But it also takes away Tesla's biggest advantage, no? The charging network was a big reason to buy a tesla and now that's gone.
So perhaps they will actually end up losing more revenue than gaining.
So perhaps they will actually end up losing more revenue than gaining.
In practice, I don't think any company is meaningfully splitting up their battery pack to take advantage of "better" packaging logistics elsewhere in the frame/body. I know in this example, they could still likely be loosely attached in the same plane, but with less density under the cabin, but I think my point holds.
That's true in my experience. Though it is interesting that cars look more and more similar over time rather than different.
- People generally like their vehicles to look different but not too different. Design of everything is a fashion industry.
- Fuel efficiency, practicality, and safety requirements all lead to a certain level of convergence.
Charging networks are IMHO not a viable long term business model. Building out a "platform" to sell commodity electrons is utterly stupid. Nobody wants the stupid app, they want to charge at McDonalds along the highway while they grab something to eat.
Sort of like gas stations weren't a viable long-term business model?
> Nobody wants the stupid app, they want to charge at McDonalds along the highway while they grab something to eat.
So you should put your chargers near convenient amenities... like a convenience store... like a gas station?
In cities I think we will see less chargers as most people just go home to charge. However in poor areas they will be at places like grocery stores so you those who don't have at-home charging can charge and shop.
As an American, it was really eye opening!
If you only sell gas and nothing else you can only compete on price. Good luck with that.
Fragmentation of the charging infrastructure puts a hard limit on EV adoption, they will never replace ICE vehicles unless the infrastructure becomes as ubiquitous as gas stations.
And while it's a good thing that everyone has adopted the same charging standard, branding is just as important. Gas at gas stations is fungible. EV chargers are most certainly not. Right now Tesla's charging network is the only option that is fast and reliable.
Gas stations can choose from 3-10 grades of gas (octane, ethanol content, road tax) to sell, and 2-6 grades of diesel (cetane, gel point, road tax) depending on what the distributor offers - no station sells them all (at least not that I'm aware of), and getting the wrong fuel can be fatal. Stations also can choose their own additive package which can make a difference.
Note that in almost all cases there is only one distributor you can buy from. Electric is generally a legal monopoly, while gasoline the closest supplier generally has a pipeline and thus can offer much cheaper prices so while it is legal to buy elsewhere it isn't practical.
Only for the subset of the population that owns a home with off street parking. People in denser neighborhoods, appartments buildings or who rent their property will be looking to top off while running errands or at work.
That may be your perspective, however I have family members who owned a plugin hybrid, had no at home charging capabilities, and found the experience superior. I suspect this is a use case that will become more prevelant at the regulatory incentives begin ramping up.
I don't realistically see us being able to rollout sidewalk chargers on the scale needed to provide home charging at the sidewalk for people without driveways or garages.
Tesla is already working on deals to sell their super/ultra-fast chargers to others like EG Group and BP. Expect the number of those deals to grow.
I would argue that this will benefit those with with Teslas. As Tesla scales up to meet the demand for their charging hardware, the cost should drop while availability increases.
Moreover, as the number of independent networks that use Tesla's charging hardware grows, there will be additional pressure/leverage/lobbying on the government, electric companies, etc to provide the behind-the-scenes infrastructure that theses charging locations require. Tesla has on numerous occasions asserted that this is one of the most difficult parts of growing their charging network in places that have the greatest demand.
https://www.reuters.com/business/autos-transportation/uk-pet...
https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/bp-boosts-ev-chargi...
Perhaps I'm misinterpreting your statement, but the Model Y has become the best selling car in the world. That includes ICE vehicles, not just EVs. If you exclude trucks, I think it has also recently become the best selling car in the US, overtaking the Rav4.
That doesn't directly correlate to marketshare. The MY is going to need many many quarters of being the best selling car to have marketshare equal to many other ICE models.
https://www.autoweek.com/news/industry-news/a44600661/is-tes...
I do think any Tesla owner will tell you the charging infra is always scales behind demand and there are often delays waiting for an available spot. Hopefully a universal standard means more operators will participate. I just hope the payment experience can remain seamless.
This lets them pivot to something where they have a huge moat.
Walmart has had 25 years to outcompete Amazon, and is still clueless. Phone makers have had 15 years to beat Apple, and the competition is still not as polished.
(Personally, I don't prefer Teslas or iPhones.)
Tesla has much different goals than the other car manufacturers. Although energy sales are only around 5% of total revenue, Tesla expects that to change going forward.
Either way, I think it’s terrific business. Would you rather have a dependable advantage that helps you stay further ahead of competitors in one industry, or have slightly less of an advantage (when you’re already in the lead) and get to dominate a whole second industry too (gas stations, for which superchargers have no peers in the EV world).