Tesla supplied charger

[Electroman]

I have had three people in my neighborhood who have picked up their Teslas in the last two weeks, come to me this past week and ask about how to get the charging setup done in their garage.

Tesla provides them with a charging cable that has a 120V plug. They also provide a J1772 adapter. So if we need to get L2 charging setup installed in the garage, are these the two steps to be done:

- get an electrician to pull a wire with around 30 amps from the breaker and install a 220V adapter (the female part) on the garage wall
- change the 120V plug that is in the Tesla supplied cable to the 220V plug that matches the one installed in the garage wall.

Is that it? Thank you

 

[DerbyDave]

Tesla no longer supplies the mobile connector for charging. You can buy one, but it only adds 3 to 4 Miles of charge per hour on a normal 120v outlet, and is a level 1 charger. You can also install the Tesla Wall Connector, a level 2 capable connector that generally is installed directly on the 60 amp circuit, to provide the maximum 48 amp charging capability from an AC circuit. This is the maximum AC charging your new car can take. I had an electrician put in the wiring and a dedicated breaker for the Wall Connector.

 

[Electroman]

Thank you. The cable that came with the car says 120-240V 32 amps max, and it has 120 V plug.

Why can't this cable be used by simply replacing the 120V plug with a 220V plug and a corresponding 40 amp AC circuit and adapter on the wall? Where is the need to buy a new one for home charging?

 

[DerbyDave]

It helps to plug it into a 240V outlet. Here are the charging speeds for the mobile connector:

Adapter Current Power at 120 Volts
5-15 12A 1.3 kW
Adapter Current Power at 240 Volts
14-50, 6-50 32A 7.6 kW
14-30, 10-30 24A 5.7 kW
6-20 16A 3.8 kW
6-15 12A 2.8 kW

You can buy the appropriate plug adapter from Tesla and plug it in to your 240V wall outlet.

 

[Electroman]

Thank you very much. I guess we can buy the adapter from Home Depot too, or is this something specific to Tesla? I do see a variety of adapters that Tesla sells in their website.

 

[DerbyDave]

Yes, Home depot or Amazon, etc. Make sure it is compatible with the Gen2 Tesla Mobile Connector, which both Home Depot and Amazon say it is. I would just buy the adapter you need from Tesla when you purchase the Mobile Connector.

 

[DerbyDave]

Remember that I said that new production Model S (after 6/15/2022, I believe) no longer include the Mobile Connector. You now must buy the Mobile Connector (32A max) if you want it, or the Wall Connector (48A max), if you want to charge at home. Of course, there are other connectors available besides Tesla, but most cannot supply the max 48A output of the Wall Connector on an appropriate 240V circuit. It all depends on if you will be satisfied with longer charging times.