Where's the charging port?

[scanman57]

Model S details on TeslaMotors website today

Charging port is hidden on Model S .....drivers taillight...cool. Going to test ride today!

 

[doug]

I disagree. The Leaf has the perfect charge port location IMHO. I always hoped the Model S would have the port behind the nose cone. There would have been ample space for a CHAdeMO connector there too...

Yeah, for ease with public charging, I would say on the right front fender since in the US we tend to park nose in and parallel park on the right.

 

[Citizen-T]

Yeah, for ease with public charging, I would say on the right front fender since in the US we tend to park nose in and parallel park on the right.

I doubt I'll be doing much of any public charging with how much range this thing gets. If I do I'll back into the spot. The one or two times that I'll ever need to parallel park and charge, I'll deal with running the cable.

I have to live with how the car looks every single day. I'm glad they didn't put the charge port on the nose.

 

[doug]

I basically agree. That's why I specified public charging and was just saying for EVs general. If you're always charging at home you probably don't care about having a non-standard charging connector either.

 

[TEG]

Yeah, for ease with public charging, I would say on the right front fender since in the US we tend to park nose in and parallel park on the right.

That is where Ford had put the charging port on their old Ranger EV:

 

[TEG]

It looks like the UMC2.0 has thinner wire than the HPC & even UMC1.0
Do they use some more conductive (less resistive) type of material so it doesn't have to be as heavy of gauge wire?

 

[W.Petefish]

Are you thinking some sort of copper alloy?

 

[AndrewBissell]

Carbon nanotubes?

 

[doug]

Do they use some more conductive (less resistive) type of material so it doesn't have to be as heavy of gauge wire?

No, they were probably just overspeced the gauge and/or the insulation. The Mennekes cable for similar current (likely ~40 Amps) is about the same thickness as this new UMC.

 

[jkirkebo]

I doubt I'll be doing much of any public charging with how much range this thing gets. If I do I'll back into the spot. The one or two times that I'll ever need to parallel park and charge, I'll deal with running the cable.

I'll do a lot of public charging if I ever get one, most of it CHAdeMO. So I'm waiting for some info on how's that going to work...

 

[doug]

 

[vfx]

Ruh-row... I think Eberhard is coming, right?

As we were standing at the plug-and-box table JB walked up. (really cool guy by the way) Within a few minutes Eberhard was there. I left so don't know if there was a redux meeting between them.

 

[vfx]

No, they were probably just overspeced the gauge and/or the insulation. The Mennekes cable for similar current (likely ~40 Amps) is about the same thickness as this new UMC.

Agreed. The charging guy was agreeing to that that the Roadster stuff was all overspeced. I don't blame them a bit though. If anything had happened...

 

[cinergi]

Do they use some more conductive (less resistive) type of material so it doesn't have to be as heavy of gauge wire?

That question came up; the gauge didn't change, just the insulation. What was shown wasn't production, either -- not as flexible as they're shooting for, and the connector-swapping capabilities weren't there yet (which are supposed to be more like the universal connectors you see on devices made for international use e.g. Apple power bricks).

 

[William13]

They will have short adapters for other charging plugs. Their difficulty will be in sensing what the safe draw is from a CHadmo etc. They have not yet made the connectors but have drawn them and will need to extensively test them. It seemed he was unsure if they would all be available at launch. I expect that the Tesla HPC connector is next after their cords that were shown.

 

[TEG]

There might be a better thread for this, but just thought I would toss out this picture of the old charging system on the old Alpha prototypes:

Roadster HPC and/or prototype DC I assume.
(But only with the trunk lid open.)

 

[vfx]

There might be a better thread for this, but just thought I would toss out this picture of the old charging system on the old Alpha prototypes:

Roadster HPC or prototype DC I assume.
(But only with the trunk lid open.)

Exactly as I described. !!

 

[TEG]

DPeilow seemed keen to know where exactly the charger(s) go.
They sit in this tray under the rear seats:

Basically where those colored cords are in this bare chassis.
One side would be empty with the base model with only 10kW.

 

[Tommy]

As noted, it's been found. It now has lights.

View attachment 2954View attachment 2955

 

[ckessel]

As noted, it's been found. It now has lights.

Nice. Looks better than the other shots I'd seen. I do wish the port was on both sides or you could order the car built with it on one side versus the other. Where I'm going to park versus where the outlet will be means I'll be draping the cord across the back of the car every night .