Tesla in negotiations to allow Supercharger access to other manufacturers?

I can see him envisioning it to be like the gas station is now. Hopefully there's enough of them out there that it doesn't create lines or issues because people tend to be at a supercharger substantially longer than a traditional gas station.

This has been the stated plan since day 1 of the Superchargers as far as I can remember. However, this appears to be the first time any other manufacturer has expressed interest. Curious who it is, and hopeful they will work out a deal.

trils0n said:

This has been the stated plan since day 1 of the Superchargers as far as I can remember. However, this appears to be the first time any other manufacturer has expressed interest. Curious who it is, and hopeful they will work out a deal.

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maybe it's volkswagen

Man their reputation is in the toilet right now.

yobigd20 said:

maybe it's volkswagen

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That's what I'm wondering. What better way to show they are really​ concerned about the environment than going full throttle towards EV development! Then again, maybe you are being facetious. ;-)

I had heard that BMW spoke with Tesla within days of them opening up the patents...but haven't heard anything since.

This would be great news, the more cars using superchargers, the more superchargers there will be. It would be a win-win for everyone.

Unfortunately up until now the existing car makers have been letting their egos get in the way of this goal, but I do hope eventually all cars will have supercharger access.
Most importantly everyone should use the same connection regardless of what it is, but supercharger is objectively the best of the bunch right now, so that's the one I'd like to see succeed.

MorrisonHiker said:

I had heard that BMW spoke with Tesla within days of them opening up the patents...but haven't heard anything since.

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Unfortunately when that leaked to the media BMW got cold feet and refused to admit they had any interest, it was all about looking strong for the media, they didn't want to admit that Tesla could have anything to show an existing brand. Everyone will benefit if the existing manufacturers can put their egos aside and do what's best, not just for everyone, but for themselves as well.

The BmW ActivE has shown that BMW were on the right track to develop a kickass EV. I don't think a long range EV vehicle like Tesla is in BMWs best financial interest though. Wouldn't be surprised if they are thinking about some sort of addon to their plugin hybrids. Maybe so that people can recharge their 7kwh battery every once in a while on a roadtrip to get better mpg.

green1 said:

This would be great news, the more cars using superchargers, the more superchargers there will be. It would be a win-win for everyone.

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Well, hopefully, anyway. I expect some growing pains along the way, but also welcome opening the chargers up to other brands. It's a lot of infrastructure. It makes sense to share the load with someone else.

Take BMW, for example. They don't have a long-range EV right now, so maybe they'd be interested in building chargers at 80-mile intervals. That helps distribute charging locations, and would be a great thing.

Gizmotoy said:

Well, hopefully, anyway. I expect some growing pains along the way, but also welcome opening the chargers up to other brands. It's a lot of infrastructure. It makes sense to share the load with someone else.

Take BMW, for example. They don't have a long-range EV right now, so maybe they'd be interested in building chargers at 80-mile intervals. That helps distribute charging locations, and would be a great thing.

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I belive that in the past Elon has stated that one of the requirements for other manufacturers to use the Supercharger network would be to have a minimum range of 200 miles/charge.

This is not news. Tesla always said others are welcome to join the Supercharger network if they pay their share to build it out and offer it for free to their customers. So far nobody has taken Tesla up on their offer. Tesla is not going to open up the network to other manufacturers for free.

Tesla has been contacted by another car company about Superchargers

In this interview Elon Musk says that Tesla have been contacted by another car company about getting access to the Supercharges. The only other information we get is that it's a Europien car company and that it's not from Germany.
One comment one a Swedish forum claim that Volvo have gone much longer with electric car then they have spoke out and that it could be them. Who do you think it's and do you think this is good or bad?

At about 49:20

I would not be surprised if it was Porsche. They unveiled a concept car a week or two back that is supposed to have a big battery pack and high voltage charger.

AmpedRealtor said:

This is not news. Tesla always said others are welcome to join the Supercharger network if they pay their share to build it out and offer it for free to their customers. So far nobody has taken Tesla up on their offer. Tesla is not going to open up the network to other manufacturers for free.

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Someone just posted Elon's comments at something in Germany yesterday where he said a German company had approached Tesla wanting to use the Supercharger network and he said then that his only two requirements are the car needs a high capacity charger so it will charge fast and not hog the supercharger stall and that the company pays Tesla proportionally for their use. He didn't say anything about that company making it free. Another company's cars using the superchargers might be sort of forced for public relations to make it free, but they could come up with some sort of charging scheme that requires users to have a subscription, or some kind of "phone home" feature in their cars that tells home base about how much juice the car drew at a supercharger and they get billed for it later.

It would be difficult to point some sort of point of sale device on every supercharger at this point, but if other car companies become the majority users of SC and they want to charge their customers for use, that could be done. In that case Tesla drivers would probably be able to hold their key fob up to the device to turn it on and use it for free.

wdolson said:

I would not be surprised if it was Porsche. They unveiled a concept car a week or two back that is supposed to have a big battery pack and high voltage charger.

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There is two things that is against that, first is that Porsche said that it will use 800V which Tesla Supercharger isn't capable of and the fact that Porche is from Germany

vigge50 said:

There is two things that is against that, first is that Porsche said that it will use 800V which Tesla Supercharger isn't capable of and the fact that Porche is from Germany

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Didn't Elon say the company that contacted Tesla was German? 800V is more than what Tesla uses, but it's easier to make a car capable of charging at less than it's top charging voltage than to try and charge at more than it's top voltage. Charging at more than the top voltage would likely cause damage.

wdolson said:

Didn't Elon say the company that contacted Tesla was German? 800V is more than what Tesla uses, but it's easier to make a car capable of charging at less than it's top charging voltage than to try and charge at more than it's top voltage. Charging at more than the top voltage would likely cause damage.

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He says "European car company, not German car company"

vigge50 said:

He says "European car company, not German car company"

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Right, and it could be a high end, niche make like Aston Martin, who I'm sure don't have any charging standards hang-ups and who would be happy to pay for Supercharger access on a per unit basis.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney said:

Right, and it could be a high end, niche make like Aston Martin, who I'm sure don't have any charging standards hang-ups and who would be happy to pay for Supercharger access on a per unit basis.

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Actually, this makes a lot of sense - a high end boutique type manufacturer can easily turn a profit on an EV, and can't really justify spending enough to build a network for the few cars they sell, nor sell the car as well without the network.

Wasn't Bentley experimenting with electric prototypes and talking up how smooth and refined electric drive was a couple years ago?
Walter

What if there is more than just supercharging?
Take the skateboard and upgrade it with a nice body and interior.
Tesla has enough 'sporty' and 'powerful' image such that and Aston Martin with a P90DL drive-train would not be seen as an 'slower car' but rather a faster, more modern one.

Unfortunately, Tesla cannot get enough batteries for themselves.