BC Hydro charging network, CCS, and the SETEC adaptor

[ecarfan]

I am considering buying the SETEC Tesla-to-CCS adaptor for use at BC Hydro charging stations. Here is information about that adaptor CCS Adapter | SETEC POWER and it has been extensively discussed in this thread Setec CCS to Tesla Adapter . Post #822 gives a good summary of that discussion. People are reporting that the adaptor with the latest firmware works reliably in the US.

My interest in a CCS adaptor is because I use my Model X to tow an RV trailer, which significantly reduces my range, and the Supercharger network is not as developed as I would like it to be in some areas of BC.

Has anyone used that adaptor on the BC Hydro charging network? If so, what was your experience?

@chronoreverse has used it but not with BC Hydro. Quote: “I was able to charge well on the Petro-Canada charger in Abbotsford, BC on firmware v141. I didn't upgrade since then since it doesn't seem like I'd get any benefit.”

I’m sure the SETEC adaptor works with the BC Hydro CCS stations, I’m just looking for information about reliability and charging speeds.

The BC Hydro cost of $0.21/minute or $6.30/half hour at 50kW is okay, especially when compared to the Supercharger cost in Canada of $1.00/minute (yes it’s a faster charge rate, but not over four times faster). Of course that 50kW charge rate is somewhat less in reality.

I’ve been waiting for Tesla to come out with their own CCS adaptor for North America but I’m tired of waiting.

 

[Vawlkus]

I don’t know what stations BC Hydro uses, but someone got the Setek adapter here on the East coast and about 75% of the DCFC will NOT work with it. We have a mix of FLO, Chargepoint plus the PetroCan stations here.

Word is that the Tesla CCS adapter has been approved for testing & use in Korea, and they use the same CCS standard we do here in North America. Depending on how things go there, we could see the CCS adapter here before the end of this year.

 

[chronoreverse]

I've used the Setec successfully on some of the BC Hydro 50kW chargers back when they were still free. I've encountered two different models: an ABB TerraUL53-CJ and the much more common AddÉnergie SmartDC (Flo also uses this).

The SmartDC stations work reliably and I've never had trouble with them as long as I plug things in the right order.
I had issues with the ABB once but subsequent attempts seem to work just fine.


My Model S 70D is a 350V pack so I've never seen anything higher than 41kW (and usually 32kW) from the BC Hydro 50kW stations.


As an aside, I've also had no trouble with the 24kW ChargePoint Express 100 stations even if they're really slow, charging well below 19kW

 

[ecarfan]

Word is that the Tesla CCS adapter has been approved for testing & use in Korea, and they use the same CCS standard we do here in North America. Depending on how things go there, we could see the CCS adapter here before the end of this year.

Yes, Electrek reported on Tesla selling a CCS adaptor in South Korea “in the first half of 2021” Tesla announces new CCS charging adapter but North America launch still unclear I have not found any reports confirming that it is now available in South Korea. I remain puzzled as to why it is not available in North America.

The SmartDC stations work reliably and I've never had trouble with them as long as I plug things in the right order.
I had issues with the ABB once but subsequent attempts seem to work just fine.

Thanks, that is good to hear!

 

[Vawlkus]

Yes, Electrek reported on Tesla selling a CCS adaptor in South Korea “in the first half of 2021” Tesla announces new CCS charging adapter but North America launch still unclear I have not found any reports confirming that it is now available in South Korea. I remain puzzled as to why it is not available in North America.

It’s being tested in Korea first. Small market for ease of finding out if the damn thing works. That’s what I saw in a tweet.

 

[ecarfan]

It’s being tested in Korea first. Small market for ease of finding out if the damn thing works. That’s what I saw in a tweet.

Maybe, but I can think of no logical reason for why such an adaptor would need to be first used in South Korea before being sold in North America. Tesla could readily test the adaptor here by simply trying it using company cars all over North America. Not a big deal.

