We have solar also during the summer which should provide enough another 3-4 hours or so per day, which means that in theory it will be possible to go from 20 to 80% charge in 3-4 days. We rarely use the car to go more than 5-10 miles during the week, so in most cases I think it will work. But, as you say it's the convenience of having a 7kw charger for the odd occasion that may swing it. Even then, though, I think we'd probably use the other UMC charger when visiting family or on holiday, at least in the short term. So fingers crossed Tesla honour their promise it will be included.
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Survey Do You Need a UMC?
- Thread starter Jason71
- Start date
We have solar also during the summer which should provide enough another 3-4 hours or so per day, which means that in theory it will be possible to go from 20 to 80% charge in 3-4 days. We rarely use the car to go more than 5-10 miles during the week, so in most cases I think it will work. But, as you say it's the convenience of having a 7kw charger for the odd occasion that may swing it. Even then, though, I think we'd probably use the other UMC charger when visiting family or on holiday, at least in the short term. So fingers crossed Tesla honour their promise it will be included.
I went with UMC as my primary L2 home charging for a few reasons, when I purchased my first Tesla in Dec 21:
BTW, this is the adapter set I'm carrying for those roadtrips, keeping in mind what's available/safe commonly around the continental US in 202x:
- It was simpler (no parts/shipping wait, much smaller space consumption on garage wall) and cheaper to get a 14-50 plug installed in my garage before the car arrived, vs the giant Tesla Wall Connector. At that time, the MC came with the car, but only with the 5-15 adapter. The service center where I picked up my car had the 14-50 adapter physically in stock though.
- The 32 amps the current-gen 14-50 will do is more than enough for my overnight needs. 99% of the time, I really don't need the 48 amps of the WC anyways. I drive ~100+ miles a day most days, and schedule charging almost every night, but I've never been squeezed for hours on overnight charging. The car gains roughly 10% battery level per hour on the 32A 14-50 connection, so even if I have to go 20%->80% overnight, that's only 6 hours, and it's usually in the garage for 8h or more between its final park of the night and scheduled takeoff the next day.
- I have friends who have other brands of EVs. I figured having a 14-50 on my wall might be nice for their occasional use, if they ever show up low on battery to hang out at my place (hasn't happened yet, though!). Their cars all have some kind of adapter to 14-50. If I were ever to upgrade from this setup later, I might actually go with something J1772-based for the same reason.
- Roughly 2-4 times a year, we make major roadtrips, and they're often to out of the way places with little charging infrastructure, so I was going to want a robust MC + adapters setup to deal with all the unknowns anyways and be able to charge in innovative and resourceful ways. We did our first of these a month after getting the car. It was to a remote ski town, an hour drive uphill from the last Supercharger on our route, then parked for several days in temps down to near 0F, with a foot of snow falling on the car while it was parked, and no possibility of charging while we were parked there. Amazingly, we made it back out to the next supercharger without incident, but only by a hair. Having the MC + adapters ready to be able to emergency charge with any plug I could find reduced my anxiety about the situation a lot, and I'm sure I'll actually need them on some of our other upcoming trips this year.
BTW, this is the adapter set I'm carrying for those roadtrips, keeping in mind what's available/safe commonly around the continental US in 202x:
- The Telsa->J1772 adapter, for random non-Tesla EV chargers I can find via various charging apps (will get the US CCS adapter too, when it's available!). I've already made good use of this several times with destination chargers and such.
- The Tesla MC, with the following Tesla MC adapters:
- 5-15 (standard lowest-amperage US household outlet. Easiest thing to find, but charge rate is abysmal - 12A @ 120V -> ~1.4kw)
- 5-20 (rarer, but you can find it occasionally. Slightly faster: 16A @ 120V -> ~1.9KW)
- 14-30 (pretty standard modern 4-pin grounded dryer plug, which some homes have in their garages! 24A @ 240V -> ~5.7kw)
- 14-50 (what I use at home, and also happens to be the same 50-amp plug available for RVs at most RV parks! 32A @ 240V -> ~7.6kw)
- Notably - none of the 3-pin 240V 6/10-x series ones. They're relatively uncommon/legacy plugs, and inherently less-safe anyways (they don't have pins for separate neutral and ground).
- Non-Tesla: This TT-30P->14-30R adapter from Amazon. It adapts the Tesla 14-30 to a 30A RV connection @ 120V, basically supplying the same amperage as the 30A dryer plug, but at half the voltage and thus half the charge rate. Still a better option than 5-15/5-20 if a 30A RV outlet is the only better thing you can find, and any RV park with power will have these. 24A @ 120V -> ~2.8kw. However, it seems to be "no longer available", and it's kinda hard to find these. It's easier to find TT-30P -> 14-50R ones, which can also work. The problem with the 14-50 variant is that you have to remember to manually turn your charge rate down to 24A, or you'll blow a breaker (or worse), whereas with a 14-30R adapter the amperage will automatically be correct.
