"New" Sources of Tesla 'OEM,' Tesla-like, and/or Third-Party CCS1 Adapters

Genie · Oct 24, 2022

metroplex said:
The 6-15 extension cords aren't that common. I did find one that was 12/3 but it was made in China, and didn't seem as nice as the Agripro that I have. I was thinking of cutting and then using some Hubbell 6-15 plugs. This keeps it all higher quality US sourced stuff.

Roll your own, local electrical supply will sell SO and SOOW in 12/3 and up, they will also have the plug ends. An earlier post mentioned hardwiring the garage end through a cable grip and only having the female connector- I don’t know code on that but it would a nice clean setup.

bradtem · Oct 24, 2022

Genie said:
Roll your own, local electrical supply will sell SO and SOOW in 12/3 and up, they will also have the plug ends. An earlier post mentioned hardwiring the garage end through a cable grip and only having the female connector- I don’t know code on that but it would a nice clean setup.

One reason I suggest that is that when you do have a plug, there is a small chance somebody could unplug it while charging, which creates risk of arc at 240v and 12a. The fewer places that can happen the better. Tesla doesn't support the twistlock connectors though. But a safer configuration would be to make a custom extension cord, with 6-15R on the female end, and L6-15P on the other end, and L6-15R in your wall receptacle. Fewer places it could get yanked.

But now that I think about it, you could also just cut off the plug from Tesla's 6-15P adapter if you know what you are doing, and stick an L6-15P on it, and then go to a L6-15 extension cord, either purchased or made. Then you will be twistlock all the way -- top safety level. You might consider 10AWG for your extension cord if your cable run is long. Safer, lower voltage drop.

I presume that Tesla's own non-locking 5-pin plug on the TMC adapters is designed to disconnect the power pins last, so that it shuts off current if the non-power pins disconnect, so it won't arc.

Or hey -- going all the way you could cut the plug off the TMC adapter and crimp-join it with your extension cord. That's not to code for EVSEs but it's actually the best design if you make it sturdy, and if it's outside, weatherproof. Then put L6-15P on the other end of the cord. No issue sacrificing the adapter -- the odds of finding a 6-15R out there on the road to charge from are slim to none. When you travel, unplug the adapter from your TMC and take it on the road with the travel set (14-50, 5-15, 5-20 and TT-30 adapter is my travel set, sometimes Dryer)

MP3Mike · Oct 24, 2022

bradtem said:
Or hey -- going all the way you could cut the plug off the TMC adapter and crimp-join it

Nope. It should get upset that the chip and temperature sensor in the plug weren't there.

bradtem · Oct 24, 2022

MP3Mike said:
Nope. It should get upset that the chip and temperature sensor in the plug weren't there.

Oh, the chip is in the plug rather than in the larger assembly that plus into the TMC? I guess it makes sense the temp sensor is there. I guess that aftermarket TT-30 adapter incorporates that. If you can't wire that in I guess we fall back to at least doing twistlock at your wall plug, and straight pin on the female end of your extension cord. Might as well if hand crafting. Still a slight risk if somebody unplugs the 6-15P while charging, but that's always there with that adapter.

metroplex · Oct 24, 2022

The outlet is too far away from the mobile connector and is on the ceiling. The chances of someone tripping on it are very slim unless they are spider man or the height of a NBA player. I routed the wires that way to keep everything out of my way. Even the TMC is hanging high up on the Tesla organizer wall mount.

bradtem · Oct 24, 2022

metroplex said:
The outlet is too far away from the mobile connector and is on the ceiling. The chances of someone tripping on it are very slim unless they are spider man or the height of a NBA player. I routed the wires that way to keep everything out of my way. Even the TMC is hanging high up on the Tesla organizer wall mount.

Sounds good. But as noted, if you are custom making the extension cord, can't see any reason not to use twistlock at the plug. It's better, the components are readily sourced and who knows, might be easier to get with back wiring too! Twistlock makes sense over straight pin for anything that's plugged in semi-permanently, or high power.

Of course, while more expensive, you could also consider Tesla Wall Connector, and wire a cord from it to the plug, and put a L6-15P on the end of that cord, then plug it in. Everything secure and good. But a TWC is more expensive, though it gives you some fancy features.

srs5694 · Oct 25, 2022

The last ~2 pages of this thread have drifted significantly from the thread's original subject. The new subject is important, of course, but IMHO it should be in another thread, since it has next to nothing to do with CCS1 adapters. Perhaps a moderator could help out by moving these posts about home wiring into a new thread...?

uberfunk · Oct 27, 2022

I still can't tell if the Hansshow CCS adapter is 150KW max charge rate or 250KW. Does anyone know?
Their photos say 150KW but their spec description says 250KW.

bradtem · Oct 27, 2022

uberfunk said:
I still can't tell if the Hansshow CCS adapter is 150KW max charge rate or 250KW. Does anyone know?
Their photos say 150KW but their spec description says 250KW.