I am not convinced that Tesla plans to make a CCS adaptor available here. I hope they do, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

 

[Tectonic]

I am not convinced that Tesla plans to make a CCS adaptor available here. I hope they do, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

I think the announcement that Tesla is going to open up the supercharger network to other EVs makes it significantly more likely that Tesla will also (eventually) sell a CCS adapter for Tesla cars in North America. After all, it would look pretty bad for Tesla if other cars could use all the chargers (CCS+superchargers), and Teslas could only use superchargers...

 

[Vawlkus]

Maybe, but I can think of no logical reason for why such an adaptor would need to be first used in South Korea before being sold in North America. Tesla could readily test the adaptor here by simply trying it using company cars all over North America. Not a big deal.

I am not convinced that Tesla plans to make a CCS adaptor available here. I hope they do, but I’ll believe it when I see it.

That’s fair.

I think it’s because that’s the only available market that uses the same CCS version that we have, but that’s me speculating.

 

[NevadaFrenchy]

Yes, Electrek reported on Tesla selling a CCS adaptor in South Korea “in the first half of 2021” Tesla announces new CCS charging adapter but North America launch still unclear I have not found any reports confirming that it is now available in South Korea. I remain puzzled as to why it is not available in North America.

Thanks, that is good to hear!

It’s been pushed back to The second half of the year without explanation for why but they sent out an email to all Korea Tesla owners saying as much. I assume it has to do with the chip shortage and supply chain constraints. Korea has the same Tesla and CCS1 standards as NA so they should be the same adapter.

Tesla CCS adapter now certified in South Korea but delayed until later this year

The official Tesla CCS adapter has now been certified in South Korea, but its release has been delayed until the second of 2021.

driveteslacanada.ca

 

[Numi]

It’s been pushed back to The second half of the year without explanation for why but they sent out an email to all Korea Tesla owners saying as much. I assume it has to do with the chip shortage and supply chain constraints. Korea has the same Tesla and CCS1 standards as NA so they should be the same adapter.

Tesla CCS adapter now certified in South Korea but delayed until later this year

The official Tesla CCS adapter has now been certified in South Korea, but its release has been delayed until the second of 2021.

driveteslacanada.ca

I was hoping they would provide a CCS adapter when they open up supercharging to all EVs in the US. I’m guessing it’ll probably take time to get a CCS to Tesla adapter for other cars too.

 

[MD-2000]

If they open Superchargers to non-Teslas, I'm envisioning that vehicles that want to charge will have to buy a Tesla-socket-to-CCS-Plug adapter. Then I imagine the adapter will have the ID and electronics to identify the car; the user will have to sign up with Tesla and associate that adapter with their account. (Since there's no simple way to pay-as-you-go for non-Tesla vehicles.)

Another consideration is if they do open the charger network, there will be a flood of orders for that adapter. If chips are in short supply, which adapter takes priority?

The reverse - CCS to Tesla - should be a lot simpler, just has to fake handshake for charging, not ID.

This I see as the next big impediment to EV's other than Tesla in North America. So many different chargers, quirky electronics, multiple weird payment methods - app, sign-up to a different app an account for each company's chargers, etc. When I pull into a gas station with an ICE vehicle, I can be confident that all I need is a standard credit card or cash. Amex, Visa, Mastercard all work. Chargers need to be that simple.

As I've said in other threads, my dream vacation involves taking my Tesla Roll-on-roll-off to Europe to drive around. For that, I'd need another adapter.

 

[angus[Y]oung]

If they open Superchargers to non-Teslas, I'm envisioning that vehicles that want to charge will have to buy a Tesla-socket-to-CCS-Plug adapter. Then I imagine the adapter will have the ID and electronics to identify the car; the user will have to sign up with Tesla and associate that adapter with their account. (Since there's no simple way to pay-as-you-go for non-Tesla vehicles.)

@MD-2000 there's no "if" left, and the envisioning you did lines up pretty nicely to how Elon announced Tesla would do things, in their latest investor call: Tesla-to-CCS adapter, and using the Tesla app for billing.

