This seems like a stupid question, but I know nothing about charging my new upcoming Model S. I've noticed chargers have a wireless pay type of service of service associated with them as the only way to pay. How do I go about having a service for this? My bank card apparently does not support Android Pay.
-
Want to remove ads? Register an account and login to see fewer ads, and become a Supporting Member to remove almost all ads.
Way To Pay For Charging at Charging Stations?
- Thread starter Singerjohn
- Start date
Haxster
Member
ChargePoint and probably others will send you an RFID card when you sign up that you can use at their stations. Some charging stations will except credit cards.
The bigger issue is making sure that a station has a compatible connector. Unfortunately, the J1772 adapter that comes with your car does not work on all charging stations.
The bigger issue is making sure that a station has a compatible connector. Unfortunately, the J1772 adapter that comes with your car does not work on all charging stations.
It's actually pretty uncommon to charge Teslas at these stations, which primarily were installed to charge short range EVs. Most charging is done at home, assuming you have a garage. Most charging when traveling is done at Tesla superchargers, or at hotels with Tesla destination charging or J1772s at no cost. Very few Tesla owners need to plug in to the paid charging stations you'll see at Walgreens, Whole Foods, etc. In 4 years I've used my Blink card once and ChargePoint card once.
That's not good. I have a charger by my work and was going to use it while I'm working. What does the connector look like and what should the charging station one look like? So confusing!
The one by me is at a Walgreens. Will it work? My new 17 Model S doesn't get free supercharging unfortunately. I get 1000 free, then pay after that.
Best way to do this is to pull up the location on plugshare on a PC or download their app. Then you can look at the stats of the charging station and see what type of connector it uses. (And what network it's on so you can get the correct RFID card). If it says J1772, you should be OK, if it is Chademo you would need an additional adapter from Tesla to use it. If it is only CCS, you won't be able to use it at this time.
Haxster
Member
There's a good chance that the one at work is J1772. You can do a Google search to see what these connectors look like and compare it to what you have at work… if the one at work is not marked.
Walgreens is Chargepoint. J1772 adapter should work just fine. Walgreens has unstated 2 hour rule but I would think home charging alone will prove sufficient. 30A 240V gives me 23 miles of range per hour. Rarely do I deplete the 60kwh of energy my battery has available each day. In fact, I don't charge everyday. 60 mile commuter. I think you're acting like you have a leaf coming instead of a Tesla!
SomeJoe7777
Marginally-Known Member
@Singerjohn,
Do you have home charging set up? If not, your priority should be to get that going first. Please see Tesla's home charging and standard equipment page: Home charging installation
Basically, you will need an electrician to come install an outlet for you. The preferred outlet type is a NEMA 14-50. Sometimes, your home, wiring, breaker panel, or service limits how much power you can get, and in that case your electrician may need to install a lower power outlet, such as a NEMA 14-30 (this is a common outlet for dryers).
The standard connector for the Tesla is called the Universal Mobile Charger (UMC), it comes with the car, and also comes with connectors for NEMA 14-50, as well as a regular 120V wall plug (technically a NEMA 5-15). There is an optional adapter for the 14-30 (Tesla — NEMA 14-30) if your electrician has to install that instead of the 14-50.
The UMC kit also comes with an adapter called a J1772 -- this is a very common connector found on 95%+ of the public charging stations such as ones by EVgo, Chargepoint, etc. The one you have at work is probably this type.
It's important to realize that the Tesla battery is so large that if you have home charging set up, you will rarely, if ever, need to charge at a public charger. I've had my Model S for 2 years now and I've used a public charger twice -- and one of those instances was just to test it. 99% of the time, you will come out every morning to a 90% full battery, and do all of your daily driving and tasks without charging. At night, you plug in, it charges overnight, and repeat.
For road trips, you use the Tesla Superchargers.
You mentioned that you have a Walgreens nearby, they probably have two types of chargers there. One is the J1772 which you will have an adapter for. The other is whats called a DC Fast Charger, and uses a plug called Chademo. You can use this with the Tesla, but only with the optional Chademo adapter (Tesla — CHAdeMO Adapter). I would only recommend this adapter if you're going to be doing road trips where you're in areas that are not near superchargers. The usability of these is limited, as there are not very many of them and maintenance/repair can be an issue.
Charge speed can be a concern with these different charging options. I'm going to assume you're purchasing a 90 kWh battery, and that you have the standard 48A onboard charger (i.e. you did not get the high amperage charging option). With those assumptions, here are the times required to charge the battery from 20% to 90% with each of these charging options:
Type - Time (Hr)
120V Wall NEMA 5-15 - 48.1 Hr
Dryer Outlet NEMA 14-30 - 12.0 Hr
J1772 Public charger - 12.0 Hr
NEMA 14-50 - 7.2 Hr
DCFC Chademo - 1.4 Hr
Supercharger - 0.8 Hr
Do you have home charging set up? If not, your priority should be to get that going first. Please see Tesla's home charging and standard equipment page: Home charging installation
Basically, you will need an electrician to come install an outlet for you. The preferred outlet type is a NEMA 14-50. Sometimes, your home, wiring, breaker panel, or service limits how much power you can get, and in that case your electrician may need to install a lower power outlet, such as a NEMA 14-30 (this is a common outlet for dryers).
