CHAdeMO Adapter

[bharat]

I am picking up my Model S, 70D tomorrow in San Diego (super excited) and was wondering if it is worth purchasing the CHAdeMO adapter at this time? From what I understand the adapters provided with the car can use about 95% of what is out there for public charging stations. I like the fact that CHAdeMO is so quick, but realistically how often do you owners find yourselves using this?

Thanks!

 

[dsm363]

You'll probably almost never use it. It's worth probably owning the car for awhile and seeing if you ever run into a circumstance where you would have needed it and couldn't get to a Supercharger. Plugshare and other apps have a list of locations so check to see if there are many close that you might ever use. Congrats on the new car.

 

[AEdennis]

I'm in Southern California and used it several times. Here is a review that I wrote (original post on my blog and the re-post on Teslarati)

The J1772 adapter is more useful than the CHAdeMO adapter, but if you find yourself near CHAdeMO and need a quick top-up but not near an SC... It's definitely helpful It's up to you to see if it's worth the extra cost for the adapter and for the charging (many CHAdeMO stations now charge around me.)

However, I've found it helpful when I went on my cross-country trip and charged at the CHAdeMO station that was just installed at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont. So, consider it "cheap insurance" another alternative would be to RENT the adapter when you need it on a roadtrip, especially since you're in San Diego and QuickChargePower has a presence in SD (@TonyWilliams)

 

[bharat]

You'll probably almost never use it. It's worth probably owning the car for awhile and seeing if you ever run into a circumstance where you would have needed it and couldn't get to a Supercharger. Plugshare and other apps have a list of locations so check to see if there are many close that you might ever use. Congrats on the new car.

Thank you. I will probably hold off for a little while and reevaluate later.

 

[bharat]

I'm in Southern California and used it several times. Here is a review that I wrote (original post on my blog and the re-post on Teslarati)

The J1772 adapter is more useful than the CHAdeMO adapter, but if you find yourself near CHAdeMO and need a quick top-up but not near an SC... It's definitely helpful It's up to you to see if it's worth the extra cost for the adapter and for the charging (many CHAdeMO stations now charge around me.)

However, I've found it helpful when I went on my cross-country trip and charged at the CHAdeMO station that was just installed at Ben and Jerry's in Vermont. So, consider it "cheap insurance" another alternative would be to RENT the adapter when you need it on a roadtrip, especially since you're in San Diego and QuickChargePower has a presence in SD (@TonyWilliams)

Thanks for sharing a wealth of information on the topic AEdennis. Your blog is very informative and sounds like you had a great road trip. I just moved from Maine to CA so looking at some of your New England photos just took me back in time!

 

[RandyS]

On a roadtrip, supercharging is preferable. But if it isn't available, then Chademo can help to fill that gap. However, in 30 minutes of Chademo charging, my Model S adds 64 miles (better than Level 2, but not nearly as fast as the Superchargers)...I have used my adapter probably about 40-50 times. For example, if you want to do a coastal trip in Oregon, the Superchargers are only on I-5, so the West Coast Electric Highway Chademo stations are the way to go.

It all depends on what you're going to do with the car...

 

[kort677]

I have one and have never needed to use it, I also have extension cords for a 14-50 and 110, you never know when or where you'll need to charge

 

[Rocky_H]

Yes, it very much depends on where you go and when you will need to charge. Also, many of the CHAdeMO stations from Blink (on the blink) or Chargepoint are frequently broken and do not get fixed and kept up very well, so you should check for recent checkins on Plugshare to see if it’s going to be available. The Aerovironment network (West Coast Electric Highway) that RandyS mentioned really keeps their stations in good repair and has very decent rates. I just bought my CHAdeMO adapter a few weeks ago, specifically because I am going to be going on a trip along the Oregon coast (2 year service for my Model S in Portland) and they have the CHAdeMO stations in most of the little towns along the coast there.



I’ll be using a bit of everything, using Superchargers, CHAdeMO, and a 120V outlet overnight at our AirBNB location, and maybe J1772, but I doubt I’ll need that.



But, if it’s not likely you will need to use it much, maybe you rent or borrow one. I have added mine to this user map where people are offering the lending use of their CHAdeMO adapters if they do not use them very frequently.

CHAdeMO Adapter Sharing ZeeMap

 

[bharat]

This might be a stupid question, but with more and more Teslas on the road including the impending rollout of the Model 3, wouldn't CHAdeMO want to build in the adapter to the end of their charging station? Perhaps a removable option so you can either choose to use it or not? Seems like such a waste to lug around extra accessories. Thoughts?

 

[AEdennis]

Welcome to Southern California @bharat that's a big difference between Maine and San Diego.

This might be a stupid question, but with more and more Teslas on the road including the impending rollout of the Model 3, wouldn't CHAdeMO want to build in the adapter to the end of their charging station? Perhaps a removable option so you can either choose to use it or not? Seems like such a waste to lug around extra accessories. Thoughts?

CHAdeMO and CCS are standards that have been adopted by various other manufacturers to do DC Fast charging. Tesla Supercharger is not a standard and Tesla is the only manufacturer to support this. As such, It's up to Tesla to provide for a way to bridge the proprietary connector to the standard.

