Should I buy CHAdeMO adapter?

[neutrino]

I'm going to do a road trip coast to coast in November. The route has plenty of Superchargers (mostly interstates), but I'm thinking it might be beneficial to carry around a CHAdeMO adapter just in case we stop at shopping centers, etc. and have some time to kill. Electrify America's network looks pretty sizable: Locate a public EV charger | Electrify America

On the down side, it's $450 from Tesla and somewhat bulky.

Recommendations?

 

[acarney]

I'm going to do a road trip coast to coast in November. The route has plenty of Superchargers (mostly interstates), but I'm thinking it might be beneficial to carry around a CHAdeMO adapter just in case we stop at shopping centers, etc. and have some time to kill. Electrify America's network looks pretty sizable: Locate a public EV charger | Electrify America

On the down side, it's $450 from Tesla and somewhat bulky.

Recommendations?

If you can afford it and plan to own the car awhile, do it and toss it in the front trunk. You never know when a supercharger might be down or blocked because of snow or something. This is certainly an item that you’ll be happy you have if you need it vs if you don’t have it. In addition, it often goes out of stock and Tesla stores often don’t have them. So if you’re in the middle of a trip and think you can have it overnight shipped somewhere or swing by a store, that might (likely) won’t be an option. That said, EA chargers are down for a 500+ mile stretch on the east coast for maintenance and upgrades and could very well still be down in November, so check those frequently and don’t rely on them.

I would get it and keep it in the car if going long distances. The longest I’ve done in my car has been ~400 miles in a day to avoid a closed mountain pass (normal trip is 200 miles) and passed at least six superchargers so I wasn’t too worried. However, if I was going 400+ miles across a state and there were only three or four superchargers in a point to point fashion, I might think twice about backup options.

 

[TheHarg]

If you are doing a long trip, yes it is worth is. I just returned from a BC to Manitoba and Back trip. On the way back Friday I pulled into Golden BC with 20% to find someone had hit a hydro pole and power was out for a good part of town. That included the Tesla chargers and the Petra Canada ones. The BC Hydro one was still up. ChaDeMo adapter to rescue, worked like a charm. It does happen, buy one and test it before your trip.

 

[cwerdna]

I'm going to do a road trip coast to coast in November. The route has plenty of Superchargers (mostly interstates), but I'm thinking it might be beneficial to carry around a CHAdeMO adapter just in case we stop at shopping centers, etc. and have some time to kill. Electrify America's network looks pretty sizable: Locate a public EV charger | Electrify America

On the down side, it's $450 from Tesla and somewhat bulky.

Don't depend on EA. They only install a single CHAdeMO handle at each site w/multiple e.g. 5 to 7+) SAE Combo handles. The CHAdeMO charger might be down.

Instead, use Plugshare and filter by CHAdeMO. Get the apps of all the major charging networks (even better is to get the RFID cards for the networks, EA doesn't have one), sign in and register a method of payment if you don't have to deposit $. Networks include ChargePoint, EVgo, Greenlots, etc. Also, check Plugshare scores and recent check-ins of any chargers you might plan to use. Some might be usually broken or blocked.

If you plan to charge on EA a few times, don't sign up until you want to use it. When I signed up on March 16, I recall being forced to choose Pass (no monthly fee) or Pass+ (has $4 monthly fee) and being stuck w/the choice for the month. For the latter, the per minute fee is less and there's no $1 session fee.

Also, per Electrify America Talks Charging Network Problems, Has Solutions, do not use the credit card readers or probably by extension, NFC. Start your EA sessions via their app!

Don't waste time with Blink. Their equipment is often broken and they're pricey per kWh.

That said, EA chargers are down for a 500+ mile stretch on the east coast for maintenance and upgrades and could very well still be down in November, so check those frequently and don’t rely on them.

Yep. Electrify America Shuts Down 500-Mile Charging Corridor Over Labor Day is in reference to I-95.

At least CHAdeMO charging speeds are better than J1772. Most public J1772 charging is only 30 amps and often only at 208 volts at commercial sites. 30 amps * 208 volts = 6,240 watts = 6.24 kW

 

[rxlawdude]

I think CHAdeMO will go the way of EDGE 2G cell service. Clearly CCS is the winning non-Tesla standard war.
Unfortunately, CCS adapter for Teslas in the US looks unlikely due to some technical limitations in the CCS design. (Perhaps intentionally designed that way to short-circuit Tesla.)

