Electrify America recently announced plans for upgrading the electric car charging user experience. In the immediate term the company will launch a mobile app to help customers find charging stations, reiterated its commitment to keep charging stations open to all through allowing payment using a credit card, while announcing membership…
Over the weekend Tesla CEO Elon Musk posted a bunch of tweets including the above charging advice. At least these tweets did not get him in trouble with the SEC, as he has done so many times over the last year. But this particular advice seems (to me) to not…
According to Tesla, the company mission is to hasten the adoption of electric vehicles, and in general the renewable energy ecosystem. Hence Tesla is developing what are regarded as extremely awesome cars that happen to be electric, have managed to build a manufacturing asset base allowing them to approach a…
Today Nissan unveiled a trio of electric vehicle ecosystem announcements, but separately said it was delaying launch of the 60 kiloWatt-hour Nissan Leaf. This follows the turmoil over revelation that Renault/Nissan/Mitsubishi Alliance leader Carlos Ghosn was being fired from Nissan following revelations of fraudulent financial filings. The announcements today have…
The other day I wrote about growth in electric car sales in Romania (up 165% from 2017 to 2018), and happened to include pictures from the Kaufland Barbu Văcărescu EV Charging location in Bucharest. Yesterday Kaufland held, at that same location what it calls the “Inauguration” of “the first fast…
Nearly 30 years ago I had the misfortune of being laid off from three separate jobs because Microsoft yawned and stretched a little bit. In one case Microsoft added TCP/IP support to Windows with Win95, which drove out of business the several companies who had sold TCP/IP for Windows –…
Last week the US Department of Energy announced a $68 million package of “available funding for early-stage research of advanced vehicle technologies that will enable more affordable mobility, strengthen domestic energy security, and enhance U.S. economic growth.” The advanced technologies in this case are about low-cobalt battery designs, and more importantly…
Electric cars with 400 miles range are preferable, according to presenters at the CharIN Alliance 1st annual North American meeting held in Fremont earlier this week, see CharIN alliance meets on Tesla’s doorstep, presents CCS as the best DC Fast Charging system for electric cars. The main topic of the meeting was…
On Monday the CharIn Alliance (the organization behind the Combo Charging System, a.k.a. CCS) held its first North American conference in Fremont CA. The location was a Marriot Hotel directly across the highway from Tesla’s factory in Fremont, a fact that seemed pointed in the direction of trying to catch…
Look out Tesla Motors and ChargePoint, here comes a charging network with big plans. Electrify America just announced a plan to build a nation-wide electric car charging network comprising thousands of charging locations over the next 10 years. What’s most important is the coverage of inter-city routes as shown in…
What if Tesla Motors were to be the winner in the market share battle over DC Fast Charging services? Electric car owners are pawns in a battle between automakers on DC Fast Charging protocols and services. The three (four if you count China) charging standards, CHAdeMO, Combo Charging System, and…
If the standards-based charging networks, and the automakers other than Tesla Motors, are to have a chance, standards-based high-power charging stations like what ABB just unveiled must exist. The Tesla Supercharger network is ingenious only in the forethought exhibited by Tesla Motors to invest in a widespread high power DC…
Over the weekend, at the Midwest Renewable Energy Association fair in Custer Wisconsin, one JB Straubel, the CTO of Tesla Motors, gave a talk. According to a report by Electrek, Straubel said that Tesla Motors is “talking with” other automakers about the Supercharger network. Clearly the current situation with three…
A single solitary sentence in Tesla’s announcement about doubling the Supercharger network could have a significant impact for urban-dwelling prospective electric car owners. Those who live in “multi-unit-dwellings”, like apartment or condominium complexes, usually have a hard time finding charging. Typically the landlord or home owners association puts up barriers…
The Tesla Model 3 is due for its production launch in a few months. While some of us are pondering our personal budget, Tesla Motors has a bigger issue on its mind. The key advantage they have over other automakers is the extensive reach of the Supercharger fast charging network.…
