NACS Charging at Tesla SCs

[hmp10]

Too bad the Tesla SCs are usually the most expensive option ( for non Teslas)

You get a significant fee reduction (around 25-30%, depending on location) if you have a $11.99 monthly subscription for Tesla Supercharging. However, you can't yet use it with plug-and-charge, although Lucid says they are working on that. All you have to do is initiate the charging session through the Tesla app, though, and it's actually pretty quick and easy.

It doesn't take much road tripping for the subscription to pay for itself. Frankly, though, I'd pay double the rate to use a Tesla SC over an EA charger, simply because I want to be able to know I'll actually be able to charge when I arrive at the station.

 

[dbsb3233]

Too bad the Tesla SCs are usually the most expensive option ( for non Teslas)

Depends on where. Some places SCs are cheaper than the alternatives, sometimes more.

Price is always a consideration in anything, of course. But in the grand scheme of things, it's usually not the biggest factor for DCFC. Most people only DCFC on roads trips, and most only do them a couple of times per year (with 90%+ of their charges at home). There are exceptions (like me where 80% of my miles are road trips), but most people can count their annual DCFC charges on both hands.

Location and convenience usually mean more than a modest price difference. When choosing the next DCFC stop on a day's drive, probably less than half even look at the price before plugging in.

 

[dbsb3233]

You get a significant fee reduction (around 25-30%, depending on location) if you have a $11.99 monthly subscription for Tesla Supercharging. However, you can't yet use it with plug-and-charge, although Lucid says they are working on that. All you have to do is initiate the charging session through the Tesla app, though, and it's actually pretty quick and easy.

It doesn't take much road tripping for the subscription to pay for itself. Frankly, though, I'd pay double the rate to use a Tesla SC over an EA charger, simply because I want to be able to know I'll actually be able to charge when I arrive at the station.

And for both SC and EA, you can easily activate the subscription for just that trip (one month). Activate the subscription, then immediately cancel it. You'll pay the one month ($7 for EA, $11.99 for SC) and get 30 days of the (roughly 25%) discount, and it will automatically terminate after 30 days. Easy-peasy. The break-even point is usually 2-3 charges in that 30 days.

One downside though is you kinda feel locked in to using only that network on a trip. Sometimes the other network would actually be easier for a particular stop but we'll still stick with the one we payed the discount for "just because".

 

[hmp10]

And for both SC and EA, you can easily activate the subscription for just that trip (one month). Activate the subscription, then immediately cancel it. You'll pay the one month ($7 for EA, $11.99 for SC) and get 30 days of the (roughly 25%) discount, and it will automatically terminate after 30 days. Easy-peasy. The break-even point is usually 2-3 charges in that 30 days.

One downside though is you kinda feel locked in to using only that network on a trip. Sometimes the other network would actually be easier for a particular stop but we'll still stick with the one we payed the discount for "just because".

The only downside I have experienced in almost four years of road tripping in a Lucid was the challenge of the CCS charging infrastructure, particularly with Electrify America's dismal service in the southeastern U.S. (People out west seem to have had fewer issues.)

After nine years of owning Teslas, the only regret I had in walking away from the brand was the loss of Supercharger access. With our Gravity (and even with the slower charge rate of the Air at Superchargers), that one downside has evaporated.

Long before Elon Musk went off the deep end I had become disillusioned with some of Tesla's business practices and design choices, but the Supercharger network remained the class act in the industry. Give the devil his due.

 

[jrreno]

Depends on where. Some places SCs are cheaper than the alternatives, sometimes more.

Price is always a consideration in anything, of course. But in the grand scheme of things, it's usually not the biggest factor for DCFC. Most people only DCFC on roads trips, and most only do them a couple of times per year (with 90%+ of their charges at home). There are exceptions (like me where 80% of my miles are road trips), but most people can count their annual DCFC charges on both hands.

Location and convenience usually mean more than a modest price difference. When choosing the next DCFC stop on a day's drive, probably less than half even look at the price before plugging in.

The only downside I have experienced in almost four years of road tripping in a Lucid was the challenge of the CCS charging infrastructure, particularly with Electrify America's dismal service in the southeastern U.S. (People out west seem to have had fewer issues.)

After nine years of owning Teslas, the only regret I had in walking away from the brand was the loss of Supercharger access. With our Gravity (and even with the slower charge rate of the Air at Superchargers), that one downside has evaporated.

Long before Elon Musk went off the deep end I had become disillusioned with some of Tesla's business practices and design choices, but the Supercharger network remained the class act in the industry. Give the devil his due.

