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> Distressed by the state of the public charger system, automobile companies have struck agreements with Tesla to use its Superchargers. The details are yet to

by _ea1k 3y ago

> Distressed by the state of the public charger system, automobile companies have struck agreements with Tesla to use its Superchargers. The details are yet to be announced. No word on what percentage of Tesla chargers non-Tesla cars will be able to use, how much it will cost The announcements promise > 15k stalls. That is basically every v3/v4 station. Why does he pretend that he doesn't know this when he purports to cover the EV industry. Oh, just another piece of rubbish by Russ Mitchell, the world's worst EV salesman. He "[...] covers the epic transition to electric vehicles" but somehow only finds negative things to say, especially about the largest manufacturer of EVs. Weird.

darth_avocado 3y ago
> how much it will cost I have seen non Tesla cars already charge at Tesla Superchargers, how do they not know how much it will cost?
- _ea1k 3y ago
  Good point, there are some stations that support magic dock now. There are even a couple of those in California.
jeffbee 3y ago
That's a core behavior of the LA Times. They have a guy dedicated to trashing EVs. They have a guy dedicated to trashing high-speed rail. They have a guy dedicated to writing FUD about solar, wind, and lithium batteries. But anyway, it remains to be seen whether the perceived superiority of the supercharger network survives its initial contact with cars from makes other than Tesla.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
jcampbell1 3y ago
What is the role of the 4th estate if not to hold the government accountable for how they spend forcibly taken money from the citizenry.
- _ea1k 3y ago
  I think this is failing at accountability and achieving something more like empty criticism. If it was only a balanced commentary on the pros & cons of public funding for these things, I'd be more inclined to like it. TBH, there's a lot to be said for cutting back public funding. Wal-Mart is massively increasing investment in their own charging network (not EA any more!). They are being joined by Circle-K, BP, Pilot/EVGo, and many others that are making investments in a lot more than just government funded NEVI sites. I don't really think we even need NEVI at this point and we especially don't need state funding. But I've seen too many articles from him to see this as nuance and policy shaping. Its just a sugar rush for people who agree with his anti-Tesla and virtually anti-EV style of writing. There's little real informing here.
jillesvangurp 3y ago
Negative news makes better clickbait. And this journalist and outlet probably have long given up on anything resembling serious journalism. I clicked on the author's name to get a list of titles. And you are right. Not great. To put it mildly. Tesla is most of the EV market in California (80% or so). So are their chargers. Most of those work fine of course. And all of those fine chargers are now becoming available to non Tesla cars. Problem solved. A minority of chargers (i.e. the ones not provided by Tesla), are a bit problematic. Some companies are improving what they do. Competition tends to bring out the best in them. If you are holding onto your gas guzzler because you are a bit suffering from (range) anxiety, you might want to consider what will happen to your favorite local gas stations when double digit percentages of their customers buy EVs and stop buying petrol. I'll sketch what will happen for you. It's just simple economic reasoning: As the number of chargers goes up (like by 2025-2030), the number of still operating gas stations will go down. The least profitable ones will go out of business first. Anything remote and rural will be at risk sooner rather than later. Basically any areas where it is currently still challenging to find a charger will also be the first where long struggling petrol stations will start closing doors first. That's happening a lot sooner than people realize. All the people spending lots on fuel right now will be switching sooner rather than later. Commercial fleets, people that drive a lot, etc. All of them are switching to EVs. In a few short years very few people driving for work will be buying petrol or diesel. Technically it's cheaper now already and it's only going to get cheaper from now. Some companies may put off making the switch for some time but we're talking years, not decades. This will be over by the early 2030s. It's the small users that will drag their heels for a bit longer. Decades even maybe. But they don't buy a lot of fuel and most of the fuel business is commercial traffic. So, logically the petrol business is going to decline a lot more rapidly than the EV sales percentages suggest. Another logical consequence of increasing petrol station scarcity is people raising their prices as it becomes harder to find a working petrol station. That's just market forces kicking in. You're more than welcome to drive 50 miles to the next station also selling fuel at a premium. Oh wait, you are nearly out of gas. 10$ per gallon it is for you! That's going to speed things up further of course.

by _ea1k 3y ago

darth_avocado 3y ago

> how much it will cost I have seen non Tesla cars already charge at Tesla Superchargers, how do they not know how much it will cost?

_ea1k 3y ago
Good point, there are some stations that support magic dock now. There are even a couple of those in California.

jeffbee 3y ago

That's a core behavior of the LA Times. They have a guy dedicated to trashing EVs. They have a guy dedicated to trashing high-speed rail. They have a guy dedicated to writing FUD about solar, wind, and lithium batteries. But anyway, it remains to be seen whether the perceived superiority of the supercharger network survives its initial contact with cars from makes other than Tesla.

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

jcampbell1 3y ago

What is the role of the 4th estate if not to hold the government accountable for how they spend forcibly taken money from the citizenry.

_ea1k 3y ago
I think this is failing at accountability and achieving something more like empty criticism. If it was only a balanced commentary on the pros & cons of public funding for these things, I'd be more inclined to like it. TBH, there's a lot to be said for cutting back public funding. Wal-Mart is massively increasing investment in their own charging network (not EA any more!). They are being joined by Circle-K, BP, Pilot/EVGo, and many others that are making investments in a lot more than just government funded NEVI sites. I don't really think we even need NEVI at this point and we especially don't need state funding. But I've seen too many articles from him to see this as nuance and policy shaping. Its just a sugar rush for people who agree with his anti-Tesla and virtually anti-EV style of writing. There's little real informing here.

jillesvangurp 3y ago

Negative news makes better clickbait. And this journalist and outlet probably have long given up on anything resembling serious journalism. I clicked on the author's name to get a list of titles. And you are right. Not great. To put it mildly. Tesla is most of the EV market in California (80% or so). So are their chargers. Most of those work fine of course. And all of those fine chargers are now becoming available to non Tesla cars. Problem solved. A minority of chargers (i.e. the ones not provided by Tesla), are a bit problematic. Some companies are improving what they do. Competition tends to bring out the best in them. If you are holding onto your gas guzzler because you are a bit suffering from (range) anxiety, you might want to consider what will happen to your favorite local gas stations when double digit percentages of their customers buy EVs and stop buying petrol. I'll sketch what will happen for you. It's just simple economic reasoning: As the number of chargers goes up (like by 2025-2030), the number of still operating gas stations will go down. The least profitable ones will go out of business first. Anything remote and rural will be at risk sooner rather than later. Basically any areas where it is currently still challenging to find a charger will also be the first where long struggling petrol stations will start closing doors first. That's happening a lot sooner than people realize. All the people spending lots on fuel right now will be switching sooner rather than later. Commercial fleets, people that drive a lot, etc. All of them are switching to EVs. In a few short years very few people driving for work will be buying petrol or diesel. Technically it's cheaper now already and it's only going to get cheaper from now. Some companies may put off making the switch for some time but we're talking years, not decades. This will be over by the early 2030s. It's the small users that will drag their heels for a bit longer. Decades even maybe. But they don't buy a lot of fuel and most of the fuel business is commercial traffic. So, logically the petrol business is going to decline a lot more rapidly than the EV sales percentages suggest. Another logical consequence of increasing petrol station scarcity is people raising their prices as it becomes harder to find a working petrol station. That's just market forces kicking in. You're more than welcome to drive 50 miles to the next station also selling fuel at a premium. Oh wait, you are nearly out of gas. 10$ per gallon it is for you! That's going to speed things up further of course.