Mobile charger - Tesla or third party

[Cosmacelf]

Perhaps there is no Santa but there is such a thing as Tesla Corded Mobile Connector.

eBay Listing for Tesla Corded Mobile Connector (40A) w/fixed NEMA 14-50 power plug

Ugh. Well, wouldn't be the first time I've totally been wrong.

 

[Alonzo]

The Tesla Wall Connector is $475. If you qualify for 30% tax credit, that knocks it down to $332.50. If your electric utility pays a $250 rebate, like mine, that reduces the price to $82.50. By installing the Wall Connector, you can go with a regular 50/60 amp breaker for $20 instead of a GFCI breaker at $125, so that saves another $105. A quality 14-50 outlet costs another $60. So, in my case, I saved $102.50 by installing the Wall Connector instead of installing a dedicated 14-50 outlet for the Mobile Connector.

Now, this has nothing to do with whether you should also get the Mobile Connector for road trips and such.

 

[DABESQ2]

Get the name brand tesla mobile one, its about $230 you can find them used for 50-100 on marketplace as well.

 

[avramd]

I confirmed with my parents that they are on electric for their dryer, and it's a brand new build, so 14-30 is standard for that.

The limiting factor in usability of the mobile connector anywhere else but your own home is finding an outlet that is close enough to somewhere you can actually put your car. Extension cords that can handle 240V and 30 or 50 amps are quite expensive. I tried using it at a friend's house once - they had a dryer plug that matched one of my adapters, but it was in their basement & not close enough to a window adjacent to their driveway. At my parents house, it was do-able, but a lot of trouble to unplug their dryer, & not ideal to leave the door to the garage ajar for the cable.

My parents live in a town with a supercharger, but after driving 2.75 hrs to get to them, the last thing I wanted to do was sit at the highway exit for 45 minutes waiting for a full charge so that I had enough capacity to have my own car while visiting them. Letting the car sit all day downtown at some level 2 charger and needing a ride to it and back was a nuisance. And finally having to sit at the supercharger again as soon as I left to go home was a drag.

So, I paid to have a 240v outlet installed in their garage near the garage door opening. They have a plug-in hybrid which they were charging on 120v, so I sprung the extra $250 or so for a medium power 3rd-party J-plug charger as an "x-mas present" for them. I think it's 30 amps. My mobile connector is 25% faster, but getting it out is never worth the trouble, I just use theirs with an adapter.

I really like being able to go directly to their house, even if it means getting there with 8% SOC, and immediately plugging in with no further logistics, and getting to start socializing with them immediately. Similarly it's really; nice that it's trivial to have a full charge every time I leave. The install was expensive b/c their breaker panel was full - I suppose I could have had him extend their dryer circuit back to the garage, but that would still have required one of them pulling out for me to charge. Now I just park in the driveway, block one of them in and charge outside.

I've used the mobile connector a few times in the real world;

1. Car Camping twice - I go to an RV campsite and request a "50 amp hookup." Don't try talking to them about NEMA plug times or voltage, all they know is "50 amp" which is NEMA 14-50, and "30 amp," which is 120V and uses a connector that I don't believe Tesla makes an adapter for.
2. To park my car on the street while my boat was in my driveway. I used a big fat expensive NEMA 14-50 extension cord & unplugged my fixed charger so that my mobile charger could reach the street.
3. I feel like there's one more I'm forgetting.

I've also planned to use it a couple times on different trips but then found a real L2 charger convenient enough that I didn't bother getting the Mobile Connector out.