No more dryer adapters (10-30 and 14-30)

[Cosmacelf]

Sharp eyed observers might have noticed that the Tesla on-line store no longer sells the NEMA 10-30 dryer adapter (after dropping the 14-30 adapter in January 2015). I emailed Tesla about this and their response was that they will continue to sell the 10-30 via service centers, but not on-line. They also said they've stopped production of both the 10-30 and 14-30 adapters due to lack of interest.

I find this mildly insane. All the on-line surveys I've conducted over the years (latest being in September 2015) shows that the dryer adapters are used by 1/4 of respondents. That's a lot of interest.

Luckily, there are work arounds (you can make your own or buy adapters at EVSEadapters, or CordDepot), but the work arounds bypass a current limiting feature, and with now thousands of people having to rely on such adapters, human mistakes are going to be made, perhaps resulting in a dangerous situation.

If anyone has contacts within Tesla, could you ask them what the heck they are thinking? The generic help email address folks don't know anything and don't care to escalate the issue. You might also ask them why in the world they brought out a NEMA 6-15 adapter, something no one was asking for and no one uses, again according to my surveys.

 

[KJD]

Not having a 14-30 Tesla adapter is just total BS. The 6-50 outlets are also all over the place.

If Tesla really cared about safety they would be making more adapters and adding new configurations. The NEMA 14-50 is not the only thing out there by a long shot.

 

[green1]

This news does not surprise me at all. I expect the remaining adapters to vanish from the online store over time as well (I would bet they've already stopped producing all of them) It became apparent a while back when they discontinued some other adapters that Tesla truly believes that people only charge at home, at Tesla destination chargers, and at superchargers. They don't believe anyone needs any other method any more. Of course if there were a few more superchargers that might be the actual case, but until then home made adapters is the only way to go.

 

[stopcrazypp]

I don't remember the exact ones, but I've been under the impression a long while back that they have been cutting adapters from their line. Not a new occurrence.

 

[InTheShadows]

I'm not positive but I think if you forgot to adjust the current on a home made adapter the car would automatically do it for you.

It would attempt to pull full current through the 30amp wire and detect a voltage drop that is excessive, it should then derate to 30 amps and still notice that voltage drop is still pretty high, then again lower the current until it sees a voltage drop within parameters.

Once I hack my L6-30 adapter plug to get it to work I will test it and let you know.

 

[Cosmacelf]

It became apparent a while back when they discontinued some other adapters that Tesla truly believes that people only charge at home, at Tesla destination chargers, and at superchargers. They don't believe anyone needs any other method any more. Of course if there were a few more superchargers that might be the actual case, but until then home made adapters is the only way to go.

Yeah, well, as I said, insane. Or delusional. I'd much rather plug in at my destination than have to make a detour and wait at a supercharger.

 

[green1]

Yeah, well, as I said, insane. Or delusional. I'd much rather plug in at my destination than have to make a detour and wait at a supercharger.

Tesla's answer: only stop at destinations with Tesla HPWC! (I know, ridiculous)

 

[deonb]

It would attempt to pull full current through the 30amp

Which would cause the circuit breaker to trip... That can lead to an akward time if you're not the owner of the breaker box.

 

[GSP]

This is mildly insane. Customers should have at least one 30 A charging option with the safety of the proper pilot signal from the UMC to insure the current is always limited to 24 A, regardless of other factors.

GSP

 

[fwgmills]

I guess I can understand them ditching the NEMA 10 adapters if they wanted to push safety concerns. 6-outlets have grounds. 10-outlets don't. 14-outlets have both. So keep making 6 and 14 adapters Tesla.

 

[mmccord]

I think this is a sign of Tesla going mainstream. Mainstream users aren't going to bother with huge extension cords and dryer adapters etc. They will supercharge and destination charge, but futzing around with other stuff is for early adopters. I carry two adapters in my car, chademo and a 6-50 to 14-50. I've never used the second one.

 

[mknox]

I'm not positive but I think if you forgot to adjust the current on a home made adapter the car would automatically do it for you.

It would attempt to pull full current through the 30amp wire and detect a voltage drop that is excessive, it should then derate to 30 amps and still notice that voltage drop is still pretty high, then again lower the current until it sees a voltage drop within parameters.

No the car won't reduce the current rate (unless it sees a significant voltage drop) and this could present a dangerous situation. You should pull no more than 24 amps continuous on a 30 amp breaker yet the car will be trying to pull 40. If all the stars align and the circuit breaker does it's job and trips, that will be that. But if the circuit breaker is defective (happens all the time) you will overload the wire and the receptacle and this will lead to overheating and fire.

 

[Max*]

I think this is a sign of Tesla going mainstream. Mainstream users aren't going to bother with huge extension cords and dryer adapters etc. They will supercharge and destination charge, but futzing around with other stuff is for early adopters. I carry two adapters in my car, chademo and a 6-50 to 14-50. I've never used the second one.

This nailed it on the head.

With the prevalence of SpC's, I can understand why they no longer stock them. Most people will SpC and then trickle charge at the destination if they must. So glad I got my 10-30 last week. So so so glad.

First trip to the inlaws, I drove about 30mins each way to the SpC next to my MIL's house to SpC. Second trip to the inlaws, there was a new SpC opened, so I drove 15minutes to SpC. Third trip to the inlaws, I'll have my 10-30 so I can charge in their garage from the dryer outlet.

I'm sure as the SpC network keeps building out, if I didn't get the 10-30 I could drive the 15mins to the SpC and charge up, or they'd open one even closer, and make that a 5-10minute drive, but the 10-30 is more convenient.

