New tweet from Tesla: will sell their own CCS adaptor “soon” in North America

[bradtem]

Don't underestimate this factor. Historically, Tesla has had a hard time keeping charging equipment in stock. Today, in the US Tesla store, the Corded Mobile Connector and NEMA Adapter Bundle are both out of stock, as are the NEMA 14-50 and NEMA 6-50 adapters. When Tesla still offered it at all, the CHAdeMO adapter was usually out of stock; as soon as its status change, all the available adapters were snapped up.

To Tesla's credit, they don't overprice these items; but buyers need to be aware that they aren't always readily available. This fact might help third-party suppliers of passive CCS1 adapters. If you want one soon (for an upcoming road trip, say), and Tesla's is out of stock, then paying an extra $50 or whatever for a third-party adapter may be acceptable.

That's why I made note of it.

There is another factor. While the CCS adapter will be obviously superior in every way to CHAdeMO in time, right now there are a lot of reports of certain CCS stations not working with it. Some have speculated that this is why Tesla has not released the adapter in North America because they want to iron out those kinks.

This is no minor factor for me. I don't want the adapter to charge more cheaply, I want it for road trips into areas where there are no superchargers. With the CHAdeMO adapter I used to have, this worked. I could plan a trip arriving at the DC Fast station with 10%, just like a supercharger, if I saw on Plugshare that it was decently reliable. But now I could face that the station works, but not with the Tesla adapter and be stranded or relegated to some 6kw station. That's a trip disrupting problem. Perhaps if the adapters were out people would quickly be adding notes to plugshare or similar about stations that don't work, but for now, it puts a lot more risk in the trip.

 

[Midnightsun]

Is this happening with the wall connectors and adapters?

Heck I think it is happening with almost everything accessory Tesla sells. I know when I first got my Y back in 2020 I could not get a wall connector as they were always backorder yet eBay had so many at twice the price it made my head spin. Took several months and finally got one. Same thing happened when I tried to get a Chademo adapter.

 

[KJD]

The only stocking issue is all the reseller (non Tesla owners) snapping them up causing a shortage and making a profit on eBay. The Tesla store and all its purchases should be associated with your ID limiting most items to 1 per car. An exception for a lost unit, maybe you can buy 2.

If Tesla cared anything at all about the customer, they would produce more than enough adapters and charging equipment for the demand that is out there.

I would say the same thing about the CCS1 adapter. Time to crank up production Tesla. There is no reason not to.

We need to be able to charge anywhere and everywhere there is electricity.

 

[gglockner]

Heck I think it is happening with almost everything accessory Tesla sells.

Correct. Not just power adapters. For example, watch inventory for wheels or floor mats.

 

[gglockner]

While the CCS adapter will be obviously superior in every way to CHAdeMO in time, right now there are a lot of reports of certain CCS stations not working with it. Some have speculated that this is why Tesla has not released the adapter in North America because they want to iron out those kinks.

I suspect this is the vehicle, not the adapter since the official Tesla CCS adapter is just a passive plug adapter. I haven't tested it extensively, but I have had 100% reliability with the CCS adapter using my 2022 Model X. It saved my back in May - would have been stranded without it.

I don't want the adapter to charge more cheaply, I want it for road trips into areas where there are no superchargers. With the CHAdeMO adapter I used to have, this worked.

My experience with the CHAdeMO adapter - on both a 2018 Model X and a 2022 Model X - was not as successful as yours. Even if I ignore the many CHAdeMO chargers listed as faulty on Plugshare, I found many (most?) failed for me. A common situation was that - even after I finished the hokey-pokey of adapter and payment, the charger would ramp up, start a test charge, then shut down with an error message. CCS is just more reliable for me.

The catch is that CCS isn't officially supported by Tesla USA, and there are reports of vehicles without CCS hardware, despite that older vehicles have CCS hardware. We're on the 'bleeding edge' to use CCS with USA-model Teslas.

 

[KJD]

There is another factor. While the CCS adapter will be obviously superior in every way to CHAdeMO in time, right now there are a lot of reports of certain CCS stations not working with it. Some have speculated that this is why Tesla has not released the adapter in North America because they want to iron out those kinks.

I have one of the Tesla CCS adapters from SK and never had a problem with the adapter.

On the other hand I have had trouble with multiple CCS charge stations. The phone apps are junk. The hardware is junk. I often had to call support to resolve the issue. Other times I had to try more than one station to find one that would work. The card readers are often broken. The screens are often impossible to read in direct sunlight. The software will often time out before authorizing your card.

I am still happy to have the adapter for emergency use, but the Tesla Superchargers are still miles ahead of EA, EVGo and Chargepoint stations.

 

[bradtem]

I suspect this is the vehicle, not the adapter since the official Tesla CCS adapter is just a passive plug adapter. I haven't tested it extensively, but I have had 100% reliability with the CCS adapter using my 2022 Model X. It saved my back in May - would have been stranded without it.


