Ogre

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During the Q2 2021 earnings call, Musk (and someone who's name I didn't catch) spelled out some more details on sharing the supercharger network.

Going from memory here so please correct me if I miss a point, I'll try to update this top post if needed.

The #1 big thing which made me happy is that they are planning on accelerating the Supercharger network growth so it's growing at a faster pace than car sales. This is part of the motivation behind adding non-Tesla vehicles to the network. Essentially, the more the stations are used, the more profitable the system is and the faster they can grow the network. (And yes... they actually said "Profitable").

Tesla is likely providing some kind of adaptor at the charger for non-Tesla vehicles. This is good news for existing Tesla owners. To activate the charger non-Tesla owners will have an app and put in their stall number.

They are planning on implementing more time-of-day/ demand based rate shifting to encourage off-peak charging. Not clear if they are just making windows of time or will actually up the rates as the station fills up.

They are adding a time component to the charging rate so slower charging cars will pay more per kWh. So if some guy in an older Leaf rolls up and takes 90 minutes to squeeze a full charge into his car at 50kW, its going to be more expensive getting the same amount of juice in 10 minutes on a Model S. It also means due to tapering, charging your Tesla from 5%-15% is going to be less expensive than charging from 90-100%. No details on how much this will impact cost.

Ok... I've said more than they did now.

Anything I missed? Thoughts?
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I also listened to the call and that is exactly the way I understood it too. If a Rivian adapter is available I just might have to reconsider a few things.
 

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The big surprise for me was that it seems they intend to let any vehicle with a CCS inlet, an adapter and a copy of a Tesla App to use the system. I was certain that they would strike deals with the OEMs one at a time. This is, of course, better for the owners of other BEV as they don't have to depend on Scaringe or Rawlinson being able to swallow his pride in order to open the SC network to his customers.

No question that the new network has to be profitable WRT the new users if it is to fulfill its original purpose (and Elon's promise) of providing susbsidized charging to Tesla customers.

The most intriguing question is with respect to the requisite adapter. It is certainly not a big deal to make an adapter. What is a big deal is to make an adapter that handles 250 kW. That's 625 amperes. The cable that delivers that 625A to the nozzle has to be liquid cooled. How will they get the adapter into that cooling circuit? My guess is that they won't but rather limit the adapter to appreciably less current (and less power). But that wouldn't compete with the EA chargers very well so I'm guessing that while at first an adapter may be necessary so that the stations currently deployed can be used, new and upgraded chargers will have two hoses one CCS and one Tesla.

Next question is as to how one gets one of these adapters. Does an eTron user have to buy one or are they chained to the terminals?

All in all this is great news. An adapter solution could be out there in months allowing Rivian users to charge anywhere a Tesla can if at, initially, somewhat lower power. I'll be back here to eat my words if I wind up in a queue at the Baie St. Paul SC.
 
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The big surprise for me was that it seems they intend to let any vehicle with a CCS inlet, an adapter and a copy of a Tesla App to use the system.
I still think this is fundamentally about getting access to government subsidies.

The one justification they gave is that greater utilization would drive profitability which would drive growth of the whole network. This is a hard sell for a lot of people who have seen how busy the network can get already though.

Musk also said was that they were very much against the idea of using the Supercharger Network as a sort of walled garden for their cars. But itā€™s a lot easier to be magnanimous when you have government money funding your altruism.

Next question is as to how one gets one of these adapters. Does an eTron user have to buy one or are they chained to the terminals?
They suggested the adaptors would be available at the Supercharger stations. Iā€™d love to see how they do dual chargers in Europe.
 

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I still think this is fundamentally about getting access to government subsidies.
I'm not so sure. I was a beltway bandit so I know first hand that there is lots of opportunity to relieve the government of the people's money. But I also know first hand that if you make a compact with the devil, eventually must give the devil his due.

The one justification they gave is that greater utilization would drive profitability which would drive growth of the whole network. This is a hard sell for a lot of people who have seen how busy the network can get already though.
Seems like a brilliant scheme to me. We want wider BEV adoption. That requires a charging network. The other OEMs won't step up and help build this network. Answer: have the other OEMs support the network whether they want to or not. I've said before that the only entity capable of building the requisite network is Tesla. This will allow Tesla to do that without requiring Tesla to front all the associated costs. As a Tesla owner and engineer my perspective is that if you have n resources and m users increasing m can only make the available resources less available. But as the current resources are hardly stressed increasing m a bit won't change things much (how many other BEV are on the road?). As a Rivian owner I don't care one bit about inconveniencing the Tesla owners. I am delighted. As a Rivian and Tesla owner I am only delighted as I see the ability to use the Telsa network to charge my Rivian as a much bigger plus than the minus of finding a SC station 1/2 full as opposed to 3/8 full. As a citizen I see wider adoption of BEV as a benefit to society and appreciate that profits from additional m being spent on increasing n means that increased congestion is not a foregone conclusion. I don't, and perhaps time will prove me naive, class Tesla with cigarette companies and big oil. Time will prove me right or wrong on this.

