And so it begins. GM plans its own nationwide charging network with Bechtel More from CNN. First on CNN Business: GM and Bechtel plan to build thousands of electric car charging stations across the US - CNN
It said in the video that they would like to get the ball rolling by the end of the year, so probably add a year.
Yeah probably an underserved market. Tesla supercharging system is for traveling but has been dealing with owners who have free supercharging camping at local superchargers instead of at home and not moving their cars; an unintended consequence.
Which is a problem with any free charging. I think Tesla is starting to put in stations with chargers of about 50kW speeds to serve those without regular home charging those people. If the standards available at the time had met Tesla needs, there wouldn't be a Supercharger one today. I think it is just a matter of time before someone signs on with Tesla for Supercharger access. I know Bollinger Motors has approached them, but they are aiming for a niche market with their trucks.
Yup. I'm also beginning to see comments about new M3 owners clogging things up in metro areas and the issue should only get worse without more local infrastructure in larger urban areas. Besides, what owner who doesn't have a personal plug location wants to slow-charge when supercharging is available? Tesla is now also throttling charging rates to 80% of capacity during peak times at some locations due to campers. That's good for the battery anyways but not good for travelers who need those extra 20% miles. There is a workaround for that tho'.
Source: First on CNN Business: GM and Bechtel plan to build thousands of electric car charging stations across the US - CNN Neither company plans to put money into this project, though. The two companies will create a separate corporation to build the charging network and other companies are being invited to invest in it. Neither GM nor Bechtel would name potential investors while discussions are still ongoing. Source: GM plans its own nationwide charging network with Bechtel GM spokeswoman Megan Soule confirmed the plans to Green Car Reports, but said the company had no more specific announcement about timing, types or number of chargers, or branding "at this early stage." It's however looking to team up with an operating network and aiming to create a "a national-scale network with thousands of fast-chargers." Now if GM announced a program with their dealers to lease or set aside a 24x7 accessible, fast DC charger(s) and 40A rated L2 EVSEs, I would know they were serious. Otherwise, this is just PowerPoint engineering. Bob Wilson
GM dealers that are in EV hotbed areas have had stations for several years now. In other areas, not so much. In this area, the dealers (GM, VW, Nissan, etc..) usually have one L2 station and most times, it's in a lock up area at night, so it can survive. The last place I want to be at night is sitting at the Chevy dealer when some of the locals decide they want a free set of Vette rims.
That is the problem. Outside of the lock-up area, publicly available, it supports post-sales of their EVs. Within the dealer, it is another place to park their pickups, SUVs, or other non-EV cars. Worse, the last one I used at a Nissan dealer only supported 24A and I had a 30A BMW i3-REx that needed a charge to reach Nashville. Bob Wilson
And there was a story out today of a rumored Ford and GM merger to try to get heft enough to battle Toyota, VW, Renault/Fiat/Chrysler leaving Nissan out in the cold.
I don't think that is right. Tesla isn't slowing down the charging rate. They are capping the SOC in the car to 80% at high use Supercharger locations. And they aren't actually doing this based on reports from drivers. Instead they are telling you that you will get charged so much per minute after you reach 80% to get you to unplug. But they aren't (yet?) actually charging people; I heard of someone who's wife was charging and he got a Tesla app notification that he'd get charged if he stayed plugged in. He called his wife and told her to unplug...but she was eating and didn't get to the car until it was 90%. They didn't actually get charged anything. This policy does make sense...the chargers are much slower once you get to 80 or 90% full anyway. Mike