The standard connector for the Tesla is called the Universal Mobile Charger (UMC), it comes with the car, and also comes with connectors for NEMA 14-50, as well as a regular 120V wall plug (technically a NEMA 5-15). There is an optional adapter for the 14-30 (Tesla — NEMA 14-30) if your electrician has to install that instead of the 14-50.
The UMC kit also comes with an adapter called a J1772 -- this is a very common connector found on 95%+ of the public charging stations such as ones by EVgo, Chargepoint, etc. The one you have at work is probably this type.
It's important to realize that the Tesla battery is so large that if you have home charging set up, you will rarely, if ever, need to charge at a public charger. I've had my Model S for 2 years now and I've used a public charger twice -- and one of those instances was just to test it. 99% of the time, you will come out every morning to a 90% full battery, and do all of your daily driving and tasks without charging. At night, you plug in, it charges overnight, and repeat.
For road trips, you use the Tesla Superchargers.
You mentioned that you have a Walgreens nearby, they probably have two types of chargers there. One is the J1772 which you will have an adapter for. The other is whats called a DC Fast Charger, and uses a plug called Chademo. You can use this with the Tesla, but only with the optional Chademo adapter (Tesla — CHAdeMO Adapter). I would only recommend this adapter if you're going to be doing road trips where you're in areas that are not near superchargers. The usability of these is limited, as there are not very many of them and maintenance/repair can be an issue.
Charge speed can be a concern with these different charging options. I'm going to assume you're purchasing a 90 kWh battery, and that you have the standard 48A onboard charger (i.e. you did not get the high amperage charging option). With those assumptions, here are the times required to charge the battery from 20% to 90% with each of these charging options:
Type - Time (Hr)
120V Wall NEMA 5-15 - 48.1 Hr
Dryer Outlet NEMA 14-30 - 12.0 Hr
J1772 Public charger - 12.0 Hr
NEMA 14-50 - 7.2 Hr
DCFC Chademo - 1.4 Hr
Supercharger - 0.8 Hr
I do 135 miles a day minimum so a local charger for me is a good thing. My car arrives in a week, but I can't get a home charger installed for 3 weeks, so the charging at work is my only option until my home base is installed.
Looks to me like you have Superchargers in every direction from you. Is one not on your route? It is just a temporary solution (especially since you will be paying for it), but I would think the Superchargers would be the most cost effective, both in terms of time and money.
Now I'm going to go hide behind something while Californians throw things at me for suggesting local supercharging...
Now I'm going to go hide behind something while Californians throw things at me for suggesting local supercharging...
Don't worry about the comment that the J1772 adapter won't work at all charging stations. That's extremely rare. It happens if the tolerances of the station and the connector are slightly off. It's so rare that someone posts about it when it happens, and there are only a handful of posts out of the tens of thousands of charging instances.
I've purchased the Model S 60. I can't get an electrician out for 3 more weeks. They are all booked up.
JPP
Active Member
Some Walgreens have SemaConnect...
EV Charging Stations - SemaConnect Network
I have accounts with Chargepoint, SemaConnect, and Blink. I keep the RFID tags in the car, and the apps on my iPhone, for the times I need to charge away from home or a supercharger.
EV Charging Stations - SemaConnect Network
I have accounts with Chargepoint, SemaConnect, and Blink. I keep the RFID tags in the car, and the apps on my iPhone, for the times I need to charge away from home or a supercharger.
JPP
Active Member
Just go to the respective web sites. Sign up. Give them a credit card. They usually 'hold' $20. They will send you RFID tags (small for keychain, some have large ones). Download app to smartphone and check login. The respective apps will show you where their 'branded' chargers are and if they are free or occupied. Also find Plugshare as a reference for your browser. Note that all of these companies 'feature' level 2 chargers (240V, 30A) and use the J1772 standard-you will receive a J1772 to Tesla adapter with your car.
Yes, but the point is it's part of one of the charging networks. OP was asking how to pay to use it. He has to go to the web site of whatever network he wants to use (ChargePoint, Blink, etc.) and create an account.
OP, don't worry about blowing through your free supercharging allotment. They charge $0.20/kWh in CA, which is pretty reasonable.
FYI, Chargepoint didn't charge my card until the first time I used a (pay) station. Then they charged $10 initially, and $10 when I hit $0. I was using those town garage stations enough that they bumped my replenishment amount to $30.
SemaConnect charged me $10 the moment I set up the account. They will charge $20 when I hit $0 (haven't used it yet).
I have no idea what EVgo did for an initial charge. Their website/account management is that horrible.
Consider yourself lucky. Every Walgreens station I've seen is $0.50/kWh or more. A friend's office charges $0.50/kWh + $2.50/hour, which works out to around $1/kWh.
I was initially in a similar situation to the OP - no charging at home. I was charging at the local Supercharger (I know, I know...) while doing weekly grocery shopping and charging overnight in the town garage 1.5 miles from home (4x30A chargepoints)
FYI, Chargepoint didn't charge my card until the first time I used a (pay) station. Then they charged $10 initially, and $10 when I hit $0. I was using those town garage stations enough that they bumped my replenishment amount to $30.
SemaConnect charged me $10 the moment I set up the account. They will charge $20 when I hit $0 (haven't used it yet).
I have no idea what EVgo did for an initial charge. Their website/account management is that horrible.
Have you tried thumbtack or any others? Might even be cheaper. Seems crazy to me no one can come out for 3 weeks, its not exactly rewiring a whole house, just running 1 line to closest breaker box. (I ran mine myself even)
Similar threads
- Question
- Question
