Tesla is a prime example of what EkaLore calls an “Alien Invader”: An organization that seems to come out of nowhere, break all the rules, and take the highest profit out of the market it invades. Tesla is a great example. This series looks at the secondary effects of changing the rules.
Tesla has changed the marketplace for charging EVs – again! The NACS connector is disrupting money plans and media perceptions. Tesla’s direct current fast charging (DCFC) strategies are reinforcing and extending its own sales. Alliances in the marketplace have upset investments, disrupted manufacturing plans, and altered investor perceptions of enterprise value.
Subsequent to Tesla opening its proprietary charging plugs (NACS) and software protocols to standards processes (and free design downloads), adoption was announced by Ford, GM, and others like Rivian and the plurality of charging networks (see below). In North America, the availability of the Tesla Supercharging Network and millions of Ford, GM, Tesla, and likely other vehicles pre-equipped with the NACS plugs made the business models of charging networks less viable, even with USA Federal subsidies, without using NACS-equipped charging points.
The publicly-traded EV/NEV charging networks saw an advantage to supporting the dominant Tesla, Ford, and GM vehicles likely to be the largest populations of vehicles in North America in the near to mid-term. Requirements for domestic content of charging stations in the USA Federal subsidy regulations also influence the manufacturing and supply chain supporting the charging network ecosystems.
Tesla manufactures and installs its own equipment and facilities in the Supercharging Network. This work is allocated to the Buffalo, NY, Gigafactory with other Tesla Energy segment manufacturing.
The creation of a charging standard and deploying to the point that it became the de facto standard didn’t happen all at once. The 2nd post in this series provides some background of how the market got to its current state.
You’ll find that new post at www.ekalore.com/alien-invaders
Comments