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Tesla's Rivals Still Can't Use Its Superchargers

6 points by mikestew 2y ago

mikestew 2y ago
Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/business/energy-environment/tesla-electric-vehicle-charging.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Gk4.3xrV.k9HqCwYyC1o7&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/business/energy-environme...
steveBK123 2y ago
As a former Tesla driver / current non-Tesla EV driver, I was excited by the prospect of them opening up their chargers. They are above & beyond the competing US charging networks on just about every measure. What I didn't understand was why Elon would give away their competitive advantage, even for the tax money coming off the IRAs various green provisions. The slow roll, mass firing of the charging team, and ongoing delays bring me back to my original cynicism...
- andsoitis 2y ago
  > What I didn't understand was why Elon would give away their competitive advantage Because the mission of Tesla is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. Besides Tesla's own words on the matter[0][1][2][3], much has been written on their mission[4]. From that higher perspective, it is natural that they would look for ways to expand the utility of EVs generally because it helps them accomplish their mission and also makes Tesla cars even more attractive to potential EV buyers. [0] https://www.tesla.com/about https://www.tesla.com/about [1] https://www.tesla.com/impact https://www.tesla.com/impact [2] https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3 https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3 [3] https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/Tesla-Master-Plan-Part-3.pdf https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/Tesla-Master-Plan-Part-3.pdf [4] https://businessmodelanalyst.com/tesla-mission-and-vision-statement/ https://businessmodelanalyst.com/tesla-mission-and-vision-st...
  - peutetre 2y ago
    > Besides Tesla's own words on the matter Their words don't matter. Musk and Tesla lie routinely. They plainly don't want to be credible and they've lost all credibility.
    - andsoitis 2y ago
      > Their words don't matter Which is precisely why the action of opening up their charging network to competitors is so interesting. It is not just words, it actually for real advances the cause of electrification and moving us away from fossil fuels.
      - peutetre 2y ago
        It isn't interesting. All EV charging networks should be built to common standards and all brands of charger on all brands of charging network should charge all brands of EV by default. The fact that Tesla built their network to be closed and incompatible in the first place is the problem. That action is antithetical to their supposed mission. Europe's EV infrastructure is much further advanced than North America because it has been built to common standards. All charging networks charge all brands of EV, even Tesla's network. Tesla's chargers are behind the state of the art. They still perform poorly for 800-volt cars. It's still the case that most of them have annoyingly short cables. It's still the case that most of them require a Tesla account and an app just to do something as trivial as charge a battery. But, slowly, gradually, Tesla's chargers are improving to meet the minimum expected standard.

6 points by mikestew 2y ago

Gift link: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/business/energy-environment/tesla-electric-vehicle-charging.html?unlocked_article_code=1.Gk4.3xrV.k9HqCwYyC1o7&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare https://www.nytimes.com/2024/08/27/business/energy-environme...

steveBK123 2y ago

As a former Tesla driver / current non-Tesla EV driver, I was excited by the prospect of them opening up their chargers. They are above & beyond the competing US charging networks on just about every measure. What I didn't understand was why Elon would give away their competitive advantage, even for the tax money coming off the IRAs various green provisions. The slow roll, mass firing of the charging team, and ongoing delays bring me back to my original cynicism...

andsoitis 2y ago
> What I didn't understand was why Elon would give away their competitive advantage Because the mission of Tesla is to accelerate the world's transition to sustainable energy. Besides Tesla's own words on the matter[0][1][2][3], much has been written on their mission[4]. From that higher perspective, it is natural that they would look for ways to expand the utility of EVs generally because it helps them accomplish their mission and also makes Tesla cars even more attractive to potential EV buyers. [0] https://www.tesla.com/about https://www.tesla.com/about [1] https://www.tesla.com/impact https://www.tesla.com/impact [2] https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3 https://www.tesla.com/blog/master-plan-part-3 [3] https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/Tesla-Master-Plan-Part-3.pdf https://www.tesla.com/ns_videos/Tesla-Master-Plan-Part-3.pdf [4] https://businessmodelanalyst.com/tesla-mission-and-vision-statement/ https://businessmodelanalyst.com/tesla-mission-and-vision-st...
- peutetre 2y ago
  > Besides Tesla's own words on the matter Their words don't matter. Musk and Tesla lie routinely. They plainly don't want to be credible and they've lost all credibility.
  - andsoitis 2y ago
    > Their words don't matter Which is precisely why the action of opening up their charging network to competitors is so interesting. It is not just words, it actually for real advances the cause of electrification and moving us away from fossil fuels.
    - peutetre 2y ago
      It isn't interesting. All EV charging networks should be built to common standards and all brands of charger on all brands of charging network should charge all brands of EV by default. The fact that Tesla built their network to be closed and incompatible in the first place is the problem. That action is antithetical to their supposed mission. Europe's EV infrastructure is much further advanced than North America because it has been built to common standards. All charging networks charge all brands of EV, even Tesla's network. Tesla's chargers are behind the state of the art. They still perform poorly for 800-volt cars. It's still the case that most of them have annoyingly short cables. It's still the case that most of them require a Tesla account and an app just to do something as trivial as charge a battery. But, slowly, gradually, Tesla's chargers are improving to meet the minimum expected standard.