Happy Tuesday. This is Electric Avenue. The only e-Mobility newsletter that tells it like it is. You won’t catch us sugarcoating anything - we even eat our donuts unglazed. Just plain ones for us please. 🍩

Here’s what we have for you today:

• 1 Video 🎥 - Why EV Road Trips Suck Now

• Tesla V4 Supercharger Insights 🧐

• 3 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

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Let's dive in!

1 Video 🎥

This video by Robert Dunn from Aging Wheels does an excellent job illustrating the division of North American society into two classes: EV drivers and Tesla EV drivers.

One class enjoys seamless roadtrips on a nationwide network with great site hosts and amenities, low charging costs, quick and automatic payment (<7s) and lightning fast, reliable charging stations.

Meanwhile the other struggles with complicated payment methods, confusing pricing models, unreliable chargers, lower than expected charging speeds and an overall awkward user experience.

A look over the pond gives some hope though: In the wonderland that is public fast charging in Western Europe drivers of both Teslas and Non-Teslas can rely on high-quality fast charging options near highways.

And in Europe drivers from any car brand can access any network thanks to a common CCS2 connector that has been used even by Tesla for the past 5 years

So what do we tell those poor souls that buy non-Tesla electric cars in the US today, hoping to do 300+ mile road trips?

Tesla V4 Supercharger Insights 🧐

Tesla’s fourth-generation superchargers are officially for sale. First, bp announced to purchase SuCs to boost its EV charging network with a $100 million order. Now, EG Group, a gas station and convenience store operator, announced the deployment of the Supercharger hardware as an EG-branded product “evpoint”. The most interesting news was that EG Group plans to support Plug and Charge via the Superchargers.

But are they aware of what they are getting? And will the Supercharger’s reliability be as superior when operated via a third-party charge point management system and own service teams? Ultimately, we can not answer those questions today, but what we can do is to have a closer look the the first V4 deployed units by Tesla. 👀

Since summer this year, the first V4 Superchargers have been rolled out across Europe, and more recently the US. Having the first fully operational V4 SuC in Munich, I took the opportunity to have an in-depth look at it. Here is how it works. 😀 

Overall Flow ⚙️:

1. Plug in the vehicle 🔌 

2. Tap your credit card to authorize a charging session 💳️ 

3. Charging the electric vehicle 🪫 → 🔋 

4. Press the button at the connector or at the EV’s plug outlet to stop the charging session and unplug the vehicle 🛑 

5. Scan the QR code on the charging station screen to get the invoice 📱 

Here are my personal thoughts on what works great on the fourth-generation SuC and what is still to be improved 👷 :

• User Guidance & Support ☎️ : Even though the intuitive flow as described above works perfectly fine, it would be nice to have some user guidance and support when needed. On the charging station, there is no sign, QR code with a help guide, or customer support number available. I was a bit concerned about how to stop the charging session as the BMW i3 does not have a stop button at the connector inlet. It was trial and error to figure out that the button on Tesla’s connector outlet lets you stop the charging session.

• Location Design 📍: The Supercharger is located in a parking garage co-located with a supermarket in Munich in a residential area. Therefore, I expect that its primary customers will be residents of this area without the possibility to charge @home or @work. Findability can be improved as there are no signs, indicating that there are charging stations located in the garage. Within the garage, the chargers are located directly behind the entrance and accessible without passing a gate. The location is equipped with one priority charging spot for disabled persons and trash bins.

• Pricing 🤑 : Applicable charging prices (0,72 € / kWh - not a bargain) and blocking fees were displayed on the screen of the payment module before the cable was plugged in. Once the cable is plugged in and some car-charger communication is done, the charger asks you to tap your credit card and pay for 0,72 €/kWh (no idle fee displayed here - more on that later).

  The text below (see photo) describes the temporary authorization hold at a user’s credit card and the blocking fee (Tesla calls them an idle fee) mechanism (only applied at 50% station occupancy and double when the station is at 100% occupation).

  

  Screen before the Charging Session

  As a user in Germany, you can select between English (default at least when we arrived at the station) and German. The price per kWh is the same as displayed when charging via the app without a subscription. So I assume that off-peak prices will also be available via credit card and that the price displayed at the start of the charging session is applied.

  There is one edge case that I identified. After a charging session is finished, a charging summary screen is shown (for about 2 minutes). When a new vehicle is plugged in, the screen switches to the “Tap and Pay” section where only the price per kWh is displayed (see video below). This might become an issue with a station at high utilization as the user is not informed about the idle fee.

  

  Glitch for Price Display

• Ad-hoc Payment via Credit Card 💳️ : The screen tells you when to tap the credit card (or Apple / Google Pay via phone). This will block 25€ on your account balance. Unfortunately, Tesla does not deduct the final charging session costs instantly. Now, 12 hours after the end of the charging session, there are 3 × 25€ blocked on my account and the final invoice sum has not been deducted from my account yet.

