Volvo V60 charging at a Supercharger - comments?

[WarpedOne]

Not impossible per se.

I fully expect tesla will BUY other failing car companies in the future. To gain their market presence, their infrastructure, their production capabilities etc.
Fremont's 500k/year won't be enough to change the world.

 

[jeffro01]

Not impossible per se.

I fully expect tesla will BUY other failing car companies in the future. To gain their market presence, their infrastructure, their production capabilities etc.
Fremont's 500k/year won't be enough to change the world.

Not with the current regulatory situation that exists in the US. Tesla is going to have to break the stealership lobby in a number of states before it could successfully pull off such a maneuver otherwise they'd be immediately saddled with a huge legacy cost that Tesla simply can't have.

Jeff

 

[WarpedOne]

I did not say American car companies. There are plenty of struggling/failing ones all over the world, most of them not present on american market.

 

[mgboyes]

Perhaps this is the case, but I still think this presents a great "Make or Buy" paradox for other brands. The reality is that no other EV Charge network approaches the functionality, speed, or convenience of Tesla's SCs.

Thus, they can join in and provide funds for more SC's, or try to make their own far less effective and slower networks.

Hubris and pride may result in a few brands doing the latter, but the former is the better choice for both the other brands, and for the overall EV push/fleet changeover.

Regardless, Tesla will power ahead and keep building more SC's with or without other brands on board.

p.s. Any Swedes here that can visit that page and tell us more about the company involved?

Other manufacturers joining the SC network is a win for everyone.

I just don't think this is that

 

[Johan]

I'm Swedish. This is a small, old company that specializes in backup diesel generators.

I'm fairly certain this is just a company car and some guy just plugging in to see what happens, either knowing it likely won't work or perhaps u knowledgeable enough to think it will work.

The company is not EV related in any way. They aren't associated with Volvo Cars either.

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

.../ Who owns Volvo? Geely. /...

That’s a bit simplified.

Firstly:

It’s a Chinese Corporation. Is it really possible to think of a Chinese corporation as say a car company in the western world?

Anyway... According to the most conservative daily newspaper in Sweden (the second largest out of two in the Swedish capital Stockholm), Volvo Cars* is in fact owned by the Chinese ‘government’ (Not democratically elected as we all know...).

NOTE: Besides Volvo Cars, there's also Volvo Group (that makes the trucks, buses and construction equipment) which is not owned by Geely/The Chinese 'government'.


Source: Volvo V60 Plug-in Hybrid - Post #2 | TMC




*I mistakenly first wrote Geely here. That has since been corrected to Volvo Cars.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Perhaps you are correct. Really wish we known if he actually charged his car up, or if he was just trying to see if it would work . . . .

On the flip side, it IS a great company logo to paste all over the side of a Volvo . . . because they have nothing to do with Volvo (except for a secret deal to borrow their logo for a few months).

Which would generate more unwanted interest?

A Volvo with "MFG" license plates at a SC station, or a Volvo belonging to a small company with a huge logo, but that has nothing to do with Volvo?

With the first, all heck would break loose. With the second, it's just murmuring here at TMC.

Clever.

 

[mgboyes]

Perhaps you are correct. Really wish we known if he actually charged his car up, or if he was just trying to see if it would work . . . .

I wish we knew whether his car was assembled from parts in that exact spot by a team of highly trained baboons, or whether he just drove there and parked.


Hint: we already know the answer to both of these questions!

 

[46&2]

Other explanation:

When all other parking lots are occupied, he might place his Volvo in a supercharger stall and simply pretend to be charging, to the not knowing folks. He might just have tried whether the plug/connector fits... for later use of the cheat.

Good he did not drive in backwards and block two chargers by pluging in to the left one, when sitting in the car parked rearwards...

 

[Gizmotoy]

Not impossible per se.

I fully expect tesla will BUY other failing car companies in the future. To gain their market presence, their infrastructure, their production capabilities etc.
Fremont's 500k/year won't be enough to change the world.

Fremont is pretty unlikely to support even that unless it is expanded significantly. NUMMI averaged just over 300k, and it was an assembly-only plant. Tesla also does production of nearly all the components used in the Model S/X on-site in Fremont, which takes up a substantial amount of space. It will be interesting to see how Tesla manages their production capability build-out as time goes on.


Regarding the Volvo, as others have noted, it seems unlikely that a non-manufacturer car would be plugged in and drawing power. As far as the guy not being talkative, assuming it wasn't working, it's kind of an embarrassing situation. Some of you who have been around awhile probably remember the photos posted of the Leaf owner trying to charge at Hawthorne and the jokes made at her expense. Imagine how that would have gone if the plugs were actually the same. Any rational, though uninformed, person would have assumed if the plugs fit it would work. If the plug for my lamp fits in the wall, it works, after all. Why wouldn't the same be true for my vehicle?

 

[Saghost]

Not impossible per se.

I fully expect tesla will BUY other failing car companies in the future. To gain their market presence, their infrastructure, their production capabilities etc.
Fremont's 500k/year won't be enough to change the world.

We'll see. I'm thinking that if other companies don't change to compete (and possibly even if they do,) Tesla will just continue to expand, adding new production facilities and gigafactories over time but continuing to build their own cars and not buying other makes.

An obvious choice would be to add European and Asian (Chinese?) production capacity as Fremont becomes limiting so they don't have to ship as much/as far and can gain incentives from in country manufacturing in the various places.

