Exclusively supercharging question

[pjuk]

I’ll have an MX turning up at some point in the near future along with 5000mi (or whatever the equivalent kWh is) credits. As I’ve mentioned before I don’t have access to off street parking so would like to make as much use of the free credit as possible in the first 6 months. I know that people say that SC locations should be arterial rather than close to home but in my case I have one about 5 minutes away.

What would people recommend on how to get the most out of the free miles given that I normally drive around 8-10k a year? I was thinking topping up to 80% after a trip out and then topping up over night at home using a commando socket and a portable 16A EVSE that I have.

 

[theoceanwaves]

Us certainly use the mild as needs to be within 6 months. You example of charging is a good one who will tweak it when the car arrives and once you know your requirements

 

[ewoodrick]

I have a Supercharger near me, never used it, wouldn’t use it even if I had free Supercharging
Charging at home is awesome

 

[vitesse]

I don't know enough to be sure of the risks, but lots of supercharging could a) be bad for the battery and b) cause the long term supercharging speed on your X to be limited.

It would be good to find a resource that explains the above.

Not having off-street parking is a bummer. I've used the UMC from a standard 13A socket but you don't get 13A - only 10A, so that's about 2.4kWh or 6 range miles per hour. Does anyone know if the Commando 16A delivers the full 16A? I guess you'd get 10-11 miles added per hour, which is certainly useful but would you only use this when you could keep an eye on the cable on the pavement or would you be able to leave it charging obvernight?

With the right tariff at home it can cost as little as under 2 pence per mile. I was very focused on the free Supercharging that came with our 70D but not so much now. Its main value will be on long trips. I can see us doing a long road trip in Europe - say 2000 miles of clean and free Supercharging compared to £350 or so worth of petrol - that's cool

 

[IanMcL]

I am a skin flint and use a supercharger, whenever I can! If not, the Polar Plus charger in the park and ride, just a 14 minute walk away. I pay £7.85 per month for that use.

 

[pjuk]

The commando socket with my current EVSE can run at a full 6/10/16A and I’d guess the Tesla one does something similar. Either way I’d be probably looking to leave it overnight with a cable guard as I currently do. The only alternative is to use a local lamppost charger scheme that has just cropped up but at 36p/kWh it’s over 3x the price of my current electricity rates.

 

[arg]

The commando socket with my current EVSE can run at a full 6/10/16A and I’d guess the Tesla one does something similar.

The Tesla one sets the maximum based on which of the plug adapters you use with it - UK "13A" plug gives you 10A, continental plug gives you 13A, 32A commando gives you 32A etc. However, they don't sell a blue 16A adapter, at least for the traditional UMC.

If you want 16A out of the traditional UMC, you can get the red (three-phase) 16A adapter from Tesla, and a red-to-blue converter cable from standard parts. However, it's rumoured that the Model 3 comes with a new version of the UMC that doesn't do three phase, so it's not yet clear what adapters will be available.

In all cases, you can turn down the charge current on the main screen in the car but the UMC itself doesn't have any user controls.

Still, if you have an existing EVSE then it should work fine with a Tesla (assuming it has a Type2 plug).

 

[pjuk]

I’ll probably just use my existing EVSE as it has a nice long 10m cable. I did think about switching out the point to a 32A socket or even getting hold of a charge point but given that I don’t plan on staying at my current house for long I’ll probably just save the money.

 

[LEE3]

Is the UMC waterproof or do you have to be careful if the weather is not ideal?

 

[vitesse]

Is the UMC waterproof or do you have to be careful if the weather is not ideal?

I don't think it's waterproof. Certainly not at the mains plug end as there is an unsealed adapter connection. Might be at the car end but I'm not sure.

 

[pjuk]

Oh that’s disappointing. I would have presumed with the commando adapter it would be waterproof.

 

[vitesse]

I assume it's for use inside a garage or workshop.