CHAdeMO Charging the Model 3

Last night I received the 2019.24.4 software update for our Model 3. So this morning I tested Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter to determine the rate of charge, and see how many miles I’d get and how long it would take to charge from a given SOC. Summary: 45 minutes gave me 139 miles of rated range and cost $8.69. Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter is easy to use and provides more charging options for the Model 3.

A DC charger at a charging station in Sacramento.

This site where I charged has one DC charger with dual plugs to charge EVs with either CHAdeMO or CCS charging ports. It can charge one car at a time, delivers a maximum of 125 amps, and provides maximum power approaching 50 kW depending on factors such as state of charge, battery pack temperature, etc. I arrived at the station with 126 miles of rated range – 39% SOC – in our long range RWD Model 3.

I arrived at the station with 126 miles of range / 39% SOC.

If you haven’t used CHAdeMO chargers before the plugs are substantial, and by that I mean big. But using the adapter, while not dead simple like a Supercharger, was straightforward and easy: I removed the CHAdeMO plug from its holster on the charger, connected it to Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter, and plugged the adapter into the Model 3’s charging port.

This station is operated by Greenlots. To start a charging session you either call their 1-800 number, use the Greenlots phone app, or a Greenlots RFID card. I have a Greenlots account and their RFID key fob so I held the key fob next to the labeled sensor on the charger and it verified my account. The charger provides you with easy to follows instructions. I pressed the button to select the CHAdeMO plug, and then pressed the button again to start the charging session.

I connected Tesla’s CHAdeMO adapter to the charger plug, plugged the adapter into my Model 3 charge port, and used an RFID card to start the charging session.

The charger delivered 22.8 kWh in the first 30 minutes, providing about 90 miles of rated range.

This DC charger sent 23 kWh to the Model 3 in 30 minutes, adding 90 miles of rated range to the pack.

The session started with the charger delivering 42 kW when the battery pack was at 39%. The power slowly increased, hitting 49 kW when the battery pack reached 80% SOC. I didn’t charge long enough to see where the taper would begin, but I’m guessing that would be in the range of 80-85% SOC.

It took a total of 45 minutes to go from 39% to 81% SOC. This included the time it took me to plug in and initiate the session. In 45 minutes the charger delivered 33.7 kWh (according to Greenlots), adding 139 miles of rated range to the pack.

The charging session started with the charger delivering 42 kW at 39% SOC, and the power slowly increased hitting 49 kW when the battery reached 80% SOC.

At this location Greenlots charges 25¢ per kWh, plus taxes and a 35¢ session fee. Total cost for this charge was $8.69, so just under 26¢ per kWh, which is comparable to the cost of using a Supercharger. The cost of using CHAdeMO chargers varies depending on the network that operates the station.

CHAdeMO charging stations are not Superchargers, yet. Some of the new stations coming online provide more than 125 amps, but I believe Tesla’s current CHAdeMO adapter will accept no more than 125 amps (please correct me if I’m wrong). CHAdeMO chargers don’t span the entire country, and generally don’t have as many charging stalls per site compared to most Supercharger locations. But some regions of the country have a good number of CHAdeMO charging locations that support EV drivers. So while 139 miles in 45 minutes is slower than a Supercharger, it’s better than L2 charging. Most importantly this gives us more charging options for road trips and regional travel.

I’ve used this station before to charge our 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV, thanks to Tony Williams’ CHAdeMO charging port, JdeMO. Adding the CHAdeMO charging port to our Rav4 EV expanded the horizons of that car, and I expect the CHAdeMO adapter to come in handy for our Model 3. I don’t expect to use it for local charging, but plan to use the adapter on longer trips we have planned.

Quick charging my 2012 Rav4 EV at this station several years ago.

If you are new to EVs and want to know how to find CHAdeMO charging stations, Plugshare is a very good resource. Go to that website (or download the phone app), click on the filter tab, and select CHAdeMO (or any other type of charger) to find charging locations near you.

Screen shot from the Plugshare.com website showing the location of CHAdeMO charging stations in the Atlanta area.