My experience with the CHAdeMO adapter - on both a 2018 Model X and a 2022 Model X - was not as successful as yours. Even if I ignore the many CHAdeMO chargers listed as faulty on Plugshare, I found many (most?) failed for me. A common situation was that - even after I finished the hokey-pokey of adapter and payment, the charger would ramp up, start a test charge, then shut down with an error message. CCS is just more reliable for me.

The catch is that CCS isn't officially supported by Tesla USA, and there are reports of vehicles without CCS hardware, despite that older vehicles have CCS hardware. We're on the 'bleeding edge' to use CCS with USA-model Teslas.

Of course it's not the adapter itself! What I refer to is the system of adapter plus firmware in the gen4 charge controller. Fortunately Tesla will be updating that firmware to fix problems as they find fixes.

I only ran into one CdM failure that could be blamed on the adapter. At Mt. Robson Provincial park, it would not work for me (forcing me to turn around from Jasper that night and go the next morning.) But others were complaining about that too. It seemed the station was dead. Later, somebody discovered that with this station you had to plug the adapter into the car first, then the station into the adapter (reversing the official process) and it worked. Unclear why that would be. I don't know if Tesla put in a system to upgrade the firmware in the CdM adapters. (They would have to do a special proprietary chat with the car.) Other times I had problems I saw other native cars were having problems with the station so would not attribute it to the adapter.

However, "it worked for me" is not particularly meaningful. What matters is aggregate data about how often charging is failing for Teslas but not failing for native CCS cars, and whether that rate is high enough to be scared. It should drop down over time, and maybe the initial reports are already dwindling.

In my case I have to pick today between doing the semi-complex charge controller update with bundle o'wires and a CCS adapter or getting another CdM. Both approaches will probably cost the same though the former will also cost a fair bit more time for a better long term result. But for me the question is, "will I get stranded?" Because even the limited 50K rate and the bulky size of the CdM is acceptable vs. getting stranded.

Amusingly, in many places, by far the primary user of CdM stations are Teslas with the adapter. The primary other car that uses this station, the Leaf, is vastly less common on road trips than Teslas, and even though most Teslas don't have adapters and we have SC access, we still outnumber the Leaf at CdM stations.

 

[Cheburashka]

Yes, agree with the above. Haven't really had any issues with the Chademo adapter myself. If the station is operational it generally works on the first try. It's great for occasional use. The Chademo adapter fits nicely in the frunk.

 

[bradtem]

Yes, agree with the above. Haven't really had any issues with the Chademo adapter myself. If the station is operational it generally works on the first try. It's great for occasional use. The Chademo adapter fits nicely in the frunk.

And I will say that while 50kw (really about 43kw) is definitely not as nice as superchargers, in most cases it would add less to the duration of a charging session than you imagine. Even at the SC, you are down to 50kw pretty quickly (especially if you are not that empty. Since I always charge during meals if I can, it usually still fits in the mealtime. The free 25kw stations are another matter. That's too slow (and they are not at restaurants.) But of course the CCS will be better when it works more universally, and I can get my car upgraded to gen 4. (the bundle o'wires is is back ordered.)

 

[Cheburashka]

The CCS hardware update is still not officially supported in North America though, is it?

I'd prefer CCS to Chademo, but without an official adapter and support, it's a bit of a grey area.

 

[gglockner]

The CCS hardware update is still not officially supported in North America though, is it?

I'd prefer CCS to Chademo, but without an official adapter and support, it's a bit of a grey area.

Correct. CCS support for North America is coming "soon". Kind-of like other Tesla promises like battery swaps, 1 million robotaxis, the new Roadster, Cybertruck, real Full Self Drive, ...

 

[kayak1]

And I will say that while 50kw (really about 43kw) is definitely not as nice as superchargers, in most cases it would add less to the duration of a charging session than you imagine. Even at the SC, you are down to 50kw pretty quickly (especially if you are not that empty. Since I always charge during meals if I can, it usually still fits in the mealtime. The free 25kw stations are another matter. That's too slow (and they are not at restaurants.) But of course the CCS will be better when it works more universally, and I can get my car upgraded to gen 4. (the bundle o'wires is is back ordered.)

I used the CCS1 adapter at a free 50kw station two weeks ago, and it was ok, I ended up walking our dog, it took a bit over an hour to add 50kWh.

In the past, I have been able to use 350kW charge stations for ~200kW charge rates. It's nice to have but not as good as a Tesla with the pricing changes, CCS stations seem to be cost competitive.

If some of the other car manufacturers start producing more cars the CCS1 stations are going to fill up quickly as they tend to be much smaller than Superchargers.

 

[e of pi]

If some of the other car manufacturers start producing more cars the CCS1 stations are going to fill up quickly as they tend to be much smaller than Superchargers.

Good thing there's like another 50,000 plus CCS stalls coming in the next few years with the infrastructure bill money...

 

[bradtem]

I used the CCS1 adapter at a free 50kw station two weeks ago, and it was ok, I ended up walking our dog, it took a bit over an hour to add 50kWh.

In the past, I have been able to use 350kW charge stations for ~200kW charge rates. It's nice to have but not as good as a Tesla with the pricing changes, CCS stations seem to be cost competitive.

