Tesla Superchargers

[Tony Burgh]

In western PA,
0.6X131X0.55= 43.23 at SC
0.6X131X0.47= 36.94 at EA or EVGO
For the people who agonize over 0.1 miles per KWh, the difference over 0.6X131X2.0 miles of $6.30 might be a decision maker.
When you need electricity on the road, you get it where you can. Money and inconvenience may or may not be considerations.

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[Texas Dan]

Once I can charge at Tesla, I never intend to visit EA ever again.

Their stations are all minimum 12 stalls, and they work reliably. And in my experience, they tend to be in all of the prime locations -- Tesla will be at a Panera, and EA will be at a slummy Walmart.



The number one criteria isn't price -- it's reliability. If Tesla charges $5 more for a reliable charging experience, then I'll be happy to pay.

You forgot to mention that the Superchargers charge slower and don’t accept plug and charge for non-Teslas in addition to costing a lot more. I think you will be eating your words.

 

[Ffxdude]

In western PA,
0.6X131X0.55= 43.23 at SC
0.6X131X0.47= 36.94 at EA or EVGO
For the people who agonize over 0.1 miles per KWh, the difference over 0.6X131X2.0 miles of $6.30 might be a decision maker.
When you need electricity on the road, you get it where you can. Money and inconvenience may or may not be considerations.

Agreed. For me a couple of bucks doesn’t sway my charging decisions on road trips. Ease, amenities, and reliability - those are what matter to me. It’s why I’ve started moving from EA and toward the flying j/EVGo ones on one of my routes.

 

[Pioneer74]

I currently carry a Tesla to J1772 adapter in case I need to use a tesla destination charger. I was assuming that I would get rid of it and just carry this new Tesla to CCS adapter, which would cover both superchargers and level 2 charging as well.

But your documentation clearly says that this is not compatible with level 2 AC charging. I am surprised to see that. You would think if it is rated to handle a supercharger, it could handle slow AC charging. I guess that means I’ll have to keep carrying both adapters just in case.

Tesla uses only 2 pins for AC and DC charging, with the switching done in the vehicle. J1772 uses AC and CCS uses the 2 large DC pins on the bottom. If you were to make the adaptor conduct electricity for both sets of pins, you would put DC voltage on the AC pins and vice-versa.

 

[Lesrice13]

I don't see any advantage to having the Tesla Supercharger net availible to us using the adapter other then adding more charge stations. Correct me if I am wrong, my lightning (98kw) standard battery pack will only accept a maximum charge of 120kw DC or 11.5Kw AC.

Really? This isn't about charging speed, that will be limited by Ford. This is about availability of places to actually charge our vehicles while traveling.

You must not have tried many road trips and come across the the numerous Electrify America charging stations out of service. They are horrible at maintaining there equipment and they lack the numbers of qualified technicians. I drove from Knoxville to Nashville (221 miles) and tried to charge my vehicle at two different Electrify America charging stations. One had 3 out of 8 stations working and only one charging at 150kw/hr, the other two were going no faster than 30! There were two technicians servicing this location, covering from Cincinnati to Knoxville all the way west to Nashville. Two technicians to cover that entire area. No wonder so many units not working. Opted to drive 10 miles further south to Franklin, only to find 3 out of 6 stations working.

There are over 30,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in the United States. They do an excellent job of maintaining their equipment and I drove past 2 Tesla Supercharger stations on my way to Franklin. It is a big deal because it's about access to available charges, not the rate or speed at which our vehicles charge

 

[TooManyToyz]

Just a couple of comments: My best charging speed at an EA charger is 182kW. Due to a quirk in Wisconsin law, chargers here are required to charge by time rather than kW. My last session cost $12.04 for 27 minutes. During that time on a Hyperfast charger I received 67kW, which is $.18/kWh. That is exactly a penny more than I pay at home. As far as the Tesla network is concerned, there was a trip we were planning last summer in our ER Lariat that we had to cancel due to being unable to reach the destination in Kansas with the existing charging infrastructure. The Tesla network will enable that trip this year with no issues

 

[Frankhpns]

Really? This isn't about charging speed, that will be limited by Ford. This is about availability of places to actually charge our vehicles while traveling.

