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Tesla OR third party charger?

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Tuscan_Raider

Member
May 27, 2017
8
8
Nottingham
#1
Hello all, I couldn't wait for my ordered Model 3, so have just ordered a Model S 75, for delivery in Aug / Sep - very excited!

I'm getting my home infrastructure sorted, and welcome views/opinions on home charging units and installers in the Nottingham area... home install should be v easy as consumer unit and meter are all in the same corner of my drive as the car charge socket will be... looking for tethered as no prospect of having anything other than a Tesla (!) and think I want usage tracking 'smart' option.

I'm trying to decide between (currently) 3 options:

The Tesla 32A charger looks the coolest, and the nominated local installers tell me 'it communicates better with the car' (true or sales patter?). It is £400 + £400 install; unsure if this allows recording/tracking of elec usage?

A friend has a pod-point charger; I'm waiting for their quote, but website says 7kW from £359 + connectivity option.

Chargemaster offer a 7kW one with comms option for £449 installed.

Any others I should consider? Is the Tesla one worth the extra?

Thanks, and looking forward to being part of the Tesla community!

Nick.
 
#3
I have the Tesla charger and it works faultlessly. It does not record or track electricity use (I use TeaslaFi to do that). No doubt you will get advice that you can just put a 32amp commando in and use the UMC (but that's not a tethered solution and is fiddly if you keep the UMC in the car for emergencies.). I do have a 32amp commando fitted, then a short lead to the Tesla charger (if I move I can take the charger with me, if it fails I can use the UMC so I'm not stuck).
 
#4
I have commando as well as Tethered, useful if a visiting EV wants it (haven't had one of those yet!) or if the main circuit fails (had that, a switch-thingie broke) and also when i had a loaner it charged reliably from the Commando but was 50:550 with my tethered cable. Never got to the bottom of that, when my car came back it was fine on Tethered ... anyway, having the additional commando perhaps provides "options"

Consider how you will park - ideally with left-side against the wall / charger-location. As it happens that's the wrong-way-round for our in-out drive ... not exactly a bit problem though! although I did consider putting the charger on the other side of the drive to fix that, couldn't face digging up the drive though!

We have Economy-7 - dunno if that is worth considering for overnight charging if not already installed at the property. Brings the opportunity to have Powerwall too and have daytime electricity at nighttime rates ... but maybe you already have Solar PV for that.

Tuscan_Raider said:
the nominated local installers tell me 'it communicates better with the car' (true or sales patter?)
Click to expand...

I expect it is true. When I had trouble with the Loaner the Support folk asked me to use the UMC to try to charge because they said they got much better feedback on what was going on. The Tesla tethered connector was't available when I got mine.

There are some other advantages to the Tesla charger - such as loan-balancing when charging two cars. That's obviously not a Day One problem though!
 
#6
Tesla charger plugs in without an adapter. The adapter is okay but a bit clunky, especially when pulling it out.

Tesla charger has a button to pop open the charge port. This is more handy than it sounds.

The above two "little conveniences" taken together reduces the time required to plug in my car to 3 seconds. (I've timed it.) I just pop it in as I walk by.
 
#9
Doug_G said:
Tesla charger plugs in without an adapter. The adapter is okay but a bit clunky, especially when pulling it out.
Click to expand...
Note that you are posting in the UK sub-forum, where this issue doesn't apply - European cars accept the standard type2 connector.

Tesla charger has a button to pop open the charge port. This is more handy than it sounds.
Click to expand...

This one is relevant (and even more so in Europe) standard type2 chargepoints don't have any button - it both opens the port before plugging in, and also (if the doors are already unlocked) unlocks the connector from the car.

"Communicating better with the car" is questionable. Certainly the tesla unit can be configured to be deliberately incompatible with other cars (as fitted on the destination charging programme). There seems to be no evidence it does anything special in the standard configuration.

The one other thing the Tesla unit _can_ do that most standard ones can't is communicate with another identical unit for when you buy a second EV. Many UK homes have insufficient electrical supply for two 7kW chargepoints, so you either install two 3.5kW units so both cars can charge slowly or just one 7kW and have to juggle it between cars. If you install two Tesla units, they can share the power intelligently - providing 3.5kW to each car if they are both in need of charge, but allowing one of them to draw the full 7kW if the other one is already full or not there.

The Tesla units don't provide metering of the energy used, although it is easy and inexpensive to install a separate 'proper' meter externally (this applies to any chargepoint). IMO, Chargemaster's built-in metering and external access is inaccurate and not particularly useful - certainly not worth the price premium they now apply (I got it when it was 'free'). PodPoint seem to have more ideas for doing things with their remote access, though whether it's worth having is still not obvious.
 
