Regarding Portable Charging Options...

[Tezzy#1]

Hi, Everyone! I am new to this forum and I have read lots of great information so far on the Model 3! I am a new and happy owner of the Model 3, and I apologize in advance if this question has already been asked before, but I could not find a direct answer on this so here we go...

I am contemplating my options if I take a road trip (5+ hours without stops) through southern Louisiana to see some relatives (not quite as far as New Orleans). I may be getting a little bit of range fear over this, but driving from southeast Texas, there is only one Tesla charging station on the way in Lake Charles, LA. Although this can get me to my destination, my worry is the trip back to Lake Charles whether I would make it or not. Unfortunately, it appears that southern Louisiana does not have as many charging options as some other states.

I have downloaded the PlugShare app, so I know that this is an option, although I am not sure yet how fast the Level 2 chargers would charge the long-range battery. I am not good at mechanics, and I may not have easy access to 240 wall outlet when I get to my destination. It would be easier to plug in the car overnight for a charge; however, the 110 wall socket just doesn't provide enough miles per hour.

Would it be a viable option to use PlugShare somewhere between Lake Charles and my destination and do you think that they would have adequate Level 2 charging facilities available? Could I charge up pretty quickly or would I need to stay at the location for a few hours?

When I first purchased my Tesla, the associate recommended the Hubbell YQ230 as an option in such cases. I was trying to do some research and see if anyone has used this for their charging, and if so, have you had success and how many miles per hour do you get on a charge? I could not enlarge the picture enough to see what kind of socket would take on the two ends, but they do not look like 110s to me.

Any thoughts or ideas on this scenario?

Thank you in advance!

Hubbell Yq-230 Smart Y 1 50/250v Cord To 2 30a/125v

 

[gtmotor]

Wow, I've never seen that adapter before. It looks like it has 2x TT-30 (30 amp 110 VAC) on one side and a ??? 50 amp 240 VAC on the other. I have no idea why the Tesla person would recommend that to you. I have a travel trailer that uses the TT-30 but have never seen that plug anywhere outside of an RV park, and rarely 2 of them right next to each other. Apparently this is something for big boats that need a lot of power when docked.... I don't think it'll be much use to you (especially for the price!!)

Your best bet would be probably to just use your factory UMC cable with the NEMA 14-50 at an RV park. Those should be all over the place in your area. In a pinch you could call ahead and see if they have a 50 amp RV space available you can rent for a few hours. Also do some research looking for destination chargers at hotels and of course ChargePoint and Blink. We are blessed out west having charging options everywhere...

*edit* Looks like there are lots of RV parks in that area:

 

[animorph]

Use EVTripPlanner or ABetterRoutePlanner websites to see what you can do. 120V charging does work, given time. We use it when we visit our son. It's enough to get us to shopping and restaurants each day and still build us back up to 90% at the end of a week stay.

 

[cwerdna]

I have downloaded the PlugShare app, so I know that this is an option, although I am not sure yet how fast the Level 2 chargers would charge the long-range battery.

Most public level 2 J1772 stations in the US tend to be 30 amps at max. 208 volts (not 240 volts) is common for commercial power in the US. Of all the workplace and public L2 charging I've used in Nor Cal, only in 1 place was it 240 volts. The rest were at ~208 volts.

30 amps * 208 volts = 6,240 watts = 6.24 kW. On a 30 amp station, in 1 hour, at best ~6.24 kWh would've made it out of the wall. I'll let someone comment on the battery size at Tesla Model 3 battery packs have capacities of ~50 kWh and ~75 kWh, says Elon Musk and how much is usable (not all of it). Not all 6.24 kWh in that 1 hour would've made it into the battery either. Figure maybe ~10 to 13% loss.

LR Model 3 has a 48 amp OBC (Tesla). Three Things Determine EV Charge Time may help. Keep in mind, not all the energy that comes out of the wall makes it into the battery. Some of it "lost" as overhead (e.g. running pumps, heat in the on-board charger and electronics, heat elsewhere, etc.)

If you can find J1772 EVSEs or Tesla "Destination Chargers" that are above 30 amp capable, that'd help.

30 amps * 240 volts = 7,200 watts = 7.2 kW. So, if you can find a place that's actually 240 volts, that's better.

