detansinn
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- Oct 28, 2022
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- Rapid Red F150 Lightning Lariat Extended Battery
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I was headed out to Columbus, Ohio on Thursday, February 29th, when I saw the news hit. At the time, I was at an Electrify America charger in Bedford, PA. Needless to say, I was stoked. I had the A2Z adapter in the truck and was eager to try it out.
In that moment, there were no further details available, so I thought that I could just plug it in. We tried this at the Somerset rest area on the Turnpike. Nothing happened. I realized that it was a V2 charger. Our second attempt was at a V3 charger at a Get Go in New Stanton. We saw blue lights and then the truck threw a charger error. I suspected that we we were missing some kind of update. We stuck to our charging plan and used EA charging up until Columbus.
On Thursday afternoon/evening, I started seeing Forum posts about people receiving an OTA. As a 2023 owner, I knew that the OTA was going to be slow coming, but then saw that the Tesla and FordPass apps both received updates.
It appeared that you could activate the supercharger from the updated Tesla app. So, I headed out early Saturday morning and did my first successful Supercharger session. It worked! I promptly signed up for the Tesla $13/mo membership to get the discounted rates.
Later that morning, as we parked for the Arnold Classic, I got a pop up on the truck's main display about a priority update being available. Naturally, I chose to do the update right away. Now, it felt legit.
For our Sunday 500 mile return drive, I decided to roll the dice and use Superchargers exclusively. The locations of the Superchargers would allow us to do the trip as a two charging stop affair. The first stop was in Triadelphia, WV. The second stop was in Breezewood, PA. It all worked like a champ.
Thoughts and takeaways:
In that moment, there were no further details available, so I thought that I could just plug it in. We tried this at the Somerset rest area on the Turnpike. Nothing happened. I realized that it was a V2 charger. Our second attempt was at a V3 charger at a Get Go in New Stanton. We saw blue lights and then the truck threw a charger error. I suspected that we we were missing some kind of update. We stuck to our charging plan and used EA charging up until Columbus.
On Thursday afternoon/evening, I started seeing Forum posts about people receiving an OTA. As a 2023 owner, I knew that the OTA was going to be slow coming, but then saw that the Tesla and FordPass apps both received updates.
It appeared that you could activate the supercharger from the updated Tesla app. So, I headed out early Saturday morning and did my first successful Supercharger session. It worked! I promptly signed up for the Tesla $13/mo membership to get the discounted rates.
Later that morning, as we parked for the Arnold Classic, I got a pop up on the truck's main display about a priority update being available. Naturally, I chose to do the update right away. Now, it felt legit.
For our Sunday 500 mile return drive, I decided to roll the dice and use Superchargers exclusively. The locations of the Superchargers would allow us to do the trip as a two charging stop affair. The first stop was in Triadelphia, WV. The second stop was in Breezewood, PA. It all worked like a champ.
Thoughts and takeaways:
- For both Supercharger stops, I just took the end spots and didn't take up any extra spaces. With the 360 surround view, it's not a big deal to maneuver nice and close. The short cable panic is a bit overblown. It all worked pretty seamlessly. I should note that I did use the Tesla app for activation so that I got the member rate.
- To leverage the membership rate, I'm just going to activate through the Tesla app going forward. The experience isn't all that different from using the EA app to do the same thing. Plug & Charge is handy, but the app is fine.
- I have traveled to Columbus via EV almost 50 times. For CCS stops, I typically would use Electrify America chargers in Carlisle, Belle Vernon, and Cambridge. When it's very cold (20s), I would stop at Bedford to give me a little more breathing room when it came to range. I try to avoid that Bedford, PA stop, because it's one of the busiest on my route and don't like waiting. The whole trip should be a two stop journey, but the EA chargers just aren't spaced right to do it that way consistently. I am often left doing a short stop at Carlisle on my way home, adding a third stop in the mix.
- With Superchargers added in to the charging options, it changes up my charging plan, because it DOUBLES the number of high speed charger locations available in that Turnpike/I-70 corridor and they're in different locations than the CCS chargers. The Breezewood Supercharger allowed me to skip that ritual quick stop in Carlisle. The location of the Triadelphia, WV and Breezewood, PA superchargers should make this a consistent two charging stop trip. It's just great to have more options along the route.
- Was using Superchargers a revelatory experience? Access to more options is the big thing here. It's a supercharger. It works like you'd expect. Tesla puts 8,10,12 of them at a given location unlike EA's typical 3-4. When a Supercharger charger is down, you don't really notice it, because there are so many others available. The Breezewood supercharger had a charger with a damaged cable. Triadelphia had a unit that wasn't working for Tesla owners. It's not a panacea, but it's also not nearly the inconvenience of showing up at an EA station where only half the chargers are working leaving you with two units, each occupied by Chevy Bolts trying to charge to 100%.
- On the topic of charging curves, I saw no difference compared to using a 350kw EA charger. Peak charging rates of 174kw were observed.
- What about charger congestion? For the places that I travel, the Superchargers are nearly completely vacant. Tesla is smart to open them up to generate some revenue. Yes, I understand that some chargers have long lines and backups, but in places like West Virginia, that's not happening. If I encounter a busy Supercharger with a wait, there's always the CCS options.
- The A2Z adapter is great. I am an electrical engineer. I inspected it closely after each charge. It's very well built. If you're confused about the slider switch, the trick is making sure that the Tesla connector is fully pressed in and then, the switch will engage easily. In use, it's a good design, because it ensures that your connection is tight. I trust it and will use it until my free Ford adapter arrives later this year. Then, it will end up in our Mini Cooper.
- It's very nice to have so many more options. Between CCS and Superchargers, you can almost wing it through much of the Northeast now without having to diligently plan all of your stops. It's a big leap forward.
- I only encountered one sour puss during my supercharger experiences. Most Tesla owners were very curious and social. Seeing my Lightning charging up inspired a Tesla owner to announce that they were going to sell their model 3 and gas powered F150 to get a Lightning. Hey, brand visibility cuts both ways!
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