bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

good news! funny it's being funded by dieselgate

Tesla Will Install the First Supercharger Stations in the U.S. With CCS Connectors

27 Dec 2021, 16:07 UTC ·
by Cristian Agatie
Tesla decided to make good on its promises to open up its Supercharger stations to other carmakers’ electric vehicles, as a new document shows.
18 photos

The biggest problem with this proposition is the proprietary connector all Supercharger stations in the U.S. use. As it turns out, things will soon change and that will happen not only because Tesla is such a do-good company but also because it wants government money to further develop its charging-station network.

The first Supercharger stations equipped with a standard CCS connector will pop up in Texas. For this to happen, Tesla will use the money from the Texas Volkswagen Environmental Mitigation Program (TxVEMP). It’s a program that uses the settlement money from the Dieselgate scandal to fund air quality projects in Texas. These include EV charging stations, with the condition they are open for business to other carmakers too.

According to a filing with Texas Commission on Environmental Quality revealed on Reddit by u/mockingbird, Tesla applied for four grants already, with values ranging from $376,000 to $500,000. The company behind the Supercharger network will build four charging stations with either 9 or 17 stalls, each with a power of at least 150 kW.

To qualify for the program, the stations will have to be installed in a public place, within half a mile from an Interstate, U.S., or State Highway or emergency evacuation route. Also, the new charging stations will have to offer at least one CHAdeMO or CCS connector when there is another proprietary connector included in the application. With CHAdeMO essentially dead, this means future Tesla Supercharger stations in Texas will offer a CCS coupling.

This is a big change for Tesla, as the company only uses its proprietary connector for Superchargers across North America. Tesla already uses CCS as default in Europe, where they also started opening the Supercharger network to other automakers as well. It is not clear whether Tesla will use an adaptor or will have only half the stalls equipped with CCS plugs to satisfy the funding conditions.

For Tesla, this means government money to extend the Supercharger network in areas with less coverage. For Tesla owners, though, it is more about busier charging stations and increased waiting time. Hopefully, with more Supercharger stations available, the problem will alleviate over time.

https://www.autoevolution.com/news/t...rs-177602.html

JeffKeryk

When I was in the Great State of Texas, I was surprised at how few EVs I saw. I am sure this will jump start adoption.
I think the biggest "gain" would be installing chargers in condos and apartments. In the SF Bay Area, this is a hot topic. Landlords are looking into installation possibilities (and costs!) to satisfy demand.
Of course, charging at work is becoming the new standard. Not a bad way to go...

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

haha, don't know when this was or where, but i was in austin earlier this year and there were teslas EVERYWHERE. saw one every few minutes while driving.

i think you're in silicon valley? anyway, the 'standards' there are very different than almost anywhere else.

EZZ

Sadly, I see this as the beginning of Tesla going CCS and giving up its proprietary connector which is waaaaay better. First, they will probably have CCS adapters for the current cars and then just switch altogether. CCS is bulky and a s**** solution altogether but it is what it is. At least everyone will be on the same standard.

JeffKeryk

I was in Arlington 4 times from Dec thru June, helping my niece. She is a widower with 2 sets of twin girls. I would guess I saw the same amount as you. Just far different than what I am used to.
Yes, CA the nation's leader in so many ways. That's why so many new cars are tried out here first by car makers. Is the Toyota Mirai available in other states now?

xioix

Hydrogen stations are only available in California and Hawaii, so it makes 0 sense to sell the Mirai anywhere but California

spwolf

we already have it in Europe on all Tesla's, it is fine. Chargers have both Tesla and CCS.

GS3Tek

iTrader: (8)

I'm wondering if some tesla owners will harass the non-tesla car owners for taking up the charging space (on a busy day and some might not know of the new change).

JeffKeryk

I can tell you we are kinda unhappy... And that's putting it mildly. The charging network is a huge benefit over other EV choices.

JeffKeryk

That's what I thought. I didn't know there were hydrogen stations in HI.
There are 2 stations near me. I was originally interested in the Mirai, but no more. The few owners I have spoke to are not impressed.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

<confused> i said i saw teslas everywhere in austin and you said you were surprised how few you saw in tx, yet now you say you think you saw the same amount as me.

thankfully no.

'we' - you can speak for all tesla owners? anyway, even if all tesla owners are unhappy, maybe they're not looking at a bigger picture since tesla is planning to add a ton of new supercharging stations. also, i've heard it said by tesla fans that tesla is really an 'energy' company, not a car company, well maybe they plan to make most of their money from charging (any brand) and not selling cars. once again this would be similar to apple making a ton of money now from subscriptions like icloud and music, and sales of iphones are less important.

LeX2K

Apple makes nearly 50% of their revenue from iPhone hardware. But they would never be able to do that if they didn't have their entire ecosystem you can't take one part of it away and be the same company. Tesla being an energy company means they make storage that goes into cars, grid storage, home storage all supported by in house software. Very Apple like.

bitkahuna

iTrader: (20)

right but the tesla connector is a bit like the stupid proprietary lightning connector.
apple will eventually crack (europe's about to force them) into using usb-c like everyone else.
so in that sense tesla is like apple.

fyi, apple iphone sales as a %age of revenue have dropped from 52 to 46 in the last 2 years and service revenue has gone from 12 to 18. major changes. no question iphone sales are hugely important, but as you implied, they're possible because of the underlying ecosystem including all the services.

the superchargers though are not hardware sales, they're like icloud - recurring service revenue. and by expanding to include ccs, tesla's supercharger revenue can soar. and if they keep adding stations, tesla owners may not be much inconvenienced by non-tesla users. it's actually a dream scenario... no doubt gm would have loved to own an oil company. now tesla can have both the cars and the fuel.

LeX2K

How so? When the Model S came out there was no suitable off the shelf connector so Tesla made their own. They didn't make a proprietary one just for the sake of it. BTW Tesla's connector is great nice and compact and reliable.

Blaze876

iTrader: (1)

the CCS connector was not suitable?