Tesla announces opening of NACS (Tesla Plug Connector) charging standard. Would you replace your CCS port?

[meow]

my money is on the fact that CCS plug will change in some way over the next 20 years.

I completely agree. I think sometimes there's a default to a presumption that we're screwed because of an industry standard or even a government mandate on a standard; but the idea that an EV connector won't change in two decades is kind of absurd. It'll change. It'll improve. It'll suck for earlier EV adopters but there'll be adapters (#donglelife comes to cars!) and perhaps even port modernization upgrades. Twenty years ago, we didn't have Tesla. We didn't have the iPhone. Most people didn't even have broadband internet. It's easy to forget that even 3-4 years is a lifetime in electronics development. In 20 years time, we might not even have charging ports - someone might have cracked and standardized universal EV batteries allowing for swapping stations. Or wireless or inductive charging may be common place. Or our alien overlords could be powering the driverless transports they ship us to our assigned mining colonies with actual unicorn juice.

I tend to think this as well for many of the reasons posted above, but I think that there is another point that should be made: it's been clear for some time now that Elon is a toxic CEO and is entirely happy running equally toxic workplaces (multiple discrimination lawsuits at Tesla & SpaceX, his current behaviour at Twitter, etc) but until recently there hasn't been a lot of competition for his engineers (both hardware and software). I wouldn't be at all surprised if Tesla starts losing all sorts of valuable staff to the larger automakers as the market for personnel experienced in EV development gets more and more competitive. This "brain drain" could be just as damaging to Tesla as all the other forms of competition mentioned above.

I think Twitter might be the tipping point. It might not be tomorrow, or even within a year - especially with the complexities of SpaceX being private, and him holding so much voting stock in Tesla due their complex supermajority voting rules - until he's ousted. But for the long term success and health of any organization, that man should not be in charge.

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[brewski]

We have a model S and a Tesla home charger.
I'm not the primary user, but when I do plug/unplug the car (specifically unplug), I find it awkward.
There is a lot of awkward with the Tesla.
Ergonomics was not given high priority.

The location of our Tesla charger won't work very well with my Lightning (build week mid-December).
I'll get an adapter and use the Tesla charger for a bit.
I expect we'll soon have 2 different EV chargers...which seems...odd.

 

[Shrike]

Sign me up. I'm still bewildered as to how Tesla came up with a streamlined adapter with a rumored charging capacity of up to 900 kW of output, along with a seamless charging infrastructure, and then AFTER THAT someone came up with CCS, which has (a) an unwieldy connector, (b) a complicated charging process, and (c) an unreliable network. Innovation working backwards here.

 

[GDN]

We have a model S and a Tesla home charger.
I'm not the primary user, but when I do plug/unplug the car (specifically unplug), I find it awkward.
There is a lot of awkward with the Tesla.
Ergonomics was not given high priority.

The location of our Tesla charger won't work very well with my Lightning (build week mid-December).
I'll get an adapter and use the Tesla charger for a bit.
I expect we'll soon have 2 different EV chargers...which seems...odd.

I definitely need you to come back here after you get your Lightning and use it a month or so. And not just at home - you need to go use a couple of DCFC chargers. Then come back and report on what you find awkward about the Tesla charger.

 

[Kev12345]

I definitely need you to come back here after you get your Lightning and use it a month or so. And not just at home - you need to go use a couple of DCFC chargers. Then come back and report on what you find awkward about the Tesla charger.

finding a working DC fast charger is part of the fun of owning a non-tesla. where's your sense of adventure?

 

[GDN]

finding a working DC fast charger is part of the fun of owning a non-tesla. where's your sense of adventure?

I was being nice and left that part out of my post. However I think that may have been the part that was so bad. You not only have the unwieldy cable and plug to deal with - you get to do it two to three times per stop just trying to find the working plug. Do it once and I might live with it a little more, but nope - 10 minutes just to get it going.

 

[tls]

Feelings about Tesla and their CEO aside, the CCS connector is too big and unwieldy and theirs isn't frustratingly unusable. I've seen people struggle to get CCS connectors and their wires wrangled in away I've never witnessed with the Tesla connector.

Standardization on their connector would be fine if it became (a) truly a common standard, and (b) supported bidirectional power delivery (e.g. HIS) - not for the F150 specifically but for every EV. This should be ubiquitous not unique, despite it being obviously unfortunate that the byproduct of everyone having an EV that can power their home to ride them through the embarrassing s**tshow that is the US power grid would be... the grid never being properly invested in, fixed, and maintained appropriately.

