Tesla Wall Connector Price Drop to $495 from $550 [ordered direct from tesla]

[pcmike]

Why is the "wall connector" better than a standard 220 volt outlet you can buy for less than $20??? OK, so it charges faster. Whoop-de-do! You plug your car in at night and it's full in the morning, same as the outlet. The main difference seems to be that you have to pay 50 times more for the "wall connector", which, of course, makes it better, right? And, as an extra benefit, you can ONLY use the wall connector for charging your car, while I can plug several different things into my outlet. Who are the ones making a profit from these? What's the push? "Ooooh, it's white, and I had to get an electrician to install it for an additional $500, so it must be better!" NOT.

I've been using the same 220 volt outlet to charge my cars for over ten years. I bought it at The Home Depot for about ten bucks and put it in myself, which is allowed in my county. If I sell my house, I just leave the outlet here for the next owner, so he can charge HIS Tesla. No one needs a "wall connector". Even rich Tesla owners are smart enough to spend their money wisely, and this ain't one of those deals.

I guess I’m doubly smart then… I got a wall connector for my Y and an outlet/TMC (not Home Depot brand… Bryant) for M3SR (because it can only charge at 32A anyhow, so TWC would truly be pointless), both installed as side jobs by a licensed electrician.

 

[lowercase]

Why use wall connector when you can use mobile charger

 

[BillRadio]

Why use wall connector when you can use mobile charger

The consideration of one over another comes up for people who do not want remove the connector each day and choose to get a second mobile charger to keep at home. Then the difference in price becomes less of a factor, especially if there is a need to install a good quality NEMA receptacle.

 

[pjensen]

Why use wall connector when you can use mobile charger

I installed a 14-50R socket (Bryant 9450FR) with wiring for $75 total cost. The socket is high quality and works great. I leave the mobile charger plugged in all the time. The tesla mobile charger has been powered on for more than a year now.

I use the tesla mobile charger for two electric cars (M3 and a Mustang Mach E). To charge the Mach-E, I attach a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter. Works great.

To me, the tesla wall connector is overpriced and not necessary at all. But I'm sure it looks pretty....

 

[Fean07]

Why is the "wall connector" better than a standard 220 volt outlet you can buy for less than $20??? OK, so it charges faster. Whoop-de-do! You plug your car in at night and it's full in the morning, same as the outlet. The main difference seems to be that you have to pay 50 times more for the "wall connector", which, of course, makes it better, right? And, as an extra benefit, you can ONLY use the wall connector for charging your car, while I can plug several different things into my outlet. Who are the ones making a profit from these? What's the push? "Ooooh, it's white, and I had to get an electrician to install it for an additional $500, so it must be better!" NOT.

I've been using the same 220 volt outlet to charge my cars for over ten years. I bought it at The Home Depot for about ten bucks and put it in myself, which is allowed in my county. If I sell my house, I just leave the outlet here for the next owner, so he can charge HIS Tesla. No one needs a "wall connector". Even rich Tesla owners are smart enough to spend their money wisely, and this ain't one of those deals.

Is not… but you still need to buy a charger after you install the plug, no ?

 

[Fean07]

Question for you guys… I have bought the wall connector last week at 550$.
don’t think they will adjust price, so was thinking to return so I can buy at 495$.
do they charge restocking fee on return product if i bring it to the store ?

 

[T-J-]

Is not… but you still need to buy a charger after you install the plug, no ?

I mean, you can use the one that comes with your car.

 

[Ellvis]

Question for you guys… I have bought the wall connector last week at 550$.
don’t think they will adjust price, so was thinking to return so I can buy at 495$.
do they charge restocking fee on return product if i bring it to the store ?

I did the exact same thing, I sent an email... will see what happens I guess.

 

[STS-134]

You also have to make sure the car is awake. I usually touch the nearby passenger door handle enough to wake the car but not enough to open the door.

You can wake the car with one press of the button on the WC. After the car wakes, another press of the button opens the charge port. Also, if the car has gone to sleep after completing charging, you may need to press the button twice, once to wake the car and another time to get the charge port lock to release.

No, it's not kickbacks. This has been around for several years and is covered in a lot of other threads. It is because of them needing an internet connected functionality where they can control the timing and on/off activation of the charging unit to manage loads. Tesla's products have never offered that function, so they don't qualify.

