Charging at Tesla Supercharger stations "later this year"

[DeaneG]

"Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers."

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Catalyzes more than $700 Million in Private Sector Commitments to Make EV Charging More Affordable and Accessible | The White House

Record-Breaking Private U.S. Investments to Help Build 250,000 Chargers Per Year, Create More Than 2,000 JobsToday, the Biden-Harris Administration is highlighting how President Biden’s leadership on electric vehicles is catalyzing more than $700 million in investments from the private sector...

www.whitehouse.gov

 

[Sandvinsd]

"Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers."

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Catalyzes more than $700 Million in Private Sector Commitments to Make EV Charging More Affordable and Accessible | The White House

Record-Breaking Private U.S. Investments to Help Build 250,000 Chargers Per Year, Create More Than 2,000 JobsToday, the Biden-Harris Administration is highlighting how President Biden’s leadership on electric vehicles is catalyzing more than $700 million in investments from the private sector...

www.whitehouse.gov

Yeah. They want the free government money.

 

[joec]

Yeah. They want the free government money.

Fair enough. Can't fault them for taking it, though it is a bit ironic, given Elon's general attitude toward the government lately.

Either way, we win. If I can use Superchargers with my Lucid, I'll never worry about taking road trips around here at all. Not only are they all over the place in CO, but they tend to have multiple open stalls regularly. At least outside the major cities.

EA is okay here, too. So I'll have both options.

 

[Snafu]

One would hope that Tesla will have the CCS adaptors made available for their US customers to access the wider charging networks throughout if non-Tesla vehicles will be competing for Supercharger space.

 

[Slam08]

I remember reading somewhere that Tesla has allowed other companies to build cars with their connectors that could work on their charger network, but that the level of access to the vehicle that Tesla wanted was a hiccup. I wondered why EV companies didn’t all build Tesla connectors into their vehicles from the beginning, like starting 10 years ago.

Either way, would nice nice to be able to charge anywhere and use both networks. Maybe eventually we could have a Lucid with J1772 on one side a Tesla port on the other?

 

[Sandvinsd]

I remember reading somewhere that Tesla has allowed other companies to build cars with their connectors that could work on their charger network, but that the level of access to the vehicle that Tesla wanted was a hiccup. I wondered why don’t EV companies didn’t just all build Tesla connectors into their vehicles from the beginning, like starting 10 years ago.

Either way, would nice nice to be able to charge anywhere and use both networks. Maybe eventually we could have a Lucid with J1772 on one side a Tesla port on the other?

Probably cost and the size of the charging ports. The Nissan Leaf has two connectors, a ChadeMo for L3 charging and the J1772 for L2. The size of the opening housing the 2 ports is 21” x 8” in the front of the car. Quite large. Trying to stuff it between the wheel well and front car door would be impossible.

 

[Slam08]

Probably cost and the size of the charging ports. The Nissan Leaf has two connectors, a ChadeMo for L3 charging and the J1772 for L2. The size of the opening housing the 2 ports is 21” x 8” in the front of the car. Quite large. Trying to stuff it between the wheel well and front car door would be impossible.

There are definite advantages to the Tesla port as well. It’s smaller than a CCS. I like doing all the charging with one connector (not requiring the additional DC pins).

It seems like a better port. And they already had the charging network. I’m surprised that others didn’t build a car that could use it.

 

[Sandvinsd]

There are definite advantages to the Tesla port as well. It’s smaller than a CCS. I like doing all the charging with one connector (not requiring the additional DC pins).

It seems like a better port. And they already had the charging network. I’m surprised that others didn’t build a car that could use it.

Like many other competing technologies, the better tech doesn’t always win out.

 

[DeaneG]

Like many other competing technologies, the better tech doesn’t always win out.

I think (but don't know for a fact) that Tesla's connecter it limited to around 500V. Creepage and clearance dimensions are smaller than the 1000V capable CCS connector. That's one reason why the CCS connector is bigger.

 

[joec]

I think (but don't know for a fact) that Tesla's connecter it limited to around 500V. Creepage and clearance dimensions are smaller than the 1000V capable CCS connector. That's one reason why the CCS connector is bigger.

And that could be one more reason for Tesla to move away from it. I imagine they'd like to get higher voltage charging eventually.