 

[ArcticStation]

Most owners living in the US simply don’t need a CHAdeMO adapter. Nice to have? Yes, but not essential. And if you have easy access to a free CHAdeMO charger, it is certainly worth it. However, if you venture into much of Canada, it can be a must have. Before we bought the adapter, we would rent an ICE car for our visits to family living in rural parts of Atlantic Canada. Now we simply pull into a CHAdeMO equipped Sobey’s or Petro Canada and top off with a 47KW “fast” charge while we shop and use the washroom. The first trip without having to rent an ICE paid for the adapter.

 

[user212_nr]

On the down side, it's $450 from Tesla and somewhat bulky.

Recommendations?

$450 is a lot IMO. Especially given that Chademo officially has no future already, being replaced by CCS.

If you look at a map of Georgia, for instance, you will see that there are more Chademo than Superchargers, but there are enough superchargers. Thus in Georgia it would be a waste of money.

Each state and road will be different, so you will have places with a Tesla and no Chademo and places with a Chademo and no Tesla if you look hard enough. A road trip that hits major U.S. cities should not be a problem.

Unless you can think of a destination that you want to go but can't, and would pay $450 to go there, I would not. You can reach a lot of destinations by optimizing your "fuel consumption" driving at lower speed.

A CCS adapter might be a good investment, but they are not selling it in the U.S.

Superchargers

Chademo (most if not all also have CCS)

 

[theothertom]

Yeah, watch out for EA. They've been unreliable but are now trying to fix their issues. Time will tell. If you do, use the app to start the session. Their card readers are practically useless . To answer your question, I wouldn't do it. If you're killing a few hours at a mall or whatever, use your adapter and plug into L2.

 

[phil4791eng]

I wouldn’t. If it was am emergency I could use the J1772 adapter.

 

[Rocky_H]

Hard to say. The vast majority of the time, you wouldn't have any need for it--Superchargers will cover it, but when there are times that you need it, you will be angry not to have it. I have a friend here who discovered just before leaving on a trip that the Baker City, OR Supercharger was down from vandalism. He borrowed my CHAdeMO adapter for that trip, because it's too big a gap to skip to the next Supercharger. And I just talked with a friend who had helped someone figure that out who did get caught there with the Baker City outage and had to spend a few hours charging on level 2 there in town to get through it because he didn't have the CHAdeMO adapter.

And I happen to live next to a huge hole in the Supercharger network, so driving to Bend, OR or Winnemucca, NV needs to use the CHAdeMO stations until Superchargers get built there.

 

[Ruffles]

I have one and can confirm it works. The problem is the networks that use them suck. It took three tries at this blink charger to get it to work trying various things like connecting to the car first and then to the Blink charge when it said to connect vs connecting the Blink charger to the adapter and then the car etc. When it did connect it was slow. I also hate having so much weight hang off the charge port.

 

[ArcticStation]

I also hate having so much weight hang off the charge port.

I always carry a plastic crate in my trunk to store odds and ends that I like to keep in the car. If I need to use the adapter, I position the crate under the adapter so it lays flat, rather than letting it hang off of the charge port. Yup, an adapter laying on top of a heavy duty extension cord, window cleaner and other "essential" items located in a bright pink plastic bin is a kludge, but it works.

 

[angus[Y]oung]

I always carry a plastic crate in my trunk to store odds and ends that I like to keep in the car. If I need to use the adapter, I position the crate under the adapter so it lays flat, rather than letting it hang off of the charge port. Yup, an adapter laying on top of a heavy duty extension cord, window cleaner and other "essential" items located in a bright pink plastic bin is a kludge, but it works.

@ArcticStation do you have a pic of this in action?

 

[ArcticStation]

@ArcticStation do you have a pic of this in action?

 

[P85_DA]

Bought one for my S back in 2013 ..used a total of 2times ..IMO not worth it unless u can find used for good price

 

[angus[Y]oung]

Thanks! So basically a milk crate turned on its side. Clever. I think the charge port is a bit higher on a Model Y, so might take some additional tweaks to translate, but I like what you did there.

 

[ArcticStation]

basically a milk crate turned on its side

Hey, that is a high end Walmart product purchased on sale for 98 cents, not a common milk crate! Geez.

 

[ai4px]

We have a daughter going to College of Charleston and there's no supercharger in Charleston. So we got the Chademo adapter for wife's MS60. It is more expensive than Tesla charging but , hey, when ya gotta, ya gotta. We used both the EA at Target on Rivers Ave and the EVGO charger at Spinx in Ladson SC. EA was a cheaper charge for us than EVGO.

 

[Gwgan]

The map CHAdeMO Adapter Sharing ZeeMap is no longer active but the idea of sharing adapters may still live on. Reach out to local Tesla club.

 

[kickenandbrian]

We bought one based on where we live and want to go. In the Inland NW, there are not a lot of options if you want to get off the freeways. This looks to be more so when we go to rural BC or Idaho. I figure if I use it once, it paid for itself.