PHEV instead of BEV

[Ken7]

We have two people at my office with Teslas, so our owner decided to install a pair of chargers, mostly because Tesla apparently gives away their L2 charging stations for free. So here we are, two Teslas and my brand new green Clarity. Enter the TeslaTap. This has been a great solution for me so far. Just plug your TeslaTap dongle into the Tesla plug, wait 30 seconds and charge any J1772 vehicle. I'm sure there are other brands that do the same thing, so please don't think I'm shiling for this one. These devices should work with all of the Tesla L1 and L2 chargers, but not the supercharger. I'm pretty sure Tesla sells a reverse adapter so that they can connect to J1772 plugs as well, so I feel absolutely no guilt plugging my car in next to the Tesla ego-mobiles. Honestly, for BEVs to become ubiquitous, we can't afford to have each manufacturer creating networks that only work for their vehicles. And we shouldn't have to spend $200 each on adapter dongles! But until then, there are workarounds.

Sure, as long as other companies/car owners share the cost. Tesla spent a fortune on their SC network that was at least partially subsidized by owners, so if there is to be sharing with other non-Tesla vehicles, they too should have to pay. I know the cost of using the SC network was part of the cost I paid when I purchased my Model S.

 

[MNSteve]

The environment with charging stations reminds me of the situation in the US with cellular vendors and cellular networks. The way that the laws were structured, each vendor built their own network. So you have metro areas with a Verizon tower down the street from an AT&T tower. In the boonies, you have one or the other, or nothing at all. This is a case where competition is not efficient; kind of like if you had two gas companies or two electric utilities laying down their infrastructure in the same geographic area. If we could move that redundant tower from the urban area into a rural area that has no coverage, everyone would be better off. That assumes, of course, that any customer can use the signal from any tower . . . an assumption that will never be true in today's regulatory world.

I hope we don't get to the same situation with charging stations.

 

[Elektra]

I can’t open the article without a LA times subscription. Any other link?

 

[insightman]

I can’t open the article without a LA times subscription. Any other link?

You've probably used up your free visits to the site. I have to frequently delete the New York Times cookies from my Chrome browser to reset the free viewing limit. If you don't want to fool around with cookies (I found latimes.com and www.latimes.com cookies), you might have success using a different browser if you have one.

 

[bfd]

Sure, as long as other companies/car owners share the cost. Tesla spent a fortune on their SC network that was at least partially subsidized by owners, so if there is to be sharing with other non-Tesla vehicles, they too should have to pay. I know the cost of using the SC network was part of the cost I paid when I purchased my Model S.

And I bet they're working as hard on you as they are on us to get out of our three-year-old Model S and into a brand-new one. Of course, we'd lose our lifetime free charging, but hey, we should still come in and see the difference in a brand-new Model S! Makes us laugh every time we get another e-mail, call or text. I'm almost certain these attempts will all come to a screeching halt come New Year's Day.

 

[Kailani]

The environment with charging stations reminds me of the situation in the US with cellular vendors and cellular networks. The way that the laws were structured, each vendor built their own network. So you have metro areas with a Verizon tower down the street from an AT&T tower. In the boonies, you have one or the other, or nothing at all. This is a case where competition is not efficient; kind of like if you had two gas companies or two electric utilities laying down their infrastructure in the same geographic area. If we could move that redundant tower from the urban area into a rural area that has no coverage, everyone would be better off. That assumes, of course, that any customer can use the signal from any tower . . . an assumption that will never be true in today's regulatory world.
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I hope we don't get to the same situation with charging stations.

ATT and Verizon used different technologies fir their network GSM vs CDMA), though I don’t know if they require different repeaters, dishes, etc. Also, in the beginning they competed for best coverage/reliability to win customers. The buildout of the national mobile footprint was about building market share. Rural areas are the last piece of the puzzle and often require government support to make it a viable market. Very quickly independent tower companies sprang up. Tower operators usually can host more than one type of system and the carrier s focused on filling gaps. While in one level it makes sense to evenly parcel out the equipment we probably got a working system more quickly letting the market sort it out

The challenge for charging companies will be to install systems in line with the evolving fast charge technologies (L3, etc). VW has one possible solution https://www.autoevolution.com/news/...ing-station-for-electric-vehicles-131235.html. L2 charging will quickly go the way of the 8-track and Betamax.

 

[insightman]

L2 charging will quickly go the way of the 8-track and Betamax.

I believe the use of L2 charging at home will likely increase as the cost of home solar power decreases. Eventually, when the cost of home electrical storage systems also decreases and DC Fast Charging becomes feasible at home, L2 charging at home may decrease.

 

[Ken7]

And I bet they're working as hard on you as they are on us to get out of our three-year-old Model S and into a brand-new one. Of course, we'd lose our lifetime free charging, but hey, we should still come in and see the difference in a brand-new Model S! Makes us laugh every time we get another e-mail, call or text. I'm almost certain these attempts will all come to a screeching halt come New Year's Day.

I haven’t gotten the full court press yet since mine is only a little over a year old. Not much in terms of improvement with the new ones.

 

[Pushmi-Pullyu]

I hope we don't get to the same situation with charging stations.

Yeah, it is a bad situation with CCS vs. CHAdeMO, like VHS vs. BetaMAX during the videotape format "wars". And with Tesla having its own incompatible charging protocol, it's even worse. Add China's proprietary charging protocol, and internationally it's a mess.

I admit I don't at all understand why ATT and Verizon were able to develop independent cell phone protocols, and have both be commercially successful. It certainly seems to run counter to how communication technologies have been developed and marketed in the past.

I keep hoping that either the various auto makers will get together and agree on a true EV charging standard, or else the government will step in and impose that on them. Unfortunately, I see very little movement in that direction in most countries.

At least Germany (and perhaps some other EU countries?) are now requiring that new EV fast-charging stations all be equipped for CCS charging. I think CCS has the best shot at becoming the true universal charging protocol, if anybody does.

In the end...