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Comment by rsynnott | Hacker News Reader

Is the supercharger network really all that big of a deal for the average electric car user, though? As of 2016, there were about 13k charging stations with 30k chargers in the US. 613 of these, with 3600 chargers, were Tesla. And the US is behind the curve here; there are 5000 stations with 14k chargers in the UK. Even most fast chargers are not Tesla, either in the US or worldwide. In the US, Tesla’s network is arguably better distributed along interstates, but this is mostly a US-specific problem.

The superchargers are arguably a big deal for model S and X users, who I believe often have free charging. As I understand it, Model 3 users wont have this, though? So what’s so special about the Tesla ones, especially outside the US?

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Have you driven an electric vehicle for any significant amount of time?

Number of stations is meaningless. At any given time, a sizeable portion of them will be out of commission. Some will not be accessible outside business hours (the ones at dealerships being the biggest offenders) or will be ICE'd. Even worse, some will be listed as working, but then fail to connect and charge your car at all. This has happened to me, multiple times. In one case, leaving me stranded, as I did not have range to reach the next one, after being unable to charge at two different locations. And that was in San Jose, not in the middle of a desert.

I have not checked your numbers, but I seriously doubt 30k is the number of fast chargers. Instead, those will be the slow, L2 chargers, which take 4 hours for a full charge on a Nissan Leaf. Quick chargers are much fewer in number, break frequently and, in the US, can be on two, competing standards (CHADEMO and whatever is that Ford and other manufacturers use).

In contrast, Tesla's network is much better maintained, each location has many chargers, and they are all Tesla's proprietary fast chargers.

Not to mention, Tesla cars can use their chargers, L2, and have adapters for other quick chargers.

TL;DR- This is not an apples to apples comparison.

Here in Shenzhen I believe the government sponsors the installation of a new charging point wherever you want it when you buy a car. About half of the taxis are electric, and that is growing. The electric taxis are cheaper (combustion taxis have an extra per-trip tax) and more spacious, and manufactured by BYD.

IMHO two things:

a) "fast charger" is a loose term and is often used for anything exceeding 20kW. Superchargers deliver up to 140 kW (split between two cars) or 120 kW (to one car). That's why Tesla/Elon sometimes refer to them as "level 4 charger", although the specification ends at level 3. Other manufacturers are now getting on that train with (according to specification) up to 400 kW

b) The notion of the "average electric car user" does not take into account that yes, people drive less than 80km per day on average, BUT they go on the occasional road trip. And they don't want to have a car sitting around just for road trips. They want one that can do both (commute & roadtrip). That's where the supercharger network helps

Not sure about the situation in the US. The bulk of the ‘fast chargers’ in the UK, mentioned above, are CHAdeMO (40-60kW, generally, though higher power are coming) and Mennekes (usually 44kW). This isn’t as fast as the Tesla ones, but it’s not 20kW either.

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