Mercedes-Benz’s 400kW EV chargers are coming to Starbucks on CA's I-5

[DeaneG]

Mercedes-Benz’s 400kW EV chargers are coming to Starbucks

Sip coffee while your EV sips electrons.

www.theverge.com

 

[hydbob]

Great! This should’ve happened last year but I’ll take it!

 

[Lucken]

Hopefully these guys, not just MB, realize there are other charger starved areas, outside of California, in the U.S.!

 

[xponents]

Hopefully these guys, not just MB, realize there are other charger starved areas, outside of California, in the U.S.!

(Cough cough NJ)

 

[hydbob]

Hopefully these guys, not just MB, realize there are other charger starved areas, outside of California, in the U.S.!

Makes sense to start any project in CA though

 

[Lucken]

Makes sense to start any project in CA though

I might disagree with that, Bob. California is, certainly relative to many other states, sold on EVs. Such is not the case in many other areas. Here in NY I often hear people say there just aren’t enough chargers to make them switch from ICE. So there’s that.

 

[hydbob]

I might disagree with that, Bob. California is, certainly relative to many other states, sold on EVs. Such is not the case in many other areas. Here in NY I often hear people say there just aren’t enough chargers to make them switch from ICE. So there’s that.

Right but if you can’t make it work in CA, I’d argue there chances are slim in other areas

 

[Lucken]

Right but if you can’t make it work in CA, I’d argue there chances are slim in other areas

But what about Sinatra, ‘If you can make it here you can make it anywhere’? Don't make me sing, you don’t want that, trust me.

 

[Sid432]

What about RAN network in NJ?

 

[borski]

I might disagree with that, Bob. California is, certainly relative to many other states, sold on EVs. Such is not the case in many other areas. Here in NY I often hear people say there just aren’t enough chargers to make them switch from ICE. So there’s that.

You’re not wrong, but it’s much easier to deploy in CA as the state is so much friendlier to it, and there is ample revenue waiting here. CA tends to be the guinea pigs for new charging infrastructure (sometimes elsewhere, but often CA) for that reason, and then they expand out of CA into other states.

CA’s regulatory and safety requirements are among the most stringent, the process is fairly straightforward, and so on. The main changes when moving to another state is temperature and weather, along with bureaucracy.

 

[xponents]

CA’s regulatory and safety requirements are among the most stringent...

I feel like I'm missing something here, but wouldn't that ordinarily be worse in a company's view?

 

[segbrk]

I feel like I'm missing something here, but wouldn't that ordinarily be worse in a company's view?

Not if they want to get one thing approved and then not have to worry about it anywhere else.

 

[borski]

I feel like I'm missing something here, but wouldn't that ordinarily be worse in a company's view?

No, because if you know you’re going to build chargers anyway, once you’ve satisfied CA’s requirements you’ve basically satisfied everyone’s.

As opposed to having one set of plans and designs that pass NJ, but then having to change them for CA and other states. Redoing the plans and everything will cost much more in time and money than just doing it “the hardest way” the first time.

 

[DeaneG]

This morning, a good fraction of EA charging locations in the San Francisco Bay area were 100% full. Even today, we need about twice as many CCS plugs as there currently are in dense California urban areas.