This is cool. I always knew that Matrix could theoretically support anything chat related, but I had no idea that Beeper existed and a company was formed around the idea. This is actually exciting to me. It sounds stupid, but I can't wait to ditch the Apple ecosystem.
I feel like the primary issue is the charging network and range. Tesla makes up for its lack of range with an extremely robust network. It doesn't seem like Ford is doing anything to reassure customers they will be able to charge their truck while on a road trip. Americans love to drive. You can get a ICE F-150 with a 35 gallon fuel tank, which will get you 500 miles of highway range. If you tell someone that the Lightning will only get 200 miles of range on the highway, generally they will find that amusing and make some sort of comment about how they don't want the government to force them to buy electric vehicles.
You'll never need that much power at home. Level 2 AC 240V 30-50A is fine for overnight charging.
The way Tesla Supercharging works is by using a large bank of batteries for the heavy bursts of power draw (>100kW) during the initial periods of charging when the battery is warm and at a low percent. The batteries at the station are backfilled with less current from the grid in the background during periods of low use. At least that is how I understand it.
but yeah, maybe trucks with huge batteries may be able to take advantage of it down the road.
I don't know about the NA, but that is definitively not the case for most superchargers (or any other brand of fast chargers, for that matter) in Europe. Batteries are expensive so this is only done in very special cases. I know they've used battery banks at some of the electrical ferries in Norway, simply because the cost of running new high-voltage power lines was deemed more expensive and the schedule of the ferries makes it very easy to model.
Power grids are quite large, so any fluctuations across the grid is going to be minimal. They are quite good at modeling these things, otherwise we'd have rolling blackouts quite often. For homes it's the last mile that's usually the biggest limiting factor.
But I agree with what you said, for /most/ people anything more than 2kW (so 240V/10A) is more than enough to charge up overnight. A perk with CCS2 is the support for 3-phase power delivery. With very simple wiring and some smart(-ish) electronics you can opportunistically deliver around 11kW to a single car, or divide it with other house appliances or other cars. It's fairly common with 400V TN-system in some parts of Europe, which makes the support of 3-phase in CCS2 very handy.
I don't think most NA superchargers have batteries either, though some definitely do, but I believe going forward they are likely to have "powerpacks" to support pickup and semi truck charging.
Most people don't drive 500km per day, the average is closer to 50 or so. So on average, you could easily top of your battery pack on 240V/10A circuit. That would be around 10kWh, which you'll do in 5 hours. Double the average and you'll still be topped up next morning.
Many people often travel regularly, like I do to visit family 150mi away. It would sure be nice to be able to charge while I'm at their house at a rate that would fill me back up. Range and charging speed matters, y'all shouldn't be just hand waving it away.
It's not being hand waved away. You're just constructing scenarios that most people owning an electric vehicle will agree is such a non-issue that it's not really worth debating. There are plenty of fast chargers to fill the gaps.
Many people travel regularly. Many people don't. That's how we ended up on the average being 50km.
> There are plenty of fast chargers to fill the gaps.
Definitely not on the route to where my family lives. I checked last year when I was looking at EV, there's like a single L2 charger at a hotel on the whole route. I expect it will be several more years before the millions of us with family in the country can reasonably buy an EV.
I don't think I've ever claimed that EVs are suitable for everyone right now or that the infrastructure is there to fully replace every single scenario. The point is still that most people can have most of their needs met by a simple wall plug for charging.
Chances are that you don't even need to charge on your 150 miles trip. Most modern BEVs will be able to take you anywhere from 300-350 miles on a single charge. In your scenario you could literally do a round trip and have a comfortable level of charge when you get home again.
As a new Model 3 owner, I've been looking into how to do this.
The solutions aren't particularly nice, there's the Quick220, a device which does all the safety checks of manually combining 2 circuits on opposite phases so you can actually get 12A at 240V. But it requires 2 circuits on opposite phases, neither with GFCI (which most outdoor outlets have).
Second option is a NEMA14-50 extension cable, which obviously carries it's own risks but if there's a dryer outlet on a 30A breaker, that gets you 24A at 240V.
But yes, either solution requires a bunch of bulky cords running out the door, and the assumption that the houses' electrical wiring was done properly and is in good condition.
So far the only less-invasive alternative is hoping they have a 20A circuit somewhere convenient, rather than just the kitchen plugs, then you can get an extra 33% charging speed (16A @ 120V) with the proper 5-20 adapter.
I think the more practical solution will be private plug-sharing, there's already a few apps and startups advertising I can earn money by allowing others to book my home charger, and a proper home install can do 11kw.
It could also be useful at homes to regulate power (assuming the grid connections/solar/batteries were all available), allowing you to charge faster when power is cheap, and pull way back (or even backfeed) when power is expensive.
But it's mainly to try to get EV fillups to be gas-station like. If you can recharge a Tesla to 80% in 5 minutes, you've won.
This is basically the same situation in the US as well. It’s kinda sad that the sports industry across the board are all beholden to these companies now. Makes you really think about any close calls by the officials/referees. A LOT of money involved now, and it appears to be on a very sharp upward trajectory. Legalizing sports betting is one thing, but constantly throwing it in everyone’s faces is a whole different situation.
The gambling ad style that bothers me the most is, e.g., YouTube channels doing paid advertising within a video. It's typically in the tone of, "Join me and my subscribers who are winning $X on Sports Betting Dot Com!"
I know the average person might not be so stupid to think they will automatically win when engaging in gambling, but the ads feel inherently dishonest and scummy nonetheless.
I don’t watch sports these days so I wouldn’t notice, but I’m surprised gambling is now advertised in the states. It wasn’t like that in the 80s and 90s.
Just FYI, I live in the humid mid-Atlantic region of the US. My 2500sqft house has a 2-ton conventional AC system that draws about 1.5-1.7kW at full power. My Model 3 long range draws about 11kW while charging off of the Tesla Wall Connector (48A 240V, 60A breaker).