You must not have tried many road trips and come across the the numerous Electrify America charging stations out of service. They are horrible at maintaining there equipment and they lack the numbers of qualified technicians. I drove from Knoxville to Nashville (221 miles) and tried to charge my vehicle at two different Electrify America charging stations. One had 3 out of 8 stations working and only one charging at 150kw/hr, the other two were going no faster than 30! There were two technicians servicing this location, covering from Cincinnati to Knoxville all the way west to Nashville. Two technicians to cover that entire area. No wonder so many units not working. Opted to drive 10 miles further south to Franklin, only to find 3 out of 6 stations working.

There are over 30,000 Tesla Supercharger stations in the United States. They do an excellent job of maintaining their equipment and I drove past 2 Tesla Supercharger stations on my way to Franklin. It is a big deal because it's about access to available charges, not the rate or speed at which our vehicles charge

I thought that is what I said. Availability of more chargers.

 

[Bandit216]

It's kind of surprising how many people only consider the time it takes to go from 20% to 80% as the "time it takes to charge". For me, the time to charge (or 'gas up' in an ICE) is the time from when I exit the highway to the time to re-enter the highway with my refuled vehicle. That includes the time to drive to the refueling station, the time I have to wait to use a dispenser, the time to pay and start the session, the time to transfer fuel, and the time to renter the highway. THAT is the "time to charge".

On some EV trips, I've found it faster to use a 50kw charger at some out-of-the-way 2nd tier provider rather than waiting for a high speed charger at one of the "premium providers).

 

[cyberious]

Availability and cost will help to push the competition down, here in the NW the SC off peak/peak is .10 and .26 respectively. While the EA is .58 any time. The SC that are open to non Tesla EV are only .31 in the area.

 

[RichB-HTX]

I take it you haven't DCFC often? The CCS network can be challenging and unreliable for many users. The SC is ubiquitous, reliable, and simple to use. Peak charging speeds don't matter unless you arrive at a lower SOC and only plan on charging 15 mins. I am perfectly fine with the SR charging curve up to 80%. I can get ~50kWh in about 45mins, if I arrive with 20% SOC and precondition. DCFC preconditioning and charger availability is what's important to me. The SC network makes the SR Lightning now a viable choice for most.

 

[RichB-HTX]

I’ve rented Teslas and know how the preconditioning happens with them. How do you precondition a Lightning battery?

As far as what do I care…the reliability of their network is stellar so far as are the locations and ease of access once they become available to us.m

 

[Frankhpns]

I’ve rented Teslas and know how the preconditioning happens with them. How do you precondition a Lightning battery?

FordPass App

To create a Departure Time using the FordPass App:

1. Log in to the FordPass App.
2. Go to the Vehicle tab.
3. Choose Departure Time.
4. Select Add Departure Time.
5. Adjust the time, day(s) of the week and cabin temperature to your schedule and preferences.
6. Select Add Departure Time.

 

[RichB-HTX]

I’ve rented Teslas and know how the preconditioning happens with them. How do you precondition a Lightning battery?

 

[RichB-HTX]

FordPass App

To create a Departure Time using the FordPass App:

1. Log in to the FordPass App.
2. Go to the Vehicle tab.
3. Choose Departure Time.
4. Select Add Departure Time.
5. Adjust the time, day(s) of the week and cabin temperature to your schedule and preferences.
6. Select Add Departure Time.

Thanks. I’ve seen that. It warms or cools the battery, cabin, seats, steering wheel whip plugged in for a trip. I haven’t seen anything about preconditioning the battery prior to arriving at a Doc charger like you do with a Tesla. One thing I found seemed to say that mice you start driving the battery was maintained in a conditioned state so you don’t have to do it specifically prior to charging.

 

[Maquis]

Thanks. I’ve seen that. It warms or cools the battery, cabin, seats, steering wheel whip plugged in for a trip. I haven’t seen anything about preconditioning the battery prior to arriving at a Doc charger like you do with a Tesla. One thing I found seemed to say that mice you start driving the battery was maintained in a conditioned state so you don’t have to do it specifically prior to charging.

I you select a charger as the destination in the Ford nav, it will precondition the battery once you’re within about 20 miles of the charger. Note that you must select the charger as the destination, not ener the address of the charger.

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