NEMA 14-50 UMC Adapter No Longer Included With New Purchases

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

So now Tesla has a path to reducing the included mobile charger to 120V 12A. That should save a lot. But I think the 14-50 adapter will stage a comeback. It's not just at campsites anymore.

They'll use the same one everywhere, so they need it to be dual voltage anyway.
Even the Gen 2 Chevrolet Volt EVSE is really dual-voltage 120V/240V capable. You can pay people to upgrade it for you.

This just saves them some cost on the mobile connector, makes them some more money selling adapters, and encourages buyers to buy the wall connector or the corded mobile connector.

Really no downside for Tesla.

 

[TexasEV]

New owner. Haven't even taken delivery yet. I bought a wall connector specifically not to have the pigtail.

People research before buying cars.

The m3p has a 48amp onboard charger. My wife will be putting some miles down. I'm installing a 60 amp 240v breaker hardwired to connect for an output of 48 amps. I'm looking for great charge rates just for convenience. NEMA 15-40 limits you to 30 amps, right?

What pigtail? Do you mean the UMC adapter which has been used successfully by tens of thousands of cars charging many millions of miles?

As for "great charge rates", does it really matter if your overnight charge finishes at 2AM or 5AM, for example? Unless you will be arriving home with a low state of charge and heading out on a long trip later that day which requires a full charge, overnight charging at 32A is practical for most people.

 

[animorph]

It's just that they now have a 32A mobile connector operating through a 120V 15A plug. You presumably have to buy the 14-50 adapter just to use the thing at full power. That really makes little sense. In fact, I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[eladts]

It's just that they now have a 32A mobile connector operating through a 120V 15A plug. You presumably have to buy the 14-50 adapter just to use the thing at full power. That really makes little sense. In fact, I'll believe it when I see it.

Believe it.

 

[protomech]

Believe it.

That's unfortunate, though not quite as dire as the charge speeds Tesla shows.

We got by for the first few months with a NEMA 5-15 (moved shortly after purchasing the 3). The grid is closer to 125V here, which was just enough to bump us up to a displayed 5 mph with a 3 LR. Really closer to 4.6 mph.

We drive 1500+ miles/month excluding long trips, this was very marginal with the 5-15 - frequently we would not completely charge overnight on weekdays and would need to charge to 90% on the weekend.

In the new house, we installed a 14-50 outlet and are seeing closer to 35 mph of charging. I wouldn't want to go back to using just the 5-15 - it's a nominal fee for the additional pigtail adapter, but I suspect most owners will benefit from at least one adapter unless they are using the wall charger.

 

[ucmndd]

Sorry I was not clear. The NEMA 14-50 adapter that comes with the Tesla M3 (or used to) requires a 50 AMP circuit breaker outlet and is designed to deliver 40 amps, due to the required 20% derating requirement.

This is still not true. To my knowledge Model 3s were never delivered with the Gen 1 UMC that delivered 40 amps.

If the Tesla 14-50 adapter is used, it programs the charging current to the car at 32 amps--not 40 amps. My son has the 50 amp NEMA 14-50 outlet installed in his garage. When using the 14-50 Tesla adapter the charging current to the car is 32 amps.

This is true, because the gen 2 mobile connector itself has a max rating of 32 amps, regardless of the plug adapter used.

I was informed by another poster that the 14-50 adapter no longer delivered 40 amps but was lowered to 32 amps which I have confirmed. That change was made more than a year ago.

It has nothing to do with the plug adapter. It is a limitation of the mobile connector itself (gen 1 vs. gen 2).

 

[duanra]

Watch the 14-50 being sold out for a long long time in the near future letting little choice but buying the big thingy at 500 usd if you need to charge faster than on 120v...

 

[ucmndd]

Watch the 14-50 being sold out for a long long time in the near future letting little choice but buying the big thingy at 500 usd if you need to charge faster than on 120v...

Exactly. Tesla can’t even keep stuff in stock they WANT to sell.

 

[Gordon87]

Plus with all our travel, I'm going to keep the mobile connector in the frunk.

A word of caution on the frunk. At times some people have indicated that the frunk unlocks but does not fully open (the hood latch is caught on the mechanical lock). So if you are traveling out of town, it may be wise to include the charger in the trunk.

One thread discussing the issue: Model 3 Frunk won't release all the way

 

[WilliamG]

If I ordered my P3D before this change, will the 14-50 be included?

