Oh, no, Teslas Supercharger network lost

glhs837

Power with Control
In a comparison study of charging networks in the US, Electrify America, VWs penance system beat out the Supercharger network. So rush right out and buy another brand so EA can keep you moving :)


Or maybe not, this study is a perfect example of how to design your study to get the result you, a German company, might want to make sure the other German company wins the day. They simply left SCs out of last years study. This year, after an outcry, they included it. But crippled the Tesla network with very careful choices and weighting.

1. The main issue is that Tesla's network, being baked right into the cars OS, doesn't rely on the mobile app.
a. You dont need it to pay, since the network recognizes your car.
b. You dont need it to find charging stations, since the cars nav not only does that, but also tracks which stations are operation or even how many charge points are in use.
c. You dont need it to tell you how much the charging will cost as that's displayed on the cars screen as well.

So, if you want to ensure Tesla loses, you simply weight the apps and website highly in your scoring, them score Tesla really low for those categories. Then, when hammered by the community you simply say that you had to wedge Tesla in somehow and to be fair, since a Ford Mustang Mach might display such information for EA but a Leaf wont, you throw out anything on the cars display, no matter if its built in.

When you see the headlines, don't be fooled. In the comment section of the study, they say flat out that Teslas network is a better user experience, but of course, that's not reflected in the scoring, and there's not even footnotes or asterisks on the score charts pointing you to that.

The Supercharger network is the gold standard, and one of the reasons I wouldnt recommend any other EV. Every comparison that doesnt arbitrarily toss out 90% of the networks benefits shows it clearly.
 

PeoplesElbow

Well-Known Member
How does it win, I don't think I've ever seen one?

While I don't think I would ever count on Tesla's network for a long trip I will still admit that it's the only viable one in existence for now.
 

jrt_ms1995

Well-Known Member
... I don't think I've ever seen one?

While I don't think it's worth your drive to see, there's one at exit 168 of I-95 in N.C. Sure there are many others, but this is the only one I've actually seen myself while at a convenient-for-my-purposes highway stop.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
How does it win, I don't think I've ever seen one?

While I don't think I would ever count on Tesla's network for a long trip I will still admit that it's the only viable one in existence for now.

It won basically because its app is better than anyone elses. :) I think they have about 1/4 as many as actual charge points (as opposed to charge stations) as Tesla which explains why you haven't seen any. 3,000 level 3 points nationwide. Tesla has over 10,000 point in the US, or did in 2020, they been adding rapidly.

Lots of people count on Teslas network for road trips, in facts that really what its designed for. That's why you don't see many local ones, its heavily weighted towards highways. On the website you can enter a trip and it will show you want charge stations you would need to hit depending on which Model you have. I just did one from LP to Indy. The car of course can do this from voice prompts. And since the netwrok reports real time status, the car will not route you to stations that are down, although since most stations have six or so cables, its rare that the whole station is down.

 
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