Tesla want to sell cars. They're about making BEVs meet market demands so to enable long-distance travel I'd expect very fast public charging built to get you on your way as soon as possible. Although, I wouldn't be suprised to see a charger covered by a solar (city) canopy.
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Tesla Supercharger network
- Thread starter dsm363
- Start date
Tesla want to sell cars. They're about making BEVs meet market demands so to enable long-distance travel I'd expect very fast public charging built to get you on your way as soon as possible. Although, I wouldn't be suprised to see a charger covered by a solar (city) canopy.
Steph
Member
Bardlebee
Member
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if the big "surprise" is that they were able to sign on with a very huge vendor of technology. GE or something of that nature teaming up with Tesla to create a Super Charge network. The large companies infrastructure and resources with the technological research of Tesla motors. The benefit GE could get out of it is that these Super Chargers could be charged a rate, such like a gas station but obviously not as expensive.
The big surprise could simply just be a new initiative of a very large company teaming up with Tesla.
The big surprise could simply just be a new initiative of a very large company teaming up with Tesla.
I wonder if a big company like GE, or maybe even a gas/oil company (Shell, Exxon, whatever) would get CO2 credits toward their cap & trade with such a hook up. That would be a huge win for companies like that. Similar to the Big 3 building EVs just to meet their CARB requirements.
Good speculation re a partnership. One thing that worries me about the SuperCharger network is the amount of capital and management attention it will require -- both things that Tesla Motors where thin.
Steph
Member
Why do people want big fat companies to partner with mean lean Tesla is beyond me.
Ideally I'd agree with you, that it would be great if Tesla could create this network independently. But as a practical matter, there's just no way. They'd have to staff it, build it, create waiting facilities, etc. In order to canvas the areas of the country they'd need to it would be a tremendous expense that, at least for the first couple of years, will see minimal business.
but if they partner with a larger established company that already has the brick and mortar facilities, a place to sit, wait, get a drink and a bite to eat the capital required to put them in would be fairly minimal--essentially the cost of the supercharger itself. It becomes a win-win for the partnered company (CO2 credits as I speculated above, a captive customer waiting 45 minutes for their vehicle to charge will likely come inside and grab a bite to eat, and a bit of 'greening' of their corporate image that they cater now to the EV crowd).
Steph
Member
And there is no way these geeks will create and produce the best "car" in the world.
Yeah, I know about assumptions...
I never made any assumptions to that effect. I have a lot of confidence in what Elon & Tesla can do. And, perhaps, one day they'll have their own North American-wide chain of SuperCharger stations. But come on, if you want to install a large number of such stations in a short period of time it's not about what they're capable of or not capable of, it's about the time and capital it would take to do so and while Tesla's current cash on hand is good, it isn't unlimited and they're yet to show profit.
Capable, absolutely. Practical, financially wise, or even the best choice...I don't think so. Happy to eat my crow later on when proven wrong, feathers and all, but unless you can propose a cost effective scenario that would provide for the needs of such a network I think I'll stick with my assumptions.
Steph
Member
Maybe Solar City's IPO could bring enough capital to build somekind of a partership with Tesla.
Just saying...I know, crazy idea.
Citizen-T
Active Member
This is kinda what I was thinking. Solar city is profitable and could probably fund this.
Steph
Member
Perhaps, but then you're talking about a fairly big company and one would think that Solar City would list such a partnership as part of the IPO statement (not sure about that at all). If such did occur and they built them near the larger businesses (McDonalds, Cracker Barrel, whatever) so you could go grab a bite that would be fine.
At the same time, Tesla's shown previously it has no issues partnering with larger corporations (Tesla, BMW) and can't see any reason they'd be reluctant to do so now...perhaps as part of a deal with Solar City bringing their 'Green Cred' to the table too.
A US wide network is coming. That we know.
Who will do maintenance? Are the Rangers getting trained? I know we are talking about super high voltage Licensed Electrician's work here but most common repair has to be cable and plug changes which should be teachable to Rangers.
BTW
At what point will the regulators require EV "mechanics" ""Elechtircs"? "Melectrics"? need to be licenced like electricians? Probably when one is injured or worse.
Who will do maintenance? Are the Rangers getting trained? I know we are talking about super high voltage Licensed Electrician's work here but most common repair has to be cable and plug changes which should be teachable to Rangers.
BTW
At what point will the regulators require EV "mechanics" ""Elechtircs"? "Melectrics"? need to be licenced like electricians? Probably when one is injured or worse.
So we did the "Get Amped" test drive recently, and I specifically asked the co-pilot about the expected announcement as well as battery exchange. Here is the gist of his replies:
* A few Tesla employees (including him) already know the details of the agreement
* The announcement will be made this year: "soon"
* "I think it's very exciting. It's amazing to see how far technology has come. It will go a long way to alleviate people's range anxiety."
* There are no plans for a battery exchange program in the works.
Discounting for a second that the guy may have just been pretending to know more than he actually does, here is what we COULD read into it:
The exciting part of the announcement is technology based. That means it's not agreements (Starbucks or otherwise), nor pricing. It's also not battery exchange.
Well, agreements or pricing could be part of it, but Elon seems to be excited about something else...
What could that be?
* A few Tesla employees (including him) already know the details of the agreement
* The announcement will be made this year: "soon"
* "I think it's very exciting. It's amazing to see how far technology has come. It will go a long way to alleviate people's range anxiety."
* There are no plans for a battery exchange program in the works.
Discounting for a second that the guy may have just been pretending to know more than he actually does, here is what we COULD read into it:
The exciting part of the announcement is technology based. That means it's not agreements (Starbucks or otherwise), nor pricing. It's also not battery exchange.
Well, agreements or pricing could be part of it, but Elon seems to be excited about something else...
What could that be?
My guess is batteries in the chargers. So they can run on regular 100A or 200A single phase connections, or avoid demand charges where those exists.
Johan
Ex got M3 in the divorce, waiting for EU Model Y!
Perhaps batteries combined with solar canopies? A real game changer would be reduced charge time, but that isn't possible, now is it,
Kipernicus
Model S Res#P1440
I'm concerned about the batteries thing - what if I arrive to a supercharger and someone has just finished and depleted the batteries? Will it fall back to sucking 90kW off the grid? Or will I have to wait for the supercharger to replenish itself? I guess we'll have to wait for the announcement.
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