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Anyone tested S/X CHAdeMO Adapter on Model 3

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In terms of widespread applicability, yes. But no one “needs” rear heated seats, nice as they are to have in certain situations. But if I get into situation that CHAdeMO charging is available, and I have a low charge, I’d sure as heck want a charged car than a warm bum and not be able to go anywhere for many hours waiting on L1 (or L2 if I’m lucky) charging.

Sure, and I get that, but given how widespread the Supercharger network is, I feel even a hint of proper planning would mean that most people are never going to be in that situation, and very very very few of them are going to own (and carry) the expensive, huge adapter even if they find themselves in that situation.
 
Sure, and I get that, but given how widespread the Supercharger network is, I feel even a hint of proper planning would mean that most people are never going to be in that situation, and very very very few of them are going to own (and carry) the expensive, huge adapter even if they find themselves in that situation.
I found myself in that situation this very week ;). Just not as dire. We were traveling to an out of state family funeral. The rest of the family was already staying at a certain hotel. I tried options for within-walking-distance L2 charging, but none of them panned out (either too far, or unavailable for various reasons). But there was a Nissan dealership about 10 minutes away with a free CHAdeMO. So we booked the hotel with the rest of family, and re-routed slightly on our way there to hit a service center and pick up an adapter (who amusingly had no idea what we were talking about, but luckily had one in stock).

This stay was in Ohio, with several Superchargers around. We were about 40 minutes away from two or three. And we did hit one up and charged to ~80% on our way in, so we had some amount for the next day. But with other family activities, I still hit up the CHAdeMO three times for an hour or so each (35-40kW is painfully slow compared to Superchargers!).

In summary, I could have not bought the adapter, and either had a family member pick me up so I could leave the vehicle at an L2 charger further away overnight (assuming the location permitted a non-customer to charge there. And “yikes” for more public locations like a Walmart or train station I saw some chargers at), or I could have driven all the way to a supercharger, and burned through 80 miles of range round trip for each charge. But for us, CHAdeMO was the least inconvenient solution, and worth the cost (I partially justified it because we saved roughly $700 in gas on this trip alone vs. our prior family vehicle). And now I no longer have to filter it out on PlugShare when planning other trips in the future!
 
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... but given how widespread the Supercharger network is ...

Yes, it's widespread, but sometimes that doesn't help you.

About a year ago, I was coming back from Dallas to Houston right after a very heavy overnight thunderstorm. The Corsicana supercharger was online, but surrounding streets were flooded so there was no way to get to it. I had to charge at a Chademo instead.

It's always a bonus to have additional options.
 
but given how widespread the Supercharger network is, I feel even a hint of proper planning would mean that most people are never going to be in that situation, and very very very few of them are going to own (and carry) the expensive, huge adapter even if they find themselves in that situation.

That's true in California. It's not true everywhere. There are a bit over 2,000 S/X in Quebec and reportedly over 10,000 reservations for the Model 3. Let,s say we very optimistically assume ALL of the 12 "coming soon" Superchargers are installed this year, That leaves common vacation spots like the Gaspe over 400 miles from the closest Supercharger.
 
Yes, it's widespread, but sometimes that doesn't help you.

About a year ago, I was coming back from Dallas to Houston right after a very heavy overnight thunderstorm. The Corsicana supercharger was online, but surrounding streets were flooded so there was no way to get to it. I had to charge at a Chademo instead.

It's always a bonus to have additional options.

Fair enough.
 
That's true in California. It's not true everywhere. There are a bit over 2,000 S/X in Quebec and reportedly over 10,000 reservations for the Model 3. Let,s say we very optimistically assume ALL of the 12 "coming soon" Superchargers are installed this year, That leaves common vacation spots like the Gaspe over 400 miles from the closest Supercharger.
In BC there are some Superchargers outside Vancouver but the only one inside Vancouver is in Tsawwassen and not exactly convenient. One of the Surrey CHAdeMO chargers still has not even been upgraded to support CCS. These reasons are why I consider the CHAdeMO support more important in Canada.
 
Sure, and I get that, but given how widespread the Supercharger network is, I feel even a hint of proper planning would mean that most people are never going to be in that situation, and very very very few of them are going to own (and carry) the expensive, huge adapter even if they find themselves in that situation.

How wrong you are.

I was driving from Amarillo to Dallas via Oklahoma City. There were operating Superchargers all along the route, with no range anxiety whatosever.

I get to Weatherford OK, and darn !! All of the superchargers are down. I call Tesla service, and they knew about the problem, and all they could offer was a flatbed ride to Ardmore OK.

BUT,,,,, I had a Chademo adapter, and there was a free Chademo (incredibly) not far down the road.

The Chademo saved my butt.

Until we have a single standard charger type, we will need adapters. If you really want to have freedom from range anxiety, you need a Chademo and someday soon a CCS to Tesla adapter.
 
How wrong you are.

I was driving from Amarillo to Dallas via Oklahoma City. There were operating Superchargers all along the route, with no range anxiety whatosever.

I get to Weatherford OK, and darn !! All of the superchargers are down. I call Tesla service, and they knew about the problem, and all they could offer was a flatbed ride to Ardmore OK.

BUT,,,,, I had a Chademo adapter, and there was a free Chademo (incredibly) not far down the road.

The Chademo saved my butt.

Until we have a single standard charger type, we will need adapters. If you really want to have freedom from range anxiety, you need a Chademo and someday soon a CCS to Tesla adapter.