If you are unlucky, you'll find some that are only 15 or 16 amps max. I believe the Blink stations that weren't fixed (While Under Threat From OEMs, ECOtality Turns Down The Output On Chargers To Avoid Failures) are turned down to 24 amps. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

You might come across some CT-4000 stations (CT4000 Family - ChargePoint) w/power sharing: ChargePoint’s Revolutionary Charging Station Charges Twice the Cars While Dramatically Reducing Cost - ChargePoint. If a second car is plugged in and drawing power, each side only gets half the power. Instead of running 2 40 amp feeds (for 30 amp max on each side), they run only a single 40 amp feed. My work used to have 3 stations like that before they ran a 2nd feed to each. Now all of our CT-4000s have full power on both sides.

Charging at 120 volts is SLOW. If it were on NEMA 5-15, 120 volts * 12 amps = 1,440 watts = 1.44 kW coming out of the wall. So, in 1 hour, 1.44 kWh came out of the wall and again, you always have the charging overhead (losses).

If you are going places where you CANNOT use Superchargers and want to extend your range, you MUST go slower. Model S Efficiency and Range and Roadster Efficiency and Range | Blog | Tesla Motors are background info. High speeds --> high energy consumption and thus much less range.

 

[Eno Deb]

I have downloaded the PlugShare app, so I know that this is an option, although I am not sure yet how fast the Level 2 chargers would charge the long-range battery. I am not good at mechanics, and I may not have easy access to 240 wall outlet when I get to my destination.

The first thing I would check is if your relatives have a dryer outlet in the garage. You can buy adapters from Tesla for the most common dryer outlets (NEMA 14-30 and 10-30).

Would it be a viable option to use PlugShare somewhere between Lake Charles and my destination and do you think that they would have adequate Level 2 charging facilities available? Could I charge up pretty quickly or would I need to stay at the location for a few hours?

The Model 3 can charge at up to about 30 miles/hour on an L2 charger, but many L2 chargers are slower (typically around 20 miles/hour) and/or deliver only half the power when the charger is shared with another car. So yes, you'd probably have to wait a few hours.

When I first purchased my Tesla, the associate recommended the Hubbell YQ230 as an option in such cases.

For which scenario exactly did he recommend it? This Y-adapter cannot be used with the Tesla mobile charger directly.

 

[ewoodrick]

Hi, Everyone! I am new to this forum and I have read lots of great information so far on the Model 3! I am a new and happy owner of the Model 3, and I apologize in advance if this question has already been asked before, but I could not find a direct answer on this so here we go...

I am contemplating my options if I take a road trip (5+ hours without stops) through southern Louisiana to see some relatives (not quite as far as New Orleans). I may be getting a little bit of range fear over this, but driving from southeast Texas, there is only one Tesla charging station on the way in Lake Charles, LA. Although this can get me to my destination, my worry is the trip back to Lake Charles whether I would make it or not. Unfortunately, it appears that southern Louisiana does not have as many charging options as some other states.

I have downloaded the PlugShare app, so I know that this is an option, although I am not sure yet how fast the Level 2 chargers would charge the long-range battery. I am not good at mechanics, and I may not have easy access to 240 wou all outlet when I get to my destination. It would be easier to plug in the car overnight for a charge; however, the 110 wall socket just doesn't provide enough miles per hour.

Would it be a viable option to use PlugShare somewhere between Lake Charles and my destination and do you think that they would have adequate Level 2 charging facilities available? Could I charge up pretty quickly or would I need to stay at the location for a few hours?

When I first purchased my Tesla, the associate recommended the Hubbell YQ230 as an option in such cases. I was trying to do some research and see if anyone has used this for their charging, and if so, have you had success and how many miles per hour do you get on a charge? I could not enlarge the picture enough to see what kind of socket would take on the two ends, but they do not look like 110s to me.

Any thoughts or ideas on this scenario?

Thank you in advance!