 

[Tectonic]

@MD-2000 there's no "if" left, and the envisioning you did lines up pretty nicely to how Elon announced Tesla would do things, in their latest investor call: Tesla-to-CCS adapter, and using the Tesla app for billing.

Well, there might be one or 2 things Elon has said that haven't come to pass (cough-funding secured-cough).

That said, yes, I expect this will happen, but perhaps it will happen on Elon time. As Elon described it, the non-Tesla user would manually activate a stall using the app, rather than the charger recognizing/billing the car automatically, but as always, time will tell!

 

[angus[Y]oung]

Well, there might be one or 2 things Elon has said that haven't come to pass (cough-funding secured-cough).

That said, yes, I expect this will happen, but perhaps it will happen on Elon time. As Elon described it, the non-Tesla user would manually activate a stall using the app, rather than the charger recognizing/billing the car automatically, but as always, time will tell!

@Tectonic it seems to be a requirement for the new federal funding: Tesla opening Supercharger network will enable access to new $7.5 billion EV funding in US. I'm pretty sure it's going to happen as soon as humanly possible.

 

[MD-2000]

@Tectonic it seems to be a requirement for the new federal funding: Tesla opening Supercharger network will enable access to new $7.5 billion EV funding in US. I'm pretty sure it's going to happen as soon as humanly possible.

I guess the other question is - dies Tesla have to open the whole supercharger network, or just any new chargers they install with those subsidies? Or can they claim some of that money for already installed chargers if they open them up? (Maybe then it could pay for adding a second charger plug for CCS to some stalls so an adapter isn't needed.)

OK, the App seems the better way, then the Tesla-to-CCS adapter could probably be just a simple non-active adapter like the J1772 adapter? Can they make that change with just charger firmware?

Does this imply any other big car company that wants a share of the money would have to stop restricting the chargers at their dealerships too?

 

[ecarfan]

Elon has said for years that the Supercharger network could be made available to any other EV manufacturer that would invest sufficient money towards maintenance and expansion. No one has taken him up on that offer. But clearly if other EVs were given access to the network they would be billed for charging just like Tesla bills its customers and they would need an appropriate adaptor, at least in the near term. Maybe in the future Tesla could add stalls with different plug types but it seems simpler for other EVs to get an adaptor.

We don’t know the exact rules that will come out of the not-yet-final bill in Congress. But the bill is definitely good news for EVs in the US. But this is the Canada forum so I would suggest that the discussion of that topic be continued elsewhere. Thanks.

 

[ecarfan]

I just received the Lectron CCS Charger Adaptor and was stunned to discover that firmware updates require Windows. Apple OS is not supported. I do not own a Windows computer and have not owned one for over 20 years. I emailed Lectron to say that they need to support the Apple OS for firmware updates given that almost a third of computer users in the US are on Apple, and I assume a similar percentage in Canada. And I will bet that among Tesla owners that percentage is much higher.

Only supporting Windows is so last century.

Will try using the adaptor at one of the CCS stations in North Vancouver, maybe at the BC Hydro station on 1st.

 

[pb2000]

Yeah, I doubt that is going to be a huge priority for them. I was surprised to see that osx has made it to 17% market share, but that's still nowhere near a third, and all the mac owners I know (limited as the number is - I generally prefer not to associate myself with such unsavory folk) still have at least one windows PC in the household.

 

[ecarfan]

I was surprised to see that osx has made it to 17% market share

It’s 28% in the US, not 17%. See Desktop Operating System Market Share United States Of America | StatCounter Global Stats I can’t find numbers for Canada.

all the mac owners I know (limited as the number is - I generally prefer not to associate myself with such unsavory folk) still have at least one windows PC in the household.

Well now you know one who does not have a Window system and has not had one for over 20 years. And I have many friends who are Mac only.

I emailed Lectron and they quickly replied saying: “We are working on updating the firmware section, to include Mac OS as well.” We shall see…

 

[DeepBlueMN]

Macs are like Teslas…. Once you go Mac, you never go back! (IMHO Windows is just as “yucky” as gas cars!)