Why is Tesla trying to talk me OUT of purchasing the Twin Charger package?

[gaswalla]

you need dual chargers if you will need to drive 250miles, then require a charge to be "as fast as possible" so that you can get on the road again. Without dual chargers, you will regain approx 27-30 miles of range per hour of charging at 240v/40amps (with dual chargers it will be twice as fast). If you are doing a road trip, you want a Tesla Supercharger or a CHademo as a second choice. It would be a rare situation to be able to use your dual chargers while on a road trip due to the limited supply of high amperage chargers - but maybe you are in a situation where you have a friend who is a fellow Tesla owner and has a installed 80 amp service. No point in getting the dual chargers, in my opinion, if you are not able to install 80 amp service at home (make sure you can put in 100amps more into your main panel and are ok with spending a bit extra for the installation). There are some that say slower charging is better for battery health, so I personally wouldn't crank up the charging at home just b/c I could...

listen to the Tesla rep -- truly a company that puts their customers first.

 

[v12 to 12v]

Here is a portion of post a that I made a few days ago when another purchaser was considering options:

I'm concerned about the fact that you have been talked out of the twin chargers. We are in the Pacific Northwest and higher powered charging stations are being put in by organized groups, cities and businesses at a surprising rate. Most of them are at recreational destinations, smaller cities on major routes and on scenic routes. I just got word that someone is planning on putting in high powered charging stations at a couple of the entrances to Yellowstone National Park.

We quickly got to the point that we will not bother with stopping at a charging station unless it is over 50 Amps. We have been spoiled by the fast charging that the twin chargers provide. I know of several people that had remorse when ordering just a single charger. Retrofitting is more expensive. I believe that twin chargers will help your resale value in the future too.

If you think that you will not be road tripping and finding a need for charging away from Superchargers or home, you might consider this: You may find yourself doing more Sunday drives, joy riding and taking the road less travelled once you get a Model S. We did.

 

[Btrflyl8e]

It really all depends on how you use the car. I have never needed to use a public charging station yet, other than the super charger. Really glad I did not get the twin chargers, they would have been a waste of money for me.

 

[N4HHE]

I decided 85 kWh was more important than dual chargers. That any time I drive more than 200 miles in one day it is away and back so a fast charger at my home would be of no benefit. Then again perhaps one day the turnaround would be near another friendly Model S owner with HPWC. Too much if'ing. No matter what the standard mobile 40A cable should do the job in 8 hours overnight in my garage. For longer trips I'll suffer driving the Mercedes-Benz dirtbike-hauler.

http://home.hiwaay.net/~dkelly/ML320BT/ML320BT_Trailer_6.jpg

 

[andrewket]

I'm in the minority. I use my twin chargers on a regular basis. There are 80A EVSE's at two of our local malls. At home, my super off peak charging window with my utility is only 4 hours long. Without twin chargers, I would not be able to fully charge a battery with a low SOC. I've also had to "emergency" charge twice when my plans changed mid day and I had to charge the car quickly.

If I was looking for a used MS twin chargers would be on the search criteria.

Andrew

 

[djp]

In Canada most cars are delivered with dual chargers, we have zero SuperChargers but a sea of 70A ESVEs thanks to Sun Country Highway. Tesla unbundled the HPWC for Canadian configurations due to local demand.

The dual chargers came in handy at a track day last month. We were able to rotate four cars on a 70A station to keep everyone topped up, it would have been impossible to do a full day at 40A.

 

[staze]

I wouldn't sweat it. I am not convinced that the air suspension is actually better than the coil springs--and some of lolachampcars posts have me thinking the reverse might be true. I test drove both, and thought that the air suspension was moderately better over bumps with the 21s, but not enough to really mind the coils.

Thanks for the reassurance JST.

 

[JST]

I'm in the minority. I use my twin chargers on a regular basis. There are 80A EVSE's at two of our local malls. At home, my super off peak charging window with my utility is only 4 hours long. Without twin chargers, I would not be able to fully charge a battery with a low SOC. I've also had to "emergency" charge twice when my plans changed mid day and I had to charge the car quickly.

If I was looking for a used MS twin chargers would be on the search criteria.

Andrew

Which malls have 80A EVSE chargers? I'm also in NoVA.

 

[andrewket]

Which malls have 80A EVSE chargers? I'm also in NoVA.

Tyson's and Montgomery mall. Tesla HPWCs.

 

[JST]

Tyson's and Montgomery mall. Tesla HPWCs.

Ah. See, now you'd think that would be something the guy at the store downtown would have known/told me; he gave me the impression that 80A HPWCs were not very common.

 

[andrewket]

Ah. See, now you'd think that would be something the guy at the store downtown would have known/told me; he gave me the impression that 80A HPWCs were not very common.

They aren't. We're just "lucky".

