Yay, Tesla charging … July 31!

[DeaneG]

I have a Ford adapter from my former Mach E. Guessing it would work - but too nervous to try!

• OEM-certified adapter
• Rated for up to 500 amps and 1,000 volts

That should be just fine.

 

[thommev]

On full V4 superchargers (none of which exist yet), the Air will be able to go at full speed as those are rumored to be 1000V. The Air uses an 800-900V system, so they can charge at full speed.

The issue is at V3 superchargers (aka basically all of them right now) which use a 400V system. On those chargers, the Air will max out at 50kW. Those chargers are older technology and the Air was built for the future, before those chargers were announced to be opening up to other vehicles.

The Gravity will charge at full speed on any charger in existence today, because they built it to. In fact, it’ll charge faster than a Tesla at a V4 supercharger.

That’s all.

Thanks, I get your explanation.

My question about @Andretex ' comment was why he thought we need an adapter rated for 500KW. Reading/thinking again, maybe it was a typo on his part.. Maybe he meant 50KW.

 

[thommev]

Well, the adapter can be used with any super charger not just level 3 Tesla. So you want it make sure when your car is charging at 350kw that the adapter does not catch on fire. Yes, its overkill for level 3 tesla supercharger, but not for any other that allows the car to charge higher.

Oh, you are saying we need 500kW if we want to use that same adapter for some other car that charges faster on a Tesla SC.. But Lucid Air specifically, for now, 50kW should be fine. Having said that it looks like just about every listing in Amazon seems to be 250kW or higher.

 

[thommev]

I don't use fast chargers a whole lot (used maybe 5 times in the last 6-7 months.. each time a great experience, never waited), and I don't use my Lucid air for a lot of long road trips (I use the X7 for its space and far superior auto-drive) - BUT if I were to use Lucid for a long road trip, I would definitely get one of these adapters. I see far more Tesla SC than EA chargers here in Midwest. 50kW is far better than any L2 charger. It will give you enough juice to get to your super-duper EA charger fast enough. I don't see how having this option at 50KW is bad from any perspective. If you are happy with EA and you can find one every time - great.. But for everyone else - this is indeed great news.

 

[DeaneG]

Oh, you are saying we need 500kW if we want to use that same adapter for some other car that charges faster on a Tesla SC.. But Lucid Air specifically, for now, 50kW should be fine. Having said that it looks like just about every listing in Amazon seems to be 250kW or higher.

You'd want to buy an adapter rated at 1000V and 500A, so that it will be safe with Tesla's future V4 superchargers and also NACS charging stations operated by anyone else, on which the Air will change at full speed.There are many poorly made, unsafe adapters for sale on Amazon. Buy one from Lucid, Lectron, or A2Z.

 

[evfreedom]

That was a problem, but most EA chargers I've used since I bought the car have been reliable. The exception was at locations with physically broken connectors. They show up in apps as available, people go to that location thinking that there's no crowd, and there ends up being a long line. I don't know whether people are not reporting them or EA is not flagging them when reported.

A bigger problem as I see it is that EA decided to have far more locations, but with few chargers per location. That makes it impossible to plan a route and select EA chargers along the way and have any expectation that the availability you see in the app will have anything to do with what will be the case when you get there. And one charger down in a location that has four is a significant problem.

Tesla has fewer locations, but might have 100 chargers at a given freeway exit. So if it comes down to driving from one EA location to another, giving up and waiting in line for an hour, then a Supercharger will be faster. Plus, by not waiting around for someone to leave, you can go eat and come back when the car is charged.

Tesla is far from ideal.

Exactly! If you're driving up or down I-5 in California, here's a cheat sheet for you. I have grown to appreciate EA and EVgo, but 6 stalls ain't gonna cut it!