Charging station

Tesla Motors, SpaceX and SolarCity – three companies influenced by Elon Musk – are currently on a massive hiring spree around the US. They already have a combined headcount of over 32,000 employees and the total is set to increase significantly in the coming months. We learned that Musk’s companies are holding joined private recruiting events, the latest of which held last weekend at SpaceX’s headquarters in Hawthorne, California.

Recruiters from each company select students recommended through university programs and invite them to the relatively secretive events to interview with SolarCity, SpaceX or Tesla.
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Charging is still the primary concern of any new potential electric vehicle buyer. They want to know where they can charge the car and how long it takes. Now with the numerous charging standards and the difference between car models and battery pack sizes, it can be a difficult landscape to navigate. The bigger the battery pack, the longer it takes to charge, but at the same time, you can get an higher charging rate.

Netherlands-based charging station start-up Fastned is making the (safe) bet that battery packs will soon get bigger and, more importantly, they will be able to take higher charge rates.
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The Netherlands is an excellent market for electric cars, it’s not quite Norway, but when adding plug-in hybrids it’s getting close. As for all-electric vehicles, Tesla’s Model S is by far the best-selling in the country based on registration data.

Tesla confirmed last week that it delivered 11,580 vehicles worldwide from July through September and based on registration data, the Netherlands contributed to ~3.5% of the total with 409 Model S’s during the third quarter.
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During a press conference today in Germany, Tesla CEO Elon Musk confirmed that Tesla is in talks with “some [auto] manufacturers” to share the Supercharger Network.

In the past, Tesla confirmed being opened to the idea of sharing its extensive network of fast charging stations, which now operates over 2,900 chargers at over 500 locations around the world, but until now, we couldn’t confirm that any automaker showed interest in the offer.
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Chargepoint, one of the leaders in the commercial EV charging market, this week  announced a new line of home chargers that are available at Amazon.com. The lineup starts at $499 for an indoor (garage) with a 16A/240V which can add 12 miles per hour of charge. This is a little over double the speed of 110V 15A plugs that go into regular 110V outlets.

Outdoor charging, hard/plug wiring, cord length and double speed 32A all raise the price in $50-$100 increments where a 32A Outdoor with a 25-foot wire cost $799.

[youtube=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IDLMFS04Ug]

A quick look at Amazon’s best seller list (cached to the right)  shows that a few days in, Chargepoint dominates EV charger sales at the online retailing giant.

Chargepoint also offers an attractive design (which I got to review at CES at the beginning of the year), integration with Nest and other home automation platforms and software updates over Wifi which will bring new functionality in the future.

At a starting price of $499, however, there are some better deals on the market and particularly at Amazon especially if you are looking at straight W/$.

One of my favorite chargers (and the only other in Amazon’s top 10) is the Electric Motor Werks Juicebox 40A/10KW with 24′ cable for $499 shipped. This is more powerful than Chargepoint’s by a significant margin (40A vs. 32A) and equivalent to Tesla’s home charger and gets outstanding 4.5/5 star reviews from Amazon’s customers. It is so small that it can be taken off its bracket and used as a Travel charger anywhere there is a NEMA 14-50 plug…
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Tesla Motors operates two kinds of charging networks: the Superchargers, a network of DC fast charging stations for long distance driving, and the Destination Charging network; level 2 chargers installed at restaurants and hotels to charge once you arrived at your destination.

While the Superchargers have been available in all markets Tesla operates in, Destination charging has only been available in North America and Asia. Today Tesla announced via Twitter that the program will come to Europe “soon”.
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Earlier this year we wrote about the impressive growth of Tesla’s Superchargers, a network of DC fast charging stations for the company’s electric vehicles, now Tesla says its network has seen a 5 times increase in used for road trips over last summer.

