Which charger is everyone going with? wall charger or portable plug in?

[FmaxTurboSi]

Hello all,

expecting delivery shortly and wondering which charger people are using? and why?

i called an electrician that installs plugs for tesla and he said that he would install the plug for the portable charger with adapter. When I asked about the wall charger installation and he had no idea what I was talking about LOL. This was a "tesla certified" installer and he didn't know what the wall charger was?

anyways..... would love to here your opinions.

Thanks
Jason

 

[kbecks13]

expecting delivery shortly and wondering which charger people are using? and why?

You can get by with just the mobile charger that comes with the car (and maybe purchase an adapter if necessary) if you have a 240V outlet. The wall charger is nice if you are charging at home frequently and dont want to unplug/plug the mobile charger every day (assuming you want to take the mobile charger with you). Many just leave the mobile charger at home unless they are going on a trip, the wall charger is definitely nice but not absolutely necessary.

I'd get a quote for installing just a 240V outlet and then also one for installing the wall charger (i.e hardwiring 240V to that device instead of an outlet) and then keep in mind a wall charger is another ~$500 for hardware.

 

[DopeGhoti]

I cannot charge at home (the perils of apartment living), and so most of my charging is at work, using the mobile charger and a 5-20 or 6-20 outlet adapter (depending on what's free). I occasionally top off at a supercharger, but not too often. I have yet to burn through my referral miles.

 

[DrtyJrze]

Hello all,

expecting delivery shortly and wondering which charger people are using? and why?

i called an electrician that installs plugs for tesla and he said that he would install the plug for the portable charger with adapter. When I asked about the wall charger installation and he had no idea what I was talking about LOL. This was a "tesla certified" installer and he didn't know what the wall charger was?

anyways..... would love to here your opinions.

Thanks
Jason

i went with the wall connector for cleanliness and aesthetics.

If I had a dryer plug already installed in the garage I MIGHT have used it. But there’s zero chance I would pay to have it installed.

 

[Matsayz]

Partially depends on what trim level you purchased. If you got a Standard Range + then the mobile unit and a 240V outlet will give you about 33-35mph if charge (empty to full in under 8hrs) at 32Amps. Having a 240V outlet instead should cost ~$300 depending on if you want it permitted (another $2-300 depending on your area)

If you bought a higher trim (LR AWD or Performance) then going with the wall charger will let you bump that Amperage up to 48Amps but the wall charger itself is $500.

Personally I “got by” with the mobile unit and a 120V household outlet in the garage for a long time before we moved and then had the 240V install for $350, it charges much faster and I’m still just using the mobile connector with the Tesla adapter head that you can buy from their website.

Another thing to add, depending on how much you drive and how long you keep the car...the cost of installing the 240V can be recouped pretty quick in fuel savings.

 

[sduck]

wondering which charger people are using?

There's not a one size fits all solution. Decide what will work right for you. I tried the UMC and a standard wall plug for the first few weeks, as I'd used a similar solution with my chevy volt, and it kind of worked, unless I needed to take a road trip. I then got a 15-40 plug installed, which sped things up considerably, still using the UMC. Later on I got one of the wall chargers installed, which works slightly better.

 

[Kognos]

Had electrician install standard 14-50 plug, it will fully charge the car overnight (easily) and is/was incredibly cost effective compared to the wall connector. There are good reasons to get a wall charger, but honestly, I basically saved $400 for parts. At some point you have to consider what value you really get.

I totally get the aesthetics, but in my case no one would ever see this plug but me, so it had zero value to be pretty - I have it outside my garage. Even if it were inside, consider who you're really trying to impress, and for what cost.

Edit - Wall connector speed is only slightly better than 14-50, it's pretty much even for me. Some people split hairs on this, but the reality is that overnight charging isn't typically "time critical" - you plug it in when you get home and it's ready when you leave in the morning. It's not like the difference between 5hrs vs 6hrs is worth the money as well, in my book. It's just fine.

