Tesla Adapter overview from Tom

Haven't seen this mentioned. Posted 10 days ago from @tommolog. Covers Tesla (aka Ford) adapter, A2Z and Lectron.

Watched it, love hearing Tom's take on these. I ended up ordering the A2Z (thanks to some prodding from @RickLightning ) just before Ford started sending out the June orders. Neither has shipped yet for me, I'm guessing both will ship near the end of this week or early next week. I'd like to have at least one of them before I head out on July 3rd.

With a little luck I'll convince the wife she can handle an EV and then we'll already have an adapter for it. Since @Ford Motor Company dropped the ball on their 3 row, it'll most likely be the EV9. Looking to buy one early next year unless I happen across a smokin deal.

Keep in mind that Ford has still not shipped JUNE orders. They are shipping April and May orders, that moved to June.

A2ZEV's Typhoon adapter ordered today would arrive in 2 weeks or less, and the 10% discount is automatic. The better deal is to pick the Destination Adapter (Stellar) in the dropdown menu, get 18.4% off both. Then, at many hotels with a Tesla Destination charger, or a relative's house, you can charge also.

Since I started the post, just want to make sure folks know that they can get the same discounts just mentioned using Tom's coupon code "STATEOFCHARGE" when checking out.

You can decide who has helped in your decision and reward them with the commission A2Z pays them.

Zprime29 said:

Watched it, love hearing Tom's take on these. I ended up ordering the A2Z (thanks to some prodding from @RickLightning ) just before Ford started sending out the June orders. Neither has shipped yet for me, I'm guessing both will ship near the end of this week or early next week. I'd like to have at least one of them before I head out on July 3rd.

With a little luck I'll convince the wife she can handle an EV and then we'll already have an adapter for it. Since @Ford Motor Company dropped the ball on their 3 row, it'll most likely be the EV9. Looking to buy one early next year unless I happen across a smokin deal.

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I am interested to know if/when CCS Kia's get updated to support the adapter charging on Superchargers.

adoublee said:

I am interested to know if/when CCS Kia's get updated to support the adapter charging on Superchargers.

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Before the shakeups at Tesla it was expected to be first of 2025.

We also have an EV6 so I’ve been watching that plan as well.

Disappointing he did not discuss the charge rate throttling differences amongst the adapters. I suspect the lower temp on the Tesla adapter is due to the throttling of the charge current - likely being limited by the temp limit setpoint of the NACS handle.

RickKeen said:

Disappointing he did not discuss the charge rate throttling differences amongst the adapters. I suspect the lower temp on the Tesla adapter is due to the throttling of the charge current - likely being limited by the temp limit setpoint of the NACS handle.

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They are all rated for the same charge rate, I haven't seen anything to indicate any of them throttle charge rate. Do you have a source you could point to?

RickKeen said:

Disappointing he did not discuss the charge rate throttling differences amongst the adapters. I suspect the lower temp on the Tesla adapter is due to the throttling of the charge current - likely being limited by the temp limit setpoint of the NACS handle.

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I doubt that there is any throttling. This is with the A2Z, but still a really good charge rate. Comparable with what I saw at EA. This was on a really hot FL day a few weeks back (well they all are this time of year anyway).

Zprime29 said:

They are all rated for the same charge rate, I haven't seen anything to indicate any of them throttle charge rate. Do you have a source you could point to?

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Reports of derating happening with Tesla adapters and Magic Dock with Rivian and Ford due to the Handle temp . The Tesla wet rag trick helps and so does cooler weather. Anecdotally could be less derating with the A2Z, but nothing definitive.

Hoping somebody does an objective investigation.

https://riviantrackr.com/news/hot-temps-derate-tesla-superchargers-for-rivian-ford-evs/

RickKeen said:

Reports of derating happening with Tesla adapters and Magic Dock with Rivian and Ford due to the Handle temp . The Tesla wet rag trick helps and so does cooler weather. Anecdotally could be less derating with the A2Z, but nothing definitive.

Hoping somebody does an objective investigation.

https://riviantrackr.com/news/hot-temps-derate-tesla-superchargers-for-rivian-ford-evs/

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Interesting. I’ll have to do some comparison testing when I get my ford adapter. Or maybe I can get a local owner to ride up the superchargers with me one day to do a side by side in the same conditions. (I’m looking at you @flyct ).

FLSpartan04 said:

Interesting. I’ll have to do some comparison testing when I get my ford adapter. Or maybe I can get a local owner to ride up the superchargers with me one day to do a side by side in the same conditions. (I’m looking at you @flyct ).

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Interesting timing. My Ford OEM adapter arrived this morning.

My Lightning is charged at 79% right now.

Call me and we can probably set something up. I have some issues with timing that I’ll explain when you call.

Sounds good! No rush, would likely have to be a weekend for me. I’ll reach out. Would be good if we can learn something that we can share!

For what it's worth, as someone who has supercharged an absurd amount with an A2Z adapter the past couple of months: There should not be any derating on that initial charging spring (165 - 170kW), it's only after that fades you start to see the effects of heat (it drops down to 100 and even 80 whereas in good weather it should hold 120 til 70% or so). I saw this exact behavior with EA stations as well as Tesla on my last trip. I saw the same thing last summer using EA across the South in 100+F temps. I think it's just the truck protecting itself. By all means, do a side by side test in the same temps at the same location because it would be interesting to see what occurs but I wouldn't get my hopes up that one adapter will be clearly superior, at the end of the day when it's legit hot out don't expect to pull normal speeds once you've been on the charger a bit.

Counterpoint worth exploring more, I was in 100+F temps on my trip this past week and I stopped to charge at a Tesla station, couldn't find a bathroom so jumped off, drove another 20 min, then charged again and got the same 170kW sprint I did the previous charge. So maybe there's a strategy there in high temps to charge much more frequently and for less long versus letting the charger derate down below 100kW due to heat. Food for thought and ideas to explore in testing.

The Weatherman said:

Before the shakeups at Tesla it was expected to be first of 2025.

We also have an EV6 so I’ve been watching that plan as well.

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I do as well. Just took a 1600 mile trip with both at same speed and obviously same weather conditions. It was crazy that they both used SOC percentage points at almost the exact same rate, meaning same distance capability. Of course the EV6 has a smaller battery with faster charging capability, so much much faster to refuel.