These adapters are all passive and have no control over the charge rate (though in theory I guess you could make one that sent the overheat signal if the charge rate got too high but I don't think any do.)

People report charging at up to 200kw, would could be an issue if your adapter is rated 150, though usually it's not at that high rate for long. In addition, if it does heat up, they all do signal that and the rate should reduce.

TunaBug · Oct 27, 2022

uberfunk said:
I still can't tell if the Hansshow CCS adapter is 150KW max charge rate or 250KW. Does anyone know?
Their photos say 150KW but their spec description says 250KW.

Charging rate is not the same as what it is rated for. The adapter cannot talk to the car or charger, so the car/charger negotiate whatever charging rate they want. Meanwhile you hope the adapter is built to handle it.

tps5352 · Oct 27, 2022

uberfunk said:
I still can't tell if the Hansshow CCS adapter is 150KW max charge rate or 250KW. Does anyone know?
Their photos say 150KW but their spec description says 250KW.

As I said in the OP, I think the maximum claimed rate is somewhat of a misdirection--i.e., it is distracting people from the truly important stuff. @bradtem said it well. I wouldn't get hung up on claimed maximum rates (for these passive adapters). In terms of charging, comparative graphs of full charging sessions (with external and internal variables held as constant as possible--i.e., same car; same charging station; same initial charge state; same battery and air temperatures; etc.) would be most informative (but also most time consuming to produce).

What would also be interesting and informative (but also destructive and expensive) are comparative bench-top dissections of the adapter models. How well are they made, what do the components consist of (types of plastics and metals), and how beefy are the internal metal connectors?

If there is little difference among the adapters in construction, then it comes down to cost, brand loyalty, warranty, etc.

bradtem · Oct 27, 2022

tps5352 said:
If there is little difference among the adapters in construction, then it comes down to cost, brand loyalty, warranty, etc.

As others have pointed out, Tesla has a unique advantage being "official." While it seems very low probability that anything goes wrong, if it does, having the official adapter is going to be of extreme value. We've already seen EVgo say they only "support" the OEM adapter. Now that's a misleading statement -- they work just fine with any adapter as they are passive. But if anything went wrong, they would use this language to say "not our problem." Other stations might do the same, with or without that language.

I don't like this but it seems like a real factor. Which is why paying $50 more for Tesla's adapter than a completely identical clone seems like a reasonable choice. The reality is that problems may be so rare that the aftermarket vendors could say, "we cover you for any problem not attributable to anything else but our adapter." (Which is different from "any problem with our adapter" because in most cases you won't really know.) If they said that, then you might well buy their lower cost unit in comfort.

Problem is, Tesla normally could surcharge the "official" one by a lot, and they are only doing it a little. Tough game for the aftermarket units.
All this is independent of build quality, presence of locking pin etc.

SteelClouds · Oct 27, 2022

bradtem said:
We've already seen EVgo say they only "support" the OEM adapter.

Well.. thats nonsense from EVgo.. They can say whatever they want but it's crap. Most of the CCS adapters now are completely passive. In fact, I just used both my Tesla adapter and my A2Z adapter on their new "plug and go" charging which is ONLY for the "Official" Tesla adapter.

bradtem · Oct 27, 2022

SteelClouds said:
Well.. thats nonsense from EVgo.. They can say whatever they want but it's crap. Most of the CCS adapters now are completely passive. In fact, I just used both my Tesla adapter and my A2Z adapter on their new "plug and go" charging which is ONLY for the "Official" Tesla adapter.

Um, yes. That's what I wrote in the section you cut out right after what you quoted. That's kind of a strange thing to do.

MP3Mike · Oct 27, 2022

SteelClouds said:
Well.. thats nonsense from EVgo.. They can say whatever they want but it's crap. Most of the CCS adapters now are completely passive.

They don't say it won't work. They say it is against their terms of service, and if anything bad happens as a result of using one it is 100% your fault.

SteelClouds · Oct 27, 2022

You were being polite

. "misleading" .. its more than misleading.. its just FUD and we have far too much of that floating around. but you are correct, you did say the same thing.
I will say there is a distinct build quality difference between Tesla's own and the A2Z.. but it's something only an EE would appreciate I think. wider finger stock connectors vs skinny ones and different dielectrics or what appears to be a different dielectric used for the center conductors. From an electrical design POV, I think the Tesla adapter is a better (?) more robust? unit.. but the "heft and feel" is lesser than say, the A2Z unit I have. I think long term durability tests would be interesting. I'm a heavy user. I use it almost every day vs the occasional road warrior.

