Tesla Turns Its Focus to Charging Infrastructure
Source: Yahoo Finance

Tesla plans to greatly increase their charging station revenue to support many of the most popular electric vehicle models. In an unexpected development, Ford and General Motors (GM) have revealed that they will use Tesla’s Supercharger stations for their new electric vehicles starting in 2024.

Analysts believe this could be Tesla’s AWS moment as it looks to tap into the potential of its charging infrastructure and technologies.

Tesla Is Not Threatened – It’s Ready For More

In late 2022, Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, expressed his desire for other electric vehicle (EV) companies in North America to tap into its charging connector design.

Initially, many people were skeptical about Musk’s decision, but recent developments suggest otherwise.

In a first dive into meeting its EV target in the next decade, General Motors recently signed an agreement with Tesla to use its North American Charging Standard (NACS) for the upcoming lineup of electric vehicles.

Tesla Is Not Threatened
Source: Euronews

This partnership will give GM customers access to more than 12,000 Supercharger stations across the US and Canada.

Ford has also followed suit and joined the NACS movement leaving the Combined Charging System (CCS), which most EV automakers have relied on.

While some worry about this giving Tesla’s competitors an edge in their EV sales, Musk seems unthreatened and sees this as a positive trend for massive EV adoption in the region.

Financial analysts like Dan Ives of Wedbush Securities are also looking at the bigger picture and believe Tesla is on its way to its AWS moment.

Speaking to Squawk on the Street show, Ives said that this is an Apple services moment for Tesla and could significantly boost its revenues to billions in the coming years.

Putting a figure on what this could mean for the US-based EV giant, Ives said this could see it generate between $3 billion to $4 billion in services revenue a year.

However, Tesla is not looking to stop there. The Wedbush Securities analyst says these early ambassadors of its charging standard could tap into Tesla’s battery technology and other ecosystem services as they look to churn out higher EVs in the coming years.

Ives also publicly supported GM and Ford’s decision to adopt Tesla’s NACS, stating that it is the best way forward given the increased EV surge in Detroit.

However, not everyone has been receptive to this swift pivot from the two legacy automakers.

CharIN, the global association dedicated to the electrification of all modes of transportation, has hit back at this decision.

In a response note, the global EV ambassador said that divergence from the CCS standard would greatly hamper the move to sustainable energy for the automobile industry.

Its position is based on the fact that several charging systems could lead to confusion in the long run.

Making its case further, CharIN said CCS is future-proofed to support other use cases besides DC fast charging. Additionally, it is already a widely accepted charging standard in the European region.

In no uncertain terms, the EV ambassador said NACS is not a recognized standard by any EV regulatory body despite its name.

Many EV owners, however, have criticized CharIN’s response as a tone-deaf attempt to secure its CCS system.

According to a tweet by @brian_henderson, the existence of 22,262 CCS connectors does not equate to the same number of EV chargers.

Instead, each CCS kiosk has two connectors, but only one works at a time.

He also stated that many CCS stations operate at 50% capacity, putting the overall functionality figure between 5,000 to 7,000 connectors.

This is unlike Tesla’s NACS Supercharger stations which are more user-friendly and work at full capacity in all North American regions, significantly cutting down on time spent in these stations.

Low Q1 Sales Prompted Ford and GM’s NACS Decision

Since starting its EV charge a half-decade ago, the two legacy automakers have struggled to compete with Tesla in the North American market.

Ford and GM sold a combined 272,000 battery electric vehicles in the first quarter of 2023, compared to 1.76 million by Tesla.

This poor run of results has greatly been enhanced by the sub-par charging system offered by CCS North American operator Electrify America.

The latest decision to switch to NACS will see the two legacy automakers gain access to 12,000 of Tesla’s Supercharger connectors in the US.

Moreover, GM CEO Mary Barra has said the decision is also from a cut-saving point of view.

According to a tweet, the decision to go with Tesla’s Superchargers would save it $400 million in planned investment to build out an EV charging network between the US and Canada.

At press time, Tesla’s stock has added 1.54% in the past day and surged to $248.13 on the back of the announcement.

TESLA_2023-06-12_10-45-34

Its relative strength index (RSI) has flipped into the overbought region of 85.62, sparking a strong buy signal on its moving average convergence and divergence (MACD).

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