Elon made the offer nearly 10 years ago. Basically he just wanted them to help defray the costs of building the network in some proportional fashion. However the hubris was too strong, and no one took him up on it.

In retrospect, it would have cost VAG less, and made their customers happier, if they had taken Elon up on his offer - rather than start up EA. Toyota and MB also had an inside track at one time, as Tesla was helping them build compliance cars and they even held positions in TSLA. Again, they ran in the wrong direction...

 

”…almost as though…”

LOL! 😉

 

He'd probably demand $44B for the network and $8/car. 😉

 

🤣😂

 

Mercedes knows:

https://www.wsj.com/articles/mercede...=hp_lista_pos2

 

All the good corners in the USA are taken by Chevron, Exxon, 76 etc. Hey maybe one of the geniuses at those companies will decide to get in the Electric Charging business!!??

 

Actually, in the SE, especially in Florida, almost all of the newest installed Superchargers are in Wawa "gas" stations. It's actually genius since Wawa is more a convenience store with hot fast food than a fuel stop. I'm not sure who approached who but the end result is a perfect combo, at least for Tesla owners. With EA we get the back 40 in Wally World parking lots. I'm so happy I am licensed to carry in 35 states...........

 

EA is also installing at various Love's Truck Stops. The National Association of Truck Stop Operators are working with truck stop owners to develop charging station as an additional revenue stream now and more so in the future. https://www.natso.com/

 

the business model for the Wawa type businesses is to sell the gas as cheaply as possible to draw traffic into the store. so placing the superchargers at their stores fits the business model.
I am surprised that other wawa like chains haven't picked up on this.

 

https://www.shell.com/energy-and-inn...-charging.html

 

And the crazy thing, Sonicworld LOVED the Taycan way, way more than the Tesla he had driven before.

But the lack of support in charging stations had him suggesting for the next little while to get a Tesla instead if you are going any long distance on your drives.

 

That’s Mobile AL for sure! And if one is of a certain race, all bets are off. Lived in adjoining State for ten years.

 

Where'd you see that on TV?

 

I just returned from an unscheduled trip from FL to NYC and the EA experience was tough at best. many of the 350 units were offline and some of the ones that were online were very, very slow, one was delivering 7kw. here's a screen shot from one unit.



the 150's were very slow as well. I was barely getting over 60kw at 3 different locations, one started at 127 but settled in at around 87 kw.
two possible reasons for this could be the cold weather, low 40's, and unlikely but maybe the car's battery wasn't warm enough.
on the return trip the chargers were slowish as well, getting 120+ on 350's and 87 kw on 150s.
this coupled with the car's range being nerfed by the last software update I was showing 190 miles of range @ 100% soc. which made what was easy hops from charger to charger into nail biting runs.
because of the slowness of the chargers on this trip which I could do with 4 maybe 5 charging stops I had to make 8 stops to charge.
in the past it would show 240+ and in warm weather I could get past 250 miles driving the car, 4s with 20 inch wheels and performance battery is making me consider selling the car.
my Ipace is still showing 245+ range despite the chilly weather.
between EA's poor performance and porsche's nerfing the range the car is not doing the job that I need it to do. I bought a porsche, I want to drive like it is a porsche and not sticking to the speed limit in order to make it to the next charger.

 

Exactly. On a recent one day trip, it became an overnighter. Time spent at chargers and stress of the said "nail biting runs."

In comparison, last week, I did an eight hour trip in the Cayenne. No fuss no muss. At 1/4 tank, pull over at the next interchange and fill up. Gas pumps always worked, no awkward charger handshaking, delivery of gas in drip and drops.

Me thinketh we are gluttons for punishment, or just want the excitement (in otherwise boring lives) to drive a Taycan with all the charging hassles.

It must have been like this at the turn of the century to drive a gasoline powered car, when gas stations were a rarity?