⚡ Obstructify America?

+ Insights from Alpitronic, More money for Tesla and E-Mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️

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Janek Metzner & Julius Wilhelm
September 18, 2023 • Estimated Reading Time: 8 minutes

Happy Monday. This is Electric Avenue. We’re the e-Mobility newsletter that readers describe as “hot and sweet with a very light spiciness, just like Starbucks’s Pumpkin Spice Latte.” Come and get your caffeine fix below ☕.

Here’s what we have for you today:

  • 1 Video 🎥

  • E-mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️

  • 3 Links 🔗

  • Memes of the week 🤡

Let's get into it!

1 Video🎥

Peter Schwierz (YouTube channel electrive.net) got an exclusive interview (in 🇩🇪) with Philip Senoner, CEO of charger manufacturer Alpitronic from Bolzano, Italy.

Alpitronic is a popular DC fast charger manufacturer in Europe which is widely deployed by charging networks such as EnBW, BP/Aral Pulse, Mer. The company’s newest 400kW fast charger (we reported) will soon also be deployed by the pan-European fast charger network IONITY (we reported).

So what insights into Alpitronics growth did we get?

Here’s the rundown:

  • Alpitronic is currently manufacturing 100 chargers/day, 500/week —> impressive numbers for DC-only manufacturer

  • Large customers like EnBW pre-purchase an annual volume of chargers and can pull from that with 12-16 weeks advance notice —> lead times for smaller orders are even longer

  • The target is to produce the first charger domestically in the US by the end of 2023 —> will make Alpitronic chargers eligible for NEVI funding

  • Philip thinks that NACS vs. CCS plugs won’t make a big difference in terms of charging reliability, compared to the charger itself

  • Philip compares the US charging market situation today to Europe in 2018! —> Charging is one of the few tech industries where the US lags behind Europe in maturity

  • Alpitronic is developing a Megawattcharger with MCS connector which will be deployed by the Milence Joint Venture for Truck charging.

Community Spotlight 🔍

Wanna know what’s driving the energy transition, and why?

Acclimate is a weekly newsletter with business and policy news that matter across clean energy, transportation, and buildings.

E-mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️

Welcome to Electric Avenue's E-Mobility Hot Jobs 🌶️ spotlight! Explore the latest electrifying career opportunities in the world of e-mobility and jumpstart your professional journey. ⚡🚗 🔌

Here ya go:

P.S. - Are you trying to hire in E-mobility? If you want to get your hot job🌶️ in front of >1,100+ e-mobility experts -> Send us a note to [email protected]!

3 Links 🔗

  • Obstructify America? 🚧: Check out this 4-part Series by John Voelcker on juicy North American EV charging gossip. It dives into the background discussions around the 7 automaker fast charging joint venture. And it also lists some pretty hard-hitting anonymous quotes that illustrate just how bad of a reputation VW’s Electrify America charging network has among some in the industry. Some highlights:

It’s hard to overstate the disgust and anger at Electrify America among virtually every person we interviewed. The network has come to be viewed, fairly or not, as the most minimal effort VW Group could have exerted to comply with the 10-year, $2-billion settlement it jointly negotiated with the EPA and the California Air Resources Board (CARB)….

…EA has steadfastly refused to discuss its reliability statistics, offering years of bland reassurances that things are improving. It will not release details on its investigations into cases in which its charging stations apparently delivered enough excess power to trip the high-voltage fuses in three different EVs in three different states. But it is likely a major contributor to EV charging problems quantified in recent studies by J.D. Power and the University of California, Berkeley….

…Non-Tesla automakers have had it with EA. Initial hopes that EA would provide a new, large-scale, nationwide network of fast charging stations have now curdled into a desire to see EA out of the game altogether—with “lots of bad blood” directed at the VW Group as a whole….

John Voelcker

  • Charging stats from 🇳🇴 : For the very first time, public fast charging stats from EV-leader Norway were publicly released. 225 gigawatt hours (GWh) of energy were delivered at public fast chargers during 2022. For a breakdown between <50kW and 50kW+ chargers check out this Tweet.

  • More 💶 for Tesla: Last week we reported that Tesla won $8.5M in US federal funding for new Superchargers sites across 5 states. This week we learned that Tesla also cleaned house in Europe: During the latest AFIF funding round, Tesla was able to secure €148.7 million, which represents ~44% of all funding available in this round.

Memes 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 🙂 ):

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Reader Review of the Week

Selected ⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️⚡️ Freakin´ awesome on ⚡Charging Reliability - the cold, hard facts ❄️ and wrote:

“Fire. Flat cable info was awesome.."

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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.Post 

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