⚡️ Tesla tests Magic Dock 🔌 Mercedes X Google 👀

Aloha Ohana, this is Electric Avenue. This edition is written on the shores of Hawaii, so we‘re sending electrified Island Vibes to wherever you’re reading this 🌺 🍹

If you’re wondering what the fast charging situation on Oahu in Hawaii is, check out this video from Out of Spec Studios. Mahalo! 🏄‍♂️🏝️

Here's what we have for you today:

• 1 Pic 🖼️

• 2 Thoughts 💭 

• 2 Links 🔗

• Meme of the week 🤡

1 Pic 🖼️

It’s here! A Reddit user found the first public installation of the Tesla Magic Dock on a Supercharger site in New York. Magic Dock is Tesla‘s adapter solution to retrofit CCS-compatibility to its proprietary Supercharger cables. Tesla personnel seemed busy testing interoperability with a Rivian truck too - Link.

2 Thoughts 💭

Mercedes partnering with Google to bring Maps and YouTube into its vehicles was big news this week. This is important for two reasons:

1) It´s the first time that Google Maps is formally "unbundled" from Google Automotive Services ("GAS", also known as Google Built-in). This means that unlike with the Infotainment systems of other cars with GAS (e.g. Polestar), Mercedes-Benz is building the entire navigation "experience" and will not need to use Google Maps' built-in UI & map renderer.

2) It means that Mercedes is betting it can make its MB.OS so compelling, that drivers no longer opt to use middleware products like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, which mirror their smartphones to the car´s infotainment screen. This also makes it more likely that customers opt to use the Mercedes Me charging service, as it will offer the best integration between navigation and its own charging payment service.

From a charging infrastructure perspective this means another big push for Googles charging station Point Of Interest (POI) database. Incumbent charging POI providers like HERE Maps and Plugshare may have started gathering station data, pictures and user ratings way before Google, but Google Maps´ user base and its network effects are a major threat. After taking over smartphones and web, Google Maps may soon also become the dominating navigation, mapping and POI provider for electric vehicles.

2 Links 🔗

• Sono pivots to Solar☀️: After a failed fundraising campaign, German EV startup Sono Motors is facing tough times. The company had to stop working on its Sion EV and will instead focus on providing solar roof solutions to other vehicle manufacturers (Link).

• Battery swapping is HOT🔥 : NIO reported extremely high utilization of battery swapping during NIO day in December. >50% of energy refills in China happened through swapping. Now the company provides another data point indicating higher than expected demand: Instead of building 400 additional swap stations NIO is upping the number to +1000 stations by end of 2023 (Link).

Meme of the Week 🤡

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