• Charging Session 🪫 → 🔋: During the charging session the screen displays the vehicle’s state of charge, current charging costs, charging power (kW), delivered energy, and charging duration. Helpful to see those values at the charging station. 👍️ What I found interesting is, that Tesla bills the full kWh. As you can see in the video below, once the energy counter hit 2.01 kWh, the charging cost increased. It was also confirmed by the invoice which only displays the full kWh. Not sure what their reason is. In contrast, within the industry (B2B) some CPOs bill for the 3rd decimal behind the comma to the EMP.

  

• Stopping a Charging Session 🛑 : As written above, I was worried about how to stop a charging session at the i3 as there is no button at the car’s inlet and no option displayed on the screen of the charging station. The good thing: Tesla solved it conveniently by allowing the user to stop the session by pressing a button at the connector. The bad thing: Anyone can do it while your car is charging (even when the car is locked 🔒️ - I tested it). This might become relevant in peak times - the fight for a charging connector (see our meme at the end). It could be prevented by enhancing the flow, where a user needs to tap the authorization method (card/phone) at the charging station before being allowed to stop the charging session via the button.

  

  Tesla Connector with Button

• Invoice: After the charging session is stopped, the screen displays a charging summary (total costs, charged energy, duration) with a QR code for the receipt. Comprehensive and easy! 😍 Invoice is provided in the local language (with some weird translation “Datum der Veranstaltung”). I haven’t found any page to get my invoice if I forgot to scan the QR code. (Edit on 14th of Nov 2023: Page to search for an invoice is available via the following link)

  

  Charging Summary Screen

• German Calibration Law 🇩🇪: As there is no display to see the measured energy values at the charging station, I expected the invoice to provide me with some details about the compliance with German Eichrecht. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to identify anything helpful. The only helpful evidence was that the metrology sign for German Eichrecht compliance, which was attached to the station (see picture below). The sign shows this year (23) and the notified body number. I expected one of the QR codes above the sign to give me the public key for the digitally signed meter values, but I was not able to scan them.

  

  Tesla SuC - German Calibration Law

• Cable & Connector Handling 🪢 : Even though the cables are longer, but also heavier, the solution is still not perfect. The cable will be set under strong pressure when a vehicle with the charge port on the right side is plugged in (at least in the visited location design). In the video, you can see that I used the right stall which is for the next parking spot. But in times of low occupancy, that is not a problem. The connector increased in size (compared to V3). My main concern is about the wear and tear of the bracket which holds the connector at the station.

• Charging Power 😥 : The measurement at the dispensers indicates compatibility up to 1000 volts and 1000 amperage, but the distribution power cabinets provide a max power output of 500 volts and 613 amperage. The cabinet’s maximum charging power of 250 kW is given which limits the dispenser. Sorry Porsche Taycan, KIA EV6, and Lucid Air drivers. Don’t waste your time going to a V3.5 Supercharger (nice term this V4 setup from Branden Flasch).

  

  Tesla Distribution Cabinet

✍️ Please feel free to drop me a message if you have any questions or remarks. Cheers, Julius.

3 Links 🔗

• Lucid launches V2V🚗🔄🚗: RangeXchange enables the Lucid Air to charge electric cars of any other brand (Vehicle-to-Vehicle = V2V) at up to 9.6kW. This is accomplished via a new adapter for Lucid' mobile charging cable. The feature was released via the latest over-the-air update (OTA) and marks the world’s first for direct AC V2V at up 9.6kW. Vehicles like the F150 lightning and KIA/Hyundais were already able to provide mobile power to other EVs via their V2L outlets, but those are limited to 7.2kW and 1.2kW respectively.

• Volvo buys Proterra 🔋: After electric bus and powertrain manufacturer Proterra filed bankruptcy, Volvo Trucks has now announced that it will acquire Poterra for $210M. The acquisition will strengthen Volvo’s battery-electric roadmap, specifically bringing advantages in tax credits for “Made in America” batteries.

• Tesla opens in 🇨🇳🔌: The first automaker to gain access to Tesla’s fast charging network in China is a Joint Venture by GM-SAIC. GM-SAIC sells vehicles in China under General Motors’ Buick and Cadillac brands. The company said that its native apps will enable EV owners to access Tesla’s opened stations - similar to what we’ve seen from Tesla’s US network opening.

Most-clicked link last week: were the news about US CPO EVPassport selling a majority stake for $200m (Link)

Meme of the Week 🤡

🤣🤣🤣

That's a wrap for this week! Let us know how you feel and leave some feedback (We read every single one of these 🙂 ):

Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Freakin´ awesome on⚡Electric long-haul trucks on the horizon🌅 and wrote:

“Best e-truck meme ^^ Keep it up!"

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DISCLAIMER: None of this is financial or tax advice. This newsletter is strictly educational and is not investment advice or a solicitation to buy or sell any assets or to make any financial decisions. The Electric Avenue team may hold investments in or may otherwise be affiliated with the companies discussed.