Adaptors for '13S

[cajoro]

What is the latest about charging adaptors? I have a 2013S. I've been told my model doesn't support CCS. Does anyone know if it will support CHAdeMO?
I bought the car used and it has a 90Kwh battery (which is not the original 75) but the manual says I'm not CCS compatible. It says nothing about CHAdeMO. I see Tesla now sells a CHAdeMO adaptor on its website but says the car has to be supercharge enabled. If I'm charging at Tesla's chargers, am I not supercharging enabled?

A year ago I bought someone's CCS adaptor, which I wasn't aware at the time isn't supposed to work. However, it did work - sometimes. The Korean company who made it would send out firmware that would make it work. Then Tesla would do an update and it wouldn't. I've heard Tesla intends to make CCS charging available for older cars but it would require a software update. No one, even at my local Tesla service center, can tell me if that's true or if it is when it will happen.

I really want the option to find nonSuperchargers on trips, due to the distances in the west not covered by Tesla. I'd happily sell my CCS adaptor and get a CHAdeMO if someone could tell me if it would work. Or if someone could convince me my CCS adaptor will work in the future all the time.

Anyone have any insight into all of this?

 

[bmah]

What is the latest about charging adaptors? I have a 2013S. I've been told my model doesn't support CCS. Does anyone know if it will support CHAdeMO?
I bought the car used and it has a 90Kwh battery (which is not the original 75) but the manual says I'm not CCS compatible. It says nothing about CHAdeMO. I see Tesla now sells a CHAdeMO adaptor on its website but says the car has to be supercharge enabled. If I'm charging at Tesla's chargers, am I not supercharging enabled?

You're asking reasonable questions but you need to be more specific for people to help you.

I'm guessing it wasn't actually a 75kWh battery because those weren't a thing in 2013. Your choices would probably have been 40, 60, or 85.

I'm not clear on what you mean by "Tesla's chargers". Some of them are Superchargers (which do DC fast charging) and some are destination chargers (slower AC charging, like what you might have on a wall connector).

If you have a car that originally came with an 85 kWh pack, I'd guess it probably works on Superchargers. In this case the CHAdeMO adapter should work. I don't think Tesla sells it anymore (I looked on their on-line store and didn't find it) but you can probably find used ones on Ebay, etc. I own a 2015 Model S 85D, and I've used the CHAdeMO adapter successfully, particularly when going off the Supercharger network back in the early days.

A year ago I bought someone's CCS adaptor, which I wasn't aware at the time isn't supposed to work. However, it did work - sometimes. The Korean company who made it would send out firmware that would make it work. Then Tesla would do an update and it wouldn't. I've heard Tesla intends to make CCS charging available for older cars but it would require a software update. No one, even at my local Tesla service center, can tell me if that's true or if it is when it will happen.

I really want the option to find nonSuperchargers on trips, due to the distances in the west not covered by Tesla. I'd happily sell my CCS adaptor and get a CHAdeMO if someone could tell me if it would work. Or if someone could convince me my CCS adaptor will work in the future all the time.

Anyone have any insight into all of this?

There exists a CCS retrofit to allow cars to use the Tesla CCS adapter. It applies to cars that didn't have this support originally. I do not know if the retrofit is available on cars as old as 2013 (or 2015 for that matter), that's something I'd like to know for myself.

The third-party CCS1 adapter you have basically makes the CCS charge station look like a CHAdeMO charger to the Tesla. Its compatibility with various Tesla software versions has been problematic. I'm not sure what its current state is.

You might want to use something like Plugshare to figure out the relative availability of CHAdeMO and CCS stations in the areas you want to travel.

Another thing that might be useful is to get a full set of adapters for whatever mobile connector (UMC, etc.) you have. It won't be as fast as DC charging with either CHAdeMO or CCS, but at least you have more alternatives.

Hope this helps,

Bruce.

 

[cajoro]

Ok, I don't know what the original battery was, but it wasn't a 90kwh. I have been charging at Tesla Superchargers for a year with no problems. So obviously my car is good for that. I've seen that CHAdeMO charging stations have been available everywhere I've wanted to go. I do have Plug Share. I also have the 14-50 and J1772 that came with the car.

As for the retro fit, no one seems to know. It's rumored to be coming, but no one can say anything definitive, even at Tesla. You seem to be saying the CHAdeMO adaptor should work if I can find one?

 

[ucmndd]

The chademo adapter will work with your car (albeit limited to 50kw charging). But at $400 or whatever it costs now, the CCS retrofit is the better way to go and will give you charging speeds similar to what you see when supercharging (~150kw).

The CCS adapter and retrofit is available now, for $450. Sign in here to verify, then schedule service for the retrofit.

CCS Combo 1 Adapter

Expand your fast charging options with the Tesla CCS Combo 1 Adapter. The adapter offers charging speeds up to 250kW and can be used at third-party charging networks. The CCS Combo 1 Adapter is compatible with most Tesla vehicles. Some vehicles may require a retrofit to enable use of the CCS...

shop.tesla.com

 

[Cosmacelf]

Chademo is a dying standard, and as others have said, only allows 50 kW charging via the Tesla adapter. I am slightly amazed that people are trying to sell them on eBay for $650! I have one and I think I’ll put it up for auction with a $99 minimum and see what I can get for it.

 

[Rocky_H]

Does anyone know if it will support CHAdeMO?

Ah, you're in Idaho too! @bmah covered this really well. The CHAdeMO adapter will definitely work for all of those older cars like yours. Mine is a 2014, and I do have one of those adapters and have used it.

