Tesla to open 20% of US Superchargers to all EVs by end of 2024, qualifying company for share of billions in federal dollars

[Dark-Fx]

Just start doing it now. No more talk, just action please.

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[zipzag]

Unless you're a Tesla driver

The implementation largely won't affect Tesla drivers. Supercharger utilization may not be more than 10%

 

[zipzag]

One way to read the announcement is that new chargers built by Tesla will have CCS if Tesla accepts federal funds for that site. This scenario is not "Tesla opening up their network".

We will know more when the language of the policy can be precisely parsed. Tesla will, of course, act in their own best interest.

 

[2025R1S]

it does make Rivian look like the odd one in the bunch.

This announcement was expected this week, but the specifics of how it will be implemented were unknown. I speculated that the quickest way to expand access to all EV would be the US government pledging financial support for superchargers, if Tesla made an adapter. The adapter wouldn’t solve for the cable length problem though.

Now that we know adapters won’t happen, and the path forward is retrofit/new installs only, with a fixed CCS cable. I wonder how this will impact Supercharger reliability? I wonder how Tesla plans to design their chargers to work with ports in random places? I wonder if the US government will try and encourage common port placement?

As it currently stands, it will be a chaotic mess if CCS vehicles were expected to park in whatever way works. There would be vehicles parking diagonally, sideways, etc. The only way to avoid this will be very very long CCS cables.

In any scenario, the solution is years away. We’re basically looking at Tesla starting from scratch. Their advantage is they have a lot of experience doing this, they manufacture their own chargers, and they know how to make it work reliably. But now they have to work around government requirements that could challenge that.

In the end, the US government is here to help save the day…..

How long until Rivian makes a statement about opening RAN to all vehicles as well for a piece of the pie $????

 

[Aka_Buck]

Well let's hope the CCS cables will be long enough to reach our charging port. I could see Tesla also making an adapter from their cable to CCS...

 

[Dark-Fx]

it does make Rivian look like the odd one in the bunch.

I will be surprised if Rivian still has a closed network by the start of next year. It's barely even established yet and they already are walking back the free charging for Rivian members thing by eliminating the membership program.

 

[zipzag]

Well let's hope the CCS cables will be long enough to reach our charging port. I could see Tesla also making an adapter from their cable to CCS...

It's a mess. When a CCS car pulls in forward to a Tesla Supercharger the charge port is on the wrong side. So the CCS driver can only choose the wrong charger for their parking position.

CCS cars and Teslas can't be mixed at a typical supercharger without some chargers being blocked.

So is this announcement really about new Supercharger locations that are designed to accommodate both types? How Tesla arranges chargers in Europe is what will work with both front and back charge port locations.

 

[Rivuylkill]

From the whitehouse briefing (of which Tesla is just one small part, but good for headlines)

They will include at least 3,500 new and existing 250 kW Superchargers along highway corridors to expand freedom of travel for all EVs, and Level 2 Destination Charging at locations like hotels and restaurants in urban and rural locations

.

I think it's 3500 new DC fast chargers designed to support all EVs. It doesn't really indicate that Tesla is opening their existing chargers.

 

[2025R1S]

As a result of what you mention, I don’t think we will see many existing locations get retrofitted.

Superchargers are already busy, and there are already arguments over people cutting in line. Given the state of the CCS network, and people’s behavior - there will be plenty of bold and gutsy people willing to start even bigger fights(when arguing why they should be allowed to take up 3 Supercharger spots).

As an olive branch, all the legacy brands should, at a minimum, announce their commitment to common port placement (in the corner of a vehicle like Rivian and Tesla). There is no reason to be spending 25k on a super long water cooled 350kW cable. We need these charger costs to come down, and these long CCS cables are an easy win

It's a mess. When a CCS car pulls in forward to a Tesla Supercharger the charge port is on the wrong side. So the CCS driver can only choose the wrong charger for their parking position.

CCS cars and Teslas can't be mixed at a typical supercharger without some chargers being blocked.

So is this announcement really about new Supercharger locations that are designed to accommodate both types? How Tesla arranges chargers in Europe is what will work with both front and back charge port locations.

 

[zipzag]

As a result of what you mention, I don’t think we will see many existing locations get retrofitted.

Superchargers are already busy, and there are already arguments over people cutting in line. Given the state of the CCS network, and people’s behavior - there will be plenty of bold and gutsy people willing to start even bigger fights(when arguing why they should be allowed to take up 3 Supercharger spots).

As an olive branch, all the legacy brands should, at a minimum, announce their commitment to common port placement (in the corner of a vehicle like Rivian and Tesla). There is no reason to be spending 25k on a super long water cooled 350kW cable. We need these charger costs to come down, and these long CCS cables are an easy win

Forward ports are correct. The pull in maneuver between cars requires precision and people prefer to do that driving forward. Tesla likely chose a rear port location because of gas filler location.

But Tesla is not going to change. Superchargers are set up for the rear port, and the power electronics in Tesla battery pack assume a rear port.

Like the clunky CCS1 plug, Tesla location choice is unfortunate but not fundamentally important.

 

[Cosmacelf]

March 1st is Tesla investor day. We should learn more about this then, if not before.

Incompatible charge port placement is an issue. Not sure why the non Tesla industry didn’t think about this. All Teslas have identical charge port positions. The rest of the industry changed positions just for the hell of it, to be “different”.

 

[Ralph]

It's a mess. When a CCS car pulls in forward to a Tesla Supercharger the charge port is on the wrong side. So the CCS driver can only choose the wrong charger for their parking position.

CCS cars and Teslas can't be mixed at a typical supercharger without some chargers being blocked.

So is this announcement really about new Supercharger locations that are designed to accommodate both types? How Tesla arranges chargers in Europe is what will work with both front and back charge port locations.

This link was posted earlier by @Rivuylkill and has many of the details. This snip relative to Tesla, but there is some other interesting information. Still not all the details, but a start. Re: Tesla:

"Tesla, for the first time, will open a portion of its U.S. Supercharger and Destination Charger network to non-Tesla EVs, making at least 7,500 chargers available for all EVs by the end of 2024. The open chargers will be distributed across the United States. They will include at least 3,500 new and existing 250 kW Superchargers along highway corridors to expand freedom of travel for all EVs, and Level 2 Destination Charging at locations like hotels and restaurants in urban and rural locations. All EV drivers will be able to access these stations using the Tesla app or website. Additionally, Tesla will more than double its full nationwide network of Superchargers, manufactured in Buffalo, New York."

 

[manitou202]

March 1st is Tesla investor day. We should learn more about this then, if not before.

Incompatible charge port placement is an issue. Not sure why the non Tesla industry didn’t think about this. All Teslas have identical charge port positions. The rest of the industry changed positions just for the hell of it, to be “different”.

If you have pull through stalls (which is ideal) charging port location doesn't make much of a difference. Regardless longer charging cables should be the standard. Tesla cables are way too short. The original EA cables were too short as well, but their new chargers are much better.

 

[Sgt Beavis]

i just look at this as an overall win. We start to get access to Tesla chargers that actually work the majority of the time and all the other vendors get to experience a greater deal of pressure to get their act together.

 

[kvenom]

And we in Canada get left out and suffer as usual. NRCAN has been funding Supercharger installs for a long time, but the dumb thing is they only require 1 CCS charger for access. So Tesla does the bare minimum and throws in a measly 50KW Flo charger. I wish we adopted the U.S rules in parallel for funding.

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