Wouldn't it be better (in the case of Tesla) to control this via the car, which has LTE connectivity? Although I think it's kind of funny, I set both a scheduled departure (in the morning) and I also told the car that my off peak rates end at 5 pm. The result is that the car will try to charge so that it's ready before the scheduled departure time, but it will also try to charge just before 5 pm. Since PG&E keeps raising my rates, that sort of operates as a "F you" to PG&E, since the charging happens just prior to peak rates, when it doesn't cost me any more than it costs to charge during off peak times (because it IS off peak) but PG&E is paying more to get the electricity. If PG&E actually stopped pissing me off I might try to stop this behavior, but since they just raised our rates again...

Why use wall connector when you can use mobile charger

The mobile charger always needs to remain in the vehicle. It is for road trips and emergencies. If I were to be somewhere and the EVSEs are dead, I need to be able to plug in anywhere and the only way I can do that is with the mobile charger and all of the NEMA plug adapters in the vehicle at all times.

 

[pjensen]

You can wake the car with one press of the button on the WC. After the car wakes, another press of the button opens the charge port. Also, if the car has gone to sleep after completing charging, you may need to press the button twice, once to wake the car and another time to get the charge port lock to release.

With the key fob in my pocket, I can press the mobile charger button and the charge port opens. If the car is asleep, then it takes two button presses. Always works for me.

The mobile charger always needs to remain in the vehicle. It is for road trips and emergencies. If I were to be somewhere and the EVSEs are dead, I need to be able to plug in anywhere and the only way I can do that is with the mobile charger and all of the NEMA plug adapters in the vehicle at all times.

Not really. I just charge up the car when it gets down to 50% or less. Then it just takes 2 to 3 hours to recharge. I've been driving daily since Oct 2020 and I've never needed the mobile charge cable in the car. Neither has my wife had that issue with her electric car since she got it in July 2021. It is simply not an issue.

Maybe if a person is slack about looking at the battery charge level and does a lot of random long trips without any planning - then I could see it happening. But that is a problem of understanding how a battery car is to be used and charged.

 

[Colemada]

I saw that randomly the other day when it was 550 that morning, by that evening it was 495, I stopped my game of call of duty mid warzone match and ordered right away. Taking delivery of the vehicle on tuesday.

 

[3sr+buyer]

The mobile charger always needs to remain in the vehicle. It is for road trips and emergencies. If I were to be somewhere and the EVSEs are dead, I need to be able to plug in anywhere and the only way I can do that is with the mobile charger and all of the NEMA plug adapters in the vehicle at all times.

Lots of drivers only occasionally do road trips or other driving patterns that necessitate keeping the mobile connector in the car all the time (or putting it there frequently). Such drivers can use the included mobile connector as their home EVSE, only unplugging it and putting it in the car for an occasional road trip.

Obviously, if the road trips and such are frequent enough that unplugging and plugging the mobile connector that often is not a good idea, the driver would want a home EVSE separate from the mobile connector. But that is unlikely to describe every driver (or even a majority of them).

 

[Rocky_H]

The mobile charger always needs to remain in the vehicle.

That is a load of bull, and I will always disagree with it. It's fear mongering. Do you realize what that's used for? Tell you what, I will give a list of all of the charging sources that it is NOT used for:
1. Superchargers
2. Tesla Destination chargers (Tesla wall connector plugs)
3. Public charging stations with J1772
4. Public charging stations with CHAdeMO (if you have the adapter for that)

It would be outlandishly strange that someone could be somewhere that is a couple hundred miles from any of those sources. The mobile charging cable is ONLY used for plugging into outlets. That is becoming extremely rare these days. This isn't 2013 anymore.

It is for road trips and emergencies.

Sure--for road trips. That's a few times a year, and people can pack it when needed. When you are doing your daily driving around town in your local city, that is not a road trip.

If I were to be somewhere and the EVSEs are dead,

ALL of them? In the entire city?!?! Now you're just grasping at straws.

I need to be able to plug in anywhere and the only way I can do that is with the mobile charger and all of the NEMA plug adapters in the vehicle at all times.

