difficult task without a partner willing to commit with money. As we all know, government tends to have deep pockets. I expect to see Tesla approach the various states (especially west coast ones) to help fund the SC network.

 

[Jaff]

True, two hours is unacceptable, but I think the number off available Superchargers (and level II charge stations) will scale correctly over time...remember, this is all brand new, and outside of Norway, no country is "fully covered" by Superchargers...

Great idea but very few people are mentioning the already very long waits on weekends at some chargers. This will make it even worse. Currently a 2 hour+ wait in Barstow on weekends. That is already unacceptable, and this will make that worse. This will have the reverse effect on EV's. People will be laughing at others waiting in line to charge.
Look at all of the city chargers taken up by volts. Even if hybrid cars like that use them for 15-30 minutes, that is time a tesla will not be able. Do they limit it to pure EV's? Hybrids like volt, ELR,? Battery size, range? Etc...
Building more stations will not necessarily help, as they need many more stations to make it convenient for all.

 

[Zythryn]

Great idea but very few people are mentioning the already very long waits on weekends at some chargers. This will make it even worse. Currently a 2 hour+ wait in Barstow on weekends. That is already unacceptable, ...

This is not, by any means, an absolute.
I was staying at the hotel at Barstow Memorial Day weekend (Sunday afternoon through Tuesday morning).
I took a look at the SC frequently and never, saw a single car waiting. In the morning, up until lunch on Memorial Day there was zero or one cars there when I looked. Late afternoon there were two or three. Only once did I see all 4 slots filled, and never anyone waiting.

I'm not saying it doesn't happen, just that it is infrequent.

And if more SCs doesn't help, what would?
If demand is high, raising supply will help alleviate crowding. The trick is to grow supply as fast as demand increases.
Of the 30 supercharger stops we had on our vacation we needed to wait zero times for an open slot.

Yes, they need to continually improve the network, but no, it isn't as bad as you state.

 

[ckessel]

It's a bit vague what Elon means about meeting the Supercharger capability. From the article:

It's just that they need to be able to accept the power level of the Superchargers, which is currently 135kW and rising, so any car needs to meet the Supercharger standard.

Tesla's own Model S cars don't universally meet that power level. Mine only handles 90kW.

 

[ecarfan]

Am I the only one that might not like this? As both a Model S owner, Model X reservation holder, and Tesla stock owner, the last thing I want to find if I am on a long trip and pull into a SC station on a trip is find a line of Non-Tesla cars waiting to use the SC? If they do this, then I feel that as a Tesla owner, there should be some way that we would receive priority.

Elon has stated several times that other car companies will only be allowed access to the Supercharger network if they contribute to the cost of building out and operating the network.

It would be against Tesla's own interest to have the scenario you describe occur. I'm not worried about it. The more the merrier...

 

[ckessel]

Great idea but very few people are mentioning the already very long waits on weekends at some chargers. This will make it even worse. Currently a 2 hour+ wait in Barstow on weekends. That is already unacceptable, and this will make that worse. This will have the reverse effect on EV's. People will be laughing at others waiting in line to charge.

I have to think this is a strong validation of Tesla's Superchargers, that demand at existing SCs is outstripping supply. There was a point where some media smirked at the idea of covering the US, that'd it'd be a bunch of empty SC's sitting as a monument to wasted money. Obviously though, SCs are in high demand in the areas where Tesla has had good market penetration.

Wait times are obviously not a good thing, but I can understand why Tesla is continuing to focus on the coverage build out rather than increasing capacity at existing locations. I'd certainly think Tesla plans to start ramping up capacity in heavily used areas. I wonder if they're at all restricted on how much juice they can get into existing locations? Somewhat damned no matter where they allocate resources as somewhere else is starving for them.

 

[Merrill]

Am I the only one that might not like this? As both a Model S owner, Model X reservation holder, and Tesla stock owner, the last thing I want to find if I am on a long trip and pull into a SC station on a trip is find a line of Non-Tesla cars waiting to use the SC? If they do this, then I feel that as a Tesla owner, there should be some way that we would receive priority.

I'm with you, do not see how they can build out enough sc even with the help of other manufactures. Do not want to pull up to a Tesla supercharger and find lines of other EV's waiting. I think it will be difficult enough to keep up with the demand as Tesla ramps up production with the x and gen3.

 

[tigerade]

All Our Patent Are Belong To You | Blog | Tesla Motors

Wow, are they releasing ALL their patents?

 

[WarpedOne]

So he says.
The sky is falling, tesla is doomed, big auto Will now make a tesla killer! Not.

Unfortunately, not a single competitive car will come bacause of this.
Absence of patent protection doesn't make up for absence of will.

 

[ggies07]

Unfortunately, not a single competitive car will come bacause of this.
Absence of patent protection doesn't make up for absence of will.

word.

 

[yobigd20]

tesla better get those gigafactories up and running soon

 

[tamtam10]

Why is there a horrific typo in the blog title?

 

[yobigd20]

Why is there a horrific typo in the blog title?

LOL

well I bet he needs other companies to start mass producing lithium ion EVs to help drive down the costs for the lithium ion batteries for Gen III.

 

[NuclearPowered]

Why is there a horrific typo in the blog title?

There is no typo, it's a play on "All your base are belong to us" popculture line.

 

[RubberToe]

There is no typo, it's a play on "All your base are belong to us" popculture line.

Elon's blog post has already made it to the "All your base are belong to us" Wiki page:
All your base are belong to us - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

That sure didn't take long :smile:

 

[Johan]

I can't fully understand the meaning of this move but I think it's probably smart. Why? Because Elon thinks so and he is smarter than me (I?) when it comes to visionary leadership and disrupting old business.

 

[WarpedOne]

This move will have mainly political effects:
- "Old manufacturers" will have one less exucuse why they can't make a real EV
- Even more firmly establishes Tesla Motors as a leader in EV tech. Who can open its knowhow to others? Only one who knows what others don't.

But 200 mile EV will still come from Tesla first. Maybe in 10 year time ...