 

[duanra]

If I were you, I would buy the adaptor separately now in case it goes sold out as soon as the new charging kits are put in the new car. At worse you would have spent an extra 44 cad and you'll have a spare one.

 

[WilliamG]

If I were you, I would buy the adaptor separately now in case it goes sold out as soon as the new charging kits are put in the new car. At worse you would have spent an extra 44 cad and you'll have a spare one.

But when I ordered the car it said it came with it. So, on principle I won’t be ordering another...

 

[duanra]

But when I ordered the car it said it came with it. So, on principle I won’t be ordering another...

In this case you're good !

 

[wws]

What Tesla probably should have done, to maximize flexibility, was to provide a 14-30 adapter with the UMCs - but omit the neutral blade to allow also plugging into a 14-50 or the rare 14-60 receptacle. It would draw 24 amps max no matter what, so would be totally safe. I mostly charge my Model 3 at 24 amps, and it works quite well - even though I also have a 40 amp setup. For road trips where charging at RV parks is a possibility, many folks would still want to buy the 14-50 adapter.

 

[Cosmacelf]

Good. All this means is that Tesla is strongly recommending the Wall Connector (which is one of the cheapest and more reliable EVSEs in the industry, it's a good deal) instead of using the Mobile Connector. If you want to go against Tesla's recommendation, just splurge $35 and get the NEMA 14-50 or 6-50 adapter. No big deal.

The Wall Connector is indeed much more reliable, better built, and less problem prone than a NEMA 14-50 receptacle, NEMA 14-50 adapter and Mobile Connector solution.

And no, this isn't so Tesla can make money selling more WCs. The WC can output 48A and be ganged together to share a single circuit breaker. Clipper Creek, another high quality manufacturer, sells their 48A capable EVSE for $899 as compared to Tesla's $500.

 

[COrocket]

And no, this isn't so Tesla can make money selling more WCs.

It absolutely could be. Tesla isn’t losing business to $899 high power J1772 units. For Tesla, it’s the difference between selling an extra $500 connector and making it easy for people to use the included equipment which nets them $0

 

[eladts]

What Tesla probably should have done, to maximize flexibility, was to provide a 14-30 adapter with the UMCs - but omit the neutral blade to allow also plugging into a 14-50 or the rare 14-60 receptacle. It would draw 24 amps max no matter what, so would be totally safe. I mostly charge my Model 3 at 24 amps, and it works quite well - even though I also have a 40 amp setup. For road trips where charging at RV parks is a possibility, many folks would still want to buy the 14-50 adapter.

In an ideal world, the NEMA 6-30 plug would look exactly like that, but since this is not an official plug type Tesla cannot sell it and keep the UL listing of the UMC. You can get such plugs from third-parties.

NEMA 14-30 Adapter for Tesla Model S and X Gen 1, 15 ft.

 

[wws]

In an ideal world, the NEMA 6-30 plug would look exactly like that, but since this is not an official plug type Tesla cannot sell it and keep the UL listing of the UMC. You can get such plugs from third-parties.

There actually is a NEMA 6-30 plug, but as you say, it won't plug into a 14-30 receptacle. I sort of wish Tesla did offer a 6-30 adapter, and especially think they should offer a TT-30 adapter. The latter is a 120v 30 amp that is also commonly used at RV parks and campgrounds. I bought a TT-30 adapter from evseadapters.com and find it useful for a number of reasons.

 

[eprosenx]

There actually is a NEMA 6-30 plug, but as you say, it won't plug into a 14-30 receptacle. I sort of wish Tesla did offer a 6-30 adapter, and especially think they should offer a TT-30 adapter. The latter is a 120v 30 amp that is also commonly used at RV parks and campgrounds. I bought a TT-30 adapter from evseadapters.com and find it useful for a number of reasons.

+1 on the above.

Right now if someone has pre-installed wire in a wall that is 10awg but only two conductor (plus ground), there is nothing we can recommend to legally use that. A 10-30 requires a neutral (not a ground and the ground in a romex wire can't be used as neutral since it carries current). A 14-30 requires a neutral and the ground...

So yes, they desperately need a 6-30 for best reusability of existing wire.

Then a TT-30 would certainly be good for RV parks - and actually a lot of folks have TT-30 connections on their houses to store a trailer at home. It is really not very fast for EV charging, but better than a 5-15 or 5-20!

Now that Tesla is selling the Model 3 at scale it should be not so hard for them to justify stocking another couple SKU's for these adapters.

 

[Cosmacelf]

You can make your own homemade adapters for the tt-30 and 6-30 if you really need it.