Tesla has turned the car market upside down, and it has taken a revolutionary step in the field of energy and energy supplementation. It is recognized that Tesla’s strongest infrastructure – the supercharger, is open to other brands of electric vehicles.
Why do you say the strongest?
With the highest density of outlets, the highest charging power, and the charging speed several times ahead of competitors, Tesla owners almost enjoy the privilege of being available at any time, charging and leaving! Make other electric vehicle owners who are queuing late at night at the public charging pile envy and hate.
Li Xiang, the founder of Lixiang Auto, believes that the reason why Tesla sells well is that it has won all opponents at the point of supercharging.
- Now, according to the official statement, all non-Tesla electric cars can be charged with supercharging.
- The Netherlands was the first to fully open, and other countries will soon follow.
- Does this mean that we will soon be able to enjoy the same “privileges” as Tesla owners?
- Don’t worry, Tesla has not figured out how to solve many contradictions about charging.
Where is it open? how to use?
In the middle of last year, Musk announced on Twitter that he would open his own supercharger to all brands of electric vehicles:
The first stop was in the Netherlands.
Since the end of last year, Tesla’s supercharged piles in the Netherlands, France, and Norway have begun to open pilots on a small scale. All overfills in the Netherlands are now open to third-party trams.
how to use it?
Non-Tesla car owners need to download the Tesla App, find the overcharge site through the app, and then use the Tesla App for settlement.
The charging standards for non-Tesla electric vehicles are different. The official statement is that “it will be charged according to the cost of model adaptation and site adjustment”, and it is likely to be more expensive than Tesla owners.
The seat fee is the same as for Tesla owners. Tesla owners must ask: other cars can also use supercharged piles, so how can I guarantee my rights?
The official promise is that the charging experience and price of old car owners will not change, and Tesla models can enjoy functions such as automatic planning of charging routes and preheating of batteries in advance.
Is it difficult to open to third parties?
Where does the increased cost of using Tesla overcharge for third-party car owners come from? This starts with the technical characteristics of Tesla’s overcharge.
Taking the latest V3 overcharge as an example, the design maximum charging power can reach 250kW, and users can even run to more than 200kW.
What level is this? We might as well compare the supercharging network built by domestic friends and businessmen. The design power of the Xiaopeng super-charging pile is about 180kW. Some users have measured the 2020 G3 to have a performance of more than 90kW. Under normal circumstances, the general charging power is basically around 70kW.
Taking the common 120kW supercharger on the market as an example, the feedback from the owner said that the daily charging power can basically reach about 85kW.
In contrast, Tesla’s V3 supercharger currently has an absolute advantage.
At one end of the car, the working range and rated power design of the charging management module are much higher than other electric vehicles.
A good experience is indeed well-known among users. Correspondingly, the Tesla supercharger interface is also specially designed for Tesla models.
- Therefore, the cost that Tesla officially said, first of all, is the adapter for other models.
- Secondly, there are software programs to control parameters such as power and current of the supercharged piles.
- Of course, these two points are not technical problems.
- Therefore, according to Musk’s plan, all Tesla overcharges worldwide will gradually be opened to the public.
- But Tesla’s opening of overcharging is not without obstacles.
- The problem that needs to be solved is the agreement.
Various brands in the market will customize a set of charging protocols according to their own conditions. They can be compatible with the national standard, but it does not mean that they are completely compatible with each other.
So the hardware is not a problem for Tesla to open overcharge, the most important thing is to open the protocol. But even if Tesla opens up its own protocol, there is still a question mark on compatibility with respect to the compatibility of the car of the friend.
All in all, Tesla’s opening of supercharging is not something that can be done by “wishful thinking”. It also requires the cooperation of friends and businessmen to provide a general solution to ensure the user’s experience. The first shot of the revolution of the energy supplement industry
Why did Musk let go of such a solid “moat”?
In the short term, the supercharge network can indeed establish a strong brand barrier for Tesla, but it is not cost-effective to take a long-term view.
The first is that the overfilled piles have a high idle rate most of the time. In essence, these are the operating costs of the enterprise. Secondly, each supercharged pile is a billboard.
Tesla’s incremental market is still huge. These people include fuel vehicle users/potential customers who have not yet switched to the electric camp, as well as tram users of other brands.
Pulling the latter into your own charging network to replenish energy not only advertises but also enriches the charging data.
But the most important thing is that opening the charging pile can actually bring real money. Tesla’s piles can only be settled on the Tesla APP, and the method is to pre-deposit the amount.
When overcharging was opened, Tesla immediately added a large amount of pre-storage fees as cash flow or income from other cars.
Goldman Sachs, a well-known investment bank in the United States, predicts that Tesla’s opening of the supercharging network to third-party EV brands will bring the company’s annual revenue to more than 25 billion US dollars (about 160 billion yuan).
The trend of opening up the cooperation of super-charged piles is no exception to the new forces in domestic car manufacturing.
The new car-making forces such as Xiaopeng and Weilai in China are also the most active players in fast charging technology and brand charging piles.
In 2019, Xiaopeng and NIO reached an agreement on the mutual opening of superchargers. By the end of 2021, the two companies have a total of more than 2,000 superchargers across the country that can be interconnected.
For Tesla, there is another way to make money from overcharging piles. The infrastructure bill introduced by the Biden administration vigorously promotes the construction of charging infrastructure, with the government investing as much as $7.5 billion.
But this is conditional, “it must be able to provide charging services for vehicles produced by multiple car manufacturers”. If Tesla wants to get this government subsidy, it must open up overcharging.
Therefore, Tesla’s opening of supercharging piles brings more income and greater opportunities, and can also indirectly stimulate the performance of power batteries. Can be described as three birds with one stone.
The question is, Musk put dollars in his pocket, does the old car owner count as being cut leeks again?
In terms of cost, Tesla’s overcharge is about half more expensive than public charging piles or personal charging piles, and the cost of non-Tesla car owners will be much higher, so Tesla’s initiative to open up, everyone may not cheer.
However, the peak travel time during the festival is not necessarily. In order to save time, it is completely acceptable to spend extra tens of hundreds of dollars.
Therefore, the rights and interests of old car owners will definitely be damaged, and there may be a run on electric piles. Tesla hasn’t done anything yet, only giving a promise of no pain or itching.
However, in the face of this level of cutting leeks, the old car owners may have no trouble.