Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

CHAdeMO adapter wait frustration

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
This matches exactly with what I have been told in the UK, that the Model S is imposing a 70A limit when it comes across DBT (i.e. "Nissan") charge points. Unfortunately most of the UK's nationwide "Ecotricity" rapid network uses these units so for now I can only get 25kW.

In the UK at least, TM have said that these charge units are being upgraded [details of upgrade, and timetable, unknown] and that once this has happened we will be able to get the full 125A.

- - - Updated - - -



Drifting OT but IMO pay-per-minute is a much better model than pay-per-kWh for rapid chargers, otherwise it encourages people to stay at them even when they're tapering down to low charge rates, or after they have finished.

Of course that's assuming that the charger can actually operate at full power to start with though!
Sigh. Did you complain to Tesla?
 
Why did Tesla have to originally advertise this as costing $1,000?!? Because of that, I waited two months and finally decided to go for it in Dec, 2013 (12/17/13 to be exact). As a result, Tesla just informed me I'm approximately 195th on the wait list. Hopefully the next batch of adapters is a big one and they can get to me soon. I have a lot of trips planned in the coming months where this adapter would be fantastic to have.

Even after this long delay, I'm still happy that I decided to hold off on the dual chargers and wait for the CHAdeMO adapter instead. 1/3 the cost and roughly twice the speed! Not to mention greater availability of DC chargers over 80amp J1772 in Oregon. :smile:
 
So it seems that on an S60 the CHAdeMO charger isn't that interesting after all. The combination of current limit and lower package voltage and taper means that in my experiment I never reached more than 34kW (on a 105A charger - so on a 120A charger you might reach 39kW). But for most of the charge from 20%-90% I was getting about 30kW - so maybe 34kW on a 120A CHAdeMO.

And of course, the first CHAdeMO I went to was a broken blink! one.

Out of curiosity, when people list the number of CHAdeMO chargers in the US, is that the number of installed ones or the number of working ones? :rolleyes:
 
Sigh. Did you complain to Tesla?

No I didn't need to! The Tesla UK support staff monitor the TM forums and when I talked about slow charging on there they got in touch and told me that there was currently a limit imposed by the car to prevent these DBT chargers failing.

To be clear - the charge units aren't Tesla's responsibility - they were installed by a company called Ecotricity and supplied by Nissan. It's just that for the first time we Model S owners can access them and we're a bit let down that they can only do 25kW.

Also, some locations in the UK seem to be delivering 40kW+ (even though they're DBT/Nissan points). This suggests that the "upgrade" process really is happening.
 
Cool! Just got the email too! Ordered. Asked for a discount code so I did a search here on the forum and elsewhere but no luck. "Prettyplease" didn't work - darn. I'm just happy that it isn't $1000 any more or I probably would have passed. Will be here in 3 working days. Great! Was placed on wait list November 3 2013.
 
Just got the email and placed my order! (Was placed on the wait list 10/14/2013). This will make my ownership much easier, as I have no home charging (only at work) and there is a CHAdeMO about 1.5 miles from my apartment.
 
Dear Customer,

Thank you for your interest in the Tesla Motors CHAdeMO Adapter. We are excited to inform you that we have a limited quantity of CHAdeMO adapters available for your position on the waitlist. Please use the link below if you would like to place order for the CHAdeMO adapter in our Tesla Gear shop. There is a limit of one adapter per vehicle. Please provide your VIN when placing the order to avoid any delays in fulfillment.

This adapter is specifically for the North American version Model S. In addition to purchasing the CHAdeMO adapter ($450), fast charging onboard hardware must be activated for Model S without Supercharging enabled. 85 kWh Model S has Supercharging enabled from the factory.