Featured 340 more Superchargers to be added in the US

I'm curious as to why that's such an important thing for those of us who either :

Only travel local (more than 90%) or
Make long trips Via Plane / train.

If you charge at home every night, doesn't that eliminate the need for superchargers on a daily basis?

 

Its important for the Tesla buyers who can only run on electricity. Having them was Tesla's master stroke in the beginning when the cars came with free electricity for life. The vehicles had very poor fit and finish and the self driving never panned out for their early first adopters. But free fuel and the ability to go long distances because of the superchargers was good enough. Now it is possible for a Tesla to drive coast to coast using the extremely fast chargers.

 

By this logic - whether tesla or alternate brand of EVs - NO increase in fast chargers is an important thing. That's where the fallacy becomes apparent. Get it? You go drive across I40 for over 1,000 miles & what do you see ... thousands of drivers. Every day. Doesn't matter that they are only 10% of trip makers? Should there not be enough gas stations for the 10% of gassers that make those kind of 10% cannonball trips?
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It may not be at all important for your particular demographic, those that rarely make long trips in their own personal vehicles.

But it is important to a very large fraction of the rest of the population, far more than 10%.

 

Was Tesla going to stop putting in Superchargers?
Maybe they should focus more on service centers for all the cars they've been selling. That might be a bigger concern with their customers now.

Tesla has 1498 Supercharger locations in the US. This will bring that to 1838 in an undisclosed time frame. Electrify America plans for 1800 locations by 2025. I'd say at least one of the others is matching Tesla.
https://www.scrapehero.com/location-reports/Tesla%20Superchargers-USA/
https://www.thedetroitbureau.com/2021/07/electrify-america-plans-big-expansion-of-charging-network/

If 90% of a car's miles is local, and the US average annual mileage is 15,000 miles, that leaves 1500 miles a year that aren't local.

73% of Americans prefer a car over a plane for travel.
73 percent of Americans would rather road trip than fly, study says | Fox News

 

Tesla realized that EVs are a system that includes fast DC charging. The other EV makers are beginning to get a clue that to sell EVs, you must have reliable, fast DC charges by motivated charging companies. They are +5 years late. Meanwhile Tesla is not sitting still.

in my +3 years of Model 3 ownership, the rate of new and upgraded Superchargers has exceeded my rate of inevitable battery degradation. Best of all, our next Tesla will have longer range and better highway efficiency. WIN-WIN. In contrast, VW released an EV that initially could not charge at VW’s Electrify America.

The brighter EV makers are trying to copy Tesla of today but lack the imagination and flexibility to anticipate the future.

Bob Wilson

 

Funny, because most discussions like this eventually wind up talking about the large number of people who live in apartments and cannot charge at home every night. I guess we are beyond that stage now?

Mike

 

At least some of the others are ramping up to catch Tesla.
Then Tesla might open up the Superchargers in order to get that sweet, sweet subsidy money.

More fast DC chargers can help there, but it isn't ideal. The higher costs involved can discourage switching from some type of ICE car. It also isn't the best thing for the battery's long term health when it is the sole charging method. We need to start pushing for a long term solution for those car owners.

 

Unfortunately DC fast chargers are basically the only option for people who rent and have an electric car. I doubt their landlords will allow them to install a 220 volt charger and might be iffy on just running out an extension cord for trickle charging.

 

That's why changes to building codes are needed.
It does sound like newer apartments and condos are being built with charger support in mind. At least in some areas. Other markets are getting slow chargers on street lamps, and there is at least designs that are curb mounted.

 

It's funny what landlords will condone. Around here, for quite a while it was common to see For Rent signs with the words "High speed internet" emblazoned across it. Now you seldom see an apartment that does not have it.

I suspect that in the future, the typical apartment will allow level 1 charging and someone will provide a low cost billing mechanism to spread out the costs. A 120V level 1 charger will easily handle the daily charging needs of a soccer mom as long as it's charged daily. That model breaks down if you have a 70kWh battery pack and let it run down every week and then expect to charge it only on weekends.

 

Gosh ..... and here we were - charging at work - 11 years ago. Didn't realize we were such a bunch of unicorns.

Joking aside (we sorta were a bunch of unicorns a decade ago), more & more companies are installing chargers at places of employment - which especially benefits those that can't charge at home. Still, for those who can charge at neither location, there is public charging while you're out shopping. For that batch of people a plug-in hybrid works just fine.

 

While I don't go around scoping out employee parking lots here, I haven't spotted any such charging in my travels. First friend with a Tesla didn't have it at one of the big pharmaceuticals here.

It exists, just like charging at some apartments, but not at the levels we are going to need. Spending money to expand that is probably better spent than incentives on the cars.

 

I had advocated for work charging only to have it turned down. I retired and they lost the contract … pattern matched.

Bob Wilson

 

Sounds like you are saying that because it isn't important to YOU, it really isn't important at all.
Of course that is not true.

It doesn't have to be important to EVERYBODY to actually be important.

 

It is an expense, and a higher one to install into existing lots. Here, there is a stretch of grass, pavement, and sidewalks between the building and closest employee spots. Piggy backing off the lot lamps is an option, but not for much more beyond the three plug ins currently here. Which doesn't work long term with dozens of cars.

It's why I think subsidies for all types of charging is better than for new cars. People are already buying the cars. More charging access will increase that pool of buyers.

 

Chicken and Egg type problem.
Luckily, some businesses are installing chargers. And luckily, we don’t expect all drivers to own EVs tomorrow, so a gradual increase in infrastructure works ‘OK’.

As for incentives for charging infrastructure, they are there in the latest IRA.
Is the balance between EV and Infrastructure optimal? Probably not, but I won’t let perfect be the enemy of good.

 

You see it being done by at least the larger companies in Silicon Valley--and expected by the employees. At the building where I work they have at least 30 chargers, and they are mostly full! If they didn't have a requirement to move your car after 4 hours (or start getting charged a lot higher amount) I sometimes wouldn't be able to get a charger for my Prime.