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#10
I agree with you OP, the Tesla charger is the coolest and built for the Tesla (and only the Tesla, for the moment anyway). Now is not the time to worry about a few quid, stick with the brand. You'll regret it everytime you walk into the garage (or when there is a s/w update that takes advantage of some hidden feature none of us know about. ;) ) And TeslaFI will provide the most extensive energy usage and monitoring data out there.. Check it out, if you have not done so.

And congratulations......the S is a much better decision.

Edit: here is the link for you: Home -
 
Last edited:
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#11
NikeWings said:
I agree with you OP, the Tesla charger is the coolest and built for the Tesla (and only the Tesla, for the moment anyway). Now is not the time to worry about a few quid, stick with the brand. You'll regret it everytime you walk into the garage (or when there is a s/w update that takes advantage of some hidden feature none of us know about. ;) ) And TeslaFI will provide the most extensive energy usage and monitoring data out there.. Check it out, if you have not done so.

And congratulations......the S is a much better decision.

Edit: here is the link for you: Home -
Click to expand...
I think it will take me a while to burn up my approx £500 worth of free electric---ery :-0
 
#13
NikeWings said:
Do you have reduced off-peak rates available from your local utilities?
Click to expand...

We have something called Economy-7 which is 7 hours overnight at about 50% discount, but slightly higher day rates. It came into being when electric central heating (using radiators full of heat-storing-bricks) was in vogue. We had them at home when I was a kid, big draughty old place, but cheaper to install room-by-room as the place was renovated over a decade or more ... compared to an all-in-one-go wet radiator system installation. But the "Night Storage Heaters" were cold by the evening when we needed them the most ...

There are some other variations, but the most common one is 7 hours midnight-to-7 in Winter and an hour later in Summer (don't forget to adjust the start time when the clocks go forward ...).
 
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#14
arg said:
"Communicating better with the car" is questionable. Certainly the tesla unit can be configured to be deliberately incompatible with other cars (as fitted on the destination charging programme). There seems to be no evidence it does anything special in the standard configuration.
Click to expand...

Is this true? I was lead to believe from Tesla Delivery specialist that the Tesla chargers can only be used on a Tesla. Given that I didn't want to limit myself to having two Tesla's (I wish) but might have a PHEV in our household, having something more generic like a PodPoint (which is what I went for in the end) was a more future proof choice and a lot cheaper.
 
#15
stigmeister said:
Is this true? I was lead to believe from Tesla Delivery specialist that the Tesla chargers can only be used on a Tesla. Given that I didn't want to limit myself to having two Tesla's (I wish) but might have a PHEV in our household, having something more generic like a PodPoint (which is what I went for in the end) was a more future proof choice and a lot cheaper.
Click to expand...

The manual for the Tesla WC specifically mentions being able to charge other cars with it.

Some units installed under the destination charging programme allow non-Tesla cars to charge, but most do not. There is speculation that one of the undocumented combinations of the internal switch settings enables the Tesla-only mode.
 
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#16
arg said:
The manual for the Tesla WC specifically mentions being able to charge other cars with it.

Some units installed under the destination charging programme allow non-Tesla cars to charge, but most do not. There is speculation that one of the undocumented combinations of the internal switch settings enables the Tesla-only mode.
Click to expand...

Hmm, I might have gone with the Tesla version had I known that, poor advice from Tesla delivery team. Regardless the PodPoint is a nice enough unit, doesn't look ugly like others, just not as nice as the Tesla unit. That said the Tesla unit is circa £400 more when you consider no grant.

One thing I have noticed is when using the UMC at some hotels that have a 32Amp Single Phase Blue Commando is I get as you would expect 32Amps and 8KW. Whereas the PodPoint is limited to only 30Amps and 7Kw as per a standard Type 2 Charging point, despite being on a 40Amp circuit (fuse and cable size).

Anyone getting any more from a Type 2 (Chargemaster, PodPoint, Tesla etc) on a single phase supply? i.e. not the 11kw on 3 phase.

Thanks
 
#17
Thanks everyone for your helpful advice; I'm currently waiting for a few of the options to get back to me with details / costs; including the electric nation trial. Seems to be a lot of patience involved in Tesla ownership - a 'development area' of mine! :)
 
#18
Tuscan_Raider said:
Thanks everyone for your helpful advice; I'm currently waiting for a few of the options to get back to me with details / costs; including the electric nation trial. Seems to be a lot of patience involved in Tesla ownership - a 'development area' of mine! :)
Click to expand...

Oh yes, Tesla time has yet to be accurately defined, but it's certainly not 60 minutes in an hour. However, the Long Wait is worth it and the car is exceptional. Not perfect, e.g. at the moment the in car Spotify account isn't working, but I'm sure it'll get fixed.
 
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