Hubbell Yq-230 Smart Y 1 50/250v Cord To 2 30a/125v

The Level 2 chargers will take a around 4 hours when really empty. Therefore best used overnight or when you have a lot of time, but they are located all over the place. Also, don't forget campgrounds, the 50A plug for dual ac campers is the same thing, but you often have a much more pleasant environment around you.
And don't discount 120V charging, it may not be much, but it adds up.
Make sure that you are charging to 100% and also make sure that you don't leave the supercharger with less than 100%.

 

[cwerdna]

The Level 2 chargers will take a around 4 hours when really empty. .

That's being optimistic. 6.2 kW * 4 hours = 24.8 kWh from the wall. Model 3 LR battery is MUCH larger than that.

Even if you found one at 240 volts, 7.2 kW * 4 hours = 28.8 kWh.

As I said, most public L2 J1772 charging is 30 amps at max.

The best you can on level 2 (either J1772 or Tesla "destination charger") is 48 amps * 240 volts = 11,520 watts = 11.52 kW. Of course, you'll need to find an EVSE capable of that. I've never personally encountered or used any J1772 EVSE that was over 30 amps. Yes, I know they exist, but they're rare.

 

[Tezzy#1]

Hi, Guys! Thank you all for this good information! This definitely makes me feel better. I am not sure what the deal was with that Hubbell, but now I'm glad that I am not the only one who had a funny feeling about that.

It does look like there are some slower charging options out there, plus the RV parks. I can ask someone if they have the dryer outlet that's accessible. I know that there is one available, I just cannot remember how tight the space between it and the wall was (I won't be able to move that dryer, and my relatives are older and I really don't want them to try moving anything like that).

I have just one other question if you do not mind. Originally, I didn't consider the destination charging (which looks really appealing) because I wasn't sure that I would be allowed to use the chargers if I was not staying at the hotel. When I clicked on a couple of them on the web site, it listed that the chargers were for patrons only. My trips are usually quick, so staying overnight at a hotel would cut my visits with my relatives.

Have you guys had any issues with using destination chargers if you were not staying at the hotel?

Thanks!

 

[cwerdna]

The first thing I would check is if your relatives have a dryer outlet in the garage. You can buy adapters from Tesla for the most common dryer outlets (NEMA 14-30 and 10-30).

For the benefit of the OP, the adapters are at https://shop.tesla.com/us/en/product/vehicle-accessories/model-s_x_3-gen-2-nema-adapters.html.

 

[TexasEV]

Have you guys had any issues with using destination chargers if you were not staying at the hotel?
Thanks!

Destination charging is an amenity the hotel offers to attract customers. Kind of like free breakfast, or Wi-Fi, or an exercise room, etc.. You get the idea. Would you think of using any of those if you weren’t staying st the hotel?

Overnight at your family’s house at 120V will get you about 40 miles range. If that isn’t enough, use a public J1772 that you find on Plugshare or an RV park. If you visit often, you might even want to pay to have a 240V outlet installed in their garage.

 

[NickFie]

Any Nissan dealers or Chevrolet dealers around? They sell electric vehicles, generally have reasonably powerful chargers that work with your J1772 adapter. If you find one, call and ask whether you can charge your Tesla. Offer to pay $10 for electricity. Also ask about their hours, especially if the chargers are behind a gate. We got our S100D before the electrician had a permit to install our HPWC. It was the weekend, car stores are closed Sunday around us. The nearby Nissan dealer had closed, I simply drove onto his lot and used one of the J1772 chargers to tide us over.

You can also ask your relatives whether they have an electric dryer. This is a great power source for overnight charging. Your car can power-up while you're visiting. Welder's outlets are even better.

If they have an electric dryer - or a big 240-volt wall socket that formerly supported a dryer - find out how far it is from a place you could park your car - garage, driveway...

Also, ask them to send a picture of the 240-volt outlet with nothing plugged in. This will tell you which type of dryer plug you will need. There are two styles. 10-30 (old, very common) and 14-30 (newer). This link has charts that can be enlarged. Plug into Power Cord Know How! - CablesAndKits Blog

Make sure your Mobile Connector has the appropriate adapter. A broad collection of adapters makes travel less stressful.

If you can park with your car's charge port within 10 - 12 feet of the outlet, you're all set. It may be a 20-foot cord, you lose length with the drop from socket to floor and jump up to the charge port.