I can completely understand why the mainstream buyer would just want to drive the 5-10minutes to the SpC and not hassle with a 10-30 and a specialty extension cord. I don't think the mainstream buyer even knows what a 10-30 is!

 

[scaesare]

I bought the 10-30 and 14-30[1] so I'd be prepared. I consider it pretty cheap insurance when compared with the cost/hassle of being stranded or needing a tow.

I've never used them, but then again I've never used the fire extinguisher in my house either, but having them when I need them is well worse the price to pay for them.

I'm sure they are relatively low volume as compared to sales... and their necessity will become lesser all the time as charging networks grow, but this is one of those things I think Tesla should do out of principle, until we are at the point EV charging is ubiquitous. Especially in areas where a Supercharger may be far off the beaten path... and there are many of those.

I feel similarly about the chargers on the X: reducing power capacity options for the chargers is not a step forward, even if if 95% of folks won't be impacted. The goal is to allow EV's to be a viable option 100% of the time... and we aren't there yet. In the mean time, small things like this help plug those holes.

If we get a good email address to direct our concerns to, I'd be happy to chime in.


[1] Along with all the others[2]
[2] Well, at the time.. I think I still need to grab the new 6-20 now that i think about it[3]
[3] Hopfully there is room in my case:

 

[green1]

This nailed it on the head.

With the prevalence of SpC's, I can understand why they no longer stock them. Most people will SpC and then trickle charge at the destination if they must. So glad I got my 10-30 last week. So so so glad.

First trip to the inlaws, I drove about 30mins each way to the SpC next to my MIL's house to SpC. Second trip to the inlaws, there was a new SpC opened, so I drove 15minutes to SpC. Third trip to the inlaws, I'll have my 10-30 so I can charge in their garage from the dryer outlet.

I'm sure as the SpC network keeps building out, if I didn't get the 10-30 I could drive the 15mins to the SpC and charge up, or they'd open one even closer, and make that a 5-10minute drive, but the 10-30 is more convenient.

I can completely understand why the mainstream buyer would just want to drive the 5-10minutes to the SpC and not hassle with a 10-30 and a specialty extension cord. I don't think the mainstream buyer even knows what a 10-30 is!

Except that in many places where tesla is selling their cars superchargers are not at all prevalent. I'd much rather drive 5-10 mins to a supercharger then bother with all the adapters, but that's rarely an option unless I'm going one very specific direction. Anywhere else I need all the charging help I can get, and I know of tesla owners who think I have it good here because I actually have a supercharger within my driving range, some still do not.

 

[brkaus]

Wonder if they will shift to a simpler UMC design. No adapters and a 14-50 plug. That would leave out the 120v folks though, so not likely now that I think about it.

 

[mikeash]

I hope this is temporary, maybe clearing out inventory leading up to a new revision of the UMC or something. Otherwise I think it's a bad move. Even if most drivers wouldn't bother with it, it's good to support those who do.

Tesla seems to agree with this. Earlier this year, Tesla posted this article:

Charging North | Tesla Motors

There's an entire section titled, "If there is electricity you can charge." This is repeated on their support page for charging:

Charging | Tesla Motors

"Model S can charge at any Supercharger, Tesla wall connector, public charging station, or anywhere there’s an electrical outlet." (Emphasis mine, naturally.)

I can't imagine these adapters are difficult to produce. I really can't see why Tesla wouldn't make adapters for every single 120-240V NEMA outlet out there (minus the ones with no ground or neutral) and make it so you can truly charge anywhere there's an electrical outlet, without screwing around with homemade adapters. Stock the common ones at service centers, make the weird ones online-only.

 

[FlasherZ]

I'm not positive but I think if you forgot to adjust the current on a home made adapter the car would automatically do it for you.

It would attempt to pull full current through the 30amp wire and detect a voltage drop that is excessive, it should then derate to 30 amps and still notice that voltage drop is still pretty high, then again lower the current until it sees a voltage drop within parameters.

Once I hack my L6-30 adapter plug to get it to work I will test it and let you know.

No. There are two checks - one drops the current by 25%, the next will stop charging and create an error telling you not to use an extension cord. Neither of them is safe to rely upon for an undersized circuit.

 

[TexasEV]

I relate this decision to drop the 14-30 and 10-30 adpaters to the Model X charger fiasco (not having 72A charger, then offering the option only to those who know the password) and even the redesign of the IC to move the battery meter off to the corner. They want to attract mainstream buyers by making the car appear simple. Having various charging options makes the car appear complicated, which is not the message they want to deliver. Unfortunately most of us drive the car in the real world and sometimes need charging options other than supercharger, HPWC, or 14-50 outlet. Not as often as we used to, but it still happens. Once again, the Tesla people really need to get out of California more.

 

[PeterK]

I relate this decision to drop the 14-30 and 10-30 adpaters to the Model X charger fiasco (not having 72A charger, then offering the option only to those who know the password) and even the redesign of the IC to move the battery meter off to the corner. They want to attract mainstream buyers by making the car appear simple. Having various charging options makes the car appear complicated, which is not the message they want to deliver. Unfortunately most of us drive the car in the real world and sometimes need charging options other than supercharger, HPWC, or 14-50 outlet. Not as often as we used to, but it still happens. Once again, the Tesla people really need to get out of California more.

I agree. A lot of new buyers might do the 5-15 min trip to a Supercharger with the mindset of driving to a gas station to fill up. But filling up while you sleep or do other things, even when you're visiting a friend or relative's house, is so much better. I think I'll pick up a dryer plug adapter asap.