Tesla to open charging network

[Mirak]

I won’t pretend to know what Tesla’s strategy is, so I’ll just focus on two points which I think we can generally agree on….

1. As @timbop and others have mentioned, Tesla isn’t just going to give away one of its last remaining advantages - exclusive access to its Supercharger network - without getting something in return.

2. The number of CCS cars in NA will eventually overtake Teslas. Tesla knows this. It is only a matter of time.

Ok, so put these two things together, and let’s extrapolate…..

First, I think that Tesla has floated an idea like this in the past but couldn’t find any “buyers.” That may be what it is doing again. Tesla obviously and reasonably wants money - in the form of direct payments or tax incentives - from other manufacturers and the government.

Second, I doubt that Tesla is going to “sell an adapter” - at least a Tesla station to CCS port adapter. A more effective means of managing the influx of CCS to its network without bogging down a system that is already overloaded in some areas would be to gradually swap out the cables for CCS over time. Tesla could start this in less popular areas that don’t have as much CCS infrastructure.

I also expect that starting by 2023 all new NA Teslas will have a CCS port. So what eventually happens to owners without the CCS ports when Tesla connections start drying up? They’ll have to use a CCS to Tesla adapter. That’s irony.

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[blue92lx]

Honestly he'd be stupid to not open up his network. He's now positioned himself to make any loss of EV sales into becoming an EV charging station provider like Electrify America, except more well known and he's playing both sides of the game with creating a charging network and also selling the cars that use it. Now he can continue to build more and more tesla charging stations that everyone can use that all have a big ol' Tesla logo on it for everyone to see. He's getting paid to advertise his own company.

He's also already bigger in the charging arena than chargepoint, EA, etc. It could just be a power move to keep in front of them and not let them build a bigger infrastructure than he has.

Plus most charging stations that I've seen have like one or two Teslas at them, why not capitalize on that and make more money charging us MME owners and ID.4 owners to use his stations?

He also can come off looking like a super hero by doing this for all EV owners to benefit.

There's literally no downside for Elon no matter how butthurt the Tesla owners will be to see a MME parked next to them.

 

[Accord07]

A few thoughts:

• It is a tweet with vague language - it's nothing more than an attention grabber. It's slightly more reliable than a fortune cookie
• ...

Please do not insult fortune cookies. When was the last time a fortune cookie addressed anyone as the "pedo guy"?

 

[Scrannel]

Sorry, but this last quarter has shown the model 3 & y make money. Please consult current numbers. And, given that one will pay for charger use, what's the downside? It's a win for everyone. And the likelihood of CCS cars "overtaking Tesla"? Who's even remotely close enough to do that (unclear what that even means)? He's going to do well by doing good. Simple. And it may even force EA to get it's act together.

 

[Stang68]

Sorry, but this last quarter has shown the model 3 & y make money. Please consult current numbers. And, given that one will pay for charger use, what's the downside? It's a win for everyone. And the likelihood of CCS cars "overtaking Tesla"? Who's even remotely close enough to do that (unclear what that even means)? He's going to do well by doing good. Simple. And it may even force EA to get it's act together.

Well, one could assume that if literally every other automaker uses the CCS standard, then they will overtake Tesla...

 

[deadduck]

I guess I don’t understand why we don’t, as a society, just make the decision to do the right thing and invest in the infrastructure ourselves (politicians that will actually lead for people)

I can't tell, is this incredibly sarcastic, or not? Regardless, I have a Mr. C, the 19th on line 2, who would like a word about politicians doing the right thing and electing them. There's also a Mr. Paul on line 3, something about ophthalmology and infectious disease expertise. And there's some other guy outside yelling about a stolen election.

 

[Brofessional]

Sorry, but this last quarter has shown the model 3 & y make money. Please consult current numbers. And, given that one will pay for charger use, what's the downside? It's a win for everyone. And the likelihood of CCS cars "overtaking Tesla"? Who's even remotely close enough to do that (unclear what that even means)? He's going to do well by doing good. Simple. And it may even force EA to get it's act together.

Have they posted a quarter where profits weren't overwhelmingly due to credits? I honestly don't know the answer. I stopped keeping track after the "bitcoin" quarterly report, but I'm not sure you can look at quarterly profits and draw conclusions about the profitability of specific models.

And I would say it's a win for everyone except those who recently decided on a Tesla based on charging network access. With several 250-300 mile range EVs now in production or soon to be in production, many may have chosen another model.

