Tesla Supercharger network

[Odenator]

Something like Starbucks would be huge. Perfect place along the highway to hang out for 45 min.

Starbucks would be great but I think an establishment that was open 24hrs would be better for interstate hwy travelers. I could stomach hang

 

[Odenator]

Hanging out at McD's for half an hour for fries and a charge. Many have Wifi, so it wouldn't be a total bore.

 

[Todd Burch]

Is it also possible that supercharging will be free, given that it's mostly solar powered?

The business argument would be that the additional sales resulting from knowledge that there's free fuel out there available to Tesla customers would probably more than pay for the cost of the network. This theory would be supported by the proprietary connector.

Edit:
You accomplish several things:
-Make EV technology and Teslas more attractive. You change the dynamic of EV vs. ICE.
-Spur continued future sales. The capital investment of superchargers is amortized over a long time, but the kick in sales continues indefinitely.

 

[vfx]

Is it also possible that supercharging will be free, given that it's mostly solar powered?
...
You accomplish several things:....

Propel the company to even more notarity by:

• breaking the mold of what auto fueling is
• Fueling in a clean renaewable way
• Giving more to the customer (free fuel!)

Listening the way Elon said "no one even knows" how good it will be, makes it seem likely the free part. That's something execs could keep to themselves.

 

[vfx]

Another guess is a robust supercharging software app in the car that can talk to all sites. It could say if they are in use and make appointments.

 

[Citizen-T]

Sigs, maybe the rest of the payback for your price premium and loyalty is tied to the supercharging network. Free battery swaps for Sigs? Something along those lines?

Doesn't seem crazy considering that your biggest gift so far has been in the form of free 3G for a year.

 

[TEG]

Propel the company to even more notarity by:
...Giving more to the customer (free fuel!)

Didn't you already read enough posts about "Tesla Free Energy" on the Tesla blog comments to last a lifetime? :wink:

 

[vfx]

Did you read enough posts about "Free Energy" on the Tesla blog comments to last a lifetime? :wink:

So you are saying the Superchargers will power cars with self generating gravitational magnetic ionization resonance?

 

[rsquared99]

I think the word "free" should be banned from this forum like the phrase "perpetual motion." :smile:

 

[ckessel]

Elon is clearly psyched and I'm really curious what it'll end up being. We know the recharge times, that's not going to drop, so it's something else. Solar backed recharging is great and all, but I'm not sure why that'd be earthshaking exactly, especially since big chunks of the US (and world) have sufficiently bad weather and/or bad sun angle that you couldn't depend on solar only charging (especially around Thanksgiving/Christmas traveling). Maybe some part of it is "experience", a nice place to wait like some of those members-only airport lounges?

I've no idea, but if he's that psyched, then I'm really curious.

 

[TEG]

So you are saying the Superchargers will power cars with self generating gravitational magnetic ionization resonance?

Something coincidental occurred to me...
A 90kW Tesla supercharger supplies about the same power as a typical radio stations dumps into the airwaves...
KUSU-FM Radio Station Information

Effective Radiated Power 90,000 Watts

KQQK - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

ERP 90,000 watts

(etc...)


"We will be going off the air for a few minutes while I recharge my Model S in the parking lot..."

 

[smorgasbord]

Elon is clearly psyched and I'm really curious what it'll end up being.

I think it's a new take on battery swapping. Here are two alternatives I came up with:

1) A big hurdle with battery swapping is that you don't want to end up with battery that's been abused in your daily driver. Since you don't take road trips often, you don't want to drop off your pristine, well-cared for battery only to get an abused battery during a road trip that you end having to keep. But, since you don't take road trips often and since you come back the same route you took the swap is setup to give you your original battery back, as follows:
a) Drive towards your destination. You might have only the small battery pack, so about 100 miles out of town is a swapping station.
b) You swap your mostly empty small battery for a big, fully charged battery.
c) You drive to your destination. Maybe you swap again if it's far.
d) You charge at your destination. You start the drive home.
e) On the way back, you're last stop is the first battery swap station. They have your personal battery waiting for you, all charged up.
f) You get your original battery back and drive home.

This gets you quickly up and running, the batteries are charged with sunlight, and you can swap for a big battery for road trips but get your original pristine battery back for months of commuting. You don't need to buy a big battery pack except if you want it for performance or do a lot of miles on a regular basis.


2) Elon talked a lot about leases in the last conference call. What if you bought the car, but only leased the battery? In that case, you could swap your leased battery for another leased battery at any time and all that matters is that you pay every month for the lease and that they guarantee the range you'll get from that leased battery. As long as you're making payments you can swap batteries for the cost of charging and swap labor. The big advantage here is that you no longer worry about residual value losses or having to replace the battery. Like leased solar is sold based on the payments being less than utility electricity, batteries would be leased by the month, with the cost being less than gasoline.

I came up with these pretty quickly. I'm sure there are other creative ideas.

 

[vfx]

Something coincidental occurred to me...
A 90kW Tesla supercharger supplies about the same power as a typical radio stations dumps into the airwaves......"

So you are saying Wardensclyffe charging?

 

[CyberDutchie]

You don't need to buy a big battery pack except if you want it for performance or do a lot of miles on a regular basis.

I really like your first scenario. The only problem I see for Tesla is: how many would still buy the big battery pack? Significant cut into their profits.

 

[TEG]

So you are saying Wardensclyffe charging?

Only jokingly.

ENGLISH Tesla Facility 1391 in Israhell

Dallas Morning News
The Electric Auto that almost triumphed: Power Source of ‘31 car still a mystery
by A.C. Greene,
January 24th, 1931

It is a mystery car once demonstrated by Nikola Tesla, developer of alternating current, that might have made electrics triumphant.

Supported by the Pierce-Arrow Co. and Westinghouse in 1931, he took the gasoline engine from a new Pierce-Arrow and replaced it with an 80-horsepower alternating-current electric motor with no external power source...

 

[ckessel]

I think it's a new take on battery swapping. Here are two alternatives I came up with:

Maybe, I just don't see super "charging" actually meaning "swapping".

 

[brianman]

Maybe, I just don't see super "charging" actually meaning "swapping".

One of the examples was "offline charging" or rather "off-vehicle charging" but still it's charging.

 

[smorgasbord]

Maybe, I just don't see super "charging" actually meaning "swapping".

In the Q1 2012 conference call, Elon said:

I think we’re going to have an exciting thing announced later this year regarding long-distance travel with the Model S. Sometime, probably, in the July-ish timeframe and it’s going to be pretty cool.

So, it's now Sept. instead of July, but I believe it's going to be more than just superchargers, solar panels, and recycled EV battery packs for non-daylight charging.

 

[efusco]

Maybe some part of it is "experience", a nice place to wait like some of those members-only airport lounges?

That's a cool thought...Though I don't know why you'd reinvent the wheel with this thing when there are existing businesses they could more readily, and less expensively, affiliate with. It could be years before some interstate locations see more than a handful of customers in a month.

 

[ckessel]

That's a cool thought...Though I don't know why you'd reinvent the wheel with this thing when there are existing businesses they could more readily, and less expensively, affiliate with. It could be years before some interstate locations see more than a handful of customers in a month.

Very true, waaaaaaaay too early to do something like that. Elon being Elon, I'm sure it's a technical thing that's got him excited, not something like a fancy rest stop (though he obviously loves what George has done with the stores).