Final note: In the United States the two non-Tesla DC charging standards are CHAdeMO and CCS. The CHAdeMO charging standard was designed and promoted by Japanese power companies and auto manufacturers including Nissan and Mitsubishi. The Nissan Leaf, which came on the market in 2010, is the best selling EV with the CHAdeMO port. Other auto manufacturers use the CCS DC charging standard. Cars with the CCS port include the Chevy Bolt EV, BMW i3, VW e-Golf, and other European made EVs coming on the market. Ultimately cars with a CCS port will outnumber those with CHAdeMO. At some point Tesla may sell a CCS adapter for use in the United States, but there’s no indication of that yet.

This guest post from Steve Noctor originally appeared on his blog It’s Electric. 

 

[cwerdna]

Since the Tesla adapter is limited to 125A and most DTA stations are limited to 100A, the charging speed in kW actually goes up with SOC. 40 to 42kW is actually high for a 100A station at that SOC. Is that what you were surprised about? 36-38kW would be more typical on a 100A station.

The ones at Dunes in Marina I only didn't hit 40 kW on my Bolt (I'm pretty sure I was below 50% SoC when starting) so I assume that wasn't upgraded.

I've gotten higher that 40 kW on my Bolt on most of the other DTA stations I've used, admittedly not that many.

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You was where I saw the Model X hitting 40 to 42 kW. As for surprised, I was surprised to see the CHAdeMO adapter anywhere in the US. I've not seen that before myself. (Yes, I know of a few folks here on TMC who have and use theirs.)

 

[cwerdna]

The ones at Dunes in Marina I only didn't hit 40 kW on my Bolt (I'm pretty sure I was below 50% SoC when starting) so I assume that wasn't upgraded.

I've gotten higher that 40 kW on my Bolt on most of the other DTA stations I've used, admittedly not that many.

PlugShare - Find Electric Vehicle Charging Locations Near You was where I saw the Model X hitting 40 to 42 kW. As for surprised, I was surprised to see the CHAdeMO adapter anywhere in the US. I've not seen that before myself. (Yes, I know of a few folks here on TMC who have and use theirs.)

Was probably my Bolt charging. That ID (NCAB2669DC1) corresponds to one of the two chargers at Walmart in Milpitas. It was either DC1 or DC2 at that site where I saw the Model X doing 40 to 42 kW over CHAdeMO.

Some app used to list them as BTC Fatboy chargers. Seems like most/all of them still have 100 amp labels but some of them have been upgraded. Someone I know at EVgo long ago told me that some in the Bay Area had been upgraded and to give them a shot but I didn't ask for details/which ones, as this was before I learned of DrivetheARC provided free CCS charging. It likely was even before they started quietly doing that.

 

[miimura]

Was probably my Bolt charging. That ID (NCAB2669DC1) corresponds to one of the two chargers at Walmart in Milpitas. It was either DC1 or DC2 at that site where I saw the Model X doing 40 to 42 kW over CHAdeMO.

Some app used to list them as BTC Fatboy chargers. Seems like most/all of them still have 100 amp labels but some of them have been upgraded. Someone I know at EVgo long ago told me that some in the Bay Area had been upgraded and to give them a shot but I didn't ask for details/which ones, as this was before I learned of DrivetheARC provided free CCS charging. It likely was even before they started quietly doing that.

The BTC chargers used for DTA were all initially limited to 100A. The hardware is definitely capable of 125A. The software in your image is a different version than I have seen in the past. They may have increased the amps and installed the new version at the same time.

This is the software I'm familiar with. It's from the PlugShare entry for the Milpitas site. Poor guy who took the picture is only getting 79A at ~25% SOC on CHAdeMO. It must be a Leaf.

 

[cwerdna]

Yep. The Milpitas external appearance of the hardware is the same as your post.

Every BTC Fatboy charger I've used has the software UI that I've posted but I only got started with DTA in June 2020. I've also used 100kW high power charger has started service at Marsh Manor station - DRIVEtheARC which is different hardware. IIRC, it has the same UI as what I posted.

 

[Phlier]

Back when the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter first became available, I remember reading quite a few posts about how unreliable they were.

You guys that use them on a regular basis, what do you think? Are they pretty reliable and worth the price of admission? I'm a bit surprised at how widely available CHAdeMO chargers are here in Utah, so I'm mulling over the thought of buying one.

