No apps, no swipes – every EV will get Supercharger-like charging in 2025
Universal Plug & Charge – the ability for any EV to just plug in and start charging without having to open an app, swipe a card or press any buttons first – will be ready in 2025 and promises to make EV charging much easier, thanks to an effort between the Society of Automotive Engineers, the auto industry, and the Biden Admin’s Joint Office of Energy & Transportation.
In the ideal case, one of the best parts of EV ownership is the fact that it’s such a convenient, easy experience. Just charge your car at home most nights, and the few times you need to charge on the road, stop at a DC fast charger, plug in (without having to swipe a credit card or anything) when you have lunch or otherwise need a break, and continue on whenever you’re ready.
But, outside of Tesla Superchargers and the much smaller Rivian Adventure Network, on-the-road EV charging can be an inconsistent experience in the US. While other networks exist and plenty of drivers use them every day, they typically have lower reliability and can be confusing or frustrating to initiate charge sessions at.
Many EV drivers can tell you about exasperated moments they’ve experienced, or witnessed others experience. Lots of us have had to coach a new owner through the charging process – or struggled with it ourselves when setting up a new charging app for the fifteenth f$%*ing time.
It would be a lot better if you could just walk up, plug in, and charge. And do this anywhere.
This idea isn’t new – Tesla’s system already works like this, but it can do so since it’s vertically integrated and one company controls the whole process. For public chargers that have to serve several different types of cars, the back end hasn’t been available to allow this sort of charging.
The problem is the lack of a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) back-end to authenticate vehicles and payments. Public keys are a cryptographic mechanism that allow for secure authentication – one example is website certificates, so your computer can know that it is looking at a legitimate website.
In Europe, this PKI is provided by a company called Hubject, which verifies charging sessions on European public chargers. But in the US, nobody had coalesced around a single company or organization to provide these certificate services yet.
A solution has been in the works for a few years now, and it’s finally just about ready to go, in the form of what’s colloquially referred to as “Universal Plug & Charge,” and technically referred to as the ISO 15118 standard.
Today, a consortium of companies, the SAE, and the Biden Administration’s Joint Office of Energy and Transportation announced that Universal Plug & Charge will come in 2025.
The technical details involve a PKI back-end that isn’t provided by a single company, but utilizes a standardized process to allow various companies to provide this service.
In practical terms, it means faster starts to charging sessions as the communication process is streamlined, better security, and potential future capabilities like bidirectional charging.
And it means that other EVs that support Plug & Charge will finally have a Tesla-like charging experience, where they can just plug in and start charging – with payment taken care of on the back end, instead of having to swipe cards or open new apps.
The Joint Office says that PKI suppliers can start applying to offer back-end services, and that “throughout 2025, the industry will continue to move toward the universal Plug & Charge model.”
So… like many things have been with EVs, it sounds like there will still be a gradual process of adoption, but the light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible, and it looks like EV fast-charging is going to get a lot simpler in the near future.
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According to a Tesla Semi customer, the electric truck program is suffering more delays and a price increase that is described as “dramatic.”
Tesla Semi has seen many delays, more than any other vehicle program at Tesla.
It was initially unveiled in 2017, and CEO Elon Musk claimed that it would go into production in 2019.
In late 2022, Tesla held an event where it unveiled the “production version” of the Tesla Semi and delivered the first few units to a “customer-partner”: PepsiCo.
More than 3 years later, the vehicle never went into volume production. Instead, Tesla only ran a very low volume pilot production at a factory in Nevada and only delivered a few dozen trucks to customers as part of test programs.
But Tesla promised that things would finally happen for the Tesla Semi this year.
Tesla has been building a new high-volume production factory specifically for the Tesla Semi program in a new building next to Gigafactory Nevada.
The goal was to start production in 2025, start customer deliveries, and ramp up to 50,000 trucks yearly.
Now, Ryder, a large transportation company and early customer-partner in Tesla’s semi truck program, is talking about further delays. The company also refers to a significant price increase.
California’s Mobile Source Air Pollution Reduction Review Committee (MSRC) awarded Ryder funding for a project to deploy Tesla Semi trucks and Megachargers at two of its facilities in the state.
Ryder had previously asked for extensions amid the delays in the Tesla Semi program.
In a new letter sent to MSRC last week and obtained by Electrek, Ryder asked the agency for another 28-month delay. The letter references delays in “Tesla product design, vehicle production” and it mentions “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics”:
This extension is needed due to delays in Tesla product design, vehicle production and dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics. These delays have caused us to reevaluate the current Ryder fleet in the area.
The logistics company now says it plans to “deploy 18 Tesla Semi vehicles by June 2026.”
The reference to “dramatic changes to the Tesla product economics” points to a significant price increase for the Tesla Semi, which further communication with MSRC confirms.
In the agenda of a meeting to discuss the extension and changes to the project yesterday, MSRC confirms that the project went from 42 to 18 Tesla Semi trucks while the project commitment is not changing:
Ryder has indicated that their electric tractor manufacturer partner, Tesla, has experienced continued delays in product design and production. There have also been dramatic changes to the product economics. Ryder requests to reduce the number of vehicles from 42 to 18, stating that this would maintain their $7.5 million private match commitment.
In addition to the electric trucks, the project originally involved installing two integrated power centers and four Tesla Megachargers, split between two locations. Ryder is also looking to now install 3 Megachargers per location for a total of 6 instead of 4.
The project changes also mention that “Ryder states that Tesla now requires 600kW chargers rather than the 750kW units originally engineered.”
Tesla Semi Price
When originally unveiling the Tesla Semi in 2017, the automaker mentioned prices of $150,000 for a 300-mile range truck and $180,000 for the 500-mile version. Tesla also took orders for a “Founder’s Series Semi” at $200,000.
However, Tesla didn’t update the prices when launching the “production version” of the truck in late 2023. Price increases have been speculated, but the company has never confirmed them.
New diesel-powered Class 8 semi trucks in the US today often range between $150,000 and $220,000.
The combination of a reasonable purchase price and low operation costs, thanks to cheaper electric rates than diesel, made the Tesla Semi a potentially revolutionary product to reduce the overall costs of operation in trucking while reducing emissions.
However, Ryder now points to a “dramatic” price increase for the Tesla Semi.
What is the cost of a Tesla Semi electric truck now?
Electrek’s Take
As I have often stated, Tesla Semi is the vehicle program I am most excited about at Tesla right now.
If Tesla can produce class 8 trucks capable of moving cargo of similar weight as diesel trucks over 500 miles on a single charge in high volume at a reasonable price point, they have a revolutionary product on their hands.
But the reasonable price part is now being questioned.
After reading the communications between Ryder and MSRC, while not clear, it looks like the program could be interpreted as MSRC covering the costs of installing the charging stations while Ryder committed $7.5 million to buying the trucks.
The math makes sense for the original funding request since $7.5 million divided by 42 trucks results in around $180,000 per truck — what Tesla first quoted for the 500-mile Tesla Semi truck.
Now, with just 18 trucks, it would point to a price of $415,000 per Tesla Semi truck. It’s possible that some of Ryder’s commitment could also go to an increase in Megacharger prices – either per charger or due to the two additional chargers. MSRC said that they don’t give more money when prices go up after an extension.
I wouldn’t be surprised if the 500-mile Tesla Semi ends up costing $350,000 to $400,000.
If that’s the case, Tesla Semi is impressive, but it won’t be the revolutionary product that will change the trucking industry.
It will need to be closer to $250,000-$300,000 to have a significant impact, which is not impossible with higher-volume production but would be difficult.
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