Aside from a little confusion - will SC access be available only when VW can offer an adapter or will it be available sooner if you just go out and buy your own - I view this as a game changer for EVs in general and of course for VW in particular.
This past holiday I repeated a trip I made a couple of times before up the east coast, FL to eastern MD and DC. Whereas before good planning and research made the trip doable, this last one was very problematic.
Going up, no issues except in Norfolk. Multiple Tesla stations there. Of the CCS stations, a few EVGos one was completely down, one had two chargers, one down, the other the same. We detoured considerably out of our way to get to that most unusual of EA stations, one with like 8+ units. In MD tred to use a Blink, had to call to get it to start. Stopped at Magic Dock on our way to visit Annapolis, peice of cake there. Our first stop on the return was at EA station in VA; four units only, crowded one open spot, nobody wanted to use it because they said it was unresponsive. We gave it a go and spent 20 minutes on the phone with EA customer support who rebooted it. With our range in the low temps declining to l 180+ miles at full charge and my own protocol, (do not go below 20%, have at least 50 miles in reserve, and plan stops where there is backup site not far away) made more frequent stops. At an overnight stop at a hotel with charging, the only available spot was ICEd. Backup site was an EA, again, just four chargers, one available, plugged in and got a blistering 25 KW. Was there awhile (went and got breakfast). Next stop no issues other than arrived only one space, but next one, only four chargers one out of service, and several cars waiting. Tesla's dozen plus chargers not used. Proceeded to our backup alternate, supposedly an L3, turned out to be a 11KW L2. Charged for 1:30 to give us enough range with what we had left in the battery to get to the next station.
For comparison purposes, one of ours on the holiday break bought a Tesla, and did what for a newbie CCS driver with near zero experience would not be well advised; a day after owning a first EV, drive it 900 miles cross country. The remarkable thing about that journey was how unremarkable it was. He stopped where the car said he needed to stop, zero issues with broken chargers, congested stations, and none at all with charge initiation, no fumbling with apps, RFIDs that dont work, setting up multiple accounts, and all this nonsense we have to deal with.
I have to confess, I wondered if my second EV should have been a Tesla, despite the fact they need a computer to open the glove box door. But I prefer the ride, the quiet, and the general appearance of the ID.
If EA or any of the others would just put in more units instead of four along busy thorough ways, we would not need the conversation about opening up the Tesla SC network. But they dont and there are tons of SCs out there not getting used. I am not optimistic about seeing alot more EV infrastructure getting built in the next four years, but with word out that EVs are a practical commuter car and used ones a bargain and cheap to run, I think the percentage of EVs on the road will continue to increase. Critical mass is being achieved and growth inevitable no matter how much babies drill.
I get the owner of Tesla is a loose cannon, and he should either stick to running a successful hi tech engineering enterprise or get out and leave it to the fine team he has there. But bottom line here, the EV community needs the SC network. I have seen good progress with EA over the 15 months or so I have owned an ID, but they are years behind where they need to be.
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