this post was submitted on 19 Jul 2024
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I'm of that particular age where my memories start just after AT&T was broken up into Baby Bells (to the extent that I thought "Ma Bell" was a weird shortening of Mountain Bell). So I know we've been here before.
Tesla's not a great example, given that their connector is now a standard. Yes, it'll take year for other charging networks to get built out, but that's a temporary situation that's a tech question. Cell service is not.
Tesla's connector was never really the problem for adoption by other cars, it's the authentication and authorization the car does to get the charger to actually send power. These things aren't just power plugs, if you don't have the right subscription it just won't work.
But there are other stupid subscriptions in cars. Map updates, for example, they go back decades now. Things like heated seats have also turned into subscriptions, as are software features like lane assist. Can't exactly install a competitor's lane assist tool into your car! Back before digital cars, the hardware wouldn't be installed until you paid, but with the current models you're lugging around hardware that you need to pay to unlock, installed for "free" because the extra materials are worth selling subscriptions for.
I'm sure that it manufacturers legally could, they'd sell exclusive fueled cars for a discount.