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This is good news. The Tesla superchargers seem to be overall the best charging solution. Making them available for everyone will boost electric cars for sure.

by _ph_ 5y ago

This is good news. The Tesla superchargers seem to be overall the best charging solution. Making them available for everyone will boost electric cars for sure. The only question is: why is Tesla seemingly giving up this "moat"? As the Tesla management probably isn't stupid, they must have a plan behind this change of policy. Will be interesting to see. Perhaps they are at a point where they can scale up the supercharger infrastructure quickly enough and actually make a profit by providing the charging infrastructure.

zucked 5y ago
They're giving it up because the other car manufacturers are galvanizing around another standard. What Tesla's got a big market share now, once GM, Buick, Ford, etc. all start pumping out plug-in electric vehicles, Tesla runs the risk of having the odd-person-out charging standard.
- shmoe 5y ago
  Considering they're all relying on crappy third party networks that cant even get simple "plug and pay" standards going, it's going to be a while before they catch up for sure.
Robotbeat 5y ago
Tesla’s Destination Charging network of free L2 chargers also includes a standard J1772 plug at every location. I don’t own a Tesla but do have a leaf, and I’ve used Tesla’s destination charger more than any other away from my home, combined. Other chargers are often broken or annoying to use. Now, I’m trying to buy a Tesla to replace my Volt for my growing family. The goodwill from that free destination charger acts as cheap advertising. So I suspect it will be for Superchargers. Every EV owner who uses Tesla’s network will be tempted for an even better experience by just buying a Tesla.
tzs 5y ago
> The only question is: why is Tesla seemingly giving up this "moat"? Right now only about 2% of US new car sales are electric. In that small pond Tesla is the big fish, with something like 90% of that market. In the overall new car market, though, Tesla is a guppy. Over the next decade or two, that overall market is likely to become more and more electric, with at some point ICE cars becoming the niche product instead of the other way around. Will Tesla be a big fish in that future US new car market? I wouldn't bet on it. They arguably currently have the best electric drivetrain, but they are not as good at many or most of the other aspects of a car. My guess is that the current big car companies can learn to make a great electric drivetrain faster than Tesla can learn to make a great everything else. By opening their charger network before the other companies get a good non-Tesla charging solution widely deployed Tesla has a good chance of becoming the dominant charging network in that future market where as a car company they remain a niche player (probably with sports cars being their niche). And all those electric cars from all those other companies need charging, so if Tesla can dominate the charging market that could be very lucrative for them.

by _ph_ 5y ago

zucked 5y ago

They're giving it up because the other car manufacturers are galvanizing around another standard. What Tesla's got a big market share now, once GM, Buick, Ford, etc. all start pumping out plug-in electric vehicles, Tesla runs the risk of having the odd-person-out charging standard.

shmoe 5y ago
Considering they're all relying on crappy third party networks that cant even get simple "plug and pay" standards going, it's going to be a while before they catch up for sure.

Robotbeat 5y ago

Tesla’s Destination Charging network of free L2 chargers also includes a standard J1772 plug at every location. I don’t own a Tesla but do have a leaf, and I’ve used Tesla’s destination charger more than any other away from my home, combined. Other chargers are often broken or annoying to use. Now, I’m trying to buy a Tesla to replace my Volt for my growing family. The goodwill from that free destination charger acts as cheap advertising. So I suspect it will be for Superchargers. Every EV owner who uses Tesla’s network will be tempted for an even better experience by just buying a Tesla.

tzs 5y ago

> The only question is: why is Tesla seemingly giving up this "moat"? Right now only about 2% of US new car sales are electric. In that small pond Tesla is the big fish, with something like 90% of that market. In the overall new car market, though, Tesla is a guppy. Over the next decade or two, that overall market is likely to become more and more electric, with at some point ICE cars becoming the niche product instead of the other way around. Will Tesla be a big fish in that future US new car market? I wouldn't bet on it. They arguably currently have the best electric drivetrain, but they are not as good at many or most of the other aspects of a car. My guess is that the current big car companies can learn to make a great electric drivetrain faster than Tesla can learn to make a great everything else. By opening their charger network before the other companies get a good non-Tesla charging solution widely deployed Tesla has a good chance of becoming the dominant charging network in that future market where as a car company they remain a niche player (probably with sports cars being their niche). And all those electric cars from all those other companies need charging, so if Tesla can dominate the charging market that could be very lucrative for them.