Electric vehicles have long been thought to be impractical for long distance driving due to their generally short-range capacity, but Tesla installs its stations at strategic intervals along popular routes and combined with the Model S’ 200+ miles range, Tesla owners can have interesting road-trip experiences. 
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In an effort to stimulate the electric vehicle market in Russia, Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev signed a decree requiring the owners of gas stations to install charging equipment for electric cars at their gas stations by Nov. 1, 2016 according to the Moscow Times. The requirement could very well be the most drastic government action to encourage electric vehicle infrastructure in any country.
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Today Indianapolis is officially launching BlueIndy, its all-electric car sharing program. The program has been in the work for quite sometime now, but today 25 stations hosting up to 5 cars each are up-and-running.

BlueIndy is modeled after the car sharing programs, like Autolib in Paris, operated by the Bolloré Group in Europe and it uses the same car, the Bluecar, manufactured in partnership between the France-based Bolloré Group and the Italian automotive company Cecomp.
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Today, Airbnb announced a partnership with Tesla to install charging stations at some Airbnb host locations. Eligible Airbnb hosts will receive a free Tesla Wall Connector, but they will have to pay for the installation, which can cost between $200 and $900 according to Airbnb. The program is already in place in California with 9 locations equipped with charging stations (see picture below).
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Head over to Tesla’s IR Website to follow along the livestream of the yearly shareholder meeting. We’ll be jotting down notes here of information of interest.

1. Shareholder doesn’t like leather. Doesn’t think the non-leather option is enough.

2. Full autopilot will hit some customers by end of the month. Elon says he has been testing the latest builds of Autopilot on his own vehicle.

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I’m very excited to announce that I’m going to be going to LA for the Tesla D event launch and will be liveblogging it as it happens. Come back here Thursday evening at 7PM for all of the excitement.

We know a few things about the event, I’ve heard whispers on some other stuff, and I’ve got some learned speculation on other possibilities that might be announced. Here we go…
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[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fcMJf0tDRY]

A nice option for a truly impressive little EV car. However 20 minutes for every 80 miles of drive time doesn’t really let you take long trips (vs 20 minutes for 170 miles on the Tesla Model S.

It would also have been nice if Chevy was compatible with Nissan/Toyota/Mitsubishi’s CHAdeMO Fast DC chargers so the companies could blanket more the the country with compatible chargers.
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Another Tech site reviews the Model S. Conclusion?

Should you buy a Model S? Go ahead. It’s not your only car…

If you have the money, go ahead and get a Tesla. If you can spend $75,000 on car, odds are you already have another $75,000 car in your garage already, something like an Audi Q7 diesel. That takes care of range anxiety on really long trips, that or renting a combustion engine car for the weekend. With all respect to Tesla, I think the hassles of finding fast-charging stations are still a lot to deal with. The score currently reads: US gas stations 120,000 and slowly declining, Tesla Supercharging stations 44 and growing. On the New York to Boston and back trip, it was fun, especially chatting up other Tesla owners. Do it regularly and it could be a grind. But as more Supercharging stations become available, the hassle factor falls off, and for daily driving or weekend recreation trips, the 200-plus miles of range is more than enough.

This is a car unlike no other. The same goes for the dealer network. Name one other vehicle that carries four plus cargo, that your neighbor doesn’t own except in Atherton, gets to 60 mph in as little as 4.5 seconds, has an LCD display big enough to be seen from low earth orbit, uses less than $10 worth of energy per fill-up when it’s not free, and — try this in your Porsche Cayenne — lets you slip into the HOV lane as a solo driver. You will be hooked.

I agree and I don’t think the “only car” angle is played up enough. Sure Tesla would like you to think that this can be your only car, and it probably could be if you live on the West Coast. But the reality is that most drivers have another car laying around for those trips into the Flyovers.

Tesla rejiggered its Supercharger map today moving Fall and Winter 2013 into a “Coming Soon” category. Fall is a few weeks from being over and it was clear Tesla wouldn’t be able to make the deadline on many of its stations, especially in the east coast where things have all but stalled in the Supercharger front. 
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Pictures above via Ryan! Tweets below chronicle the journey:
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