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It's important to distinguish Tesla from other companies. The others haven't figured out how to make chargers cheaply yet, so they're forced to ask for subsidie

by ggreer 2y ago

It's important to distinguish Tesla from other companies. The others haven't figured out how to make chargers cheaply yet, so they're forced to ask for subsidies. That's why Tesla's bids on that Texas contract were so much lower than the competition. Tesla mass produces their charging stations in factories. Entire stations are assembled from modular units, mounted on a concrete slab, and shipped to the installation site on a flatbed.[1] These optimizations have gotten installation times down to 4 days.[2] Sources inside of Tesla have claimed their charging network is profitable, which is impressive considering that until recently, their network got no subsidies because it only supported charging Teslas. 1. https://x.com/Tesla/status/1636085524694695939 https://x.com/Tesla/status/1636085524694695939 2. https://x.com/TeslaCharging/status/1777395990766432596 https://x.com/TeslaCharging/status/1777395990766432596

nimish 2y ago
The others don't _want_ to make chargers. They don't or want to know how. Charging infrastructure is a public good so it ought to be the government's job to incentivize it, but Tesla's supercharger network works just as well.
- vel0city 2y ago
  Personally, I don't want my car company to also be the company I buy the fuel from. I'd want a marketplace of people competing to sell me fuel. I don't want to only be able to fuel my Hyundai at Hyundai-affiliated gas stations. And it'd be bullshit if I couldn't get gas from the Ford station because I'm in a Hyundai. I get Tesla needed to jumpstart the industry, but if its going to actually work the charging industry needs to stand on its own and not rely on the automakers making their own networks.
borski 2y ago
Tesla has yet to ever produce a 1000V charging cabinet. Their v4 chargers that claim to be 1000V aren’t, because they are still driven by 400V cabinets. Building 1000V cabinets is very very expensive, which is why Tesla is behind the curve and hasn’t done it yet. EA cabinets are all 1000V. You are comparing apples and oranges. And 400V is the past.
no_wizard 2y ago
Is it? This makes no real difference to my entire point, which is companies are learning that they should wait for subsidies, and will either build out much slower or not at all until they do. State governments have now set precedent for it. It’s not even that I’m against subsidies, to be clear, but they’re becoming pro forma and they aren’t terribly well thought out on setting goals. So they get subsidized to be built where they were going to build the chargers anyway

by ggreer 2y ago

nimish 2y ago

The others don't _want_ to make chargers. They don't or want to know how. Charging infrastructure is a public good so it ought to be the government's job to incentivize it, but Tesla's supercharger network works just as well.

vel0city 2y ago
Personally, I don't want my car company to also be the company I buy the fuel from. I'd want a marketplace of people competing to sell me fuel. I don't want to only be able to fuel my Hyundai at Hyundai-affiliated gas stations. And it'd be bullshit if I couldn't get gas from the Ford station because I'm in a Hyundai. I get Tesla needed to jumpstart the industry, but if its going to actually work the charging industry needs to stand on its own and not rely on the automakers making their own networks.

borski 2y ago

Tesla has yet to ever produce a 1000V charging cabinet. Their v4 chargers that claim to be 1000V aren’t, because they are still driven by 400V cabinets. Building 1000V cabinets is very very expensive, which is why Tesla is behind the curve and hasn’t done it yet. EA cabinets are all 1000V. You are comparing apples and oranges. And 400V is the past.

no_wizard 2y ago

Is it? This makes no real difference to my entire point, which is companies are learning that they should wait for subsidies, and will either build out much slower or not at all until they do. State governments have now set precedent for it. It’s not even that I’m against subsidies, to be clear, but they’re becoming pro forma and they aren’t terribly well thought out on setting goals. So they get subsidized to be built where they were going to build the chargers anyway