GRA said:
eloder said:
Many companies have explicitly come forward and said they'll never build a charging network. Volkswagon is one of the more prominent companies to state this.
I'm not aware of VW having said such a thing, but if they did at one time, they've changed their minds. As was announced a month or two back, VW along with BMW and Chargepoint is going to build dual-standard QCs spaced every 50 miles or so along the Portland - San Diego and Boston - Washington corridors, and BMW at least is also installing CCS QCs at their dealers - see: http://www.greencarreports.com/news/1096446_bmw-vw-and-chargepoint-to-build-100-ccs-fast-charging-sites-for-electric-cars" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;. Nissan has also said that it was going to start installing dual-standard QCs - http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/27/business/nissan-plans-1000-new-stations-to-quickly-charge-electric-cars.html?_r=1" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
so it's clear that the companies have woken up to the fact that they'll need realistic networks once they start producing cars that have adequate range for (shorter) road trips. They do need to install more than one QC per site; I know BMW has already done this at some dealers and headquarters facilities, but we need them to also do so on the 24/7 QCs.
"Each site will include not only "up to two 50-kW DC Fast chargers, or 24-kW DC Combo Fast chargers with the SAE Combo connector," but also 240-Volt Level 2 charging, which can be used by every electric car sold in the U.S. today."
So a pay-per-use, "up to two" fast chargers that are only 50 KW in strength constitute a realistic network?
That's part of the problem. No other manufacturers or networks are remotely as close as Tesla in effort in the charging network. 50 KW charges are going to result in 40-60 minute charge time for 170-180 miles. Not only will each stop have a fraction of the number of chargers, but each car will need to charge for just over twice as long for the journey.
Someone who buys a Bolt or Gen 2 Leaf in three years is going to have a vastly inferior experience to someone who buys a Tesla of similar specs.