STS-134 · Oct 27, 2022

TunaBug said:
Charging rate is not the same as what it is rated for. The adapter cannot talk to the car or charger, so the car/charger negotiate whatever charging rate they want. Meanwhile you hope the adapter is built to handle it.

I know there's a temperature sensor in the system somewhere. It it in the adapter or is it in the vehicle's charge port, under the assumption that the connectors in the vehicle's charge port will be close to the temperature of the adapter during charging?

bradtem said:
Problem is, Tesla normally could surcharge the "official" one by a lot, and they are only doing it a little. Tough game for the aftermarket units.
All this is independent of build quality, presence of locking pin etc.

Well the A2Z adapter seems to be better than the official one in terms of temperature, at least on the outside. It would have to have some pretty good insulation to be worse inside but better outside.

The locking pin is a bigger concern though, since A2Z just kind of left that out. And while the Tesla pin is kind of crummy (doesn't actually stop you from pulling the charging handle out of the adapter), what it does do is stop you from pressing the latch and then quickly pulling the charging handle out. By the time you do, the charger will have already cut power due to the latch being pressed.

TunaBug · Oct 27, 2022

SteelClouds said:
You were being polite . "misleading" .. its more than misleading.. its just FUD and we have far too much of that floating around. but you are correct, you did say the same thing.

I don't think it's FUD or misleading. I think the proper way to read the disclaimer is "We tested the Tesla adapter, we support it, but we won't be responsible for random crap you build in your garage or buy on aliexpress". Or maybe even better "If your third party no-name adapter burns down our charger then we're going to sue you, not the other way around". I think people would understand that, although it's less comfortable wording for legal or PR.

In is unreasonable to think that the charging company will be able to test every adapter under the sun, much less every adapter that might be built after they finish testing. Having to be selective in their testing should be obvious. What is unfortunate is that our society is such that they have to make these statements to cover their ass.

srs5694 · Oct 28, 2022

STS-134 said:
I know there's a temperature sensor in the system somewhere. It it in the adapter or is it in the vehicle's charge port, under the assumption that the connectors in the vehicle's charge port will be close to the temperature of the adapter during charging?

There's a temperature sensor in the car, which causes the car to throttle the charge rate if the temperature exceeds some value. This was one of the challenges in the DIY upgrade for CCS charging, since the Gen3 and Gen4 hardware use different temperature sensors, so one of the things the "bundle of wires" does is to modify the output of the temperature sensor so that it "crosses over" at the right point. Note that the temperature value with this approach is wrong at all other points of the curve, but since (as far as anybody outside Tesla knows), it's used for this one purpose, as long as the crossover point is right, this approach will do the job. Still, the uncertainty about that is one reason I'm waiting for Tesla's official upgrade rather than pursuing the DIY approach.

As to the adapter, my understanding is that at least some of them have a temperature-sensitive switch of sorts. (I don't recall the technical term for this component.) It should cause the current to stop flowing if the set temperature is exceeded, but it's not active, in the sense that it doesn't modify the communications between the car and the charger. I don't know if all of them include this feature, or how they differ amongst themselves. I know I've seen discussion of this feature, maybe in this very thread, but I'm not going to search 22 pages of posts to find the details.

TunaBug said:
I think the proper way to read the disclaimer is "We tested the Tesla adapter, we support it, but we won't be responsible for random crap you build in your garage or buy on aliexpress". Or maybe even better "If your third party no-name adapter burns down our charger then we're going to sue you, not the other way around". I think people would understand that, although it's less comfortable wording for legal or PR.

It's important to remember that EVgo's no-third-party-adapters disclaimer was added shortly after the Setec adapter came to market. That adapter is an entirely different beast than the plethora of passive adapters that are now available. Unlike the new adapters, Setec's is an active adapter; it contains electronics so that it can communicate directly with the charger and "translate" between it and the Tesla, spoofing Tesla's CHAdeMO adapter on the Tesla side. This design leaves open more possibilities for failures of various types. It also makes it possible for the car, and likely the charger, to identify the adapter and lock it out, as Tesla has done multiple times.

That said, I wouldn't count on an easy resolution to a problem if, say, you used a passive third-party adapter and it melted at an EVgo station, destroying the adapter and perhaps damaging the charger and/or car. EVgo would likely use the no-third-party-adapters language in their user agreement to refuse to do anything to help, and maybe to sue you if their charger was damaged; and Tesla might also refuse warranty service if the car were damaged. Most third-party adapters are made by Chinese companies with minor presences in North America. There have been, throughout business history, too many instances of finger-pointing and evasion of responsibility for me to think that this hypothetical would result in a shining example of cooperation and helpfulness; my prediction is that it would result in the owner being left holding the ball and financially responsible for whatever damages might occur.