Tesla cars can speak CCS over the proprietary "NACS" connector, in addition to the proprietary Tesla CAN-based protocol, and vehicle-to-grid is (an optional) part of the CCS standard - it uses the same DC power pins and the same Ethernet-over-power signaling - so I don't see any particular reason to think if a car can do v2g over the big bulky stupid CCS connector, it would not be able to do it over the NACS connector. The NACS to CCS adapter used to charge Tesla cars at CCS chargers is just plastic and wires - no electronics.

 

[brewski]

... report on what you find awkward about the Tesla charger.

As mentioned, I'm not the usual user of the car, but...
Pull on plug, it doesn't come out.
Press button on plug and pull, it doesn't come out.
Press and hold button on plug, it doesn't come out.
Go get my key and repeat.
Eventually the plug comes out.
If I unplugged it more than once every few months, I might remember the sequence.
I will gladly report back once I've had my truck a few months.

 

[MichaelCA]

As mentioned, I'm not the usual user of the car, but...
Pull on plug, it doesn't come out.
Press button on plug and pull, it doesn't come out.
Press and hold button on plug, it doesn't come out.
Go get my key and repeat.
Eventually the plug comes out.
If I unplugged it more than once every few months, I might remember the sequence.
I will gladly report back once I've had my truck a few months.

You can plug your charger into the Tesla anytime even without ur keys/phone. But you NEED your phone/keys to press the button and pull the plug if your cars locked. Its a safety thing. Similar thing with the Lightning.

 

[brewski]

You can plug your charger into the Tesla anytime even without ur keys/phone. But you NEED your phone/keys to press the button and pull the plug if your cars locked. Its a safety thing. Similar thing with the Lightning.

Yep...plugging in is not awkward at all.

 

[Curtis G]

Looks like there is already an adapter for AC Tesla charing

https://www.bestbuy.com/site/lectro...VVBx9Ch2FVQvFEAQYASABEgKi4PD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[sotek2345]

You can plug your charger into the Tesla anytime even without ur keys/phone. But you NEED your phone/keys to press the button and pull the plug if your cars locked. Its a safety thing. Similar thing with the Lightning.

No -The Lighting can be unplugged at any time from L1 or L2, and with DC fast charging, you just have to push the unlock button. No key needed.

 

[sotek2345]

I completely agree. I think sometimes there's a default to a presumption that we're screwed because of an industry standard or even a government mandate on a standard; but the idea that an EV connector won't change in two decades is kind of absurd. It'll change. It'll improve. It'll suck for earlier EV adopters but there'll be adapters (#donglelife comes to cars!) and perhaps even port modernization upgrades. Twenty years ago, we didn't have Tesla. We didn't have the iPhone. Most people didn't even have broadband internet. It's easy to forget that even 3-4 years is a lifetime in electronics development. In 20 years time, we might not even have charging ports - someone might have cracked and standardized universal EV batteries allowing for swapping stations. Or wireless or inductive charging may be common place. Or our alien overlords could be powering the driverless transports they ship us to our assigned mining colonies with actual unicorn juice.

Counterpoint. The standard 110V connector/plug in the US is horrible and we have been stuck with that for over 100 years.

 

[Meccanica]

I don't recall where I heard it, but it was a year or more ago. I recall it was an interview with someone from Tesla discussing the pros/cons of the Tesla adapter. But no, I can't cite a source. It was just a little factoid I filed away in my brain.

That’s the problem, people constantly listening to rumors about EVs and especially Tesla. Current network v3 chargers at 250kw are way more capable than the Lightning can handle, and v4 is right around the corner (expect 350kw or higher).

 

[HaroldCal]

That’s the problem, people constantly listening to rumors about EVs and especially Tesla. Current network v3 chargers at 250kw are way more capable than the Lightning can handle, and v4 is right around the corner (expect 350kw or higher).

I wasn't so much speaking to the benefit of the F150L, more big picture. I will support whichever one has the most flexibility and capability going forward.

With Tesla saying they can do 1MW on this connector, that is a big improvement over what I saw in the interview however long ago. I think it goes without saying that the Tesla connector is sleek and efficient.

I'm certainly curious to see where it goes. Hopefully, this means they will stop blocking TEsla->CCS adapters at DCFC.

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