“Tesla uses own DC charging protocol. So even if Tesla would allow other car manufactures to charge, they could not charge without drastic modifications to the car electronics and battery cooling systems.”

“It is very complex process to charge at 120 kW and why Tesla is the only one who offers 120 kW charging is that they are the only ones who developed such charging system — others are stuck in 40 kW. E.g. Golf-EV boasts 30 min charging time with three times smaller battery. I would guess that if you put 120 kW DC into Leaf battery, it will just fry!”

During Tesla’s shareholders’ meeting last May, CEO Elon Musk said he wished to encourage other manufacturers to design their EV’s to be capable of using SuperChargers. He suggested that the other makers would need to pay a fee to offset their addition to required capacity.

There doesn’t appear to be any end to future efficiencies in charging stations though.
So we might as well embrace the innevitable monster chargers that will ultimately help all EVs.

Even if it takes a few more level standards to finally get there.

What I think we need to do is to move away from a charging station model to a ‘eat, rest and charge’ oasis model.

Why copy the gas station model where you stop and fill and then go somewhere else, stop and eat? Move from sequential to simultaneous.

The 50kW figure I quoted was calculated from the 60A breaker on a 360VAC 3Phase connection. i.e. 360V*60A*sqrt(3)=49.8kW.

In much the same way I’m thinking the Level 3 standard is too vague. Too vague because there are already chargers out, or so I’m led to believe, that are considered level 3.

A new standard that has a minimum output of about 10x that of the current Level 3 needs to be made. Only something capable of these huge levels will be able to charge a Tesla or competitor in less time than a car currently fills it’s tank with petrol. Only a standard of this level is capable of making EVs truly workable for all.

“Level 3 is considered fast or rapid charging and operated on a sixty amp or higher breaker on a four hundred eighty volt or higher three phase circuit with special grounding equipment.”

Now, can the utility run a large enough wire to the charging station to rapidly charge vehicles or will the charging station need to store a lot of power on site in batteries? That’s a different question which will apply to both Tesla and non-Tesla charging.

I can see Tesla’s thinking behind restricting their chargers to their cars – at this point in time. Long term, no.

It will make no sense to have a Tesla station sitting empty and a line forming at the generic charge station or vice versa. It would mean overbuilding which is not efficient.

It should also be noted that Tesla Motors manufacturers their own charger unit and it is scalable and modular. The other car makers are sub-contracting.

Level 3 charging is just insufficient for anything over 60kwh. Plus Tesla isn’t going to stop at 85kwh, they’re going to bring out a 120kwh pack by 2015-2016.

It is very complex process to charge at 120 kW and why Tesla is the only one who offers 120 kW charging is that they are the only ones who developed such charging system — others are stuck in 40 kW. E.g. Golf-EV boasts 30 min charging time with three times smaller battery. I would guess that if you put 120 kW DC into Leaf battery, it will just fry!

But I think that in around 2020 there will be superchargers every ten miles, so there are no worries. Tesla has shown that it takes just few years for small start-up company to expand supercharging network to continent sized.

Also Musk said that the System is up for sale to other manufacturers but they will have to adopt the same concept. The life long Supercharger network needs to be included in the vehicle price. No follow up costs.

But clearly Tesla is in the empire business. On a side note, each of those stations comes with a 1MWh battery. The bigger ones will need soon more storage to keep up with proper high demand. It won’t be for long until they own 1GW grid storage. There is another business model in there.

Phase one I understand. What I would like to know is where Tesla is going from here. Are they planning on staying separate or joining up later? Guess I’ll have to wait and see.

An electric vehicle charging station is a public or private parking space(s) that is (are) served by battery charging equipment with the purpose of transferring electric energy to a battery or other energy storage device in an electric vehicle and is classified based on the following levels:

A. Level 1 is considered slow charging and operates on a fifteen to twenty amp breaker on a one hundred twenty volt AC circuit.

B. Level 2 is considered medium charging and operated on a forty to one hundred amp breaker on a two hundred eight or two hundred forty volt AC circuit.

C. Level 3 is considered fast or rapid charging and operated on a sixty amp or higher breaker on a four hundred eighty volt or higher three phase circuit with special grounding equipment. Level 3 stations can also be referred to as rapid charging stations that are typically characterized by industrial grade electrical outlets that allow for faster recharging of electric vehicles. (Ord. 1425 § 3 (part), 2011).

http://www.codepublishing.com/WA/chelan/html/Chelan17/Chelan1763.html

C.b Tesla

I would not be surprised if Tesla made owners of non-S models pay but I’d be flabbergasted if they could not use the same chargers. Backwards compatibility though is not easily accomplished.

I’m glad to hear you are not an Apple person.

What Tesla is doing is like creating a set of gas stations that only a small percentage of cars would be able to use. In the long run volume is going to bite. The more a charge station gets used, the cheaper/more profitable it is.