If your mobile connector isn't long enough, but a dryer extension cord. I have a friend's 50+ foot welder's extension cord on long-term loan. I put it in the frunk for road trips. Also have adapters from both types of dryer socket to the cord's 6-50 plug. That solves a lot of problems.

BTW - the term is "range anxiety." Appropriate attitude until you have more experience with your car's "burn rate" and charging options. My wife's anxiety finally stepped down after 10 months and multiple road trips.

 

[eprosenx]

I will echo what others have said.

When I am going to stay with friends, the BEST solution is to charge at the destination overnight since you don't have to sit around waiting for the car (it charges while you socialize and sleep). Though if there are superchargers on the route and you don't want to bug family/friends to accommodate your charging needs they are a minimal disruption. I have taken a couple of weekend trips to places with only 120v charging, but I am often staying there for 2-3 days so it is fine to have really slow charging.

I will call out that charging on a 20a 120v receptacle is more than 33% faster than on a 15a 120v receptacle (since there is overhead to the charging process so that extra 33% current results in more than 33% speed improvement).

I would encourage you to look heavily at the dryer option. Dryers are typically not as heavy as washers FWIW, not too hard to slide usually.

There are a couple of ways to approach the dryer option:

If you are sure you can position your car charging port within 20' (including space for the cord to hang down, etc..) of the dryer plug, then the simplest and cheapest option is to buy the correct 30a adapter for your UMC Gen 2 from Tesla. It is $35.

Model S/X/3 Gen 2 NEMA Adapters

Now the trick is, there are two dryer outlet standards. The older one is three prong which is the NEMA 10-30. The newer one is four prong (has a ground) which is the 14-30. Make absolutely sure you have the right one (or just buy both).

If you determine that the dryer plug won't be an option, another slight improvement over a regular 15a 120v outlet is a 120v 20a receptacle (NEMA 5-20) on a 20a circuit. This is a "normal wall outlet" you use every day, but the left pin is horizontal instead of vertical. This is where you could get 33% (or more) faster charging than a regular 5-15 (15a circuit). If there is one of these available, again, you will need the right adapter from Tesla at the link above (5-20).

Note that often times you will find 20a circuits in garages but only with 15a receptacles on them. If you can verify for certain it is a 20a circuit (right breaker and wire gauge) you can get the Tesla 5-20 adapter plus this adapter https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017EUTHC0/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o04_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 to let you draw the 20 (well really 16) amps through the 15a receptacle. This is not UL rated for this so I can't recommend it, though I have done it from time to time when monitoring closely to make sure I am not overheating the receptacle.

Now if distance to the dryer receptacle is an issue a neat set of equipment is as follows:

Your car comes with a UMC Gen 2 which includes a NEMA 14-50 adapter. You can use that and plug into an extension cord such as this one (they also sell a 20' version):
Heavy-duty NEMA 14-50R extension cord for EV, 30 ft.

Then this cord has the neutral pin cut off (not needed for EV's) so you can plug it into either a 14-30 (dryer plug) or a 14-50 (electric oven plug or RV plug). The go ahead and buy this too if you need the older style of dryer plug (very common still):

NEMA 10-30P to 14-50R Adapter

AND if you think you might have to fall back to a regular 5-15 or 5-20 wall outlet (but still want to use your 30' extension cord), then get this:

NEMA 5-15P/5-20P to 14-50R 120V Adapter for EV, 3 ft.

The advantage is that with that one extension cord plus the two adapters I linked to, you have 50' of cable (20' UMC plus 30' extension cord) to connect to any of the following:

14-50 RV plug / range plug - Max 32a charge rate is fine
14-30 dryer plug - Set charge to 24a max charge rate
10-30 dryer plug - Set charge to 24a max charge rate
5-15 regular wall outlet - Set charge to 12a max charge rate
5-20 regular wall outlet but with 20a breaker instead of 15a breaker - Set charge to 16a max charge rate

Now note that this method REQUIRES you to manually set the appropriate charge current (listed above) EVERY TIME when plugging in.

That extension cord plus two adapters plus your included UMC with the 14-50 adapter that came with the car makes for a very versatile set of charging options when staying at residences in the US.