(Akin to how the Apple Lightning and 15 pin cables had adapters to go to Micro-USB, etc. in the mobile world.)

 

[bharat]

Thanks AEdennis, can't complain about the weather here it's absolutely gorgeous everyday. Appreciate the insight into CHAdeMO and CCS, this makes a lot more sense to me now.

 

[Naonak]

In KC here, we have over 1200 free chargers, a number of them are DC Fast chargers with Combo (SAE and CHADeMo) ... I use the CHADeMo charger almost daily. My goal is to never charge at home and just use the free chargers around town as convenient... at least until I charger 40,000 kWh worth to pay for the CHADeMo adapter.

I suppose it just really depends on where you live and how often you'll use a CHADeMo charger. For me, it's really a no brainer - I get about 180 M/H charging at the CHADeMo stations here - and only about 30 M/H at the regular stations, so I always drive the extra distance to the CHADeMo. Makes keeping my car topped up pretty easy.

 

[Beryl]

I have one and have never needed to use it, I also have extension cords for a 14-50 and 110, you never know when or where you'll need to charge

Spoken from someone in hurricane territory (I relate). I have no extra extension cords (yet) but I have a few additional adapters because you never know....

I simply looked at the SC and CHAdeMO maps where I want to travel and it became a no-brainer.

 

[AndreSF]

IMO adapter would be a lot more usable if there was a single way to pay for DC fast charging. As far as I know, there are several networks and many of them require some form of membership to be utilized with different fobs/cards, etc. I also think at $450 adapter is a bit overpriced to get it just for convenience sake.

 

[Jeeps17]

As others have noted, there are some areas where superchargers are few and far between, and CHAdeMO stations are more abundant. The province of Quebec is one such region, and I would recommend the adapter to someone road-tripping here (there are many more L2 chargers, but who cares aside from destination charging...).

 

[AEdennis]

IMO adapter would be a lot more usable if there was a single way to pay for DC fast charging. As far as I know, there are several networks and many of them require some form of membership to be utilized with different fobs/cards, etc. I also think at $450 adapter is a bit overpriced to get it just for convenience sake.

In theory, our (CA) State legislature and governor have signed into law the requirement of any charging provider (DCFC or L2) to take payments from ex-network EV drivers. As I tend to carry a FOB/RFID Card from all the popular ones, I have yet to try to charge on a network that I haven't registered for. Additionally, many have instituted "Pay with Plugshare" into their networks, so that resolves the need to carry a different card.

 

[AndreSF]

In theory, our (CA) State legislature and governor have signed into law the requirement of any charging provider (DCFC or L2) to take payments from ex-network EV drivers. As I tend to carry a FOB/RFID Card from all the popular ones, I have yet to try to charge on a network that I haven't registered for. Additionally, many have instituted "Pay with Plugshare" into their networks, so that resolves the need to carry a different card.

Sure, but I already have 2 cards/memberships even for L2 charging, so getting more of them is just not a prospect I'm excited about. Pay with plugshare would be a good system I think, but could be I'm not looking in the right spot, but I can't find where to put my payment info in plugshare system yet, nor I see any means of obtaining a fob/card in their system.
I'm sure unification will happen at some point, just going to take some time and demand.

I considered acquiring CHadeMo adapter, as there is a EVgo station pretty close to my house, but their non-monthly membership fees for charing are pretty ridiculous IMO. $6 per session and $.2 per kwh of fast dc charging. And there always BMWs and Leaf cars hanging out there (not many actually charging), not to mentioned places being constantly ICEd. I guess the spots are too convenient of a parking for folks to ignore IMO the location of charing stations too close to exit/entry (sort of like disabled spaces) does more disservice to EV drivers. I'd rather walk a bit, but have those spots open than deal with frustration of ICEd situation.

 

[TexasEV]

IMO adapter would be a lot more usable if there was a single way to pay for DC fast charging. As far as I know, there are several networks and many of them require some form of membership to be utilized with different fobs/cards, etc. I also think at $450 adapter is a bit overpriced to get it just for convenience sake.

They're the same networks as the level 2 chargers, so if you have those cards you should be all set.

 

[kort677]

IMO adapter would be a lot more usable if there was a single way to pay for DC fast charging. As far as I know, there are several networks and many of them require some form of membership to be utilized with different fobs/cards, etc. I also think at $450 adapter is a bit overpriced to get it just for convenience sake.

Spoken from someone in hurricane territory (I relate). I have no extra extension cords (yet) but I have a few additional adapters because you never know....

I simply looked at the SC and CHAdeMO maps where I want to travel and it became a no-brainer.

but you'll never know when your best made plans go down the tubes. while it didn't affect me while I was out in CO there was a rock slide that closed I70 for days necessitating a 200+ mile detour. if you were stuck on the wrong side of the pass you'd be SOL without backup charging options.

 

[scottf200]

Look on PlugShare --- depending on where you are at it could be useful. I'm traveling via TN so that is a supercharger wasteland.

Chademo

Image: http://i.imgur.com/0A9Bpy1.png