Tesla To Blanket US With Superchargers In Two Years

dublin writes "Electric car manufacturer Tesla is planning to triple its construction of "supercharger" rapid charging stations, with a trail of stations in place for L.A. to New York trips by the end of this year. In addition to the east & west coasts, islands in Colorado, Illinois, and Texas will grow together to cover nearly the entire continental US by 2015. The two biggest obstacles for electric cars are high cost and range problems. Cost is still a problem, but this move to blanket the US with supercharger stations could fix the range half of the e-car equation."

Re:Business Model

[The_Wilschon]

That was Henry Ford's model, of course. But don't forget that before the Model T, there were a number of very expensive automotives available that only the rich could afford...

Re:Business Model

[multiben]

No, that is not Tesla's job. Tesla are fulfilling a very important part of getting the industry to take electric cars seriously by appealing to the car enthusiasts. This group represents a big barrier to green technology cars because they are traditionally seen as pokey, boring machines. Tesla are changing that perception and there are plenty of other companies who are now starting to produce cheaper electric vehicles. Tesla should keep doing what they are doing - challenging the dominance of the petrol driven sports car.

Re:bah...Humbug

[Z34107]

A few quibbles:

1. Have you tried filling your gas tank with solar, hydro, or nuclear power? It's actually pretty hard. Being able to power an electric car with anything that makes electricity is actually a benefit.
2. Fix your power grid.
3. I like the assumption that someone's supposed to buy an automobile for your benefit, and that you won't benefit anyway.

Re:Business Model

[Z34107]

Or perhaps they could disrupt a profitable market, sell at an appreciable margin, and make lots of money before trying to build massive, Toyota-scale factories out of nothing?

Re:As far as I'm concerned . . .

[Shadow of Eternity]

Because he never said that you imbecile, the very first line of his post is "battery life is exceeding expectations by a wide margin" and then he goes on to elaborate that even after 10 years most people still don't need a replacement.

Re:... with government funds and subsidized chargi

[lloydchristmas759]

Yeah, that is a valid comparison, because it is well known that gasoline flies by itself from refineries to gas stations, right ?

Re:... with government funds and subsidized chargi

[haruchai]

It would be more credible to claim that the ONLY company that tried is bankrupt. You can almost always find a pioneering company that failed.
Perhaps fuel cells are the future or maybe someone will invent the Shipstone or Mr Fusion, but battery swap, I believe, can be viable and profitable.
Better Place was too far ahead of the curve or was focusing on the wrong niche.

Re:... with government funds and subsidized chargi

[haruchai]

If you improve one inefficient plant, that automatically improves 10000 EVs.

Re:Seriously?

[PopeRatzo]

I am sick and tired about all this "flying car in every garage" public relations dreck.

Can someone tell me why a readership that embraces every speculative technology suddenly gets downright angry about the very thought of an electric car? Or for that matter any mention of energy produced by any alternative means?

Why does it make you so damn mad?

Re:Business Model

[Anonymous Coward]

Tesla should keep doing what they are doing - challenging the dominance of the petrol driven sports car.
 
Oh Christ, stop treating it like it's a crusade. That makes you come off like a loon. What Tesla should keep doing is making a better car than the last car they made. If they have that in mind any other bullshit will go by the wayside and they'll be successful.

Here's the sad and obvious truth.

[houbou]

Big Oil has long gone out of its way to stifle any advances in automotive technologies which would depends on other sources of fuel than petrol. More than likely by now electric cars should be a defacto standard for urban driving. We are at least 20 yrs behind because of Big Oil. I wish it was a conspiracy theory, but its true and many people got either paid off and/or were silence all in the name of gasoline.

Put them at restaurants

[crow]

Every restaurant along a major highway should be looking at installing an electric vehicle charger. If I'm taking a trip in an electric car and getting hungry, you can bet I'll choose the stop that lets me charge the car at the same time.

Sure, the Tesla supercharger may be expensive to install due to the power requirements, but even a standard 220V charger would be enough to make me decide to eat there instead of somewhere else. Even if my trip doesn't require extra charging, having extra power in case I encounter something unexpected is a good thing.

Re:EVs not really for long road trips

[Nemyst]

One of the biggest criticisms that surfaces with EVs is that long road trip "problem". I find it amusing because most Americans drive way under even the base model's maximum range. Yes, we'll need a paradigm change - use an EV for 99% of your commuting and take a gas vehicle for the 1% remaining. Those that need long range (work, distance from city, whatever) can keep their gas vehicles, they're not a significant proportion of the population.

Re:Business Model

[Kjella]

Or perhaps they could disrupt a profitable market, sell at an appreciable margin, and make lots of money before trying to build massive, Toyota-scale factories out of nothing?

This. Here in Norway the Tesla Model S is looking like a very compelling offer because they're getting all the tax breaks of electric vehicles and the taxes tend to be much higher on high end cars which means that here a $80k Model S Performance sells for about the same as a slightly upgraded Audi A6 that'd sell for $50k in the US. Or if you look at cars that'd be roughly even priced in the US like the $75k Audi A8 it sells for 90% more than the Tesla here. Yes, it's exploiting a tax structure that won't last but right now they're getting to sell a damn fine high performance car like it was the most environmental-friendly subcompact on the block.

They've confirmed that 1000+ people here are now on a waiting list in a country of 5 million people, that's the equivalent of 60k+ in the US. And that was before the 99/100 Consumer Reports score which was widely publicized. It's not petrol/diesel car volume but they're getting decent volume - it's not like you're one of ten people in the country who has one, they get real people who have experience with them - most people are very conservative and true to brand when it comes to car purchases - and they get to boot a charger network. All in all, I'd say this looks like wins all around for them. So far I think they've promised the EV perks will last out 2015, if they come to an end I expect a huge rush of Tesla Model S orders before that who are still waiting for the first round of kinks to be worked out first.

Re:Seriously?

[PopeRatzo]

Because they're a dumb idea until we have a much better battery technology

Smartphones used to be a "dumb idea" until better battery technology came along. Certainly tablets were a dumb idea.

The Apple Newton was a dumb idea until better battery technology came along but I bet the same people who get whipped into a fury at every mention of an electric car were creaming themselves over the Apple Newton.

Because many of those 'alternative energy' technologies are scams

Did I mention that Texas is getting better than 22% of it's electricity from wind turbines? Do you know how much of Germany's electricity comes from solar? Germany is a lot more cloudy than the US.

Only in the US do you hear the "Alternative Energy is a Scam!!" routine. I wonder why.