Ignorant question about using a Tesla charging station

[skywaterbanjo]

I've searched online for an answer but the feedback is a bit confusing to me so here I am. Thanks in advance for your patience.

I will be picking up my AGT in about 2 weeks. I will frequently be driving between Scottsdale and Durango, CO, about 460 miles. I am reasonably sure I will not be able to make the drive on a single charge, especially going from Scottsdale to Durango (6000 ft elevation gain).

My routes are limited. Either through Gallup, through Payson, into Fountain Hills or through the reservation (Kayenta) through Flagstaff into Scottsdale. My concern is that there are very few charging stations along the way, with may Tesla superchargers.

My thought is to have a Tesla-CCS adapter on board as a backup incase the EA chargers aren't working (which seems frequent) or something out of the ordinary affects my range.

Is that a logical thought process and would I be able to use a Tesla charger to get enough to get home?

Sorry if it's a stupid question - just trying to plan.

 

[th14]

You won't be able to use Tesla Supercharger network with an adapter as those stations are software controlled and won't allow non tesla's to charge.

What you're reading about is Tesla destination chargers which are located at hotels, businesses, and what many of us have installed at home. These are 'dumb' charges and work the same as any other electrical delivery device. You can get adapters (like the Tesla tap) that have the circuitry to get these wall chargers to activate and send juice to your Lucid.

These Tesla wall chargers, even the same models, vary wildly depending on how the owner has installed them. Specifically, how many amps they've wired up to the charger. I've seen some hotels install them and only hook up 20 amps. Most will do 40-80. At 40, you'd probably get around 20-30 miles per hour of charge while 80 could get you 40-50. If you have an 80 amp adapter.

So not useful for road trips along the route but very useful if you have a charger at your destination and can charge overnight.

Also, as a final note of caution. The latest Tesla destination/ wall charger does have the ability to be software controlled. So if the installer hasn't changed the string to allow all vehicles, they can be locked down to Tesla's only. I believe the default setting is Tesla only. Most people installing don't realize there is a setting to change so this will become a bigger problem as more of the Gen 3 chargers get installed.

 

[skywaterbanjo]

Thanks for the quick reply. I guess I just have to rely on either EA working or finding an alternative charging station.

 

[skywaterbanjo]

Also, how reliable is the info from PlugShare about the status of chargers? In looking at the app, it shows both of the EA chargers in Gallup as under repair.

I would assume the charger locator in the nav system isn't smart enough to query Plugshare so it wouldn't know what stations are functioning?

 

[th14]

EA is free but no reason you can't use others. We have quite a few EVGo chargers around here and there are some Chargepoint. Though I've read on here the Chargepoint and Lucid connection can be flaky.

Paying isn't the end of the world. We've all been paying for gas for years so I sort of laugh at the resistance to pay for charging. Even when I had access to free Tesla charging, I would sometimes pay for charging if it was more convenient. One place I went to often, there was an EVGo charging right outside my hotel while the Tesla supercharger was 20 minutes on the other side of town.

I paid a few bucks and saved myself a lot of time.

 

[th14]

Also, how reliable is the info from PlugShare about the status of chargers? In looking at the app, it shows both of the EA chargers in Gallup as under repair.

I would assume the charger locator in the nav system isn't smart enough to query Plugshare so it wouldn't know what stations are functioning?

I think plugshare is reliable about letting you know something isn't working. Less reliable about something working.

I love Plugshare. The ratings are really useful to alert me as to whether a station I'm considering is reliable or not. For instance, there's a Tesla supercharger station outside of DC that has a low rating. Sure enough, I've been there twice and it's been slow speed both times. Fortunately, there is another one 20 minutes away that's been fine.

But it's been a lifesaver to know this hotel keeps up with their chargers while this other one doesn't. You just have to check to make sure there are enough ratings.

 

[LucidDropkick]

PlugShare is crowd-sourced info, and comes with all the benefits and pitfalls of said system. I would absolutely use it as a judge of quality of stations (as people are often quick to point out when something isn't working...see this entire forum for proof ) so you can usually count on the negativity to be accurate.

The EA app and the Lucid app (Map tap with Charger View enabled) will tell you availability and it's usually correct.

 

[skywaterbanjo]

Thanks for all of the responses and help!

 

[LucidDropkick]

Thanks for all of the responses and help!

Never feel bad about asking questions. You are not ignorant

 

[th14]

PlugShare is crowd-sourced info, and comes with all the benefits and pitfalls of said system. I would absolutely use it as a judge of quality of stations (as people are often quick to point out when something isn't working...see this entire forum for proof ) so you can usually count on the negativity to be accurate.

The EA app and the Lucid app (Map tap with Charger View enabled) will tell you availability and it's usually correct.

After this recommendation from you, I spent some time looking at the EA and Lucid apps. I did not realize the feature existed in the Lucid app until I read about it here.

Unfortunately, in looking at several stations around me, the two apps don't agree. For instance, the Lucid app would show only 1/4 available while the EA app would show all 4 available. To be clear, they seemed to agree when a charger was in use. But the Lucid app would show a bunch of chargers as 'Unavailable'. I assume that to mean the charger is broken/ not functioning. Meanwhile, the EA app showed them all as working and available.

Any idea what that means?

 

[Shawn]

Also, how reliable is the info from PlugShare about the status of chargers? In looking at the app, it shows both of the EA chargers in Gallup as under repair.

I would assume the charger locator in the nav system isn't smart enough to query Plugshare so it wouldn't know what stations are functioning?

Thanks, I will add the EA app