Supercharger FAQ?

[PV2EV]

Did not see a thread here that had what I should know to use the Supercharger network (now that I have my adapter). Does one exist, and if so can it be made sticky?

If not, what beyond the adapter and the SW (Tesla app and login?) do I need to use it?

What are the best practices (typical parking requirements, speeds and feeds for different versions if any, etc...)?

What or when should I not use a charger or location?

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[invertedspear]

If not, what beyond the adapter and the SW (Tesla app and login?) do I need to use it?

If you got the SC update enabling plug and charge for Tesla, as long as you have Blue Oval charge network enabled, you don't even need the Tesla app. But you'll still want it for a couple things: See below.

What are the best practices (typical parking requirements, speeds and feeds for different versions if any, etc...)?

Park however you need to park to make it work. The cord is short, REALLY short, best to park in the rightmost stall and carry over one spot, but not always possible. I found that some stations have a spot or two designed for Teslas to park head first in to, and that works really well for us. Expect to get about 170 kW at first, then for it to taper down to about 125. Only the V3s are open to us, there really isn't such thing as V4s yet. There are V4 cabinets, but my understanding is it's still v3 hardware underneath, so same speed. V2s are not CCS compatible, so no physical adapter is enough to use them.

What or when should I not use a charger or location?

You charge when you need to. These are public charging at this point, don't tolerate Tesla drivers being jerks about it.

Things you want the Tesla app for: If you're going on a long road trip, turn off plug and charge and sign up for a Tesla charging membership. It'll save you some money. You will need to activate the chargers from the app to realize that savings. Use the App to find chargers as not all are open to us, so use the appropriate filters, don't assume you have access to every SC or you might end up stranded.

 

[carys98]

Park however you need to park to make it work. The cord is short, REALLY short, best to park in the rightmost stall and carry over one spot, but not always possible. I found that some stations have a spot or two designed for Teslas to park head first in to, and that works really well for us. Expect to get about 170 kW at first, then for it to taper down to about 125. Only the V3s are open to us, there really isn't such thing as V4s yet. There are V4 cabinets, but my understanding is it's still v3 hardware underneath, so same speed. V2s are not CCS compatible, so no physical adapter is enough to use them.

It seems the two best spots for non-Teslas are also the most popular spots for Tesla drivers. The photo is from last week when I pulled into a station with two stalls occupied and they were the far right and the forward one on the left. Yesterday I stopped at another site and again only the far left and right were occupied. While I charged the far right stall opened up and another Tesla pulled into it when there were 4 others open between me and the right end.

 

[StaggerLee]

Things you want the Tesla app for: If you're going on a long road trip, turn off plug and charge and sign up for a Tesla charging membership. It'll save you some money. You will need to activate the chargers from the app to realize that savings. Use the App to find chargers as not all are open to us, so use the appropriate filters, don't assume you have access to every SC or you might end up stranded.

FYI you don't need to turn off plug and charge for this to work. Follow these steps:

1) Pull up to supercharger. Do not unplug connector yet (actually not sure if this matters, but you need your phone so leave connector alone at first).
2) Initiate charge session in Tesla app by selecting location and specific supercharger. Note: This was my first time with a membership so I still had to "update my billing address" after selecting the supercharger.

* At first I ignored this, as I was sure I had entered it before, and my first 2 kWh test was billed by Ford. So go through all of the motions until you get to the screen telling you to connect the NACS adapter.​

3) When the app tells you to, connect the NACS adapter to the Tesla connector, then plug into your truck.

* 2nd 2kWh test worked - billed through Tesla membership, not Ford. I never disabled plug and charge.​

I'm preparing to fly soon and will rent a MME, bringing my adapter along since I'm not sure if Avis supports plug and charge. So I just did a test run today with my Lightning to verify all of this.

 

[invertedspear]

FYI you don't need to turn off plug and charge for this to work. Follow these steps:

1) Pull up to supercharger. Do not unplug connector yet (actually not sure if this matters, but you need your phone so leave connector alone at first).
2) Initiate charge session in Tesla app by selecting location and specific supercharger. Note: This was my first time with a membership so I still had to "update my billing address" after selecting the supercharger.

* At first I ignored this, as I was sure I had entered it before, and my first 2 kWh test was billed by Ford. So go through all of the motions until you get to the screen telling you to connect the NACS adapter.​

3) When the app tells you to, connect the NACS adapter to the Tesla connector, then plug into your truck.

* 2nd 2kWh test worked - billed through Tesla membership, not Ford. I never disabled plug and charge.​

I'm preparing to fly soon and will rent a MME, bringing my adapter along since I'm not sure if Avis supports plug and charge. So I just did a test run today with my Lightning to verify all of this.

Accurate that you don't NEED to, but back in the day I signed up for the EA membership and found that the P&C can sometimes beat out app activation if you aren't paying attention. I should have specified that step is a "belt and suspenders" to make sure you get the appropriate rate or it fails instead of falling back to use the P&C.

 

[ZSLC]

FWIW I got my NACS this week and tested it. I have not received the SC update so I had to use the Tesla App. Took the usual figuring things out for a first time but nothing terrible. Beyond that it worked a lot like using EA without BlueOval.

The biggest issue (as others have stated) is that because of the cable length you end up taking two spaces if you cannot get in at the end of the row.

 

[priceb]

Things you want the Tesla app for: If you're going on a long road trip, turn off plug and charge and sign up for a Tesla charging membership. It'll save you some money. You will need to activate the chargers from the app to realize that savings. Use the App to find chargers as not all are open to us, so use the appropriate filters, don't assume you have access to every SC or you might end up stranded.

Note that disabling plug and charge will prevent the charge assist app in SYNC from being able to activate any chargers.

 

[hturnerfamily]

I've used MANY MANY Superchargers along the I75 GA/FL paths, and even Hwy280/I65 in AL, and have NO ISSUES with any of them: PLUG N CHARGE, with the adapter, is easy, works, and nobody there cares whether I am 'another' brand or not. I take up two spaces, most times, but that's just the way it is - we can't control that - Tesla laid out these locations, not Ford. They charge us more for this pleasure... well, unless you subscribe.

These, of course, are all the locations that are 'NACS Compatible' or 'Other EV' locations... as not every Supercharger location is, but there are plenty of both.
'Other EV' locations INCLUDE an adapter, without you having to have or bring your own.

I sent these Tesla Locations screen-shots to my sons, with Chevy Bolts, in N GA, and N AL.
Locations where you need to bring an Adapter are shown with NACS icons, and
locations where they already have a built-in adapter(fewer locations for sure) are shown with a LIGHTNING BOLT : )