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In Preparation For Model 3, Tesla Plans To Double the Size of Its Supercharger Network This Year (fortune.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Fortune: Tesla says it will double the number of electric vehicle chargers in its network this year as the automaker prepares for the production of its mass-market vehicle the Model 3. The plan, announced Monday in a blog post on the company's website, will grow its global network of Superchargers from more than 5,400 today to more than 10,000 by the end of the year. Tesla, which had previously announced in its annual shareholder letter plans to double the network in North America, did not disclose the cost of such an ambitious expansion. Many sites will soon enter construction to open in advance of the summer travel season, according to Tesla. The company says it will add charging locations within city centers as well as highway sites this year. The goal is to make "charging ubiquitous in urban centers," Tesla says in its blog post. The company says it will build larger sites along busy travel routes to accommodate several dozen Teslas simultaneously. These larger sites will also have customer service centers.
Tesla did one big thing : it freed their supercharger patents. The proverbial ball is in the other vehicle's camp.
The EV charging landscape is currently a mess. It differs continent from continent, maker from maker.
Most other vehicles have lower capacity batteries so perhaps the pattern of charging and usage has been different up until now. Tesla owners might drive longer distances or prefer to charge at a station once a week whereas someone in a Leaf might be driving shorter distances and charging from home.
I expect that pattern will change in time. EVs like the Ioniq, Bolt and 2nd gen Leaf all have increased ranges and therefore the need for rapid charging will increase. Maybe the Bolt will get a software update or hardware revision for a faster charging rate. I expect that charging stations will receive iterative upgrades over time.
Apparently it has only been enacted in Germany until now, but other countries are likely to follow. Europe is standardising on CCS/Mennekes connectors and at some point, all charging stations will have to be compatible.
You miss the point of a fast charge station. If I were a Tesla owner I might be a bit pissed if every time I went to fill all of the stations were tied up with Bolt owners taking 2 hours to charge.