TESLA ADAPTER FOR CHARGING YOUR LIGHTNING

[ALAN BORER]

Does anyone know when Ford is coming out with the charging adapter for the Tesla charging stations ? I've heard that some Tesla charging stations out by Colorado have the adapters built right in !

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[sotek2345]

Yes, Tesla is doing a slow roll out of their "Magic Dock" stations that CCS vehicles can use. NY and CA also have some. You have to have a Tesla account and use the Tesla app to use those.

As for the adapter, "early" 2024 has been mentioned, and I have also seen "Spring" 2024, but no hard dates from anywhere. I would guess in about a year, but that is just that - at guess.

 

[ALAN BORER]

Yes, Tesla is doing a slow roll out of their "Magic Dock" stations that CCS vehicles can use. NY and CA also have some. You have to have a Tesla account and use the Tesla app to use those.

As for the adapter, "early" 2024 has been mentioned, and I have also seen "Spring" 2024, but no hard dates from anywhere. I would guess in about a year, but that is just that - at guess.

I even heard that all Lightning owners would get them free from Ford !

 

[sotek2345]

I even heard that all Lightning owners would get them free from Ford !

Farley said that, but then others said we would have to buy them. No one is sure yet.

 

[astricklin]

The official statement is "pricing will be revealed at a later date"
What that exactly means is unsure. $0 is technically still a price. Ford gave the mobile charger with the vehicle in 2022 and not for 2023 so maybe there will be some time that you can claim a free adapter and they will include it with vehicles for some time and then eventually start charging for it. It could also mean that they will announce charging kwh and membership plan pricing.
What we do know is that Ford vehicles will get access to a subset of the Tesla supercharger network (most likely starting in the first half of next year) and at some point in the future, Ford vehicles will have a Tesla style (NACS) charging port. It may be instead of the j1772/ccs1 port, or it may be in addition to.

 

[Amps]

I've heard that some Tesla charging stations out by Colorado have the adapters built right in !

There are currently a total of 11 locations with Magic Docks (built-in adapters). They're in New York (9) and two in California.

This link will find them, but you have to move around the map to view the entire country:

https://www.tesla.com/findus?v=2&bounds=51.79533516395478,-69.16813319383206,26.431673917336585,-102.65446131883206&zoom=6&filters=party

 

[luebri]

Farley said that, but then others said we would have to buy them. No one is sure yet.

I believe Farley mispoke. "We're gonna ship an adapter to everyone that has bought a Ford EV " in this interview. It does not say "ship for free", but one could easily construe it that way.




However, In the Twitter spaces announcement Musk (when discussing the adapter) stated "it will not be cost prohibitive... it will be something that is quite affordable... in the hundreds of dollars range".

Watch the 14:10 to 16:10 mark of this video.

https://www.youtube.com/live/rsrs4a212g0?feature=share

So seeing as how the adapter is only for existing Ford EV's with CCS and he states it will be in the hundreds of dollars I dont think they are meaning it will be shipped free to customers even if Farley accidentally inferred it in an interview.

 

[Peddyr]

I believe Farley mispoke. "We're gonna ship an adapter to everyone that has bought a Ford EV " in this interview. It does not say "ship for free", but one could easily construe it that way.




However, In the Twitter spaces announcement Musk (when discussing the adapter) stated "it will not be cost prohibitive... it will be something that is quite affordable... in the hundreds of dollars range".

Watch the 14:10 to 16:10 mark of this video.

https://www.youtube.com/live/rsrs4a212g0?feature=share

So seeing as how the adapter is only for existing Ford EV's with CCS and he states it will be in the hundreds of dollars I dont think they are meaning it will be shipped free to customers even if Farley accidentally inferred it in an interview.

To me, when you say your going to ship one to everyone that has bought a Ford EV, the implication is that it would be free. To assume everyone will want one, even if there is a cost associated with it, is a bold statement, especially for Ford

 

[luebri]

To me, when you say your going to ship one to everyone that has bought a Ford EV, the implication is that it would be free. To assume everyone will want one, even if there is a cost associated with it, is a bold statement, especially for Ford

I believe he simply misspoke, he is not the most eloquent of speakers if you have listened to him in the past. Knowing Musk had already stated it would cost "in the hundreds of dollars range" when I listened to it I heard the following. "We're gonna (make it available for a cost to) ship an adapter to everyone that has bought a Ford EV"

The only other reason for the disconnect in messaging I can think of is Tesla will charge Ford "a couple hundred dollars" for each one and Ford will eat it and pass it along to the customer. I personally am very dubious that something like that will happen.

 

[ALAN BORER]

Lets hope the adapter comes out soon , it will be a big help for traveling !

