One can agree on the “forever” part, but it’s definitely for a very long time… decades globally.
GM and Ford will be able to charge at Tesla stations initially with an adapter, and later, cars will be coming that can be charged without an adapter.
That certainly is tough competition, but one could assume that Kempower focuses its solutions on ensuring that all kinds of setups can also be charged with Kempower. Perhaps this is a tougher spot for Tesla’s competitors already in the US than for Kempower, which is only just developing its offering in the US.
In the premarket, it certainly looks bad for Tesla’s competitors:
ChargePoint Holdings Inc.
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 7:42 a.m. EDT
$ 9.11
-0.50 -5.20%
EVgo Inc. Cl A
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 at 7:44 a.m. EDT Delayed quote
$ 4.04
-0.31 -7.13%
Tesla Inc.
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 at 7:45 a.m. EDT Delayed quote
$ 249.23
14.37 6.12%
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Today, ABB also announced that it will start offering Tesla’s NACS connector for its chargers, so Kempower will likely announce the same in the near future.
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and the final result yesterday was
ChargePoint Holdings Inc.
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 7:59 p.m. EDT Delayed quote
$8.34
-13.22%
EVgo Inc. Cl A
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 7:59 p.m. EDT Delayed quote
$3.8400
-11.72%
Tesla Inc.
Last Updated: Jun 9, 2023 7:59 p.m. EDT Delayed quote
$244.40
4.06%
Stock prices certainly swing a lot in the US. This shouldn’t be a catastrophe yet, though, since those connectors can be developed. You’d think that in the future, others will support Tesla’s connectors and Tesla will support others’ connectors. Otherwise, they’ll lose part of the charging user base.
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Well, the news is out already
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This NACS announcement should have come as early as when the US factory was announced…
Tesla is completely dominant in the US, and smaller and newer players in the industry would gain an advantage the faster they adopt Tesla’s various features.
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Why? Not a single charger has come out of the US factory yet. Kempower does what the customer orders. NACS’s improved position means that it will likely be ordered from Kempower as well. The connector isn’t exactly a major component in the grand scheme of things. Some software changes will probably be needed, but as I understand it, Tesla is quite open to helping, as long as the use of NACS becomes more common.
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It would have been a great opportunity to get visibility and buzz without much effort + it would have shown how alert they are at Kempower and that they understand how big Tesla is in the States.
Now, clearly they didn’t know how to take advantage of this, or at worst, they thought it would be okay to go to the States and sell charging posts with a CCS plug.
I don’t really have anything more sensible to say, but to me, this was crystal clear as soon as they were headed to the States..
Here are the analyst’s comments regarding the recent news. 
Until recently, it has been unclear in North America what type of connectors will be used to charge electric vehicles in the future. The market now seems to be leaning towards the NACS standard developed by Tesla. Kempower also announced on Monday that it will offer the NACS option to its customers in North America in the future.
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The City of Tampere’s electric vehicle charging points have reached the end of their service life. Charging points were installed in 2016 in the Tampere city center street network and at central locations, such as Laukontori, Ronganpuisto, and the Pyynikki Swimming Hall. In total, there are 22 charging spots.
The second rounds of procurement for chargers are starting to become timely. Of course, if they were installed in the summer of 2016, they are turning 7 years old now. The five years in the headline apparently refers to the Ronganpuisto station:
The Ronganpuisto station, which has been out of service for some time already
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I agree that they should have been able to read the market better, and specifically more proactively. Did their own success perhaps blind them, causing market assessments—especially regarding risk factors—to be overlooked in favor of pursuing growth?
Now it looks like the role is to be a Tesla plug-compatible supplier in the US, a bit like selling compatible ink cartridges for an HP printer instead of the originals…
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It’s only a good thing that Kempower is adopting all the relevant connectors so that all drivers can charge. Competition will then be based on other features.
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Which connector is used doesn’t really matter. Of course, if the NACS connector is much more expensive to source than CCS, then the margin will be that much lower. So, Kempower sells chargers in the States to local charging operators just like here; it’s just that those chargers have NACS connectors.