 

[hydbob]

Also, the Tesla connector doesn't allow communication on the backend for billing right? That's why everything is done through the car and also why superchargers are easier to maintain and keep running because they don't need any cell service to run. They just feed power and the car communicates with Tesla for billing.

Also with regards to other companies using the Tesla connector, it was reported earlier on the forums, that the reason why was the licensing required the other company to give Tesla access to all their patents or something similar to that in order to use it.

 

[LCIDdreams]

Also, the Tesla connector doesn't allow communication on the backend for billing right? That's why everything is done through the car and also why superchargers are easier to maintain and keep running because they don't need any cell service to run. They just feed power and the car communicates with Tesla for billing.

Also with regards to other companies using the Tesla connector, it was reported earlier on the forums, that the reason why was the licensing required the other company to give Tesla access to all their patents or something similar to that in order to use it.

There are supercharger stations open to all EVs in most countries in Europe now. The superchargers themselves must have connectivity (which they would need anyway to determine if there are any issues with a charger). It is billed through the Tesla app (so non Tesla drivers would need a Tesla account )

 

[Steveinarizona]

Like many other competing technologies, the better tech doesn’t always win out.

Yep. Beta vs. VHS. For example.

 

[Car Guy]

"Later this year, Tesla will begin production of new Supercharger equipment that will enable non-Tesla EV drivers in North America to use Tesla Superchargers."

FACT SHEET: Biden-Harris Administration Catalyzes more than $700 Million in Private Sector Commitments to Make EV Charging More Affordable and Accessible | The White House

Record-Breaking Private U.S. Investments to Help Build 250,000 Chargers Per Year, Create More Than 2,000 JobsToday, the Biden-Harris Administration is highlighting how President Biden’s leadership on electric vehicles is catalyzing more than $700 million in investments from the private sector...

www.whitehouse.gov

This is certainly good news, especially for those of us who can't charge at home. Electrify America has a poor reputation for reliability, with many reports of charging problems. VW funded EA as part of its settlement for the falsifying of pollution output scandal. Guess they never intended it to be a viable company.

 

[hydbob]

This is certainly good news, especially for those of us who can't charge at home. Electrify America has a poor reputation for reliability, with many reports of charging problems. VW funded EA as part of its settlement for the falsifying of pollution output scandal. Guess they never intended it to be a viable company.

I have a feeling that in a few years, EA will be great. They have said they are focused on using Siemens hardware from now on and from reports it appears that a lot of their issues were with their 1st gen hardware which is being yanked and upgraded. It takes time and they've already redesigned their charging station to be single longer cable, so we will see how that ends up working out. Of course, I have a far better view being in an area saturated with chargers that have seen very little downtime.

 

[HC_79]

And that could be one more reason for Tesla to move away from it. I imagine they'd like to get higher voltage charging eventually.

I don't know, Tesla seems to do pretty well with that connector and chargers for that matter. They may not be able to go higher than 250Kw but they do seem to maintain a pretty fast charging speed for a long period of time on small battery packs. I think we're years away from seeing anything charge at 300Kw+ consistently or even higher for that matter because it's not really a power issue, it's more about how to keep the batteries cool and not catching on fire.

I think 200 - 300 is the sweet spot. If companies can push the battery to take a bigger charge rate for longer that speed will get you in and out of a charger pretty quickly. It's a different story for trucks but the US government is already looking at new connector designs to deal with that volume of power needed.

 

[HC_79]

This is certainly good news, especially for those of us who can't charge at home. Electrify America has a poor reputation for reliability, with many reports of charging problems. VW funded EA as part of its settlement for the falsifying of pollution output scandal. Guess they never intended it to be a viable company.

EA should be fined further for the sh*t they've delivered. It was a result of dieselgate and they just delivered it because they had to and it's not reliable at all. The fine was to deliver a network not a half assed one so they should be fined further as a result because it seems they didn't take the punishment seriously.

 

[hellolucid]

Looking forward to this.

 

[Adnillien]

Unless Tesla upgrades to a 900V system, don't expect the Lucid to charge very fast on a Tesla station. Lucid does have a DC to DC boost capability but I does anyone know the current limit when using the DC boost. Tesla stations could still be helpful where no other stations are around.

 

[Sandvinsd]

. Tesla stations could still be helpful where no other stations are around.

Yeah. In a pinch like the 50kW EVgo stations.