I've seen talk before that Tony Williams / Quick Charge Power was looking at creating a JdeMO upgrade for the Roadster. Is this likely to happen now that the RAV4 one is available? Reader Rides: Quick Charging a 2012 Toyota Rav4 EV with CHAdeMO | Transport Evolved
@dpeilow Tony has a 1.5 from one of our illustrious members in his shop now for this and when that member returns to Southern California, he has another willing volunteer to take its place. Looks like he is working on it. (And for the B Class electric too...)
@TonyWilliams is traveling around installing and building the JdeMO in a bunch of 2nd Gen RAV4EVs right now. So, I'm not sure his timing on the project for the Roadster. But with the new battery coming for the 2.x cars, higher speed charging becomes a necessity.
Call to Action for JdeMO I just received word from Tony that they're getting going with the Roadster. In case anyone's not aware, Tony and his team have built CHAdeMO adapters for RAV4EVs and, after spending an afternoon with him chatting and looking over the unit whilst he installed it on a friends car, I was really impressed by the workmanship and the thought that went into the design - it is no hack! Here's what he said:
Any idea where he's planning on putting the CHAdeMO charge port? There's not a lot of extra room in a Roadster. (Self-edit, I just read #16. So we'd have to charge with the trunk open). Tony should clarify a few things, too. 8) Some Roadsters were indeed leased. 12) I do not imagine any Tesla Service center installing this.
Good point on leasing, are there any still leased I wonder? Location wise, that's undefined afaik however, there was talk of a trunk location or behind the license plate.
Thanks for the update @mpt, glad you got to see AA's JDeMO equipped RAV4 @ Nauna's... I remember the meetings these guys were having in SoCal when they were debugging the protocol and several 3D printed mockups. The final product is definitely rock solid.
I got this message from Tony before as well, very cool that he is offering this kind of upgrade for us! I too am a little weary of the location of the charging plug, leaving the trunk open is sketchy (I wouldn't want to let it out of my sight but would inevitably need to if road-tripping, it'll take 30-60 minutes to charge up) I think integrating the port into the rear bumper (under the license plate) could work or at the air-intake in the rear... Or under the front hood in a manner that it could be closed/locked during charging... Options are limited though...
I gotta say - this sounds pretty exciting. Whether I'd personally take advantage or not. We have a pretty well developed Chademo network in the Pacific NW (West Coast Electric Highway) - this would definitely improve mobility up and down the coast, down to Eugene, and up to Seattle. H'mm...
I also wonder about #9 I think that's a question that only Tesla can answer. Are they OK doing annual service on a Roadster with this installed (since that requires removal of the PEM)?
Good point. In my opinion, anyone considering making this modification to their Roadster should not assume that Tesla will be okay with it and be willing to service or repair their car in the future.
The Rav4EV installation is 100% parasitical, no wires are cut or even tampered with, only clamped on to. Let's see what the Roadster design entails. I see it as being comparable to a regular service, as long as it doesn't complicate with extra work or stop them moving around it, it should be ok. Toyota techs have been more curious than cautionary with the Rav's it seems. fwiw, Tesla used to unplug my OVMS at service, but no longer.
These are valid concerns, but I would also like to point out Tesla's policy seems to be evolving. About 2-3 months ago when I took my Roadster in for service, the service center asked me to sign a 3rd Party of Aftermarket Accessory Waiver (or something to that extent). I wish I kept a copy, but the gist was that Tesla would work on cars with 3rd party accessories (I have a few on my Roadster - subwoofer, stereo, back up camera, dash cam, OVMS, smartphone mount, lightening cable in place of dock connector, powder coated wheels), but Tesla reserved the right to remove or disconnect any accessories if it was required for their repair. Again, I don't have the exact wording, but they certainly seemed to acknowledge many owners now have non-OEM parts and accessories and were willing to work around them. A CHAdeMO/JdeMO is, of course, potentially a whole new beast, but if done well and professionally (and I expect nothing less from Tony), I imagine a knowledgeable owner with a good relationship with the service center could come to a mutual service understanding. No guarantees, of course, and there is certainly some risk, but the cost-benefit of CHAdeMO charging for $3000 vs a new battery for $29,000 might be well worth it for many owners' typical driving needs. I'll be following this closely.
I'll look at this as both new battery AND JDeMO to allow really long travel and faster refill on a 300 mile Roadster.
I find the thought of having this option in the car interesting. However, just for kicks I looked at the PlugShare map for the greater Los Angeles area and it was shocking how many CHAdeMO's were non-operational and for extended periods of time or dealerships were limited their use to only their vehicles. Unless things change - I'm not sure how beneficial having this will be. I wouldn't leave home without my JR can and my RV plug cord.
I don't have a Roadster, but without a Supercharger option, is sitting at an RV park for 5 hours (40 amps max from 50 amp RV service) or even 7 hours with a 70kWh battery) really competition? In a place like SoCal, you can't find ONE working charger with a car with a 150-200 mile range? Or the car with a 300-400 mile range? There has to be hundreds of these things in SoCal alone, and they can't all be broken. I'm not even sure why you would want to go to a Nissan dealer (or ANY car dealer) when there are so many chargers that are at shopping malls and restaurants (like Supercharger) and up and down the freeways (like the West Coast Electric Highway). Certainly, if you were in Kansas, this might not be a viable option. But, many major metro areas have chargers and both coasts of the USA are very quickly becoming quite doable. - - - Updated - - - Could the boot storage be made to be enclosed with the lid open, so that all your boot stored items are locked and waterproof?
Thanks shrink, that is interesting info. I recently had the annual maintenance done on my Roadster for the first time (I am the second owner) and I was not asked to sign anything like you describe even though I have an OVMS installed and an HUD speedo. I don't have any other aftermarket stuff, however. Would like to have a backup camera but that's a major project on a 1.5 car.