Competition is coming ... again

Very few really will ant fully autonomous driving, especially once they understand how easily they can be jacked and literally forced to only drive at certain times or perhaps even drive you off a cliff because some government or someone decided they don't like you.

Honestly the Kona has the important features the Tesla offers at a lower price point. And you really don't need a dedicated charging network, in fact it is probably best to have multiple so that if one folds, there are still other options. Imagine if the unthinkable happens and Tesla goes out of business. I know this seems unlikely, but it could happen and if you don't already have all of the appropriate adapters you could be limited to only Tesla charging stations and if they no longer function, what would you do?

Don't forget that Teslas have those stupid pop out handles, no physical door locks, no switches or buttons for a lot of things and at least the Kona doesn't have a stupid glass roof.

But Teslas are good in that they are encouraging more EV adoption and that is a good thing, but we need other companies to come out with even more and not just sell them in zero emissions states. We also need the federal government to mandate that 50% of all new car sales need to be zero emissions by say June of next year and fuel cell and natural gas vehicles don't count die to the ways their fuel has to be produced and then that needs to increase by 20% per year until we are at 100% of new car sales being zero emissions. Unfortunately that is the only way we are going to get traditional car companies producing more EVs because their current business model makes it harder to make a profit off of EVs due there basically being no maintenance and very few repairs needed.

 

I live in Arizona. The nearest dealership that has the Kona EV is about 250 miles away in CA (Palm Springs). If they were able to sell this in 50 states, that it would be a different issue.

 

They can do so, but they choose not to, while Tesla is unable to sell in some states due to legal issues. So honestly, if they were to produce Kona's in larger quantities and sell in all states, they could quite easily sell more than Tesla could ever think of.

 

Well, they just might change their mind, it certainly seems to go in that direction with Hyundai.

(Not holding my breath, though)

 

That's a lot fearmongering. Anyhow, I think a lot of senior citizens would like a self-driving car if it can help them remain in their homes and live independently longer. Other folks may like to make a buck on their self-driving car.

With all the Teslas on the streets, someone would buy the network at a fire sale. Besides, EVgo has taken a couple of baby steps in installing Telsa connectors on a handful of chargers, which makes a lot of sense due to the number of Teslas on the road.

Anyhow, if Tesla where to go out of business, I would be more concerned with getting parts, not the charging network.

 

Until they understand that their government will start using the self driving vehicles to kill them when they have "lived too long." It is not fearmongering when governments have already proven they would do such things.

Maybe someone would, but if they didn't, then have a non-standard connector is a liability, we need to mandate all vehicles use a standard connector for both level 2 and DC quick charging.

 

It doesn't seem to be much of an issue since the connectors where able to be changed in Europe.

 

Yes, but they required Tesla to do so, same thing needs to happen here.

 

No, I think Tesla needs to use standard connectors and needs to open up their super chargers (for a fee) to all electric vehicles.

 

I don't understand why Tesla doesn't just open up their network to all other cars (of course for a charging fee).

Well, actually there is a few problems:
- other cars (CCS) are incompatible with the plug & play that Tesla uses, so they would have to incorporate some kind of payment and identification over an app.
- the cost to update all superchargers (although that's a one time cost)
- however, they will upset Tesla drivers since all of a sudden there is even more cars trying to charge (higher use rate)

 

Given that 90% of the ones I drive by are literally never in use and of the other 10%, there is maybe two cars for 10-15 stations at most, I really don't see an issue with more EVs using them. You are right there would be a cost to updating the superchargers, but as you say that is a one time thing, additionally, adding in a payment system would be a one time cost.

Alternatively, they could sell Tesla Super Charger to CCS/CHADEMO adapters that are compatible with the plug & play by setting up an account linked to that specific adapter for purposes of billing and that would actually eliminate the need for both updates to the chargers and the payment issues. I would obviously prefer a different method that brought the superchargers into being standard connectors, but this would work as well.

 

I think I made it clear that there would need to be a fee charged to those without Teslas. EA chargers were working quite well over labor day weekend for me, well the one I used on the 101.

 

The big word is if

Everyday Tesla is getting stronger. Longer you wait, the harder it becomes to compete. My guess is that manufacturers want to meet emission standards where needed, be able to charge premium prices where possible due to the tax credit and do not really see themselves giving up their ICE franchise. In other words, they do not want to put everything in one basket like Tesla has done.

Other than Tesla and GM, no one has crossed the 200,000 mark in the US and it does not seem anyone is in a hurry to do so. I am a little skeptical Hyundai will make a national push to sell EVs any time soon.

 

I sometimes see Tesla at the free DCFC (using the Chademo adapter).

If something is going away anytime soon, it is going to be Chademo, and then I suppose that Tesla would need to come up with a CCS adapter. I believe the reason they went with Chademo in the first place was mainly because the signalling is a whole lot simpler.

EA is just one network. Around here, there is a lot of ChargePoint and EVgo as well, and I find those to be quite reliable.