 

[tls]

I was at the purported Malta NY location a week ago - driving my wife's car, a Model Y - and was very curious to see what the "Magic Dock" looked like. There weren't actually any. I looked at every charger a couple of times to be sure.

I'd be super careful about relying on the map URL posted above. Maybe they are removing the Magic Docks in favor of these new portable adapters Ford has announced?

 

[RickLightning]

I was at the purported Malta NY location a week ago - driving my wife's car, a Model Y - and was very curious to see what the "Magic Dock" looked like. There weren't actually any. I looked at every charger a couple of times to be sure.

I'd be super careful about relying on the map URL posted above. Maybe they are removing the Magic Docks in favor of these new portable adapters Ford has announced?

The Magic Dock is up where the hose is. If you are a CCS charger, it comes out attached to the plug. If not, it stays in the charger.

The Magic Dock locations are in PlugShare. Select the Tesla network, and the CCS plug. Here's a map:

 

[mparz00]

Regarding that last comment, I've used the Tesla charger with my Lightning AT the Malta Supercharger location. You need to use the Tesla app to release the CCS component, otherwise the charger only releases the NACS end...

 

[theblunden]

Farley said that, but then others said we would have to buy them. No one is sure yet.

Ford is already losing 3 billion on Model E who cares about a couple more millions In adapters early adopters that believe in their products

 

[RickLightning]

Lets hope the adapter comes out soon , it will be a big help for traveling !

It will come out in Spring, 2024.

Let's clarify the two separate Tesla-related CCS efforts, that may clear things up.

First, Tesla cut an agreement with the US Government to open up 3,500 Superchargers (chargers, not locations) out of approximately 17,000 in existence at the time of the announcement, to all CCS vehicles, by the end of 2024. This would be done with the Magic Dock adapter, which is in the charger, not purchasable by a person. If you pick CCS charging, the Magic Dock attaches to the cord. They then rolled out 11 locations, 2 in CA and 9 in NY. This happened in Feb/March. No new locations have rolled out since. To note, Tesla also announced they would double the Superchargers by end of 2024, but it's still 3,500 for CCS it appears. The Tesla V3 chargers have short cords, people have speculated that the rollout will be with V4 chargers with longer cords. At a V3 location, a CCS vehicle would often have to pick the charger on the end, or park sideways occupying 2-3 spots. Not a win friends approach if it's a busy location. The government rules address this.

Second, Tesla cut an agreement with Ford, and then GM, to give access to 12,000 SuperChargers by early 2024, which some have said is Spring 2024. This is a totally different initiative. For Ford, this involves integration of the Tesla chargers into FordPass and Plug and Charge, so that it's seamless for the Ford owner. It involves the Ford owner having an adapter, which may, or may not, have a cost (haven't read up on the GM deal). This won't be happening in 2023. And there is no adapter you can buy anywhere today for this to work. And yes, both Ford and GM know of the short cord issue. Even if you had an adapter, Tesla today requires use of their app, and won't let you CCS charge (except at 11 locations in #1 above).

Today, Tesla charges more to fast charge than for example Electrify America. It's unknown what the pricing structure will be for the Ford and GM owners under their deal with Tesla.

In addition to SuperChargers, Tesla has "destination chargers", which are not fast chargers. Also called Level 2 chargers, these are what you'd put in your home, or find at a hotel, or park, or similar. Today, you can buy an adapter to use these chargers, often called a "Tesla Tap" for one of the common brands. Because neither the Mach-E nor the Lightning can reduce/control the level of charging like some Tesla's can, it's essential that the adapter purchased matches the maximum that the Ford vehicle can handle, so it won't overheat / melt, or that the user know very clearly what the max output of the destination charger is. The Mach-E will pull a max of 48amps with AC charging (i.e. non-fast charging). The Lightning will pull a max of 80amps. So, if you bought a Tesla Tap for 48amps, and tried to use it on the Lightning, you might have a big problem if the charger is putting out 60amps, or more.

Tesla will also open up many destination chargers under their agreement with the government, it's unclear exactly how that will happen since today they have Tesla-style plugs. Will Tesla send site owners adapters? Or will they change out the cord? They will open at least 4,000 destination chargers as part of that agreement.

Also, the "charger" is in the vehicle. The device supplying the current is simply a "pump".

An unknown is whether Tesla will seek to renegotiate #1 in light of #2. But, keep this in mind. #1 opens up specific Tesla network Superchargers and Destination chargers to ALL CCS vehicles. #2 opens up specific Tesla Superchargers to all Ford and GM vehicles, leaving out all the other companies so far.

Hope that helps clarify things.

Here's a link to Tesla Taps and Lectron adapters, the two main competitors. Be very careful buying a different brand than one of these. https://amzn.to/43vkFQZ

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