If some of the other car manufacturers start producing more cars the CCS1 stations are going to fill up quickly as they tend to be much smaller than Superchargers.

I think you want a mixture of Tesla style (fewer stations with more chargers at each station ) and the other style ( more stations with fewer chargers). The former are good for high volume, but the latter give you a lot more flexibility in driving, more places you can go, and having a charger be closer is like having more range in your car. (Indeed it might make sense for small stations, when full, to time limit charging for those who only need to use it to get enough juice to reach a large station.) So when you're heading for the supercharger but won't quite make it, you make a 5 minute stop at the small station to give you enough to make it. That way the small station can still handle lots of cars. Especially if they design the station with 2 plugs per charger (as EA usually does.) EA's design with 2 plugs is just to support cars with different port locations. What you really want is to be able to plug in two cars and then instantly switch from one car to the other car when it is time, saving the couple of minutes swapping takes. This is also handy even with longer charges in that you can come to the "full" station and plug in, knowing your car will start charging as soon as the other one is done and you won't have to come back to move your car.

Anyway, you want to be able to charge everywhere, and more places is more useful to me than faster chargers or bigger ones at this point. As a person who has charging in my driveway, I have no use for fast charging in my hometown. Its only purpose is road trips.

 

[Mockingbird]

In Elon's terms, "soon" means in the next 10 years.

 

[kayak1]

I think you want a mixture of Tesla style (fewer stations with more chargers at each station ) and the other style ( more stations with fewer chargers). The former are good for high volume, but the latter give you a lot more flexibility in driving, more places you can go, and having a charger be closer is like having more range in your car. (Indeed it might make sense for small stations, when full, to time limit charging for those who only need to use it to get enough juice to reach a large station.) So when you're heading for the supercharger but won't quite make it, you make a 5 minute stop at the small station to give you enough to make it. That way the small station can still handle lots of cars. Especially if they design the station with 2 plugs per charger (as EA usually does.) EA's design with 2 plugs is just to support cars with different port locations. What you really want is to be able to plug in two cars and then instantly switch from one car to the other car when it is time, saving the couple of minutes swapping takes. This is also handy even with longer charges in that you can come to the "full" station and plug in, knowing your car will start charging as soon as the other one is done and you won't have to come back to move your car.

Anyway, you want to be able to charge everywhere, and more places is more useful to me than faster chargers or bigger ones at this point. As a person who has charging in my driveway, I have no use for fast charging in my hometown. Its only purpose is road trips.

I have 24kW of solar on my roof. I charge at home when at all possible. I live in a tourist area, thus a local fast charger would be helpful in moving people from ICE to BEV cars.

I do agree that the number of charger ports at a location should be based on the projected simultaneous usage.

For example, The Irving gas station in Wiscasset ME would be a great location for an 8-stall Supercharge and an equivalent EA station.

Irving Oil · 639 Bath Rd, Wiscasset, ME 04578

âââââ · Gas station

goo.gl

Further up on RT1 the Whiting Store in Whiting ME might only support a 4-stall SC and 2-stall EVgo.

Whiting Store · 136 US-1, Whiting, ME 04691

âââââ · Grocery store

goo.gl

Adding charging to each of the locations would help move people away from ICE cars.

 

[bradtem]

I have 24kW of solar on my roof. I charge at home when at all possible. I live in a tourist area, thus a local fast charger would be helpful in moving people from ICE to BEV cars.

I do agree that the number of charger ports at a location should be based on the projected simultaneous usage.

For example, The Irving gas station in Wiscasset ME would be a great location for an 8-stall Supercharge and an equivalent EA station.

Irving Oil · 639 Bath Rd, Wiscasset, ME 04578

âââââ · Gas station

goo.gl

Further up on RT1 the Whiting Store in Whiting ME might only support a 4-stall SC and 2-stall EVgo.

Whiting Store · 136 US-1, Whiting, ME 04691

âââââ · Grocery store

goo.gl

Adding charging to each of the locations would help move people away from ICE cars.

It would help, but the real thing that moves people away from ICE cars is charging at home or work. If you do that you are superior to the ICE car completely in all your driving around town. The electricity is cheap, and you charge while you sleep so it takes zero time and you drive zero miles out of your way. If you have people go to fast chargers in their own town it's like gasoline, but worse. Costly, you have to hunt for it more often and you have to waste time unless you plan very well.

So yes, you need local chargers for those people who absolutely can't charge at home. But the real way to get more people moved over is to focus first on encouraging charging at apartment buildings, offices and in some cases curbs. Have a few fast chargers for the tourists and the people who can't yet take advantage of your program to let them charge while they sleep or work.

 

[KJD]

The original tweet of coming soon was Oct 18 of 2021.

304 days and counting Tesla.

 

[avs007]

The original tweet of coming soon was Oct 18 of 2021.

304 days and counting Tesla.

I remember when Elon said the Vector-space birdseye view was coming "next month"... That was almost a year ago....

 

[israndy]

And WiFi at all Superchargers was on offer when they stopped offering lifetime cellular connectivity back in 2018 or so.