Can I charge my i3 120Ah at a Tesla CCS charge station?

[mrgeorgemartin]

Can I charge my i3 120Ah at a Tesla CCS charge station? George

 

[alohart]

Tesla uses a proprietary charge port that isn't CCS, Combined Charging Standard.

European Teslas have the top AC portion of the European Type 2 CCS charge port for DC fast charging at its Superchargers as well as AC charging at any AC charging station including Tesla Destination Chargers. A European i3 would be able to AC charge at a Tesla Destination Charger that's not configured to work only with Tesla vehicles via an electronic handshake.

In North America, Tesla uses a proprietary charge plug that is incompatible with the North American Type 1 CCS or the AC J1772 charge port used on an i3. There is an adapter that allows any EV with a J1772 charge port including an i3 to be AC charged by a Tesla Destination Charger that's not configured to work only with Tesla vehicles via an electronic handshake.

However, no i3 or any non-Tesla EV can be charged by a Tesla Supercharger due to incompatibility between a Supercharger plug and a CCS charge port and the lack of the necessary electronic handshake.

 

[jadnashuanh]

The original CCS standard did not allow the charge speed that Tesla wanted, so IMHO, Tesla decided to build their own. THat also kept the 'riff raff' from trying to tie up the charging network Tesla spent a lot of money building. There was talk about letting others utilize their standard and share the costs, but that never happened. Don't know what the financial impacts may have been for that to have happened. The digital protocol used by Tesla would need, not only a new plug or adapter for a CCS unit, but a smart computer that could negotiate the required information for charging to start and continue properly. Since use of a supercharger can be either free or paid, somehow, the protocol must identify the vehicle to ensure they are authorized to use it...none of the CCS equipped vehicles have that capability nor is the plug the same.

The newest CCS standards now allow up to 350Kw/hr charge rates, more than the original Tesla, and far more than an i3 can handle. Tesla has been updating their hardware to allow faster charging speeds, and to be honest, there aren't all that many CCS units that can handle those high rates, either.

At least in the USA, Tesla Superchargers are off limits to anything except Tesla vehicles, both from a compatibility and functional issue.

 

[MarkNo]

Tesla Destination Chargers seem to be fairly ubiquitous at malls, hotels, restaurants and even wineries. They are level 2 chargers that do not need an electronic handshake, but you will need an adapter.

I have made good. use of free charging using a JDapter Stub which has a permanent home in my frunk - just in case:

https://shop.quickchargepower.com/JDapter-Stub-40-Amp-Tesla-Charge-Station-Adaptor-JDPTRSTB.htm

Here is the original article that showed me the way:

https://www.bmwblog.com/2017/11/02/new-adapter-allows-bmw-plug-ins-use-tesla-destination-chargers/

 

[Lura Beaumont]

Can I charge my i3 120Ah at a Tesla CCS charge station? George

Tesla Destination Charge Stations are compatible with the i3 if you opt to use an adapter, several to choose from but beware of cheaper options as those have been known to overload, or overheat, oand well they make a melt of things.

Still unclear if Tesla app is needed to access the charging network but there plenty of flip comments to my questions - posed in a discussion forum - about the i3.

Stay curious my friend.

 

[EHM Bellevue]

Good comments from several members on the history, etc.

Using an “Lectron Tesla to J1772 EV Adapter | 250V | 48 Amp” adaptor – bought from Amazon -- I routinely use Tesla LEVEL 2 chargers with my 2021 i3.

I have a Tesla Home Charger at home – our other car is a Tesla Model 3 dual-motor/long-range -- and (except for the color of the case) I believe these are identical to the chargers that are used as part of the “Destination Charger” program.

Tesla has encouraged restaurants, hotels, resorts, and campuses (like community colleges and hospitals) to purchase these level 2 chargers, and provide them as an “amenity”. All but one of the resorts at which we periodically vacation has them. If you go to the Tesla website you can learn more about the program and about the charger itself, which is a Wi-Fi device and provides elegant load sharing of a single (typically 50 amp) line for up to six units. Mine at home has worked flawlessly since it was installed three years ago, and Tesla has a new model for homes and “destinations” which has a built-in “magic dock” function so it can charge using J1772 cars or Teslas (without 3rd party adaptors).

I personally believe, however, that you would be very pleased with the use of the Tesla Destination Chargers where available, with an adapter, since the I3 can only accept charge rates of between 43 and 50kW.

Please note that the Supercharger network, is a DC fast charging system. Do not be confused and attempt to use a level 2 adaptor with a Level 3, DC fast charging, Supercharger. These are the big white highspeed chargers.

I had a conversation with a BMW engineer concerning the I3 and NACS. It was his belief that BMW will do the same thing as Ford and Rivian have done. That is, sometime in 2025 they will change over to the native “Tesla connector” (properly called the NACS connector) for new vehicles, and for their installed base – like us -- they will provide an adapter. Unclear if it will be free or something you need to buy. If true, this will open up even more options for us.

Obviously, I can't speak for any of the companies listed in this note, and you should keep monitoring the issue.

 

[Clanduncan]

I plan to try this next month on a long drive down to the west country (UK), but here we appear to be able to use specific Tesla chargers for non-tesla cars. I'm guessing these will be late generation (V4 ?), but as per following link these are shown as acceptable to any CCS capable car. I'll let anybody know (who wants to know that is) if this works. If it does, they are considerably cheaper than most motorway chargers here.

https://www.tesla.com/en_gb/findus?v=2&bounds=52.56655733868379,-1.6659046430312818,51.25011217884338,-2.830455424281282&zoom=9&filters=party,nacs

 

[eNate]

Besides the fact the original post is four years old (@Lura Beaumont I'm not sure of your intent in dredging this one up), it's also relevant to note the the original poster resides in the UK.