No, that is a lie. You would need to be able to plug into something--not anywhere, and as I mentioned above, there are four categories of things that people can plug into that don't use the mobile cable AT ALL. Having to use the mobile cable is getting into like the 3rd or 4th level emergency backup to the backup kind of thing, and if you are in a city of some kind instead of Siberia, it's not going to be relevant.

Sure, there are still some areas that are not along interstates or major cities, so if people are needing to go into a corner of North Dakota or something, then that is an out of town trip where regular charging resources will be scarce, and bringing the charging cable matters. But that's a trip. You bring clothes, your toothbrush, and the charging cable. Needing to have it in the car every single day, though, is just not real.

 

[Young Phenom]

Haven't had my wall charger in my car in 2 full years.

 

[STS-134]

That is a load of bull, and I will always disagree with it. It's fear mongering. Do you realize what that's used for?

It's used for charging the vehicle from NEMA outlets.

Let me tell you a story. One time I went to the airport. I intentionally arrived with about 8% battery because I expected to be able to charge at one of the many (I believe they have over 50, possibly more than 100) ChargePoint EVSEs in one of the long term garages. Except that garage was apparently "full" (I put this in quotes because I know it wasn't actually full, as about 1/3 of the ChargePoint units were unoccupied, but the staff didn't know or care about that fact), and they had closed the entrance, so I couldn't get in there. They do have another garage, and they were directing people to use it instead. That garage has no EVSEs in it, but it does have some NEMA 5-20 outlets in spaces marked for EVs. So I pulled into a space, got out my mobile charger, and plugged in. If I didn't have that mobile charger in the car, I'd have been in trouble after I returned, and I'd have had to run to a supercharger because I didn't have enough energy to get back home.

 

[miimura]

It's used for charging the vehicle from NEMA outlets.

Let me tell you a story. One time I went to the airport. I intentionally arrived with about 8% battery because I expected to be able to charge at one of the many (I believe they have over 50, possibly more than 100) ChargePoint EVSEs in one of the long term garages. Except that garage was apparently "full" (I put this in quotes because I know it wasn't actually full, as about 1/3 of the ChargePoint units were unoccupied, but the staff didn't know or care about that fact), and they had closed the entrance, so I couldn't get in there. They do have another garage, and they were directing people to use it instead. That garage has no EVSEs in it, but it does have some NEMA 5-20 outlets in spaces marked for EVs. So I pulled into a space, got out my mobile charger, and plugged in. If I didn't have that mobile charger in the car, I'd have been in trouble after I returned, and I'd have had to run to a supercharger because I didn't have enough energy to get back home.

You got yourself into that situation because you have the habit of carrying the Mobile Connector. I have had my mobile connector permanently plugged in at home for 3.5 years and have never needed it on the road. The only time I would consider taking it with me was if I was staying at a vacation rental and there were no convenient public chargers nearby. The J1772 adapter stays in the glove box and that is sufficient for backup charging for the way we drive the car, which is normally only 25%-80% SOC.

 

[T-J-]

It's used for charging the vehicle from NEMA outlets.

Let me tell you a story. One time I went to the airport. I intentionally arrived with about 8% battery because I expected to be able to charge at one of the many (I believe they have over 50, possibly more than 100) ChargePoint EVSEs in one of the long term garages. Except that garage was apparently "full" (I put this in quotes because I know it wasn't actually full, as about 1/3 of the ChargePoint units were unoccupied, but the staff didn't know or care about that fact), and they had closed the entrance, so I couldn't get in there. They do have another garage, and they were directing people to use it instead. That garage has no EVSEs in it, but it does have some NEMA 5-20 outlets in spaces marked for EVs. So I pulled into a space, got out my mobile charger, and plugged in. If I didn't have that mobile charger in the car, I'd have been in trouble after I returned, and I'd have had to run to a supercharger because I didn't have enough energy to get back home.

Or, had you charged your car before going to the airport, this wouldn't have even been a discussion. This was 100% self-inflicted. You couldn't have picked a worse example to try and prove your point.

