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Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

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11–20 of 292 posts

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#11
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

There's only 3 plug formats that matter. J1772 for AC charging, the Tesla plug (called NACS), and CCS, the other main standard. It may look messy but it's trivial in practice, once you can use superchargers. Once you have access to superchargers you can just drive. I've driven across the country 3 times in a Tesla, now I have a different EV with a CCS plug and access to superchargers with an adapter, I'm free to go w…

It's not only the plug shape though, it's also the language the plug speaks. Newer Tesla chargers (I think supercharger v3 and up) will be able to talk CCS over the NACS connector for wide compatibility, but the older ones will look the same and only charge a Tesla because they don't communicate with CCS.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#12
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow truck

Found the commenter that’s never actually owned an EV. 13 years of EV ownership and numerous road trips, and your hypotheticals have never happened to me. Yes, you’re technically correct, said by some to be the worst kind of correct. Because in day-to-day reality, there are basically two kinds of connector types.

Though if your day job, as listed in your profile, is changing brake pads, I could see how you don’t have a lot of contact with EVs. :-)

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#13
post #6
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

In practice there are only three: NACS (currently only at Tesla stations); CCS (everywhere that isn't Tesla), and J1772 (destination charging). NACS is the industry consensus on the one true North American plug to rule them all going forward. CHAdeMO is completely dead -- you'll sometimes see them, but they're being kept on life support if not outright decommissioned.

In practical terms, CCS and J1772 are the same standard, in the sense that 2 prong and 3 prong US power plugs are the same standard, since receiving plugs support both.

I do still see CHAdeMO at a lot of EA and EVgo stations (I usually charge at home, so my charging station experience is mostly limited to road trips)

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#14
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow truck Found the commenter that’s never actually owned an EV. 13 years of EV ownership and numerous road trips, and your hypotheticals have never happened to me. Yes, you’re technically correct, said by some to be the worst kind of correct. Because in day-to-day reality, there are basically two kinds of connect…

They're technically correct in the same sense that there are more than 2 mobile operating systems.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's only 3 plug formats that matter. J1772 for AC charging, the Tesla plug (called NACS), and CCS, the other main standard. It may look messy but it's trivial in practice, once you can use superchargers. Once you have access to superchargers you can just drive. I've driven across the country 3 times in a Tesla, now I have a different EV with a CCS plug and access to superchargers with an adapter, I'm free to go w…

It's not only the plug shape though, it's also the language the plug speaks. Newer Tesla chargers (I think supercharger v3 and up) will be able to talk CCS over the NACS connector for wide compatibility, but the older ones will look the same and only charge a Tesla because they don't communicate with CCS.

Yeah the V2s are also slow enough most people wouldn't want to use them anyway. They are already drastically outnumbered too.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#16
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

Virtually every EV sold today is one of 2 standards.

And adapters for the other standard are <$200, and don't take up that much space in a trunk.

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#17
post #3

I applaud the effort to expand charging across the nation as this will inevitably increase the comfort level of the average joe on the fence with range anxiety. The elephant in the room that nobody is talking about is the connector. There are SEVEN different competing charging connector types in North America. if i dont have an adapter, im either screwed into spending 3 hours at a charging station or im calling a tow…

The US did just adopt a Federal EV charging connector. [1]

Hint: it’s Tesla’s NACS

1 : https://driveteslacanada.ca/news/teslas-nacs-set-to-become-o...

Re: Rivian is opening its charging network to other EVs

#19
post #18

How did we get from a situation where you could just pay with cash/card for fuel to having monopolized single-brand car fueling stations?

When it started taking 30 minutes to "fill up" your car.

High speed chargers can cost >$200k installed.

A gas pump costs about $25k installed.

If the average person spends 4 minutes at a pump, that comes out to:

The time value of a slot at a super charger can be >$5 for each charge.

The time value of a slot at a gas pump is ~$0.07 per fill up.

The economics of a charging business are awful. High CapEx, few cars, not many of them need chargers since they can charge at home.

The economics of a gas station were not terrible.

There's a reason you don't see immigrants from all over the world coming to the US to open charging stations the way you saw them opening gas stations.

And that's the reason you have charging monopolies.

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