"Two years ago Tesla opened up 15 of its Supercharger network sites to non-Tesla drivers in the UK as part of a pilot scheme. Now, a further 27 sites have been opened to drivers of compatible electric vehicles (EVs), containing 477 individual Superchargers in total."

https://www.zap-map.com/news/tesla-opens-more-its-supercharger-sites-non-tesla-drivers

 

[tob1as]

Good comments from several members on the history, etc.

Using an “Lectron Tesla to J1772 EV Adapter | 250V | 48 Amp” adaptor – bought from Amazon -- I routinely use Tesla LEVEL 2 chargers with my 2021 i3.

I have a Tesla Home Charger at home – our other car is a Tesla Model 3 dual-motor/long-range -- and (except for the color of the case) I believe these are identical to the chargers that are used as part of the “Destination Charger” program.

Tesla has encouraged restaurants, hotels, resorts, and campuses (like community colleges and hospitals) to purchase these level 2 chargers, and provide them as an “amenity”. All but one of the resorts at which we periodically vacation has them. If you go to the Tesla website you can learn more about the program and about the charger itself, which is a Wi-Fi device and provides elegant load sharing of a single (typically 50 amp) line for up to six units. Mine at home has worked flawlessly since it was installed three years ago, and Tesla has a new model for homes and “destinations” which has a built-in “magic dock” function so it can charge using J1772 cars or Teslas (without 3rd party adaptors).

I personally believe, however, that you would be very pleased with the use of the Tesla Destination Chargers where available, with an adapter, since the I3 can only accept charge rates of between 43 and 50kW.

Please note that the Supercharger network, is a DC fast charging system. Do not be confused and attempt to use a level 2 adaptor with a Level 3, DC fast charging, Supercharger. These are the big white highspeed chargers.

I had a conversation with a BMW engineer concerning the I3 and NACS. It was his belief that BMW will do the same thing as Ford and Rivian have done. That is, sometime in 2025 they will change over to the native “Tesla connector” (properly called the NACS connector) for new vehicles, and for their installed base – like us -- they will provide an adapter. Unclear if it will be free or something you need to buy. If true, this will open up even more options for us.

Obviously, I can't speak for any of the companies listed in this note, and you should keep monitoring the issue.

Lectron and A2Z sell DC adapters (I have one), but fast charging on Superchargers is software limited still. It should be easy to activate for BMW/Tesla, since it works on Magicdock Superchargers. It’s frustrating having to wait for implementation of new software and hardware on new i-models, just because they want those to be plug-in charge capable. I have doubts we will ever get a software update for the i3 from BMW, so if they could just enable the use of adapters with the Tesla app for Superchargers (not destination AC EVSEs) soon, that would be my ask.

 

[Clanduncan]

Well, the Tesla 'open' chargers (V4?) did not work for me two days ago. On a 520 mile round trip to Devon over two days I tried to use the open Superchargers at Gloucester south services. The charger recognised my car, gave a correct current charge percentage, and I saw comms initiating so I authorised a payment card. However my car gave charging faults with rapid red flashes. A neighboring charger echoed this problem. I gave up and tried to use other normal speedy chargers, which gave me the same faults. Instead I went to a local Tesco 7kw charger to top up from 4% to 20% before finishing my journey on the REX. The hotel 7kw charger overnight gave me a full charge (phew). Following day on the way home I was able to use Gridserve high speed chargers without any problems.

My thought is that the Tesla charger 'upset' my car to the point that it 'sulked' for a day, and the next day it had recovered. Conclusion is that more modern cars might be able to use Tesla v4 open chargers, but that my 8 year old car can't. My car can charge at up to 48kw right up to 90%, and make a 20-90% charge in just 30 minutes. More than enough for my long trip.

 

[jeeringtowser]

Well, the Tesla 'open' chargers (V4?) did not work for me two days ago. On a 520 mile round trip to Devon over two days I tried to use the open Superchargers at Gloucester south services. The charger recognised my car, gave a correct current charge percentage, and I saw comms initiating so I authorised a payment card. However my car gave charging faults with rapid red flashes. A neighboring charger echoed this problem. I gave up and tried to use other normal speedy chargers, which gave me the same faults. Instead I went to a local Tesco 7kw charger to top up from 4% to 20% before finishing my journey on the REX. The hotel 7kw charger overnight gave me a full charge (phew). Following day on the way home I was able to use Gridserve high speed chargers without any problems.

My thought is that the Tesla charger 'upset' my car to the point that it 'sulked' for a day, and the next day it had recovered. Conclusion is that more modern cars might be able to use Tesla v4 open chargers, but that my 8 year old car can't. My car can charge at up to 48kw right up to 90%, and make a 20-90% charge in just 30 minutes. More than enough for my long trip.

I regularly use the V4 chargers at Lifton, Penhale and Tesla marsh Barton Exeter with no problems in my I3s.
I have successfully charged at Gloucester North, but cannot comment on Gloucester South!
The Tesla chargers only supply the power, the car dictates everything else, it may be worth getting the car checked out if you intend using Superchargers again.
I hope this helps?

 

[Clanduncan]

I regularly use the V4 chargers at Lifton, Penhale and Tesla marsh Barton Exeter with no problems in my I3s.
I have successfully charged at Gloucester North, but cannot comment on Gloucester South!
The Tesla chargers only supply the power, the car dictates everything else, it may be worth getting the car checked out if you intend using Superchargers again.
I hope this helps?

It maybe that the cars software is too old to allow it, but I'll ask next time I'm at the dealer for a service.