 

[JimDog]

Hoping to get my M3 in a few weeks. As of right now my plan is to use a 6-20 outlet in the garage, but I'm still seeing if that is feasible (there is a whole thread on it I started elsewhere). Otherwise, I'm going to have an electrician install a 14-50 outlet. In either case I'm going to order something like this: Tesla UMC wall mount and mount the UMC on the wall. Only unplug it and take it with me on longer trips.

Between that and charging I currently have at work I think I'll be good to go.

 

[yerEVan]

Hello all,

expecting delivery shortly and wondering which charger people are using? and why?

i called an electrician that installs plugs for tesla and he said that he would install the plug for the portable charger with adapter. When I asked about the wall charger installation and he had no idea what I was talking about LOL. This was a "tesla certified" installer and he didn't know what the wall charger was?

anyways..... would love to here your opinions.

Thanks
Jason

Wall charger is nice because you can get up to about 43MPH of charge rate. But it can accommodate an array of 240v options as far as breaker size/speed of charging.

 

[boriszima]

Installing a plug is cheaper than buying $500 Wall charger. But if you plan to unplug on regular basis, make sure to buy a good 14-50 otherwise plug might get lose.

 

[Black306]

I went with a 14-50 and added a plug to a Wall Connector. I went this route so that I have the flexibility to use a welder or use a mobile connector if the Wall Connector gave me problems.

 

[G26okie]

Since electricians were quoting me obscene amounts and my dryer is in the garage, I plugged one of these auto switch splitters https://www.getneocharge.com/
into the dryer plug and use a Tesla 14-30 mobile charger adapter.

Chargers at 22mph, 24 amps 240v

 

[axhoaxho]

I use the Tesla Wall Charger with NEMA 14-50 plug.

My garage has a 14-50 outlet that I use for my previous EV cars, so it's just plug-and-play.

Unfortunately, Tesla does not make this model anymore.

 

[toolman335]

I installed a 14-50 outlet and I chose to use a Juicebox. I did not want a Tesla hard-wired setup. If I move I can unplug and take this thing with me. If it fails I simply buy another one and plug it in.

 

[DrtyJrze]

I totally get the aesthetics, but in my case no one would ever see this plug but me, so it had zero value to be pretty - I have it outside my garage. Even if it were inside, consider who you're really trying to impress, and for what cost.

Agree with this, to a point. It’s not about impressing anyone, more about liking what I have to look at and interact with daily. As far as putting a value on aesthetics, IMO that would be in the eyes of the beholder. For me, staring at a cord plugged into a dryer outlet, for YEARS, would drive me insane.

Another advantage to a wall connector would be if you plan on having more than one Tesla vehicle, or friends/family that may use your charger when visiting. The reduced charge time could make a difference.

 

[Marius A]

I did the wall connector, we have 230V over here so I went with 230V25A3phase
Right now I'm charging at 5.3kW but the charging team implied I should see somewhere close to 8kW (same as TMS) in the 2019.40 update (or the next one).
This lets me comfortable stay within 30-80% charge every day with only a few hours of charging (8kW would give around 50km/h, so 4 hours is ~200km).

 

[srs5694]

Somebody posted a poll on this question in September. The top two choices were the Tesla Wall Connector (82 votes, 43.2%) and charging via a NEMA 14-50 (presumably with the Mobile Connector that comes with the car -- 71 votes, 37.4%). No other option cracked 10%, although a couple were close (120v at 17 votes, 8.9%; and third-party Level 2 J1772 EVSE, at 16 votes, 8.4%). See the poll itself for all the details and discussion.

 

[Garlan Garner]

Tesla wall unit for me.

Its been perfect.

 

[Rockster]

Wall charger all the way. I prefer the robustness, the aesthetics, and the fact that I can have two of them on one shared 100 amp circuit, which enables me to charge my S at 80 amps on those infrequent occasions when I need to do a fast turnaround to leave town for the weekend after running errands all day.

 

[ewoodrick]

NEMA 14-50 with a second UMC. Cheapest solution and I've never had to wait for charging to complete.