BMW Launches Its Answer to Tesla’s Supercharger Network | Hacker News Reader

BMW Launches Its Answer to Tesla’s Supercharger Network

wired.com

41 pointsantr44 comments

The standards war for car charging is going to be a big mess:

there is the standard which i3 is using http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772 that in itself has (incompatible?) AC (2 levels) and DC (3 levels) variants

then there is this with a completely different plug http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CHAdeMO

and another standard http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VDE-AR-E_2623-2-2#VDE-AR-E_2623...

China will use yet another one http://www.longtailpipe.com/2014/02/chinas-electric-car-fast...

Oh and then there's Tesla's supercharger network

Let's hope someone will quickly start manufacturing adapters bridging different standards.

Tesla does it so it's definitely possible to manufacture the adapters fairly cheap. From what I've heard the Tesla plug doesn't require a licensing fee so that certainly helps keep the price down for adapters.

http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/model-s-charging-ada...

Even when everyone's compatible, will you be able to charge on another company's charger? Or will it be like the ATM issues of the past? "You can only withdraw money from your own bank's ATMs"...

Maybe they'll add premiums for non-partnered manufacturers, or secretly charge them much more slowly, sort of like the Comcast and Verizon of the roads.

Wouldn't charging more slowly risk creating a line behind the charger, causing issues for drivers of the manufacturer's cars waiting in line?

I expect an EU smash as soon as EV charging networks become popular. That's the kind of stuff it's handled fairly well so far.

If you're in the US, you're probably screwed (because liberty)

In the UK, most of the charging networks allow roaming by customers of other networks. It isn't comprehensive but so far I've found it good enough.

Aren't there ways to use adapters for increased compatibility?

I don't see why companies wouldn't want to partner with Tesla, especially now that they have a significant number of charging stations and I don't think they charge a licensing fee for companies using their plug design.

Tesla already sells a SAE J1772 adapter, but it's $750 http://shop.teslamotors.com/products/j1772-connector

That's for the Roadster, the Model S version is only $95: http://shop.teslamotors.com/collections/model-s-charging-ada...

The BMW vehicle would need the adapter to go the other way though, and apparently the cost can be reasonable. There's no reason why the j1772 to whatever the supercharger connection is should be greater than ~$100.

It's only a matter of time before we all have to get our own stupid Belkin adapters for our electric cars. :)

If you ever have had a LPG car, you are already used to that kind of things.

I owned one in the past and crossed the border between 3 countries everyday (Europe ...) - so I had 2 different adapters in the car always.

I can't agree more. It seems like this is going to slow down the progress until they all give in and choose a standard.

Or every car comes with 12 or more converters stored in the trunk...

I have faith in EU to set some kind of standard for at least Europe.

Does anybody have an account of how unleaded/diesel fuel cars came to have a standard nozzle for filling up? It might give us an insight into how this particular standards battle will go down.

If I had to guess, it was done easily because car manufacturers didn't own gas stations.

I mean it's a hole and a spout. I don't really see any other easy way to pour something into a container that has a small opening.

There is quite a bit of variation possible in hole diameter, and spout length.

Including the spout for diesel being larger than petrol to stop you putting diesel in a petrol car.

To be honest, the standard for a gasoline nozzle is pretty easy. The hole needs to be bigger than the hose, that's it. There are a lot more variables with an electric plug.

The standard for the actual fuel composition must certainly be the harder part when considering a classic ICE.

In the early 70's cars were being built with catalytic converters, which necessitated the use of unleaded gasoline because leaded gas would coat the catalytic material in the converter and ruin it.

Cars designed to use unleaded gas would have a fuel filler with a smaller hole in it, and unleaded pumps would have a nozzle that fit in the hole, while leaded and diesel nozzles wouldn't.

Was it catalytic converters or government pressure due to health concerns that forced the move? Certainly in the UK, cats came later.