 

[RayK]

Well, the price of admission is a large step to take. I made a calculation a while back (in this very thread) that attempted to figure out what my ROI would be, assuming that I could use ChargePoint DC Fast stations for free, versus a local Supercharger. Came up with something like 7,200 miles. Now that the local DCFC station is charging for electricity ($0.19/kWh), I'm going to have to drive much further before breaking even, although I still do have access to a free station but it's almost 20 miles away. The main reasons why I bought the adapter was two-fold: Having access to the local (then free) ChargePoint station and opening up opportunities when traveling. I'm basically retired now so assuming this COVID-19 thing gets solved quickly and effectively, we're probably going to be taking some road trips.

The dozen or so times I've use the adapter it's worked fine. I did find out early on that you have to connect things together, attach it to the car and then activate the ChargePoint station. My only real complaint about the adapter is that there's a large mass hanging off the charge port. They could have made the cable a couple of feet longer so that some of the weight is on the ground but then again, that might not be so great when it rains. I'd say if there's a fair amount of CHAdeMO chargers in your area and less so for Superchargers, getting an adapter would be useful. Especially if the electricity cost favors CHAdeMO.

 

[im.thatoneguy]

Back when the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter first became available, I remember reading quite a few posts about how unreliable they were.

You guys that use them on a regular basis, what do you think? Are they pretty reliable and worth the price of admission? I'm a bit surprised at how widely available CHAdeMO chargers are here in Utah, so I'm mulling over the thought of buying one.

They are far more reliable (Or they are just super unreliable in winter when the charge port doesn't lock. Not sure which yet. Will find out in a couple months.) Also the third parties are hit and miss. Often I'll find a station is offline or acting weird (eg stopped charging after 15 min) As to worth the price of admission....

The supercharger near me is 31c kwh + $6 for parking = $25 for an 80% charge.
The newest Chademo near me is 17c kwh + $0 parking = $10 for an 80% charge.

$600 / $10 = 60 charges * charge every 2 weeks = ~ 2 years to break even.

So it's not really a break-even purchase unless you value your time in which case there are Chademo chargers at several of my local grocery stores. So now I don't need to sit at an urban supercharger for 45 minutes I can go do things. It's also a nice peace of mind tool that if a supercharger is dead you can hop over to the nearest Electrify America or Chademo station and only be delayed about 30 minutes instead of limping to an L2 for 2 hours to trickle charge enough to make it to the next supercharger stop.

 

[RayK]

$600 / $10 = 60 charges * charge every 2 weeks = ~ 2 years to break even.

Is the $600 here just the cost of the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter? If so, that's a little bit off. The current price at the Tesla Store is $450. WIth CA state and local taxes of 9.25%, that works out to $491.63; I usually round up and say it's $500.

The way I figure it is:

$500 (adapter) / $15 (difference in cost between SC and CHAdeMO) = 33 times x 2 wks = 66 wks or ~1.25 years.

edit: Just checked Seattle taxes. Seems like you're in the 10.1% bracket so the cost of the CHAdeMO adapter is just under $500.

 

[mike123abc]

Back when the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter first became available, I remember reading quite a few posts about how unreliable they were.

You guys that use them on a regular basis, what do you think? Are they pretty reliable and worth the price of admission? I'm a bit surprised at how widely available CHAdeMO chargers are here in Utah, so I'm mulling over the thought of buying one.

It is very useful in Oklahoma, 5 superchargers in the state but hundreds of CHAdeMO stations all over. CHAdeMO is expensive (31 cents per minute plus $1 activation), but they are convenient.

 

[ArcticStation]

My only real complaint about the adapter is that there's a large mass hanging off the charge port.

Posted earlier today in a related thread.

 

[RayK]

Posted earlier today in a related thread.
View attachment 588659

Yeah I've considered carrying something like that. Or using a tripod assembly of some kind to keep the size/weight down.

 

[SWUtah]

I’ve used mine maybe 20 times at a half dozen chargers, all in Utah. And, all free, provided by a power company. I’ve never been able to get more than 29KW at a 50KW charger. Most recently at a charger at the Summit County Library in Park City. IMO it has been worth the $450 for the flexibility & peace of mind. I consider CHAdeMO to be a level 2-1/2 charger.