 

[bylund]

Regarding the Volvo, as others have noted, it seems unlikely that a non-manufacturer car would be plugged in and drawing power. As far as the guy not being talkative, assuming it wasn't working, it's kind of an embarrassing situation. Some of you who have been around awhile probably remember the photos posted of the Leaf owner trying to charge at Hawthorne and the jokes made at her expense. Imagine how that would have gone if the plugs were actually the same. Any rational, though uninformed, person would have assumed if the plugs fit it would work. If the plug for my lamp fits in the wall, it works, after all. Why wouldn't the same be true for my vehicle?

Or maybe he was not talkative because he simply didn't understand Danish? It's not that easy for a Swede to comprehend
Anyway, he wouldn't be the first one to plug in a Volvo at a supercharger in Sweden

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Prolly no electrons flowing. If they were though they're clearly violating Tesla's network.

Hardly. If I plug into a charging station located in a public area, how would I know (and more importantly - why would I care) if I were in violation of that company's policies? Not my problem, really.

 

[Saghost]

Hardly. If I plug into a charging station located in a public area, how would I know (and more importantly - why would I care) if I were in violation of that company's policies? Not my problem, really.

Pretty sure you can't get the supercharger to turn on for a non-Tesla without first reverse engineering the interface and then passing it a false VIN (for a valid Model S) in the early CANBus frames. That's a little more than just seeing a plug in a public area and plugging in, and certainly grounds for to sue.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

Pretty sure you can't get the supercharger to turn on for a non-Tesla without first reverse engineering the interface and then passing it a false VIN (for a valid Model S) in the early CANBus frames. That's a little more than just seeing a plug in a public area and plugging in, and certainly grounds for to sue.

I think you are reading far too much into my statement and are introducing hypotheticals which are outside the scope of my comments. My comments were obviously limited to someone with an EV seeing a public charging station and plugging-in. If I, as an EV owner, see a public charging station and I need a charge, I will attempt to plug-in. I have no legal duty to investigate or familiarize myself with the corporate policies of the company providing the charger.

 

[Saghost]

I think you are reading far too much into my statement and are introducing hypotheticals which are outside the scope of my comments. My comments were obviously limited to someone with an EV seeing a public charging station and plugging-in. If I, as an EV owner, see a public charging station and I need a charge, I will attempt to plug-in. I have no legal duty to investigate or familiarize myself with the corporate policies of the company providing the charger.

I'm missing something here...

The post you replied to said that if the Supercharger was charging the car then it was violating Tesla's network.

You said if you saw a charger in a public place and plugged in it was fine and not your problem.

I pointed out that plugging in wasn't enough, you'd have to go to great lengths to make the Supercharger charge the car, and those lengths made it noteworthy.

Since it was the stated condition of the original post you replied to, what exactly am I reading in to your statement?

 

[AmpedRealtor]

I'm missing something here...

The post you replied to said that if the Supercharger was charging the car then it was violating Tesla's network.

You said if you saw a charger in a public place and plugged in it was fine and not your problem.

I pointed out that plugging in wasn't enough, you'd have to go to great lengths to make the Supercharger charge the car, and those lengths made it noteworthy.

Since it was the stated condition of the original post your replied to, what exactly am I reading in to your statement?

This is what I was responding to:

Prolly no electrons flowing. If they were though they're clearly violating Tesla's network.

I read it to mean that if the Volvo received a charge (for no other reason than it did), then they would be violating Tesla's network. I took that at face value. If I plug into a charger at a public charging station (whether or not it provides power), the policies of the parent company are not my concern. I did not take electrons flowing to mean that anyone reverse engineered anything. I was just making a general observation. I don't know what's required to get current to flow from a Supercharger to a Volvo. If I did, I wouldn't be a Realtor (lol). I took the above statement to mean that if you plug-in at a public station and receive power, then you may be in violation of the parent company's network. I just read it differently than you did.

 

[TSLA Pilot]

Or maybe he was not talkative because he simply didn't understand Danish? It's not that easy for a Swede to comprehend
Anyway, he wouldn't be the first one to plug in a Volvo at a supercharger in Sweden

View attachment 88253

Well, well, well. One Volvo plugged in at a SC is a single data point, but two make for a trend . . . let's see if there will be more.

Notwithstanding the supposed "issue" of Geely/Volvo Cars being a government-owned entity, I posit that we're seeing some testing prior to a possible announcement.

When you look at Elon's goals, do you think he'll prevent Geely/Volvo Cars/Communists from partnering to build out the thousands of SC's needed to allow the world's most populous country to become an EV leader?

I doubt it.

Wonder if it's time to move this thread to the investor's section?

 

[SwedishAdvocate]

.../ Notwithstanding the supposed "issue" of Geely/Volvo Cars being a government-owned entity, I posit that we're seeing some testing prior to a possible announcement.

When you look at Elon's goals, do you think he'll prevent Geely/Volvo Cars/Communists from partnering to build out the thousands of SC's needed to allow the world's most populous country to become an EV leader?

I doubt it. /...

IF that (those) Volvo(s) is (are) actually drawing power from the SC, then my guess is Elon is working with ‘the Chinese’ in order to try and force the western/Japanese/Korean car companies to get with the program ...or risk extinction…

 

[Soolim]

Maybe partnering with Geely helps Tesla penetrate the China market since Tesla was not so successful earlier. The SC infrastructure is one of the key to success in EV.