 

[3sr+buyer]

Let me tell you a story. One time I went to the airport. I intentionally arrived with about 8% battery because I expected to be able to charge at one of the many (I believe they have over 50, possibly more than 100) ChargePoint EVSEs in one of the long term garages. Except that garage was apparently "full" (I put this in quotes because I know it wasn't actually full, as about 1/3 of the ChargePoint units were unoccupied, but the staff didn't know or care about that fact), and they had closed the entrance, so I couldn't get in there. They do have another garage, and they were directing people to use it instead. That garage has no EVSEs in it, but it does have some NEMA 5-20 outlets in spaces marked for EVs. So I pulled into a space, got out my mobile charger, and plugged in. If I didn't have that mobile charger in the car, I'd have been in trouble after I returned, and I'd have had to run to a supercharger because I didn't have enough energy to get back home.

How often do you park at that airport with 8% remaining? Also, you do mention that you could have gone to a Supercharger, so it was not essential that you had to have the mobile connector in the car.

 

[STS-134]

Or, had you charged your car before going to the airport, this wouldn't have even been a discussion. This was 100% self-inflicted. You couldn't have picked a worse example to try and prove your point.

That wasn't self-inflicted, it was intentional. Charging at the airport is free, so I deliberately ran down the battery before going there. Charging from empty to full can offset the cost of one day of parking. Plus if I'm plugged in, I can run Sentry Mode the entire time I'm parked there. Since I couldn't get to the EVSEs (which I was almost absolutely sure I'd be able to use, since I checked the ChargePoint app before leaving home), the only way I'd be able to do it was with the portable EVSE I was carrying in the car. That is my point: sometimes, you have a situation where you want to plug in, and the only thing available is a NEMA outlet. This is what the mobile connector is for. If you carry it in your vehicle, you'll never find yourself in a situation where you want to plug in, the only thing available is a NEMA outlet, and you are unable to do so.

How often do you park at that airport with 8% remaining?

I generally aim to arrive with less than 20%, because charging in the long term garage is free.

Also, you do mention that you could have gone to a Supercharger, so it was not essential that you had to have the mobile connector in the car.

[sarcasm]Sure, that's my favorite thing to do after I arrive at the airport with all of my luggage and I want to get home.[/sarcasm]

 

[jjrandorin]

That wasn't self-inflicted, it was intentional. Charging at the airport is free, so I deliberately ran down the battery before going there. Charging from empty to full can offset the cost of one day of parking. Plus if I'm plugged in, I can run Sentry Mode the entire time I'm parked there. Since I couldn't get to the EVSEs (which I was almost absolutely sure I'd be able to use, since I checked the ChargePoint app before leaving home), the only way I'd be able to do it was with the portable EVSE I was carrying in the car. That is my point: sometimes, you have a situation where you want to plug in, and the only thing available is a NEMA outlet. This is what the mobile connector is for. If you carry it in your vehicle, you'll never find yourself in a situation where you want to plug in, the only thing available is a NEMA outlet, and you are unable to do so.

I generally aim to arrive with less than 20%, because charging in the long term garage is free.

[sarcasm]Sure, that's my favorite thing to do after I arrive at the airport with all of my luggage and I want to get home.[/sarcasm]

Be that as it may, you picked a pretty poor example of one in which you are advocating that "the mobile adapter needs to be carried at all times". Even if your example, given your desire to intentionally run the car down to try to get "free" charging, this was at an airport, and thus, you were "going on a trip".

That is, unless you just randomly decided while you were driving around to pull into an airport and fly somewhere.

So, your "airport" example isnt necessary a good one, because:

1. You ran it down on purpose so put yourself in that circumstance on purpose AND
2. You were going on a trip, and "going on a trip" is when most of us who say "its fine to not schlep the mobile connector around daily" say "this is the one instance when taking it from home might be useful, when going on a trip.

I have had my mobile connector in my trunk since I bought the car in Dec of 2018 (because I thought It needed to be there, and because I bought a tesla wall connector because I thought it was cool). The number of times that I have NEEDED to use it because there were no options = 0.

In fact, the number of options that I have used it at all is less than 3 times a year, and those times are always at a relatives house when we are going there for some holiday (thus "on a trip") so If I was using it for my home charging solution I would have just tossed it in the trunk then.

One has to have a specific use case for that specific person, to come up with a reason why the mobile connector "has" to be in the car for "daily" use. It might make people feel better, but they will almost always end up just carrying it around. At least, unless they are on a road trip, in which they can just add it to the things to take with them if needed, like a change of undergarmets and a toothbrush.