 

[TJ-Mach-e]

And the likelihood of CCS cars "overtaking Tesla"? Who's even remotely close enough to do that (unclear what that even means)?

Obviously one day Ford+VW+Chevy+Nissan+MB+BMW+KIA+Hyundai+every other EV car maker will be greater than the number of Teslas on the road.

 

[blue92lx]

Well, one could assume that if literally every other automaker uses the CCS standard, then they will overtake Tesla...

This is something Tesla owners don't seem to understand a lot of the time. Because of Elon's success (kudos to him) it's Tesla vs everyone else. It's not a situation where it's Tesla vs Ford.

Also to be fair, Tesla's entire company is EV. So an actual fair comparison would be Tesla vs all of the cars and trucks produced by Ford.

When the other manufacturers go full EV then you can do a fair comparison of Tesla vs one other manufacturer for EV status. But when other manufacturers (some by 2030) are full EV I think it'll be a different song and dance for Tesla's market share in the EV world.

 

[EELinneman]

Just looked at my Tesla app: of the supercharging stations near me I see:

5/5 avail
7/8 avail
20/24 avail
20/20 avail

So, generally speaking, there should only be "lines" on very busy days -- holidays etc.

D bags are universal

 

[Stang68]

This is something Tesla owners don't seem to understand a lot of the time. Because of Elon's success (kudos to him) it's Tesla vs everyone else. It's not a situation where it's Tesla vs Ford.

Also to be fair, Tesla's entire company is EV. So an actual fair comparison would be Tesla vs all of the cars and trucks produced by Ford.

When the other manufacturers go full EV then you can do a fair comparison of Tesla vs one other manufacturer for EV status. But when other manufacturers (some by 2030) are full EV I think it'll be a different song and dance for Tesla's market share in the EV world.

I mean, again...if one company use one type of charger and every other company uses another, the one used by more will become more ubiquitous.

An obvious example is Apple with the lightning cable. They have held onto it (only on the iPhone as they are now moving to USC Type C on their major prodcuts) but totally not a fair example as Tesla is not anywhere near the size of Apple when it comes to US marketshare. Smartphones have saturated the market and Apple has a ton of US marketshare. Tesla, while the dominant EV player, is still like 2% of total drivers on the road in the US...probably less. So that leaves a lot of room for literally every other auto manufacturer to scoop up future EV owners, and that means the CCS standard.

 

[pt19713]

Have they posted a quarter where profits weren't overwhelmingly due to credits? I honestly don't know the answer. I stopped keeping track after the "bitcoin" quarterly report, but I'm not sure you can look at quarterly profits and draw conclusions about the profitability of specific models.

And I would say it's a win for everyone except those who recently decided on a Tesla based on charging network access. With several 250-300 mile range EVs now in production or soon to be in production, many may have chosen another model.

Their finance team is also approving expenditures knowing there's a steady stream of cash from the credits. If those credits weren't there, some of those expenditures wouldn't be on the books. People look at the numbers and are quick to say that Tesla wouldn't be profitable, but take away those credits and the expenditures would be lower. My company does the same thing, it's nothing unique.

 

[pt19713]

Just looked at my Tesla app: of the supercharging stations near me I see:

5/5 avail
7/8 avail
20/24 avail
20/20 avail

So, generally speaking, there should only be "lines" on very busy days -- holidays etc.

Yeah, weekends and holidays, these are lower. The Newark one is a very high usage since it's directly off I-95. 200,000+ cars pass by the welcome center daily.

 

[Mirak]

I mean, again...if one company use one type of charger and every other company uses another, the one used by more will become more ubiquitous.

An obvious example is Apple with the lightning cable. They have held onto it (only on the iPhone as they are now moving to USC Type C on their major prodcuts) but totally not a fair example as Tesla is not anywhere near the size of Apple when it comes to US marketshare. Smartphones have saturated the market and Apple has a ton of US marketshare. Tesla, while the dominant EV player, is still like 2% of total drivers on the road in the US...probably less. So that leaves a lot of room for literally every other auto manufacturer to scoop up future EV owners, and that means the CCS standard.

An older example is vhs vs Betamax. All about adoption.

 

[Mirak]

There's literally no downside for Elon no matter how butthurt the Tesla owners will be to see a MME parked next to them.

If you chose a drab, dumpy Model Y over a sexy MME in part because of exclusive access to the Superchager network, that’s a downside for you, and ultimately for Tesla. But the writing is on the wall. Tesla has to adapt.

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