I have to agree on all the points you’ve made. I have been spoiled because our 2018 MS came with free supercharging. We have 152,000 miles on it, most of the highway miles. As you and dbsb have stated price is far from the most important factor when doing some serious road tripping. I have never worried about where my next refueling was coming from. The Tesla SC infrastructure was the deciding factor when we purchased our first Tesla, a 2014 MS.
I started distancing us from Tesla when the petulant child fired the entire SC team. Unfortunately we also have Tesla powerwalls which are also very well engineered and are serving us well. I actually am torn between the exceptional engineering teams at Tesla and the CEO that takes all the credit for their hard work.
I am looking forward to putting many highway miles on our new Gravity. Our SA says he thinks end of October. Hoping it arrives soon!

 

[jedwin]

Incredibly easy charging at two Tesla SCs this weekend. Amazed how easy plug and charge

I also had a very easy first SC test using the Lucid adapter. Functionally, everything was happening the way it was supposed to… However, my Lucid app was stuck on the “authorizing“ screen, which precluded me from stopping the charging there, and I was able to readily cancel the charging session from the pilot panel inside the car. (I was just testing the system, and didn’t want to charge for long.)

At first, I did wonder whether the charging had started, but again once I looked inside, I could see that all was well, despite the app screen being stuck.

FWIW, a similar but slightly different glitch happened on a ChargePoint charger that I was testing: there, the ChargePoint app froze on a screen that said, I believe, “loading charging session“….. but again, charging was taking place just fine, and I could monitor and end the session from the pilot panel inside the car.

 

[dbsb3233]

The only downside I have experienced in almost four years of road tripping in a Lucid was the challenge of the CCS charging infrastructure, particularly with Electrify America's dismal service in the southeastern U.S. (People out west seem to have had fewer issues.)

After nine years of owning Teslas, the only regret I had in walking away from the brand was the loss of Supercharger access. With our Gravity (and even with the slower charge rate of the Air at Superchargers), that one downside has evaporated.

Long before Elon Musk went off the deep end I had become disillusioned with some of Tesla's business practices and design choices, but the Supercharger network remained the class act in the industry. Give the devil his due.

We've had access to SCs in our Mach-E for a few years now. We still mostly used EA though because there's so many V2 stations that are worthless to us, especially in my region of the country (WY, UT, SD, NV, CO, etc). WY, for instance, has a total of two CCS-capable SCs in the whole state. SD just one. Until recently I-80 had none for 1100 miles between North Platte NE and Fernley NV (other than Salt Lake City). They just recently added 2 in NV, but there's still zero on I-80 for all of WY. I-70 in UT was similar, until this week when they finally upgraded the Green River station. Just too many long gaps. But it's gradually filling in.

For the next 9 months we'll still use EA because we're driving our new Macan that has a year of free EA. But after that the Gravity takes over. Ionna will be a significant part of that mix since the Fruita CO and Beaver UT stations should be perfectly placed between Denver & Vegas (our most frequent route). Now we just need someone to put a CCS-capable station on US-95 between Vegas and Reno. There's only SC V2s there.

 

[dbsb3233]

Speaking of Ionna, for anyone road tripping this weekend...

https://twitter.com/x/status/1961111669389541647

 

[hmp10]

We've had access to SCs in our Mach-E for a few years now. We still mostly used EA though because there's so many V2 stations that are worthless to us, especially in my region of the country (WY, UT, SD, NV, CO, etc). WY, for instance, has a total of two CCS-capable SCs in the whole state. SD just one. Until recently I-80 had none for 1100 miles between North Platte NE and Fernley NV (other than Salt Lake City). They just recently added 2 in NV, but there's still zero on I-80 for all of WY. I-70 in UT was similar, until this week when they finally upgraded the Green River station. Just too many long gaps. But it's gradually filling in.

For the next 9 months we'll still use EA because we're driving our new Macan that has a year of free EA. But after that the Gravity takes over. Ionna will be a significant part of that mix since the Fruita CO and Beaver UT stations should be perfectly placed between Denver & Vegas (our most frequent route). Now we just need someone to put a CCS-capable station on US-95 between Vegas and Reno. There's only SC V2s there.

Yep, I've noticed that on Tesla SC maps. We're thinking about a cross-country drive -- the northern route in one direction and the southern route in the other -- and I was surprised how many SC spots dropped off the map when I turned on the "NACS-partner" filter, particularly in the upper mountain states.

I have serious doubts about venturing into an area more dependent on CCS infrastructure where the charging options are few and far between in case you have to find an alternate to a malfunctioning CCS station. (While I've had better luck with ChargePoint than Electrify America over the past few years, it's still not up to SC snuff.)