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Home Charging - Gen 3 vs. $35 Adapter

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Did my MS test drive last week, and I will proceed with the order. Perhaps a little silly of me, but I am waiting 1 month to see if any refresh will come from the 18 day assembly line shutdown.

There are some things I need to accomplish first anyway. I have three quotes in hand on running the 240V 60A line to the garage. Before I call the electrician, I need to have the charger in hand ... maybe.

The Tesla advisor said I could get a $35 adapter to use with the charger included in the car, and not spend the $500 on the Gen 3 unit.

If I am reading this right, the Gen 3 unit will charge much faster - essentially overnight. The charger included with the car, not so much.

Am I missing something here? What are people doing on the home charging front?
 
If I am reading this right, the Gen 3 unit will charge much faster - essentially overnight. The charger included with the car, not so much.

The $500 wall connector will give you up to 48 amps - about 34 miles per hour.

The $35 NEMA 14-50 adapter for the charging cable that comes with the car will give you up to 32 amps - about 23 miles per hour.

Either is perfectly capable of providing a complete charge overnight. I’ve charged at 32 amps on a mobile connector for 4 years and 115,000 miles now.
 
Difference is probably just convenience. If you use the mobile connector with an adapter on a high amp 240V circuit the mobile connector will do the job. The connector will need to be put back in your car occassionally dirty, and be taken back out. In my home it would need some sort of hanger to keep the mobile connector organized in the garage. It is fast enough, but not as felxible as the wall connector. The wall connector looks good and may enhance the value of your home. It allows you to keep the mobile connector and adapters in the car without hassle in case you need them. It may cost $1000 - $1500 more for the wall connector, including installation, but don't skimp on this with the car purchase. It is like using regular fuel to save money in your expensive car that "requires" premium fuel in order to save money. Pay the price if you get the car. :)
 
It is like using regular fuel to save money in your expensive car that "requires" premium fuel in order to save money. Pay the price if you get the car. :)

Funny enough, I’d call the wall connector analogous to putting premium in a car tuned for 87 in that it’s basically all for show, provides no tangible benefit, and in the end is just a waste of money. ;)
 
Funny enough, I’d call the wall connector analogous to putting premium in a car tuned for 87 in that it’s basically all for show, provides no tangible benefit, and in the end is just a waste of money. ;)
Many would say a Model S is basically all for show, provides no tangible benefit, and is just a waste of money. Buy a less expensive Tesla if you are for economy and savings! :)
 
You can also look for a gen1 UMC that will give you 40a on a 14-50 receptacle. My car came with a gen1 UMC and I leave it permanently plugged in. I bought a gen2 UMC for a little over $200 and keep that in the car along with all of its adapters.

I think the HPWC offers very little over an extra UMC (a few more amps) unless you are daisy chaining them to charge multiple Teslas. Originally the HPWC could deliver 80a to the dual onboard chargers. That was a significant boost over the 40a max you could get on a gen1 UMC. Those days of dual chargers are behind us, however.

If you always charge overnight, the speed at which you charge should be of no consequence as long as it is at least 32A. Also consider that if your UMC fails, you just plug in a new one. If you are handy, you can change the HPWC yourself as well, but many people on this forum are not, at least when dealing with high voltage.
 
Thanks to everyone! Kind of what I thought it was.

Excellent video. When I have some down time I'm going to spend a few hours on YouTube to get up to speed on more of EVDave's stuff. The drag racing videos I have been watching are fun, but I already knew it was a fast car.

The exit plan is to sell the house in 5-6 years, but I think it is still worth it for the Gen 3 wall unit (and, I suppose I could even take it with me).

When I need (or want) to go somewhere, I don't want to be limited by the car SOC.
 
Thanks to everyone! Kind of what I thought it was.

Excellent video. When I have some down time I'm going to spend a few hours on YouTube to get up to speed on more of EVDave's stuff. The drag racing videos I have been watching are fun, but I already knew it was a fast car.

The exit plan is to sell the house in 5-6 years, but I think it is still worth it for the Gen 3 wall unit (and, I suppose I could even take it with me).

When I need (or want) to go somewhere, I don't want to be limited by the car SOC.
I would also recommend to check if your Electrical Power company offers a Time of Use (ToU)
with reduced rate at night, and what are the starting and ending time.

Depending of your daily mileage, this can give you an idea of the type of charging speed you may need.

Something to consider also is that a wall charger could share the load with other chargers in case you may have more than one car.

In my case I use the portable charger set at 30 A (24 A charging) with ToU starting at midnight, and a 65 miles one way commute.
A 50 or 60 A plug would had require upgrading my main panel, which was not needed since I didn't installed a wall charger.

Note: In case you install a wall charger, ask to keep the Neutral wire which will not be used by the Tesla charger,
but would be needed if you decide to remove the wall charger and install a NEMA 14-50 plug in case you sale your home.
 
I would also recommend to check if your Electrical Power company offers a Time of Use (ToU)
with reduced rate at night, and what are the starting and ending time.
...

Note: In case you install a wall charger, ask to keep the Neutral wire which will not be used by the Tesla charger,
but would be needed if you decide to remove the wall charger and install a NEMA 14-50 plug in case you sale your home.

Thanks for the tip on the install!

I checked Arizona Public Service, thinking they might have some screaming 11pm-7am deal. At first glance it did not look that compelling. Over the last 54 months I drove 1,600 miles per month average. About 4 full charges on a MS. I will have to crunch the numbers a bit, don't want to get hosed running the a/c during the day in the summer.
 
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I went with a NEMA 14-50R and the $35 adapter. It works great. I also bought the $35 Tesla cable organizer.

If you get the work done by 12/31/2020 then you can get a federal income tax credit for 30% of the cost. Good luck!
 
New Thanks to everyone! Kind of what I thought it was.
o_O Uh, really?! Because you didn't think the mobile charge cord could get the job done overnight, while any informative charging video will point out that's not the case.
If I am reading this right, the Gen 3 unit will charge much faster - essentially overnight. The charger included with the car, not so much.
240V 32A from the mobile charge cord is plenty of charging speed for easy overnight charging. It's what I've been using for almost 7 years now.
 
If you don't have a 220V 20A receptacle near your vehicle you can merge two 110V 20A out of phase outlets (can't be on the same trunk) with a 'Quick 220' ($300). Let's you plug two 110's into it to get out 220. Works great for me. I get 20mi/hr charging with my M3. No electrician needed.
 
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