What if Tesla offered the option of having a DCFC port on their autos?

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

Just a thought. I'd pay a good deal for that option, effectively doubling the number of fast charge locations i the nation for my use.

How would I suggest such a thing to the company??

Rich

 

[DSolie]

They sell a CHAdeMO adaptor for just this purpose. If they were to include it IN the car, it would eliminate the exclusivity of the Tesla Superchargers, home chargers and destination chargers.

 

[brkaus]

I think they understand the request. Will it happen? No one knows.

I assume you are talking CCS?

there is an adapter for CHaDemo available for purchase (but limited to 50kW). I’m not set it works on the Y.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

That CHaDemo charger is both inconvenient to use and much too low powered. Elec America chargers go up to 350kW! And yes, I'm thinking of a CCS port, in addition to the Tesla charger port. This would not "eliminate" anything a Tesla could do in regard charging, just open the cars up to use all chargers in our nation.

I see no downside to such an option.

Rich

 

[brkaus]

Well - there is 1) sell less electricity at supercharger locations and 2) finding other locations are also convenient.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

Well - there is 1) sell less electricity at supercharger locations and 2) finding other locations are also convenient.

Well, the selling of less electricity at supercharger locations is an issue for Tesla. I suggest that the owners of their autos would appreciate such an option.

I don't understand the comment; "2) finding other locations are also convenient." Thus I cannot reply to item #2.

Rich

 

[brkaus]

Well, the selling of less electricity at supercharger locations is an issue for Tesla. I suggest that the owners of their autos would appreciate such an option.

I don't understand the comment; "2) finding other locations are also convenient." Thus I cannot reply to item #2.

Rich

Well - I'm being a bit sarcastic.

But #2 - Tesla drivers find that EA chargers meet their needs and purchase other brands.

 

[RichAZ/CapeCod]

I was simply trying to point out the upside to Tesla owners of having the option to fast charge anywhere they want! I think that would be pretty neat. It would make Tesla truly unique.

I own a Chevy Bolt. Wonderful little car, not good at distance travel due to the slow fast charge rate (no more than around 55kW possible). Which is why we're keeping the Bolt, but getting a MY for distance travel purposes.

Rich

 

[lowtek]

Don't think for a second Tesla is a charity ... Yea, they want to progress the planet but not at the expense of margin ... They want you using their charging network. Making a universally chargeable car basically just kills their network by making room for competition. A strategy that is perfectly reasonable imho. The Supercharger Network is a huge selling point for them.

 

[user212_nr]

They want you using their charging network. Making a universally chargeable car basically just kills their network by making room for competition. A strategy that is perfectly reasonable imho. The Supercharger Network is a huge selling point for them.

The Tesla superchargers loose big money. Not only the upfront cost to build them, but also the electricity prices do not account for the "demand charges" that they pay. It would be like if a gas station charged you their wholesale cost for gasoline with no markup to account for their salaries and fixed costs.

Tesla buyers are also mostly former ICE owners at this point, and so Tesla is not specifically competing with VW and GM in some "EV market". Elon has said this, and is very clear that their competition is versus gasoline cars.

That CHaDemo charger is both inconvenient to use and much too low powered. Elec America chargers go up to 350kW! And yes, I'm thinking of a CCS port, in addition to the Tesla charger port. This would not "eliminate" anything a Tesla could do in regard charging, just open the cars up to use all chargers in our nation.

I see no downside to such an option.

Rich

I think that it is probable that someday, Tesla will move all their cars to CCS. It is a costly move though, as they need to retrofit their superchargers and it will upset all of us who have installed or own their proprietary chargers. They did do this in Europe.

If Tesla was starting today, then they would likely use CCS, but remember that they are not starting today, and that they have millions of cars on the road in the U.S.

It does not make sense though to install 2 ports onto the car, it is a waste of space.

 

[Johnny Vector]

I was simply trying to point out the upside to Tesla owners of having the option to fast charge anywhere they want! I think that would be pretty neat. It would make Tesla truly unique.

I own a Chevy Bolt. Wonderful little car, not good at distance travel due to the slow fast charge rate (no more than around 55kW possible). Which is why we're keeping the Bolt, but getting a MY for distance travel purposes.

Rich

I also have a Bolt, but bought a MY for distance, just in time for my yearly summer drive. Prior to the MY production schedule moving up by several months (a fact that a lot of people forget happened), I had planned to drive the Bolt this year. I went so far as to plan the trip last year, and (in my Honda Fit) stop at each of the chargers I had in mind. Quite aside from the much lower charge rate, the number of charging locations and points was pretty terrifying to me. My last two charging points along the trip were a single EVgo charger at a Hannaford grocery store. Both of which were in use when I stopped by them last year to make sure they existed in reality. If one of them were down, I would at least have to drive tens of miles out of my way, and maybe sit for hours at a level 2 charger somewhere. Who do I look like, Ewan McGregor? No, I'd really rather have more certainty that I can charge.

