Well, I didn't anticipate this. Today I received a letter from Tesla demanding that I stop selling Tesla-compatible charging adapters.
First a little background: I've always been interested in electric cars, and as soon as I bought my first EV I realized there was a need for adapters so people can plug in at home and on the road. After making my own adapters so I could charge the car off my home's dryer outlet without having to spend thousands to install a charging station, I started selling a few of those homemade adapters online. At that time there was very little charging infrastructure. Later I started making adapters for Tesla vehicles as well, and bought my own Tesla. I love my Tesla and want to help others maximize their enjoyment of electric driving.
A couple years ago I started working with a factory to design and manufacture Tesla-compatible adapters that actually plug in to the UMC provided with the car and automatically set the correct charging current. These adapters are much safer as they reduce the risk of overloading a circuit and they work pretty much the same as the OEM adapters. You can buy adapters for most of the common outlet types directly from Tesla, but if you need to plug into any other type of outlet you'd normally have to use an adapter with a 14-50 plug or something similar. Daisy-chaining adapters in this way is not optimal. I wanted to fill that gap with the ultimate goal of helping to enable Tesla drivers to literally charge anywhere and as safely and conveniently as possible. For example, some of my most popular items are the TT-30 and NEMA 6-30 adapters, which plug directly in to the charging cord and automatically set the amperage to 24A.
I have never used Tesla's logo in advertising these products, and have never implied that my company is affiliated with Tesla. It seems to me that one of their lawyers is a bit over-zealous or something. I'm only one person trying to make a difference in the world and making a living doing what I love. To the best of my knowledge, I have not operated deceitfully or broken any laws. I believe offering these adapters is no different than any company offering aftermarket accessories. Would Sony get upset that another company is making batteries that can be used in their cameras? Maybe, but they have no right to prevent them from doing so. I think what I'm doing is similar. Even if were to make use of Tesla's patents, which I don't believe I am, Elon has made it clear that it's OK if I do it in good faith for the betterment of the EV community (All Our Patent Are Belong To You). The adapters I make are similar to Tesla's adapters but they are a bit different in appearance and design. I'm not competing with Tesla - I love what Tesla stands for and what they make, and I'm only trying to expand access to charging options for Tesla drivers. Fortunately I know some good attorneys happen to be right here on the forums, and I would really like to read any contributions you wish to make to the discussion.
Here's a visual comparison of my adapters vs Tesla's OEM adapters:
Finally, here's a copy of the letter I received, for your review (click on the thumbnails to enlarge them):
(In case you're curious what "exhibit A" is that they're referring to in the letter, it's simply a screen-capture they included which is showing the search results for "Tesla" on my website.)
First a little background: I've always been interested in electric cars, and as soon as I bought my first EV I realized there was a need for adapters so people can plug in at home and on the road. After making my own adapters so I could charge the car off my home's dryer outlet without having to spend thousands to install a charging station, I started selling a few of those homemade adapters online. At that time there was very little charging infrastructure. Later I started making adapters for Tesla vehicles as well, and bought my own Tesla. I love my Tesla and want to help others maximize their enjoyment of electric driving.
A couple years ago I started working with a factory to design and manufacture Tesla-compatible adapters that actually plug in to the UMC provided with the car and automatically set the correct charging current. These adapters are much safer as they reduce the risk of overloading a circuit and they work pretty much the same as the OEM adapters. You can buy adapters for most of the common outlet types directly from Tesla, but if you need to plug into any other type of outlet you'd normally have to use an adapter with a 14-50 plug or something similar. Daisy-chaining adapters in this way is not optimal. I wanted to fill that gap with the ultimate goal of helping to enable Tesla drivers to literally charge anywhere and as safely and conveniently as possible. For example, some of my most popular items are the TT-30 and NEMA 6-30 adapters, which plug directly in to the charging cord and automatically set the amperage to 24A.
I have never used Tesla's logo in advertising these products, and have never implied that my company is affiliated with Tesla. It seems to me that one of their lawyers is a bit over-zealous or something. I'm only one person trying to make a difference in the world and making a living doing what I love. To the best of my knowledge, I have not operated deceitfully or broken any laws. I believe offering these adapters is no different than any company offering aftermarket accessories. Would Sony get upset that another company is making batteries that can be used in their cameras? Maybe, but they have no right to prevent them from doing so. I think what I'm doing is similar. Even if were to make use of Tesla's patents, which I don't believe I am, Elon has made it clear that it's OK if I do it in good faith for the betterment of the EV community (All Our Patent Are Belong To You). The adapters I make are similar to Tesla's adapters but they are a bit different in appearance and design. I'm not competing with Tesla - I love what Tesla stands for and what they make, and I'm only trying to expand access to charging options for Tesla drivers. Fortunately I know some good attorneys happen to be right here on the forums, and I would really like to read any contributions you wish to make to the discussion.
Here's a visual comparison of my adapters vs Tesla's OEM adapters:
Finally, here's a copy of the letter I received, for your review (click on the thumbnails to enlarge them):
(In case you're curious what "exhibit A" is that they're referring to in the letter, it's simply a screen-capture they included which is showing the search results for "Tesla" on my website.)