I should add, in case anyone at Tesla ever reads these threads: I would recommend dumping the 4 different NEMA 6/10 series adapters you sell to keep your product line simpler (they're not really safe or modern, and I imagine the real use-cases for these are incredibly rare anyways), and then adding an official TT-30P adapter to the lineup for those 30A RV connections that might be necessary for roadtrips off the beaten path. Also - maybe add a pull handle/loop to the back of the existing 14-50 and the new TT-30P, because both plugs can be mechanically tight and difficult to unplug.
At least we now appreciate how simple UK household plugs are in comparison to the US!
Rooster6655
Active Member
Useful for when charger breaks down but would expect it to be fixed within 2 weeks so could make the use of public chargers and wouldn't get much cost saving with the current electric prices as the car isn't going to charge much in any 4 hour window on the UMC.
Its fine to add it as an optional extra but probably they way that they have announced it is the annoying part, a better way would be initially to offer a discount for not having it before price increases, then people probably wouldn't have had a melt down about it.
The interesting part is most people not happy already have a Tesla and a UMC
Its fine to add it as an optional extra but probably they way that they have announced it is the annoying part, a better way would be initially to offer a discount for not having it before price increases, then people probably wouldn't have had a melt down about it.
The interesting part is most people not happy already have a Tesla and a UMC
73Bruin
Member
I have used mine several times while traveling under the following circumstances:
- At a hotel when their destination chargers were all in use and I arrived late at night with a very low state of charge and had plans for the next day and there wasn't a supercharger within 15 miles
- At a friend's vacation home where the nearest supercharger was 30 miles away and the more local non-Tesla chargers were charging per minute fees on top of a high power rate.
Oops! I got here from the "Hot" threads list and failed to notice the section, sorry!
Mods - you could delete my contents in this thread if you want (I can't edit, I assume because it was quoted already), as they're confusing!
Wol747
Active Member
>>No dividends, so profits not distributed to anyone.
So the profits are available to plough back into more factories, models, development, diversification into Lithium mining, etc. <<
That's a weird idea as to how capital is raised!
Undecided_2
Member
I just had a look on Zap Map, there are some large areas with no rapid chargers… I think Scotland is better served.
page3
Member
Cardo
Active Member
I wonder whether there’s quite big differences between the US and UK? In the US, a standard electrical socket is 110v, which at similar currents to us will provide half the charging power (~1.2kW?). This isn’t particularly impressive and you’d need to leave the car plugged in for quite a long time to get a useable charge. So some people have special 240v/32A sockets fitted that will allow them to charge up to 7kW. This isn’t disimilar to having an EVSE fitted. However, if visiting friends or family, are they likely to have the appropriate sockets fitted to charge at a rate that makes it worthwhile for an overnight stop?
Then look at the UK (and EU, and large swathes the rest of the globe) with our 240v infrastructures. A standard 13A socket even at a 10A charge rate will still provide a 2.4kW charge, which if left overnight will provide a decent amount of charge (though probably too slow for a typical 4 hour off-peak rate). I’ve certainly used the UMC (and similar granny chargers on previous EVs) when visiting friends or family on plenty of occasions.
Are Tesla basing global decisions on US metrics? Certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
Then look at the UK (and EU, and large swathes the rest of the globe) with our 240v infrastructures. A standard 13A socket even at a 10A charge rate will still provide a 2.4kW charge, which if left overnight will provide a decent amount of charge (though probably too slow for a typical 4 hour off-peak rate). I’ve certainly used the UMC (and similar granny chargers on previous EVs) when visiting friends or family on plenty of occasions.
Are Tesla basing global decisions on US metrics? Certainly wouldn’t be the first time.
WannabeOwner
Well-Known Member
As I understand it a "Dryer socket" in the garage is common in the USA - 240V (2-phases bound maybe?) - so hooking up to that, depending on whether the car can be got nearby, is probably worthwhile.
No idea if those higher voltage circuits are routinely used for anything else in the USA? Cooking? Hair drying? laptop charging? 110V is slow for a lot of things
Terry F
Model 3 owner
A bit off topic but - Elon has had some bad experiences with banks holding him (Tesla) to ransom (do x or we will withdraw your loans, e.g. 2018 SEC settlement) and so is determined to keep Tesla debt free now that all loans are repaid to avoid this again - hence the very large cash reserves Tesla has.
Terry F
Model 3 owner
Northern Ireland does not currently have a single SuC though the Belfast SC has been on the 'coming soon' list for a while (but only 2 stalls I think). My nearest SuC is a few miles over the border towards Dublin and is about 70 miles from my home. There are a few 11Kw to 22Kw chargers around, hotels and shopping centres, but at those charge rates it would take a while. The UMC works fine for me.
It was good forward thinking but In my opinion making it free or keeping it free as long as they did was a mistake. It meant people were encouraged to use it since it was cheaper than charging at home thereby blocking people who actually needed it on road trips or with no drive. It also discouraged other companies from installing chargers in Scotland since who wants to compete with free.
You make a good point. As upgraded said a lot of properties do have 240volt drier circuits but not all so it may well be that utilisation in the US is lower for this reason. On the other hand no one said they are going to remove is as standard equipment in all markets either. Maybe they will just do in the US? I guess we will see.
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