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I hadn’t seen this news in the thread yet, but quite good investments from Kempower.
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I don’t know if this is off-topic (feel free to move it elsewhere if it is), but I thought I’d share my experiences from a weekend trip to Sweden—a 1,100km journey—comparing Kempower vs. the OKQ8 service station chain chargers.
During the trip, I used Kempower chargers twice on the Finnish side; both times the charge remaining was around 40% (VW ID3 58kWh, model year 2021). The first time was at the Tornio Prisma chargers, going from 40% to 90%, and at that time the power intake was 54kW, with the charger screen stating that the car was limiting the charging. The charging hub was completely empty, so I would have expected the charging to be a bit more powerful. For the second charge, I used the same charger and plug, and there were two other cars charging, yet the power was 67kW. This was a decent result, but the charging time was still quite long.
Anyway, then onto the other side of the sea. The first charge at the destination was at a nearby OKQ8 charger, 5-90% with an average of 137kW. I have to say I was a bit surprised (I thought my car was a 100kW max intake model), but then again, the battery was almost empty. If I recall correctly, the charger showed 400A during that peak power. The second time, I stopped to top up some more juice before heading back. There were five other cars at the station, and half of the Tesla Superchargers were also in use. The charge was at 70%, and the charger was delivering 95kW. The third time along the way, I stopped in another city to eat and plugged into a charger from the same company; 50-80% was done at 74kW. Not once did the device complain about the car limiting the power.
I have to say, our neighbor’s charging systems are a bit more powerful—and shockingly expensive at 5.9 krona/kWh—but if the performance is that much better than here at home with Kempower chargers, I’m happy to pay a bit extra. I’ve started to wonder about that eternal slogan on the Kempower screens saying that the car is limiting the charge. I’m starting to get the feeling that the problem might not actually be with the car.
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@hautakivi Euro per kWh? Which do you, as an EV driver, favor: cheaper and slower, or more expensive charging? So, what kind of chargers are worth installing?
Has the charging power of those Kempowers been confirmed as fast by a reliable source anywhere?
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That 5.9 crowns is probably closer to €0.5/kWh. Personally, I favor more efficient and expensive chargers, but perhaps the point of that post was why Kempower doesn’t reach similar power levels as the competitor across the pond. I have to admit that I don’t understand charger technology very deeply, and charging power depends on quite a few things.
It would be interesting to know how Kempower’s chargers rank in efficiency compared to other fast charger manufacturers. Does anyone have any info on this?
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A company representative told me at the spring Capital Markets Day event that the efficiency advantage compared to competitors is about 30%.. so in my opinion, it’s decisive. Intelligent power sharing.. e.g. a 7-minute charge provides a range of 150 km. I don’t know the details more precisely, this is enough for me.
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Oh, you’re right, it is 0.51€/kWh. I was using old rates regarding the krona.
But that’s not the first time I’ve come across that story about the car limiting the charging. Previously, I’ve just dismissed it with a shrug, assuming that the car really is the limiting factor due to things like cold weather.
Interesting.
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The biggest reason for your experience is the car, which doesn’t know how to preheat the battery, and the 40% state of charge when starting the charging session. If you had started at a 5% state of charge in Sweden, you would get good power (in summer) even if the battery wasn’t preheated. If the Kempower charger says “vehicle limiting,” it is specifically the car telling the charger that it cannot handle more at the moment. Other messages include “charger limiting” or “grid limiting.” Another time you mentioned being stuck at 67kW, which is 1/3 of the station’s total power. In ABC-Mobiili, the total power for Prisma Tornio is listed as 200kW. This is then dynamically shared between three cables. In Finland, for example, Recharge also uses a lot of Kempower, but their total station power is much higher than what, for instance, ABC installs. The intended use is also different. Recharge chargers are for quick stops. Prismas and the like are usually for slightly longer stops.
You shouldn’t make any conclusions about Kempower based on that experience. With a good (electric) car that is capable of battery preheating and starting the charge at a low state of charge, you will definitely see completely different figures.
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