 

[brianman]

With more than 20,000 EV miles I have YET to find a charging station above 30 amps (6.6 kw) in Tennessee, NC, KY, Missouri or VA. They may exist in some mythical land but I have not found them and I have looked.

As others have noted SuperCharging and CHAdeMO bypass the on board cbarger.

Just took a look at TN on plugshare. Blink has a quite dominant presence in that state apparently.

- - - Updated - - -

Here is a portion of post a that I made a few days ago when another purchaser was considering options

I have the same feelings (as you stated in the rest of your post) -- especially given the overhead for post-delivery retrofits.

- - - Updated - - -

With more than 20,000 EV miles I have YET to find a charging station above 30 amps (6.6 kw) in Tennessee, NC, KY, Missouri or VA. They may exist in some mythical land but I have not found them and I have looked.

I'm in the minority. I use my twin chargers on a regular basis. There are 80A EVSE's at two of our local malls. At home, my super off peak charging window with my utility is only 4 hours long. Without twin chargers, I would not be able to fully charge a battery with a low SOC. I've also had to "emergency" charge twice when my plans changed mid day and I had to charge the car quickly.

If I was looking for a used MS twin chargers would be on the search criteria.

You guys should do lunch.

 

[lloyds]

This is going to be different for everyone. I purchased the twin chargers, but have not used it once. It is an insurance policy, but I'd rec looking at the likelihood of its usage.

 

[kendallpb]

With more than 20,000 EV miles I have YET to find a charging station above 30 amps (6.6 kw) in Tennessee, NC, KY, Missouri or VA. They may exist in some mythical land but I have not found them and I have looked.

I'm not sure where you looked, but in addition to the one mentioned by Andrew (Tysons Corner Tesla store), the Omni Hotel in Richmond, VA has a 70-amp J1772 (Tesla-branded, as it happens) charger, which I've used a couple of times.

I'm happy I got dual chargers, but YMMV. Literally. ;-)

 

[Lloyd]

AND............ Tesla (Elon) just offered to provide any hotel that wants an HPWC for public installation the unit for FREE. Get the twin chargers!

 

[dhrivnak]

Northern Va is quite different and 400 miles from SW Va where I would drive. I would love to take my Roadster farther but anything over 200 miles requires long charging sessions. But I am glad to hear station are beginning to be rolled out.

 

[SFOTurtle]

AND............ Tesla (Elon) just offered to provide any hotel that wants an HPWC for public installation the unit for FREE. Get the twin chargers!

This is great news. I'm more than happy to give my business to a hotel that installs a HPWC.

 

[gaswalla]

if you're staying at the hotel, all you need is a NEMA 14-50 b/c you'll have lots of time and the dual chargers won't make a difference. If the hotel is ok with having folks just stop by and suck up 80kwh of energy, then, yes, the dual chargers will be very nice.

 

[kendallpb]

Northern Va is quite different and 400 miles from SW Va where I would drive. I would love to take my Roadster farther but anything over 200 miles requires long charging sessions. But I am glad to hear station are beginning to be rolled out.

Of course, but you made a blanket statement about not finding any in VA. A bit misleading, that's all I'm saying. I probably wouldn't find any in your area, and once told about them, wouldn't find them useful either. ;-)

- - - Updated - - -

if you're staying at the hotel, all you need is a NEMA 14-50 b/c you'll have lots of time and the dual chargers won't make a difference.

If the hotel has valets willing to swap cars around, then a HPWC could be useful to more than one (dual-charger) car overnight. A 14-50 is less likely to be useful to more than one person overnight, though.

If the hotel is ok with having folks just stop by and suck up 80kwh of energy, then, yes, the dual chargers will be very nice.

The Omni Hotel in Richmond doesn't mind people using their (pay) garage to charge, whether or not you're a guest. Every hotel's different, though; some have parking only for guests, or might put the charger in a spot that's guest-only. On the other paw, some folks will be more likely to stay at the hotel with the HPWC, versus one next door without a HPWC.

The last hotel I tried to charge at tried to help but their only outlet was a regular plug that just happened to be outside, and there was something wrong with it (red circle on my charge port, but I've charged fine on regular outlets elsewhere)...I'd be really happy if a hotel in Raleigh took Elon up on this offer, I'm just saying.... ;-)

- - - Updated - - -

P.S. By regular outlet, I mean a NEMA 5-15 (~120v). Sorry, I spaced on what it was called.

 

[rdrcrmatt]

There was no way I wasn't getting them. I do 200+ miles per day and a 14-50 couldn't charge me in time. I usually get home about 10:30 or 11:00pm and have to leave by 6:30am.

I configured my car based on being self reliant. Once the superchargers get to this area (Milwaukee / Chicago) they'll be an added bonus / safety net.

And as far as I know, chademo adapter will bypass on the onboard chargers with the direct DC just like a supercharger. So having twin chargers is not important for chademo charging.