DoubleDD · Oct 31, 2022

I've tested the Tesla Authentic CCS Adapter, Hannshow CCS Adapter, and the A2Z CCS adapter. Tesla and Hansshow look and feel identical. The A2Z has a smaller footprint. For the average user charging with any of these adapters can expect similar results. I prefer the A2Z for its size and solid feel. I also noticed the temperature at the peak charging rate was cooler at about 90F compared to the other two at 130F. All were within the proper operating temperature. If the brand is important, then go for Tesla. If the price is a concern, then choose A2Z or Hansshow.

Source	Price	Specific Notes	Availability (in NA)

		Genuine Tesla Adapter

Tesla (North America)	~~$250(US)~~ ~~$175(US)~~ $250 $325(CAN) $340(CAN) ~~$240(CAN)~~ $345(CAN)	Available on the Canada and U.S. Tesla websites. Owner's manual here. For Models S, X, 3, and Y. Car must be CCS-enabled. As of February 2023 factory-approved hardware retrofits (including parts and labor) for non-CCS-enabled cars were available for Models S and X. As of March 2024 CCS hardware upgrades for North American Models 3 and Y (that need them) are available for order on the Tesla website.. While waiting for Tesla to release hardware retrofits, some drivers of non-CCS cars tried successful DIY (do-it-yourself) procedures to enable CCS charging in certain 2021 cars and in older vehicles (particularly Models 3 & Y). See numerous postings, starting with this Thread. I assume that with Tesla factory retrofits now available, DIY efforts will diminish in popularity.	AVAILABLE.

		Tesla-Adapter Copies

Hansshow (China)	$325 $294 $319 $250 $235 $246 $251 $239 $216 $230 $203 $175 $161 $132 ~~$116.50~~ $119*	Hansshow/Hautopart adapter may also be found on TesPlus website (for ~~$200~~ $140). See website for technical specifications. Stated to be for Models S, X, 3, & Y (car must be CCS-enabled).	AVAILABLE.
Lectron (Hong Kong)	$250 $200 $170 $185 $180 $165 $155 $140	See website for technical specifications. Claimed to be compatible with "all Tesla models." Car must be CCS-enabled. Graphic imagery suggests that this may be a different product than the Hansshow/Hautopart adapter.	AVAILABLE.

		Independently-designed Aftermarket Adapters

A2Z Shop (Canada)	$293 $270 $227 $195 $175 ~~$150~~ $121*	Brand name: "Thunderstorm Plug." Combined CCS1 and J1772 adapter in one. Sold by registered TMC vendor (information available via @A2ZEVSHOP) See website for technical specifications. Design and engineering input originated from this North American company with business ties to: Manufacturer Huizhou Olink Technology Co., Ltd. (China) Works with applicable Models S, Ǝ, X, and Y, but: Car must be CCS-enabled. Note #1: Website CCS1 price may vary slightly, probably due to fluctuating Canada-to-U.S.-dollar rates. Note #2: Other CCS1-related accessories (e.g., lock, case, ECU) are also available from A2Z Shop.	AVAILABLE.

		In Development

Electway (China)	-na-	See website for more information. In size and general shape, reminiscent of the original SETEC CCS1 adapter (see below). Possible release in, when?--2024?	Currently Unavailable.

Source	Price	Specific Notes	Adapter Type	Availability (in NA)

EVHub (Ukraine)	$525	Car must be "CCS-enabled." Availability curtailed by Russia's war against Ukraine. First available for sale in 2020.	"Aftermarket" Straight "pass- through" circuitry.	Currently unavailable.
SETEC/Lectron (China)	~~$640~~ $300	Unlike other adapters here, charges at a 50kW maximum rate. Requires onboard battery. Runs off firmware that may require frequent updates. Not always compatible with Tesla vehicle updates. Can be used in any model; car need not be CCS-enabled. First available (in North America) in late 2020.	"Aftermarket" Hardware/software used to mimic CHAdeMO technology.	AVAILABLE.
Tesla (Korea)	~$227 (US)	See website (and use Google translate if necessary) for technical specifications. Translation of owner's manual here. Car must be "CCS enabled." Ostensibly for Models 3/Y only (in actuality works with all CCS-enabled models). Includes locking pin to help discourage unintended CCS1 cable-plug detachment. Made for Tesla-Korea by Pegatron of Taiwan. First available (in Korea) in 2021. For a few months in 2022 was available to North American customers through selected Korean shopping/shipping businesses (e.g., Harumio).	"Tesla OEM" Straight "pass- through" circuitry.	AVAILABLE (in Korea).

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