I don't know the whole story, but there is (or was?) an organization called the Gasoline Pump Manufacturers Association that dates back to at least the 1930s, which seems to have some role in it. Also quite a bit of government involvement, since the measuring parts of the pump fall in the category of "weights and measures", which have been regulated since quite early in U.S. history as an anti-fraud measure (e.g. butchers were traditionally required to use an officially certified scale).

I do appreciate the fact they do not intend to limit which cars can use the chargers, that is a great first step in adoption.

Their choice of providing for on board range extenders is a probably a good bet as well. Myself, I could do fine with an i3 because when I need to take those few really long trips each year I won't have to adjust my route to do so.

Of course these charge points should be created by the same people that run car parks. Its an additional profit opportunity and a customer draw.

If I owned a EV I would be parking in a car park that was 50% more per hour if I could also charge up. Or they just factor the cost of parking into the electricity cost.

Currently, the EV charging points in my area are all free to use, subject to a £10 annual registration fee. Having taken delivery of a PHEV last month, I'm very happy :)

The biggest problem is that many of the charging spots in car parks are often taken by non-electric cars.

> The 24 kilowatt BMW i DC Fast Charger, developed with Bosch Automotive, can charge the i3’s battery up to 80 percent in 30 minutes.

It's more like ‘up to 60%’. i3’s battery is 18.8 kWh.

And Superchangers are 120kW. So they are just joking about that “the answer to Tesla’s Supercharger Network” part I guess.

They talked about how small and light their charger is. If I were an owner, I'd care less about that and more about getting more charge in less time.

It is probably meant for European cities where there is no endless supply of parking lots to install if hardware.

That's Wired editing. They wanted a BMW vs Tesla ( see "Range-Handicapped i3", "Epic Road Trip" ) while in reality, BMW just came up with a small charger to improve the current non-Tesla grid.

The rest of the article is more factual. Except for Tesla, most electric car are meant for city use, small range. In Europe it is quite common to live in a flat with no charging facility at night, so there is needs for a proximity type network. ( For example, I spend 90% of my time in London with the car on the street, buying a Tesla is not possible first because it is a huge car, secondly because I would need to take a trip to the one station 20 min from home on a regular basis )

I guess they decided against doing a deal to license Tesla tech then: http://insideevs.com/behind-scenes-teslas-secret-meeting-bmw...

I'm fine with this. Happy even.

There is more than one way to build our charging infrastructure and we don't yet know how it's going to work best. Tesla's require a lot of power, BMW's doesn't. Our electric grid can support different amounts of power in different locations. Our driving behaviors haven't yet dictated what's going to work best. Etc etc.

I think the cost of adapting charges to work with multiple models of car is low and the benefits of experimentation at this early stage is high.

"... the range-handicapped i3 ..."

I approve of this phrase. We usually see the term "range anxiety" which would indicate some kind of emotional problem with the customer rather than a problem with the product.

Maybe Europe will pass a law like they did for cellphone charger plugs and that will help standardize it internationally...

Well they standardized but the final connector on Apple hardware is still different.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common_external_power_supply#Re...

I have struggled to (on my travels) find an Apple charger that features the micro USB adapter. This has often lead to a dead battery.

I believe that there is only one bad apple among cellphone manufacturers that didn't bring this change to the USA. But I guess that is to be expected with Apple and they might have made millions inconveniencing their customers.

I think this is the wrong way to approach this. So every car manufacturer is going to have its own charging network? Do they even realize how expensive that's going to be? Not to mention something their customers will hate. They all need to get together and create a standardized network that is both solar powered and can charge the cars very fast.

Did you read the article? BMW is going to permit others to access its network.

Assuming that they license the tech from BMW to use it, and agree that BMW's system is the best system. It's not a consortium approach.

Woo! Who doesn't love fragmented standards?!

Imagine if you could only fill up your current vehicle at certain gas stations. If EVs don't come to a standard charger they will be severely hindering that market. There are a ton of obstacles why not put one more out there for arbitrary reasons.

Obligatory xkcd: http://xkcd.com/927/

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