And as others have said, if you are going to go somewhere frequently, it may be pretty inexpensive to have an electrician wire you a 14-50 receptacle. That gives you 30 miles an hour of range, so basically guaranteed to be full by morning for the return trip!

Let us know what you come up with and how the trip goes!

 

[Tezzy#1]

Thank you, Everyone, for the great information and the links! This is extremely beneficial and I very much appreciate it

 

[eprosenx]

Destination charging is an amenity the hotel offers to attract customers. Kind of like free breakfast, or Wi-Fi, or an exercise room, etc.. You get the idea. Would you think of using any of those if you weren’t staying st the hotel?

Overnight at your family’s house at 120V will get you about 40 miles range. If that isn’t enough, use a public J1772 that you find on Plugshare or an RV park. If you visit often, you might even want to pay to have a 240V outlet installed in their garage.

FWIW, a lot of places will allow non patrons to charge (often with a fee). Tesla Destination charging does ask facilities if they would be willing to allow this (I don’t think they mandate it, but they do request it).

Might be worth calling them and asking politely if there are any options. It is of course OK if they say no.

But yes, I would always focus on charging at the place you are staying for the night. Dryer plugs work great. But do be aware it is only 24 amps at 240v, so 22 miles per hour. So 220 miles in 10 hours. I would plug in as soon as you got there probably!

 

[wws]

... I will call out that charging on a 20a 120v receptacle is more than 33% faster than on a 15a 120v receptacle (since there is overhead to the charging process so that extra 33% current results in more than 33% speed improvement)...

+1. My wife and I did our first overnight trip in our Model 3 a week ago. Turns out the place we stayed had a 5-20 receptacle exactly next to the parking spot that we used. Unfortunately I only had the 5-15 adapter. So the overnight charge was less than we could have gotten. I have now added a 5-20 adapter to my charge kit.

Funny thing is that the manager and her husband own a Volt so were completely knowledgeable and helpful about charging. They were also a bit apologetic as they are scheduled to get a Tesla Destination Charger on-site soon. Their two sister properties in town already have them. If we were really desperate, we could have parked at one of those. (Both were within walking distance.)

 

[brkaus]

Where are you going to? How long will you be there? There is a supercharger in Baton Rouge.

Try your route on abetterrouteplanner.com and see what it calculates.

 

[eprosenx]

+1. My wife and I did our first overnight trip in our Model 3 a week ago. Turns out the place we stayed had a 5-20 receptacle exactly next to the parking spot that we used. Unfortunately I only had the 5-15 adapter. So the overnight charge was less than we could have gotten. I have now added a 5-20 adapter to my charge kit.

Funny thing is that the manager and her husband own a Volt so were completely knowledgeable and helpful about charging. They were also a bit apologetic as they are scheduled to get a Tesla Destination Charger on-site soon. Their two sister properties in town already have them. If we were really desperate, we could have parked at one of those. (Both were within walking distance.)

Since you are knowledgeable I recommend getting the adapter I linked to above!

In residential settings most 20a circuits only have 15a receptacles on them.

 

[KenC]

Did you say you tried abetterrouteplanner.com? Cause they show Baton Rouge has a supercharger. And Houston to New Orleans, or just short of New Orleans would seem to be able to use Baton Rouge as a waystop.

 

[wws]

Since you are knowledgeable I recommend getting the adapter I linked to above!

In residential settings most 20a circuits only have 15a receptacles on them.

It is an interesting thought. For one of my use cases I made myself a 6-20 extension cord, and use it with the 6-20 UMC adapter. If I decide I need to, I'd make 5-15 and 6-15 adapters for it. A 5-15P to 6-20R adapter would handle the situation you describe - with or without the 6-20 extension cord.

 

[Eno Deb]

Since you are knowledgeable I recommend getting the adapter I linked to above!

In residential settings most 20a circuits only have 15a receptacles on them.

I don't think it's a good idea to advocate something like this. In most cases it's not easily possible for a layman to verify the installation. Seems like a big risk for a small reward, given that charging from a 5-20 is still just a trickle.

I bet in many cases the cabling and outlets in older houses even have trouble safely sustaining a constant 12A load (I know that was the case in my house, where a 120V outlet in the garage got pretty warm when used to charge the car) ...