Musk also said was that they were very much against the idea of using the Supercharger Network as a sort of walled garden for their cars. But itā€™s a lot easier to be magnanimous when you have government money funding your altruism.
They do not have government money nor do they need it. I think they are smart enough not to take it.


They suggested the adaptors would be available at the Supercharger stations. Iā€™d love to see how they do dual chargers in Europe.
As I said in an earlier post I don't believe adapters will be able to carry the current the V3 and later chargers will be able to handle. Therefore I think adapters will be an interim solution until chargers like these get installed or existing ones get retrofitted.
Tesla Cybertruck More Details on Supercharger sharing with non-Tesla cars (from Q2 2021 earnings call) DualSC
 
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In Europe they use the same connector, so no adapter needed.
There are a fair number of Teslas in Europe with the older SC connector so the Superchargers there have 2 ends (which is the picture ajde posted).
 

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There are a fair number of Teslas in Europe with the older SC connector so the Superchargers there have 2 ends (which is the picture ajde posted).
Yes, older Tesla cars and chargers. But the chargers already have switched connectors, so...

...No adapter needed.

-Crissa
 
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This is weird, I though most newer cars could charge at 150 kW. The brand new Bolt only charged at 50 kW max. That is crazy with current competition. This isnā€™t even the outgoing 2021, itā€™s the brand new 2022.
 

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This is weird, I though most newer cars could charge at 150 kW. The brand new Bolt only charged at 50 kW max. That is crazy with current competition. This isnā€™t even the outgoing 2021, itā€™s the brand new 2022.
I think the faster charging is an option for GM and Nissan.

-Crissa
 
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This is weird, I though most newer cars could charge at 150 kW. The brand new Bolt only charged at 50 kW max. That is crazy with current competition. This isnā€™t even the outgoing 2021, itā€™s the brand new 2022.
Not really. It's a small battery (57 kWh) and so charges, at 50 kW, in a little over an hour just as the batteries in our Teslas do. As the Bolts are small they travel on about 220 Wh/mi and thus add about 250 miles per hour at that rate.

Problem is, they seem to keep bursting into flame, even at Level 2 charge rate.
 
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Not really. It's a small battery (57 kWh) and so charges, at 50 kW, in a little over an hour just as the batteries in our Teslas do. As the Bolts are small they travel on about 220 Wh/mi and thus add about 250 miles per hour at that rate.

Problem is, they seem to keep bursting into flame, even at Level 2 charge rate.
It's battery is 75% of the size of the Model Y.

It charges at 20% of the speed of the Model Y. That is slow.

If you are road tripping, Bolt owners are going to spend much more time at the charging stations. I figured newer cars wouldn't bump into Teslas "Slow charging cars pay more" issue, apparently the Bolt is going to bump into that.
 

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If I pull into an SC needing 175 miles added (Tesla MX) it's going to take me about half and hour to get it. If a Bolt pulls in and the most it can draw is 50 kW it going to take about 3/4 of an hour. Longer, yes. Much longer? Guess that depends on how you define "much".
 
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If I pull into an SC needing 175 miles added (Tesla MX) it's going to take me about half and hour to get it. If a Bolt pulls in and the most it can draw is 50 kW it going to take about 3/4 of an hour. Longer, yes. Much longer? Guess that depends on how you define "much".
My Model Y can add that same 175 miles in less than 22 minutes. The Model 3 which is closest in capacity to the Bolt is even faster.

Yes I consider twice as fast "Much faster".
 

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My Model Y can add that same 175 miles in less than 22 minutes. The Model 3 which is closest in capacity to the Bolt is even faster.

Yes I consider twice as fast "Much faster".
Sure. And a CT with twice the battery will take about twice as long as my X and 3 times as long as your Y. In general cars charge on average at about 1C. My X has a 100 kWh battery and want's (on average including taper) about 100 kW. A CT with its 225 kWh battery will want, on average 225 kW which, as it won't be able to get that at many stations, will take longer than an hour to charge fully. The Bolt has a 57 kWh battery, want's 57 kW and takes about an hour for a full charge if charged at 57. All is well in the garden.

Yes, the industry is pushing for > 1C but I don't think we are there yet.
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