This does relate to that other question. There are two different types of CCS adapters. One is a simple pass-through, so it needs the car to be enabled to speak CCS. The other kind, which it sounds like you have, is one that converts to emulate a CHAdeMO connection, so it will work on the old cars that are not CCS enabled.

Chademo is a dying standard, and as others have said, only allows 50 kW charging via the Tesla adapter. I am slightly amazed that people are trying to sell them on eBay for $650!

Because 50 kW is 8 times faster than 6 kW that someone would have to use otherwise on routes where there is still no Supercharging. This can make a stop a half hour instead of multiple hours.

 

[cajoro]

The chademo adapter will work with your car (albeit limited to 50kw charging). But at $400 or whatever it costs now, the CCS retrofit is the better way to go and will give you charging speeds similar to what you see when supercharging (~150kw).

The CCS adapter and retrofit is available now, for $450. Sign in here to verify, then schedule service for the retrofit.

CCS Combo 1 Adapter

Expand your fast charging options with the Tesla CCS Combo 1 Adapter. The adapter offers charging speeds up to 250kW and can be used at third-party charging networks. The CCS Combo 1 Adapter is compatible with most Tesla vehicles. Some vehicles may require a retrofit to enable use of the CCS...

shop.tesla.com

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I'm really appreciative of your efforts. However, I went to the links you provided. It clearly states the refit is available and I'd gladly get it. My account says my car isn't eligible. Why, I wonder? I have a 90 kwh battery. The car handles supercharging fine. It says most cars can get the refit. Well, which ones cannot and why? I can't reach my local service shop and when I've brought this up they've said they don't know. The screen shot you provide above I can't bring up on my Tesla app. So, I'm in the dark about this.

 

[cajoro]

Chademo is a dying standard, and as others have said, only allows 50 kW charging via the Tesla adapter. I am slightly amazed that people are trying to sell them on eBay for $650! I have one and I think I’ll put it up for auction with a $99 minimum and see what I can get for it.

I'll buy it right now!

 

[aerodyne]

Also note that the price for the Tesla CCS adapter has dropped from 250, to like 175.

 

[Rocky_H]

However, I went to the links you provided. It clearly states the refit is available and I'd gladly get it. My account says my car isn't eligible. Why, I wonder?

I saw in another thread that there may be a build window where the very early cars, like 2012 to maybe 2014 have some older equipment where the existing retrofit kits are not available yet. I haven't heard much detail on when Tesla may have something available for those.

 

[George I]

As an owner of a 2016 90D I have had the Chademo adapter since 2017. Have used it a few times including on the Trans Canada before the supercharger build out of a few years ago. One time I used it in Peterborough with over half a dozen Tesla Supercahrgers (wrapped in Shrink Warp and behind a fence) visible a few hundred metres away. I was able to remove the residual shrink wrap a few days later when the site went live.
I note that both now and a few years ago there has never been much bitching & complaining about Chademo reliability (except at Nissan dealers). The complaints seem to have started once more CCS cars came out. If my perception is correct, that Chademo seems to be more reliable than CCS, it may be worth buying a (used) Chademo adapter. You might be trading more reliability for ~half the charging speed between ~10 and ~50%. Older Teslas rarely spend much time charging at >100kW anyways.
With the massive build out of Tesla's Superchargers in the last few years and many more coming I doubt I would buy a new adapter (CCS or Chademo) today. In such a case I would either borrow a Chademo adaper (from Tesla Owners Club) for a once every 3 or 4 years trip to Cape Breton or Grand Mana or northern Ontario or Newfoundland etc. For most of the driving in off-the-beaten-path areas I have mainly used NEMA 5-15 with occasional 240v and/or dedicated level 2 chargers (including Tesla Destination Chargers).

 

[SpectreFCO]

I saw in another thread that there may be a build window where the very early cars, like 2012 to maybe 2014 have some older equipment where the existing retrofit kits are not available yet. I haven't heard much detail on when Tesla may have something available for those.

Rocky_H There have been three different versions of the Onboard Chargers for the Model S (maybe 4 now with the post 2021 update). There are versions that work with the Gen2 and Gen 3 Onboard Chargers, but I am still searching to see if anyone has been able to connect the Pre-Refresh (2012-Mar 2016) Model S CCS retrofit kit on an Gen 1 charger. To be honest I dont even know what a Gen1 onboard charger/charge controller looks like. I cant find any data on them in the Tesla Parts Catalog.​

If anyone had data on the Gen1 please let us know. Would love to know if it has the same connector as the Gen2.​

 

[SpectreFCO]

Rocky_H There have been three different versions of the Onboard Chargers for the Model S (maybe 4 now with the post 2021 update). There are versions that work with the Gen2 and Gen 3 Onboard Chargers, but I am still searching to see if anyone has been able to connect the Pre-Refresh (2012-Mar 2016) Model S CCS retrofit kit on an Gen 1 charger. To be honest I dont even know what a Gen1 onboard charger/charge controller looks like. I cant find any data on them in the Tesla Parts Catalog.​

If anyone had data on the Gen1 please let us know. Would love to know if it has the same connector as the Gen2.​

I just found these references for the original Gen 1 and Gen 2 charge controllers.

Tesla Model S GEN1 Charger - openinverter.org wiki

openinverter.org

Tesla Model S/X GEN2 Charger - openinverter.org wiki

openinverter.org

It looks like they have the same 12-pin Logic Connector (MX150L) that the Gen2 chargers use. So I would say there is at least a shot the Pre-Refresh Model S CCS kit works on both the Gen1 and Gen2 Onboard Chargers. Someone would have to chase wires down to the pin level to be sure.