[dpcheng2003]

What's amazing is that Tesla has been providing NRE R&D for OTHER automotive companies for years already. Last year, $15 million of their revenue was from development services but as early as 2011, $55 million of revenue (>25%) was from basically doing powertrain design for companies like Toyota and Mercedes.

Link to last 10-K: http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1318605/0001193125140...

Tesla will definitely make a killing on batteries. I actually think the supercharger network is going to REMAIN proprietary as a competitive advantage for Tesla vs. other electric car companies. As someone who's done research in this in the past, there are already well-established standards adopted by the IEEE and companies like GE for charging. This is obviously to encourage the adoption of the technology.

However, since most electric charging networks are run by private companies or utilities, we may have the "roaming charge" issue that telecom had once upon a time. In other words, if you lived in Texas and got your electric charge from your local utility as part of your monthly bill, you may have to pay "roaming charge fees" for charging in California.

But if you're on the Tesla network, the "fuel" is part of your purchase price. This is Apple-level walled garden tactics and it demonstrates the foresight of Elon Musk and his team. What an incredible entrepreneur.

[threeseed]

The charging network also has a lot of risks associated with it. There are 192 other countries in this world all of whom will be looking to charging standards as opposed to relying on a single American company. This means that some time in the near future Tesla will have to go back and retrofit their cars/stations to meet this standard.

Apple's walled garden strategy works because the devices are cheap and relatively throw away. Cars are not.

[greglindahl]

Tesla cars are already compliant with J1772 (a small adapter that comes with every car) and CHAdeMO ($1,000 adapter, coming soon.)

[malandrew]

Few cars cross borders relative to those that are driven exclusively or almost exclusively relative to those that always drive in country. That being the case, so long as I can use an adapter when I take my car into another country with a different standard, I would be mostly fine.

[hippee-lee]

Could that be sold as an upgrade, something akin to the international outlet kits that apple sells for it's laptop chargers?

[andrewtbham]

Tesla has always said their goal is to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles. I suspect they will try to sell other car companies the drivetrains and rights to the super chargers.