Tesla Superchargers...a Monopoly?

[EVNow]

How it is "monopoly" when there are more CHAdeMO chargers already compared to what Tesla plans to build by 2015 ?

 

[PeterW]

How it is "monopoly" when there are more CHAdeMO chargers already compared to what Tesla plans to build by 2015 ?

lets say, for arguments sake, that there were only 2 manufacturers of boats in the world. One build luxury liners and the other built row boats.
So the one that builds luxury liners does not have a monopoly because there is more than one boat manufacturer.

 

[qwk]

How it is "monopoly" when there are more CHAdeMO chargers already compared to what Tesla plans to build by 2015 ?

All clustered in a few states. Not very usable for most EV owners.

 

[nrcooled]

It's not a monopoly, but a very smart business plan. Tesla knows that scaling up to making millions of cars and trucks takes time and intense capital.

Step 1: build out a network of proprietary chargers across the US.
Step 2: keep building more and more cars to use said network, and make network even bigger.
Step 3: license the charging network to competitors as you grow.
Step 4: Once big enough with plenty of cashflow, squeeze most of the competition out with high rates(they would be SOL BTW).

Tesla will easily become the biggest automaker this way. The existing automakers are too busy ignoring this easy to imagine outcome, and potential Ev customers, because their business model has to include dealerships and vehicle repair maintenance to survive.

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The barriers to entry are very high for existing automakers because they not only lack a decent EV, but they cannot and will not cannibalize their existing car lines. They can't lose money on both infrastructure and 200 mile range EV vehicles, not to mention free charging. Nobody in their right mind will buy a competitors vehicle that has worse specs for the same price, and one you have to pay to get a fast charge for, when there is a Tesla.

Qwk - You have eloquently stated exactly what I was envisioning. It is a genius plan from Tesla. They are effectively taking all of the risk out of EVs for the major manufacturers and can make a killing doing it.

My thought was "can this be interpreted by the courts as a monopoly". It seems as though most here don't believe this is the case but with the push of the government to move to clean energy will they allow one company to hold all the cards in a budding environment.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk HD

 

[montgom626]

Has TMC stopped anyone from building one?

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

No, it's not a monopoly. It could lead to dominance in electric cars though.

Think of Tesla as a battery company. They want to make and sell lots of their batteries.
They can make as many batteries as people want. Panasonic's automated cell plants make billions of cells, Tesla's automated plant makes millions of batteries.

But they need to keep getting cheaper to grow the market. Make them cheap enough and you open up a lot of car sales and grid storage. They make them big,, they make them charge fast, and they build a network to charge them before anyone else can match them. If they also make them cheaper than everybody else and cheap enough for the mass market, who's going to try to compete when Tesla will be only too happy to license the technology.

And if the batteries are really cheap those large batteries with excellent cooling go into grid storage boxes for utilities, homes and businesses.

Nobody is doing what Tesla is doing at the scale that Tesla is doing it. The irony is that Tesla is building a luxury car but is absolutely driven on lowering the cost of the core technology.

 

[mitch672]

No, it's not a monopoly. It could lead to dominance in electric cars though.

Think of Tesla as a battery company. They want to make and sell lots of their batteries.
They can make as many batteries as people want. Panasonic's automated cell plants make billions of cells, Tesla's automated plant makes millions of batteries.

But they need to keep getting cheaper to grow the market. Make them cheap enough and you open up a lot of car sales and grid storage. They make them big,, they make them charge fast, and they build a network to charge them before anyone else can match them. If they also make them cheaper than everybody else and cheap enough for the mass market, who's going to try to compete when Tesla will be only too happy to license the technology.

And if the batteries are really cheap those large batteries with excellent cooling go into grid storage boxes for utilities, homes and businesses.

Nobody is doing what Tesla is doing at the scale that Tesla is doing it. The irony is that Tesla is building a luxury car but is absolutely driven on lowering the cost of the core technology.

Exactly. Teslas stated goal is for the electrification of the fleet, if they happen to find a way to do that while making money for the company, and the loyal shareholders, that's just good business and accomplishing a worthy goal.

Anyone could do what Tesla is doing, with enough time, money and energy put into it, they just lack the will to do so, because it canabolizes their entire existing infrastructure. As they say, they are protecting their phoney baloney jobs. Eventually their will be a momentum shift, a tipping point when the Gen 3 is released, people will just stop buying ICE vehicles (at least the smart ones), the majors will be forced to mfr and sell high quality, long range EVs, like it or not.

 

[EVNow]

All clustered in a few states. Not very usable for most EV owners.

By 2015, it will be far widespread. Probably all Nissan dealers will have one.

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lets say, for arguments sake, that there were only 2 manufacturers of boats in the world. One build luxury liners and the other built row boats.
So the one that builds luxury liners does not have a monopoly because there is more than one boat manufacturer.

Your argument would be right, if Leaf was a bicycle.

 

[stopcrazypp]

CHAdeMO (and SAE) will definitely outnumber Tesla in terms of locations. But in terms of charging stalls they will probably be similar (since most CHAdeMO locations have 1-2 stalls, while superchargers have 4 at minimum).