Yet another revenue stream. Mastermind effect at Tesla. That's one of their competitive advantages.
I think the most interesting part of it is that tesla is in a position to make money off the EVs that other companies are selling. Just a shade of genius there I think!
Tesla took the largest EV vulnerability - charging on the road - and turned into an advantage before they went toward become one of the major auto manufactures.
Aside from money and stock and such - it's fantastic to watch a single person's vision change the world in a really positive way. Why he gets away with being such an ass at times. In fact, I sometimes wonder if he is an ass as part of his master plan?
This really is a genius move.
1) It ensures Tesla will qualify for any available “public” charging infrastructure subsidies.
2) It exposes non-Tesla EV owners to the speed and convenience of Tesla supercharger network. Where these drivers will inevitably chat with Tesla owners and compare products.
3) It discourages the other OEMs from building out their own charging network by beating them to the punch. The other OEMs would have to offer a superior network or an inferior network for a lesser or no fee to compete. Down the road Tesla could simultaneously raise the subscription fee, while offering a year of free charging to new customers who trade in their existing non-Tesla EV.
4) It brings in some additional revenue that can be immediately deployed to further expand their network and deepen their charging moat.
5) It draws further attention to the other OEMs lack of dedicated, level 3 charging infrastructure.
Revenue wise, I did some quick napkin math. Looks like Tesla is charging about $20 USD for the subscription in the Norwegian pilot program. Assuming it gets rolled out everywhere Tesla has built out the network, you could likely see 1 million subscribers in a year or two from now. A million subscribers at $240/yr and you’re looking at nearly a quarter billion of almost pure profit. Only cost to Tesla is some software engineering time and maybe some charging adapters. Brilliant!
Same with the Hertz deal. The Brilliance is not selling 100,000 vehicles. The brilliance is that each of these cars will be giving (free to Tesla) dozens of test drives to folks who may never have sat behind the wheel of an EV or a Tesla. Tom Brady is the spokesperson for Hertz’s ad campaign promoting their use of Teslas as rental vehicles. So, effectively, Tesla has Tom Brady advertising their vehicles and didn’t pay a dime. In fact, Tesla has accomplished everything to date with barely a cent spect on paid advertising. Spending on advertising would be a waste while they’re still supply constrained. Compare that to the advertising budgets fo Ford and GM.
Lastly, while I do have a ton of respect for Elon’s drive and intelligence, I don’t enjoy all his antics. His sense of humor can be juvenile. I don’t care for his politics, which trend toward libertarian. I wish he’d spend less time on Twitter. But none of that really matters because I know EM is laser focused on the mission and I don’t have to love him on a personal level.