Chicago Tribune 7-30 Article re L3 = Beta, VHS + Laserdisk!

[hyperlexis]

What a coincidence!

Just came across this Trib article re Fast Charging standards. Alas they omitted the dozens of L3s in Chicago are now all messed up and not accepting any new users post-purchase of 350green by Carcharging.com. Ughhhhh.

I like the author referring to "the land of Musk". LOL. Although comparing Tesla's plug to the Laserdisk (OMG) doesn't bode well.

The question I have is who plugs into an L3 charger overnight? No one, I bet. It's pointless to do that and people don't have L3s in their homes, so smart grid charge time scheduling on an L3 doesn't much matter.

http://cars.chicagotribune.com/fuel-efficient/news/chi-electric-charging-infrastructure-20130730" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

 

[DNAinaGoodWay]

It’s a matter of time. Car Charging Group Inc (CCGI), the largest independent owner of charging stations, has been rolling out CHAdeMO chargers nationwide in a partnership with Nissan. By the end of 2013, there will be 48 in concentrated areas across the United States. From then on, they’ll be supporting the combo coupler. “I think all manufacturers in the US will adopt the standard that’s been set by the governing bodies,” says Michael Farkas, President of CCGI. “That’s the SAE standard.”

CHAdeMO/Nissan/et al had better move a bit faster if they intend to head this off.

 

[Sublime]

He seems to have missed the fact that Tesla is already deploying chargers with rates higher than the highest spec'd rates for CHAdeMO or SAE. Tesla couldn't adopt either, even if they wanted to.

 

[TonyWilliams]

He seems to have missed the fact that Tesla is already deploying chargers with rates higher than the highest spec'd rates for CHAdeMO or SAE. Tesla couldn't adopt either, even if they wanted to.

Tesla is 100% electrically compatible with Frankenplug. With a simple pass through adaptor, you could charge a Tesla Model S / X / Gen III on a Frankenplug station.

With a considerably more expensive adaptor (that should be ready in a few months), you'll be able to charge your Tesla on a CHAdeMO station.

 

[TomT]

Once again, Tesla is ahead of everyone else...

Tesla is 100% electrically compatible with Frankenplug. With a simple pass through adaptor, you could charge a Tesla Model S / X / Gen III on a Frankenplug station.
With a considerably more expensive adaptor (that should be ready in a few months), you'll be able to charge your Tesla on a CHAdeMO station.

 

[Sublime]

He seems to have missed the fact that Tesla is already deploying chargers with rates higher than the highest spec'd rates for CHAdeMO or SAE. Tesla couldn't adopt either, even if they wanted to.

Tesla is 100% electrically compatible with Frankenplug. With a simple pass through adaptor, you could charge a Tesla Model S / X / Gen III on a Frankenplug station.

With a considerably more expensive adaptor (that should be ready in a few months), you'll be able to charge your Tesla on a CHAdeMO station.

Tesla uses power line communication on their connector or has the ability to with their HW/SW? That's pretty forward thinking.

 

[TonyWilliams]

>>> "The combo coupler is the standard adopted by all US- and European-made cars with one exception." <<<.

This is entirely NOT true. But, first, let's be clear; the "combo coupler" has exactly zero cars equipped with this plug and zero publicly operational charge stations to use if there was a car. Those "Euorpean" manufacturers are from exactly one place; Germany. None of the manufacturers outside of Germany have adopted the combo coupler. In addition, the USA and German versions of the combo cannot plug into the other. They are common in name and PR only. That's odd that SAE didn't volunteer that information.

One of those German car makers, VW, has already announced that it will deliver their future electric cars in Japan with CHAdeMO, and not the combo coupler. I suspect that other who wish to do business there will follow suit.

US car manufacturer Tesla Motors of Fremont, California, USA obviously has not adopted the combo plug, nor do they intend to. During a Tesla shareholder's call, when the SAE standard was pointed out to Elon Musk, he said "Yes, the SAE [combo coupler folks] have a standard. But it sucks." Which is why Tesla Motors went with their superior design.

Mr. Musk really doesn't have the time or inclination to deal with substandard equipment while he leads both Tesla and SpaceX, two profitable, leading edge companies. Tesla has produced over 10,000 cars, and is on track to make over 20,000 per year. Their Model S all electric car was Motor Trend Car of the Year. SpaceX launch the first private space vehicle to the space station. GM, the chief cheerleader for the combo coupler in the USA, filed for bankruptcy a few years ago and is still owned by numerous governments around the world.

Tesla has already announced an adaptor so that Tesla cars can charge on CHAdeMO chargers worldwide. CHAdeMO is the only plug that is common worldwide, in Tokyo, Chicago and Oslo. Not even Tesla does that. In addition, CHAdeMO is the only one of the three that is UL listed.

Nissan builds the Nissan LEAF on three continents, including Smyrna, Tennessee, USA. They do not, nor likely will not, adopt this proposed standard. Why would they? They dominate the market with 70,000 cars sold worldwide, with 30,000 of those sold right here in the USA. They are on track to add 25,000 more in the USA just this year.

There are currently about 3000 CHAdeMO chargers around the world, all using the same plug. Most are in Japan, however Europe has about 900! I suspect that Germany will be the one place that CHAdeMO is not widely supported.

Both Tesla and Nissan are leaders in the electric car revolution, and neither uses, nor will use the combo coupler. Please make a future article about how many places that there are to charge should any of the USA or German car companies actually produce a combo coupler car for the USA.

What GM and the German car makers are doing is nothing but good old fashioned protectionism.