“Investors Sour on EV Charging Companies”

[AliRafiee]

TLDR:
The charging companies are still not turning a profit. The projection is a year or two from now.
But since the early adopters, people are hesitant to buy EVs due to charging difficulties. The same old chicken and egg problems.

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/investors-sour-on-ev-charging-companies-f6318bfb

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[FrankieG889D]

I honestly hope they go out of business. They deserve to.

 

[AhardFSU]

There was a large story in Reuters last week or the week before last regarding US charging infrastructure and charge point companies. In the article a European or US charge point operator said that the charging stations are profitable once they hit a 15% utilization rate. I found that interesting.

 

[dbsb3233]

TLDR:
The charging companies are still not turning a profit. The projection is a year or two from now.
But since the early adopters, people are hesitant to buy EVs due to charging difficulties. The same old chicken and egg problems.

https://www.wsj.com/business/autos/investors-sour-on-ev-charging-companies-f6318bfb

DCFC is a horrible business model if your name isn't Tesla. Mostly dependent on taxpayer subsidies (or $2B from Dieselgate).

Maybe that will change when there's 10x as many BEVs on the roads, but until then they're usually money pits. They gotta find a way to get costs down, starting with equipment manufacturers putting out way more dependable products.

 

[AliRafiee]

Interesting. With everyone complaining about getting a spot I would imagine there is a lot more utilization now. ??‍

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

I honestly hope they go out of business. They deserve to.

No you don’t. As bad as they can be, there is no real alternative at the present time.

 

[dbsb3233]

Interesting. With everyone complaining about getting a spot I would imagine there is a lot more utilization now. ??‍

Not everyone. The tip of the iceberg is just a lot louder.

 

[AhardFSU]

Interesting. With everyone complaining about getting a spot I would imagine there is a lot more utilization now. ??‍

I would guess that utilization is up bc sales are up year over year. My experience is anecdotal, but when i have done road trips recently, including last week, the stations I used, which was EvGo….was full and some people had to wait. It wasn’t that way going back to May of this year.

 

[AliRafiee]

Not everyone. The tip of the iceberg is just a lot louder.

I don’t take too many long trips. A few times a year going from Seattle to Vancouver BC. Never had any issues charging myself.

I need to go down to Portland for some lunch and see how that goes.

 

[FrankieG889D]

No you don’t. As bad as they can be, there is no real alternative at the present time.

Tesla Supercharging is right around the corner.

They’ve done 0 to rectify any issues with their stations. I stand by my statement.

 

[luckie]

DCFC is a horrible business model if your name isn't Tesla. Mostly dependent on taxpayer subsidies (or $2B from Dieselgate).

Maybe that will change when there's 10x as many BEVs on the roads, but until then they're usually money pits. They gotta find a way to get costs down, starting with equipment manufacturers putting out way more dependable products.

Also, heck, maybe that will change in a few months when Tesla chargers are more broadly opened to non-Teslas.

 

[dbsb3233]

Tesla Supercharging is right around the corner.

They’ve done 0 to rectify any issues with their stations. I stand by my statement.

EA going out of business would make my Mach-E nearly useless for road trips. Way too many long stretches of interstates I road trip on now with only V2 Superchargers. Like for instance the westernmost 300 miles of I-70 in UT/CO. And all of I-80 in WY.

 

[Kamuelaflyer]

Tesla Supercharging is right around the corner.

They’ve done 0 to rectify any issues with their stations. I stand by my statement.

Tesla Superchargers are not a panacea, nor are they the saviors of road trip EV charging.

As for “done 0”, that’s not correct. The various operators have done things and will continue do so, it just hasn’t been sufficient to date as there is a tremendous amount of catching up to do.

 

[BigMach-E]

Tesla Superchargers are not a panacea, nor are they the saviors of road trip EV charging.

As for “done 0”, that’s not correct. The various operators have done things and will continue do do, it just hasn’t been sufficient to date as there is a tremendous amount of catching up to do.

Yes, they may have done “something” but overall it seems like what they have done has been become more neglectful of maintaining their equipment. At least around my neck of the woods.

 

[AliRafiee]

BTW, I forgot to mention that I didn’t know EA is owned by VW (according to the article)

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