I feel like these stories all have something in common: being outside civilization :p

In all seriousness if the chademo adapter weren't so preposterously priced and huge (will it even fit in the Model 3 frunk? I kid, but tHat's where my UMC, snow chains and inflation kit/can'o'tirejizz are, so it makes sense to throw another thing I never want to use in there) I might get one when it works with the 3. But for $450 I'd rather just slip somebody who owns one $20 to let me borrow it if I'm going on some crazy road trip.
 
I feel like these stories all have something in common: being outside civilization :p

In all seriousness if the chademo adapter weren't so preposterously priced and huge (will it even fit in the Model 3 frunk? THat's where my UMC, snow chains and inflation kit/can'o'tirejizz are, so it makes sense to throw another thing I never want to use in there) I might get one when it works with the 3. But for $450 I'd rather just slip somebody who owns one $20 to let me borrow it if I'm going on some crazy road trip.

Civilization is a relative concept. ;)

People will pay for convenience, and safety. If Chademo or CCS charging is more convenient and faster, and reduces range anxiety, then it will prosper.

FWIW, I used Chademo all over San Diego. Sure San Diego has a supercharger, which was out of my way and badly overcrowded with wait times. I value my time. I used Chademo from Blink and EvGo.

If you don't travel much, and stay within 100 miles of 'civilization' , then sure, try to rent one for those times when you think you need it.
 
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I feel like these stories all have something in common: being outside civilization

I have used my Chademo in Southern California and it has saved my bacon more than once. Until they opened the Santa Clarita SC, (which just happened a few weeks ago), I used that Chademo quite frequently when I had to come down there from work and wouldn't have enough range to make it home. The only other options were slow Level 2s, so buying the $450 adapter was very handy for me.

I really hope they get it working for the 3.
 
I gather that the VW penance program is building CCS/ChadeMo.
Between what is already built and future installations I view $450 as an easily justified purchase.

Heck, I was happy to spend $200 to be able to charge at L2 rates at campgrounds if push came to shove.
 
I feel like these stories all have something in common: being outside civilization :p

In all seriousness if the chademo adapter weren't so preposterously priced and huge (will it even fit in the Model 3 frunk? I kid, but tHat's where my UMC, snow chains and inflation kit/can'o'tirejizz are, so it makes sense to throw another thing I never want to use in there) I might get one when it works with the 3. But for $450 I'd rather just slip somebody who owns one $20 to let me borrow it if I'm going on some crazy road trip.
Hey now, mid-Northern Ohio isn’t outside civilation! Though we did drive down to Amish country, and that’s definitely not civilation as we know it...

But yes, keep in mind your view is colored by being in CA. Being from Utah where my usual road trip is up to Idaho, I felt like I was in the land of supercharger abundance in Illinois and Ohio. And the whole I-80 stretch across Wyoming and Nebraska is a relatively recent development in having Superchargers at all.

Man, I do agree with you about the price, though. That was painful to drop that much money on what so far has been a one time convenience. Hopefully they lower it, like they have with the wall connector and the new mobile connector and associated adapters. Maybe if they come out with a CCS adapter, it’ll be cheaper, and they’ll update CHAdeMO adapter to match (unless they drop it at that point. Most CHAdeMOs I’ve seen are dual-headed, but not all).
 
Adding to the uses of CHAdeMO. Even, in locations that have Superchargers CHAdeMO from time to time is more convenient. One example: In Greenville, SC there is a free CHAdeMO downtown next to lots of nice eating options, so when I am there I always use that option instead of the less-pleasantly located Supercharger. In Toronto, CHAdeMO similarly gives more pleasant options nearly. All over NA there are such examples. In Canada I find I use CHAdeMO about as often as I do Superchargers.

No question, CHAdeMO is not nearly so important as it was not much more than three years ago when, for example, it was the only available public charging option when I bought my S.
Now there is a Supercharger five minutes from my residence.

In short, I really hope Model 3 is CHAdeMO enabled before I take delivery of mine.
 
The comments concerning whether or not you need a CHAdeMO adapter based on another individual user’s particular view is pretty comical. Obviously, there are many uses for the CHAdeMO adapter and they are used daily. If you think it’s too expensive to have, how expensive might it be if you had to tow the car once?

I have used the CHAdeMO adaptor many times over the years, usually and primarily for convenience (why would I want to buy a premium automobile if it didn’t offer convenience?). Convenience simply means that the CHAdeMO charge station is more convenient to use than a supercharger, that may be miles and miles awa, or be crowded, of worse... BROKEN!

There I was, Thanksgiving of November 2016, driving from Southern California to Las Vegas when (for whatever reason) I decided to call Tesla about the Supercharger in Barstow. I wanted to know if it was crowded on that busy holiday weekend, and because it was a mandatory stop in order to be able to reach Las Vegas.

They informed me that it was broken and I informed them that it was going to be a really bad weekend to have this particular site broken. The situation took place not long after a Wall Street Journal article complaining about crowded Superchargers. I told them this was a great way to have a second article written about Superchargers!

But, I had the CHAdeMO adapter, so I pulled into a charge station in Victorville, California and sat there for about 20 minutes with my family. It literally saved the day and was worth far more than $450 at that particular instant.

Obviously, lots of folks are not too concerned with being prepared, but I’m just not one of them.
 
Putting aside whether or not the CHAdeMO adapter is useful to everyone -- since it's pretty evidently useful to /some/ -- does anyone have any idea when/if the Model 3 will gain support for the adapter? I have a trip planned in October; I should have the M3 by then (and would love to drive it on such), and would feel more confident if I had the option to use the CHAdeMO charger near the hotel since there's no immediately-nearby Supercharger stations.

(Not that the lack of CHAdeMO will stop me, in all likelihood, but contingency plans are nice.)