Actually, I did try an EA charger at a Walmart one time, but it was a disaster. Had to call EA to get it to work at all, and it was horribly expensive.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

Not sure if I posted this on this thread before. Here was a Chademo session a took a couple snaps of. BC Hydro charger in BC.

 

[Webeevdrivers]

And yes it is a clumsy thing. But it is also a godsend for places like BC where the number of Chademo locations outnumber Supercharger locations 10 to 1 and new location numbers are growing considerably faster than Supercharger locations. Not complaining...but its a thing.

It would be nice if they could speed up the adapter a little. Even 75 KW would be nice.

 

[camalaio]

Back when the Tesla CHAdeMO adapter first became available, I remember reading quite a few posts about how unreliable they were.

You guys that use them on a regular basis, what do you think? Are they pretty reliable and worth the price of admission? I'm a bit surprised at how widely available CHAdeMO chargers are here in Utah, so I'm mulling over the thought of buying one.

The ones I've used are way more reliable than the Superchargers I've used. Definitely more consistent. And they get fixed faster, it seems!

Most of the CHAdeMO stations I've used are in BC, plus a few in the US. Only complaint was activation at the one in Delta CO (had to activate it with the car's browser which didn't display the page correctly, quite a thing).

You may never use it, but I need it for almost every trip I make in a 1000km radius. Sometimes it just saves on backtracking or large detours to stay on the Supercharger network.

 

[crackers8199]

how long does it take the adapter to come in if ordered from the online store? my wife and i are on the east coast right now after a long road trip from so cal, and we're driving back either next week or the week after...we made it here just using superchargers without much of an issue, but i'm wondering if grabbing a chademo might not be a bad idea now for the trip back (and for future road trips we've been planning).

if it takes longer than a week or so to have it shipped from tesla, do the SCs carry it that i could call around and see if any have it in stock?

 

[smatthew]

how long does it take the adapter to come in if ordered from the online store? my wife and i are on the east coast right now after a long road trip from so cal, and we're driving back either next week or the week after...we made it here just using superchargers without much of an issue, but i'm wondering if grabbing a chademo might not be a bad idea now for the trip back (and for future road trips we've been planning).

if it takes longer than a week or so to have it shipped from tesla, do the SCs carry it that i could call around and see if any have it in stock?

From Tesla.com

How can I tell if Tesla accessories and merchandise are available at my local Tesla store?
Visit the interactive Find Us map and locate your preferred Tesla store or Service Center. Tesla locations with accessories and merchandise available will display the following: merchandise, vehicle accessories and Wall Connectors available for purchase at this location.

 

[RayK]

Assuming that the CHAdeMO adapter is available from the online store, it should take about a week. In my case I ordered it 9/5/19, it shipped the next day via FedEx from Lathrop, CA. It arrived on 9/10/19 here in San Jose.

edit: Forgive me... maybe 10-14 days if you're on the East Coast if it goes via FedEx Ground. My tracking info indicated that the delivery date would be 9/10 so that was spot on.

 

[crackers8199]

From Tesla.com

How can I tell if Tesla accessories and merchandise are available at my local Tesla store?
Visit the interactive Find Us map and locate your preferred Tesla store or Service Center. Tesla locations with accessories and merchandise available will display the following: merchandise, vehicle accessories and Wall Connectors available for purchase at this location.

i know that's what it *says*, but i've yet to be able to find anywhere that shows what each SC has in stock. unless i'm being obtuse and missing something blatantly obvious, which is also possible.

the online store also says you can select a pickup location on checkout, but doesn't let you do that either.

 

[crackers8199]

Assuming that the CHAdeMO adapter is available from the online store, it should take about a week. In my case I ordered it 9/5/19, it shipped the next day via FedEx from Lathrop, CA. It arrived on 9/10/19 here in San Jose.

edit: Forgive me... maybe 10-14 days if you're on the East Coast if it goes via FedEx Ground. My tracking info indicated that the delivery date would be 9/10 so that was spot on.

that's what i was afraid of. we'd be too far out with a 10-14 day delivery time.

i didn't see any way to select expedited shipping, so i guess i'm stuck unless i can find a SC that has it in stock.