SAE Combo Adapter (again) maybe now with BMW adding charging?

[RDoc]

In the past the argument against SAE Combo adapters was that there were almost no installations of SAE chargers, but that is changing, especially now that BMW seems to have committed to the SAE standard and is starting to install their own chargers, so perhaps the time has come to replace the standard J1772 Tesla adapter with an SAE Combo adapter that could do both AC and DC charging.

I'm aware that a single adapter that was used for J1772 AC and DC charging would have to have some way to ensure the bottom plugs weren't energized when doing J1772 charging, but that seem like a pretty trivial engineering problem to solve, e.g. with a mechanical switch or a blanking plug on the adapter.

 

[tga]

In the past the argument against SAE Combo adapters was that there were almost no installations of SAE chargers, but that is changing, especially now that BMW seems to have committed to the SAE standard and is starting to install their own chargers, so perhaps the time has come to replace the standard J1772 Tesla adapter with an SAE Combo adapter that could do both AC and DC charging.

I'm aware that a single adapter that was used for J1772 AC and DC charging would have to have some way to ensure the bottom plugs weren't energized when doing J1772 charging, but that seem like a pretty trivial engineering problem to solve, e.g. with a mechanical switch or a blanking plug on the adapter.

Or maybe keep the J1772 L2 adapter and and a new one for L3 CCS.

Do we even know if the Supercharging protocol is compatible with SAE CCS? Would it be a "dumb" adapter like the J1772, or require a "mess o' smarts" like the Chademo (with the long debug time).

 

[Johan]

Or maybe keep the J1772 L2 adapter and and a new one for L3 CCS.

Do we even know if the Supercharging protocol is compatible with SAE CCS? Would it be a "dumb" adapter like the J1772, or require a "mess o' smarts" like the Chademo (with the long debug time).

Supercharger protocol a superset of CCS?

In this thread ItsNotAboutTheMoney said:

Tesla Motors CTO talks future batteries and charging protocols - SAE International

Originally Posted by Automotive Engineering Magazine
What about the communication protocol of the Combo Connector? It’s considered essential for V2G.

Originally Posted by JB Straubel
That’s fine. We’re definitely commonizing with all of that. The only thing that’s up for debate in all of these standards is the physical geometries of the pins and sockets. Everything else is pretty easy to adapt to. The communication standards are pretty universal. We’re 100% compliant with all the J1772 communication levels, signaling, voltage, everything.



I think it's compatible.

 

[stopcrazypp]

Or maybe keep the J1772 L2 adapter and and a new one for L3 CCS.

I think they will likely go with this option. Having a blanking panel or some kind of mechanical switch is less safe. CCS has a mode that supports DC charging just through the standard J1772 connector, but it seems there are no stations that use this option. That mode would be the easiest to support (no new adapter would be required).

 

[wraithnot]

In the past the argument against SAE Combo adapters was that there were almost no installations of SAE chargers, but that is changing, especially now that BMW seems to have committed to the SAE standard and is starting to install their own chargers, so perhaps the time has come to replace the standard J1772 Tesla adapter with an SAE Combo adapter that could do both AC and DC charging.

I'm aware that a single adapter that was used for J1772 AC and DC charging would have to have some way to ensure the bottom plugs weren't energized when doing J1772 charging, but that seem like a pretty trivial engineering problem to solve, e.g. with a mechanical switch or a blanking plug on the adapter.

NRG/evGO has been installing CCS chargers in the SF bay area at a pretty impressive pace over the past few months. There is one in San Rafael about 7 miles from our house so I would buy a CCS-Tesla adapter in a heartbeat if they offered it for a similar price as the standard J1772 adapter. These CCS stations are all CCS/CHAdeMO combo stations and at least some of them have a higher max current rating for the CCS side (165 A vs. 120 A). Although if the CCS and CHAdeMO adapters were both the same price and similarly clunky, I'd probably go with the CHAdeMO adapter since there are a lot more CHAdeMO stations around.