With the Tesla, there are enough Superchargers along the route that if any of them had been full or inoperable, I could have just driven to the next one.

All of which is to say that adding the ability to charge at any CCS station would make almost zero difference to the driving experience in a Tesla. At the current time, along the US Eastern seaboard, of course. There may be parts of Nevada/Utah/etc. where a CCS charger really does fill in a gap in the Supercharger network, and surely in 5 years there will be more CCS stations than Superchargers. When that happens, it might be worth the cost to add CCS capability. For now, it adds almost no value.

 

[Johnny Vector]

The Tesla superchargers loose big money. Not only the upfront cost to build them, but also the electricity prices do not account for the "demand charges" that they pay. It would be like if a gas station charged you their wholesale cost for gasoline with no markup to account for their salaries and fixed costs.

Tesla buyers are also mostly former ICE owners at this point, and so Tesla is not specifically competing with VW and GM in some "EV market". Elon has said this, and is very clear that their competition is versus gasoline cars.




I think that it is probable that someday, Tesla will move all their cars to CCS. It is a costly move though, as they need to retrofit their superchargers and it will upset all of us who have installed or own their proprietary chargers. They did do this in Europe.

If Tesla was starting today, then they would likely use CCS, but remember that they are not starting today, and that they have millions of cars on the road in the U.S.

It does not make sense though to install 2 ports onto the car, it is a waste of space.

I wouldn't be surprised if they do switch to CCS at some point. The changeover is going to be really unpleasant, though.

 

[Pilot1226]

I wouldn't mind having the option to at least purchase a CCS adapter. I don't think I'd want to remove my Tesla Supercharger adapter, unless they had some type of adapter setup as well.

I have an EA site less than a half mile from my house, but it has 9 CCS and 1 Chademo connector for the whole site. If I had to use Chademo, I'd stop at 50 kW. That's pretty crappy but I guess it would be good in a pinch.

Conversely, if the US Teslas had an option to convert their Tesla Chargeport to a CCS one, I would possibly consider this if they also gave you an adapter to change the Tesla Supercharger connector to CCS. I'm sure the machines would do some type of handshake to confirm it is indeed a Tesla, but I wouldn't want to sabotage myself by excluding myself from Tesla.

TLDR; Two options: Tesla to CCS adapter for conversions on car itself, or CCS to Tesla adapter for non-Tesla DCFC sites would work.

@Johnny Vector - Change over wouldn't be so bad if they *added* a CCS cable to existing stalls. That way you could add either without having situations come up with "some" or "not enough" of one kind.

 

[brkaus]

I do hope they provide ccs access in the future. And hope the future is soon. One more possible stop is one less thing to worry about in the road.

With that said, I still charge 99% at home.

 

[Johnny Vector]

TLDR; Two options: Tesla to CCS adapter for conversions on car itself, or CCS to Tesla adapter for non-Tesla DCFC sites would work.

@Johnny Vector - Change over wouldn't be so bad if they *added* a CCS cable to existing stalls. That way you could add either without having situations come up with "some" or "not enough" of one kind.

Yes, that's probably the least intrusive way to make the switch, but that's still a lot of retrofitting. which will take a lot of time and money.

 

[jbcarioca]

...



I think that it is probable that someday, Tesla will move all their cars to CCS. It is a costly move though, as they need to retrofit their superchargers and it will upset all of us who have installed or own their proprietary chargers. They did do this in Europe.

If Tesla was starting today, then they would likely use CCS, but remember that they are not starting today, and that they have millions of cars on the road in the U.S.

...

As discussed in numerous threads, Tesla sells a CCS adapter in Europe, used for non-CCS Models S and X. NA adapters, when or if they come, require changes because the core of CCS in the EU uses Type 2 (Mennekes) and the NA core uses J1772. The adapters therefore will be different. I think it will happen, but since NA Superchargers and Destination chargers are nearly ubiquitous it might not be soon. Anyway, for older cars the cost will be high because of the different communications process.

if anybody wants to know the gory details:
News

BTW, a good many people allege that the delay is due to charIn restrictions. Untrue! Tesla is a member and already sell adapters, but they're expensive, just as are the CHAdeMO ones.

 

[FredMertz]

Just a thought. I'd pay a good deal for that option, effectively doubling the number of fast charge locations i the nation for my use.

How would I suggest such a thing to the company??

Rich

I think Elon is a Steve Jobs disciple -- fewer options = less complexity of production = lower costs = opportunity for higher margins.