Ecomento.com: Some of Germany’s highest-ranking industry executives have criticised Tesla Motors’ electric car charging strategy, believing it isolates customers and will ultimately hinder adoption.
Members of Hubject, a joint venture aimed at standardizing charging station-to-car connections to facilitate widespread adoption in Europe, believe that the American automaker’s persistence with its Supercharger stations will hurt electric car uptake. This is because Supercharger stations are compatible only with Tesla vehicles.
“For the charging infrastructure Tesla uses a proprietary system instead of an open system, in the computer industry this hasn’t worked so far,” Arndt Neuhaus, CEO of German electric utilities giant RWE, toldAutomobilwoche.
“Electric mobility needs to rely on open standards to become suitable for the mass market ASAP. I need to be able to use one plug for each charging station in Europe. A separate plug doesn’t help here.”
Many might disagree with Neuhaus, arguing that Apple has enjoyed considerable success with its proprietary charging system for the popular iPhone and its laptop computers, although it is unlikely that Tesla would ever enjoy such a vast share of the electric car market. The pioneering automaker sold around 25,000 cars last year and will have the potential to build 500,000 by 2018.
Tesla is currently expanding its Supercharger network in Europe apace and its success could encourage other automakers to follow suit. While Daimler and BMW are members of the Hubject project, Volkswagen – which has perhaps the greatest mass market potential of any automaker in an era of electromobility – has so far refused to take part.
“It would be economic nonsense if each car manufacturer were to establish its own [charging] infrastructure,” said Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner, suggesting that charging station software should standardize power flow ‘behind the scenes’. Time, he says, is of the essence.
“If we occupy ourselves here too long with small-minded discussion we get a critical imbalance. We have the technology for a pan-European charging net. We need to want to really implement it now though,” he added.
Despite Daimler’s close ties with Tesla and its products, it too remains unconvinced by the Supercharging stations and the notion of a plethora of manufacturer-specific charging stations.
“The future lies in standardization,” said Daimler’s R&D chief Thomas Weber. “As with gas stations we need a manufacturer-wide charging network, as this reduces infrastructure costs and makes it more comfortable for the customer.”
Weber has also expressed a desire for Volkswagen to join Hubject, although whether that invitation has been extended to Tesla CEO Elon Musk remains unknown.
Members of Hubject, a joint venture aimed at standardizing charging station-to-car connections to facilitate widespread adoption in Europe, believe that the American automaker’s persistence with its Supercharger stations will hurt electric car uptake. This is because Supercharger stations are compatible only with Tesla vehicles.
“For the charging infrastructure Tesla uses a proprietary system instead of an open system, in the computer industry this hasn’t worked so far,” Arndt Neuhaus, CEO of German electric utilities giant RWE, toldAutomobilwoche.
“Electric mobility needs to rely on open standards to become suitable for the mass market ASAP. I need to be able to use one plug for each charging station in Europe. A separate plug doesn’t help here.”
Many might disagree with Neuhaus, arguing that Apple has enjoyed considerable success with its proprietary charging system for the popular iPhone and its laptop computers, although it is unlikely that Tesla would ever enjoy such a vast share of the electric car market. The pioneering automaker sold around 25,000 cars last year and will have the potential to build 500,000 by 2018.
Tesla is currently expanding its Supercharger network in Europe apace and its success could encourage other automakers to follow suit. While Daimler and BMW are members of the Hubject project, Volkswagen – which has perhaps the greatest mass market potential of any automaker in an era of electromobility – has so far refused to take part.
“It would be economic nonsense if each car manufacturer were to establish its own [charging] infrastructure,” said Bosch CEO Volkmar Denner, suggesting that charging station software should standardize power flow ‘behind the scenes’. Time, he says, is of the essence.
“If we occupy ourselves here too long with small-minded discussion we get a critical imbalance. We have the technology for a pan-European charging net. We need to want to really implement it now though,” he added.
Despite Daimler’s close ties with Tesla and its products, it too remains unconvinced by the Supercharging stations and the notion of a plethora of manufacturer-specific charging stations.
“The future lies in standardization,” said Daimler’s R&D chief Thomas Weber. “As with gas stations we need a manufacturer-wide charging network, as this reduces infrastructure costs and makes it more comfortable for the customer.”
Weber has also expressed a desire for Volkswagen to join Hubject, although whether that invitation has been extended to Tesla CEO Elon Musk remains unknown.
