Tried charging at the airport

[Shannontsoi]

I went to the airport the other day, wanted to try out charging the model S there. I went to car park 4, 1st floor. They have quite clear signs there that takes you to the spot, it wasn't hard to find. There are a few 13A docks but only one IEC 62196 dock (dock 3).

Plugged in nicely on both sides and tried to swipe my octopus to activate charging. It didn't work. The display in my car showed that it wasn't charging for some reasons. So I had to call customer service from CLP who installed the systems there. The customer service had no answer for it and had someone called me back the next day. The guy on the phone explained that that particular dock charges Leaf or i3 perfectly, but doesn't charge a model S. They don't know why, just explained to me that they are still trying to find out the cause.

Then I asked, is it only that CLP's IEC62196 at the airport like this or all the other CLP's IEC62196 won't charge a model S, he could not answer………….

Anyway, be prepared, if you go to the airport and want to re charge, the IEC 62196 does not work at the moment.

 

[Lerxt]

Have you contacted the Tesla charging specialists? They would want to know.

 

[Dvc]

Is it your first time using the 62196 dock? Does it work in other location?

 

[Shannontsoi]

Lerxt, I didn't call the Tesla charging specialists. Maybe it is a good idea to do so.

Dvc, it is indeed my first time to use the 62196 doc. But since CLP confirmed that it is that dock 3 that doesn't charge a Tesla, I didn't suspect any problem with my car. I will try to charge at the IFC in the coming few days to see if it works well.

 

[Lerxt]

I went to the Sai Kung Government offices and tried the 32amp ICE62196 charger and it worked. I got it reading 16/32 amps though I didnt try to change it, and it supplied 15 kmh.

 

[DITB]

Good to know - I didn't try carpark 4 yet. My car is in car park 2, which is cheaper (staff rate) with only 65 km remaining, enough to get me home or to a suitable charger. It would have been nice, though, with proper charging.

Having said that, the 13A spots would have been sufficient for me - for the time I am away they would have charged the car almost full up. I cannot get a good price at car park 4, so even if the 13A charging was free, the parking fee itself would mean no-go for me.

We are lucky the range of the Model S is so high - it enables us more choices for charging, and not being dependant or sites that charge (no pun intended) too much for a few electrons.

There is a new estate with chargers installed (won't mention which but it isn't where I live). They have 32A three phase, which is great, at 40 HKD/hr (need to move the car to stop the 40 HKD surcharge), and 40 HKD/hr should be reasonable providing you get the full 22kW (and have dual chargers!). This would be around 2 HKD/kWh. Their 13A chargers, however, cost 15 HKD/hr - and as they only charge with 2.2kW, that is around 8 HKD pr kWh, which is outrageous, considering 13A is basically just a normal wall plug with some protection built in. Also, at that low charging level, it is much less efficient to charge.

And then we have the superchargers - I hope Tesla Motors will be successful in securing more sites (especially in NT) in the very near future.