Tesla Allowing CCS Charging at Superchargers!

[Skyking6976]

I did a quick search and didn’t see any comments about Musk announcing all US Superchargers will be available to non-Tesla vehicles by the end of this year. Is that because y’all think it’s BS and not worth starting a thread or what?

 

[alohart]

I don't doubt that Superchargers will become available for all EV's. However, either an (expensive) adapter would be required for North American EV owners, or Tesla would need to install CCS-1 plugs on all its North American Superchargers.

Because no other EV uses Supercharger protocols that allow Tesla to bill EV owners, Tesla would need to do something to collect Supercharging fees.

I would not want to plug our 50 kW max i3 into a Supercharger whose maximum charging power is much greater when faster charging EV's are waiting to charge.

Because of existing charging plug compatibility, I won't be surprised when European Superchargers become available by the end of 2021. In fact, a U.K. i3 owner has already reported success in charging his i3 using a Supercharger. Some feel that being able to do this now is a bug because Tesla was not able to assess a charging fee.

I won't be surprised if North American Superchargers won't allow all EV's to charge by the end of 2021 due to charging plug incompatibility.

 

[Skyking6976]

Elon Musk has said it will happen by the end of 2021. I’ve read the verbiage from the infrastructure bill and in order to get some of the cash, chargers have to be usable by all EV’s. It’s almost as if the wording is aimed directly at Tesla’s Superchargers. I’ve read there will probably be CCS adapters at the Superchargers. I would think it’s unlikely Tesla will retrofit their cars and Superchargers with CCS but maybe the cost is minimal. I know in Europe Tesla cars have CCS connectors.

Man…would that be a huge boost to EV’s and Tesla could get a huge chunk of that 7.5B with very little effort. No need for ground up installations.

 

[3pete]

Elon Musk has said it will happen by the end of 2021.

Elon Musk has said a lot of things. I'll believe it when I see it.

I’ve read the verbiage from the infrastructure bill and in order to get some of the cash, chargers have to be usable by all EV’s.

Snark aside, I was genuinely curious about this. For some reason I was under the impression the chargers had to be usable by "more than one" brand of vehicles. It made one wonder if Tesla would be able to play the loophole game by helping some small player like Aptera https://www.aptera.us/vehicle/ bring their car to market with a Tesla plug to technically meet the requirement. I sure hope they add CCS plugs to the chargers or have a reliable adapter available.

 

[Obioban]

Ideally tesla would sell an adapter you'd keep, that would link to a telsa account, for billing. Plug adapter into car, plug tesla cable into adapter, charging starts and bills to your tesla account, like with a tesla car.

 

[JamesInLondon]

Here in Europe Tesla have opened many of their Superchargers to other brands, much easier here as all Teslas sold here have been fitted with CCS connectors for the last few years, more details in the link below.

https://www.electrive.com/2023/03/22/tesla-opens-more-superchargers-in-europe-for-3rd-party-use

 

[alohart]

As a newbie here on the forum, I gotta say, it's pretty awesome to see Tesla opening up their Superchargers to non-Tesla vehicles by the end of this year! That's a game-changer, right?

Not so sure how important that this will be for most i3 owners. The i3 wasn't designed to be a road-tripping vehicle, so I'm guessing that a very low percentage of U.S. i3 owners make highway trips in their i3's where charging with a Supercharger might be important.

For those who travel long distance with their i3's, I'm not sure I'd want to be delaying others from using a Supercharger at a busy Supercharger site because of the i3's very slow 50 kW maximum DC fast charging rate. I don't know the power of the least powerful Supercharger these days, but it could be 150 kW. This could cause some strife.

It's always better to have more charging options, but for most i3 owners, I don't think being able to access Superchargers would be game-changing.

 

[frictioncircle]

As a newbie here on the forum, I gotta say, it's pretty awesome to see Tesla opening up their Superchargers to non-Tesla vehicles by the end of this year! That's a game-changer, right? I did some snooping around and found no comments about Musk's announcement. I guess it could be because folks might think it's too good to be true or they simply missed it. But hey, let's discuss it, shall we? More charging options mean more convenience for everyone on the road, Tesla or not! And speaking of convenience, can we take a moment to appreciate the genius (link to merchandise site removed) tesla interior design? Model 3's interior is on another level! The minimalist approach, the tech-packed touchscreen, and the overall sleekness make every ride a pleasure.

As a non-newbie here on the forum, I've deleted your post because you used your first one to promote a merchandise site.

Apologies if I've misinterpreted your initial post! If you have more thoughts to share regarding i3s charging at Tesla Superchargers please add on to this thread.

 

[frictioncircle]

One thing that I haven't seen discussed here is the incredible adoption rate by auto manufacturers for the Tesla charging connector.

As an i3 driver I don't follow Tesla too closely but recently the Tesla connector started being referred to as the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector (currently being standardized as SAE J3400).

I've never seen the auto industry move so quickly:
https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/30/electrify-america-nacs/

I wonder why BMW hasn't yet spoken about this...

 

[3pete]

One thing that I haven't seen discussed here is the incredible adoption rate by auto manufacturers for the Tesla charging connector.

As an i3 driver I don't follow Tesla too closely but recently the Tesla connector started being referred to as the North American Charging Standard (NACS) connector (currently being standardized as SAE J3400).

I've never seen the auto industry move so quickly:
https://techcrunch.com/2023/06/30/electrify-america-nacs/

I wonder why BMW hasn't yet spoken about this...

The speed is pretty amazing. Actual, concrete details seem to still be thin even for the brands that have announced, so maybe BMW doesn't feel rushed.

Or maybe they're waiting for SAE to standardize first?

Some folks thought the Germans would be last to switch, but Mercedes has already announced NACS, so it seems inevitable for anyone who is serious about selling EVs. Hyundai/Kia has their 800v problem (only charges at 50kW on a Supercharger) but VW is probably in the stickiest position due to Electrify America. I still can't imagine that they would refuse to switch at this point though; I think we're well past the tipping point.

Despite having a CCS car, it does seem the NACS plug is actually the better design so now I'm just hoping everything switches as fast as possible. That's a fairly easy stance to take as an i3 owner who charges at home 99% of the time and won't be impacted by cutover messiness

 

[frictioncircle]

3pete –

My EV experience started in 2014 with an i3 BEV. It came with high-voltage DC fast charging (DCFC) at 50kW. In 2021 I upgraded by trading the 2014 BEV for a 2021 i3s BEV. Seven years newer and it still can only DC fast charge at 50kW. I don't drive many miles so the ability to fast-charge isn't usually important.

For those longer trips when I've used DCFC stations, about 50% of my attempts have failed which I attribute to the design of the SAE CCS connector.

Everything I've read about the Tesla connector suggests that it's a much better design than our CCS ports.

 

[alohart]

My EV experience started in 2014 with an i3 BEV. It came with high-voltage DC fast charging (DCFC) at 50kW. In 2021 I upgraded by trading the 2014 BEV for a 2021 i3s BEV. Seven years newer and it still can only DC fast charge at 50kW. I don't drive many miles so the ability to fast-charge isn't usually important.

It's a minor disappointment that BMW didn't increase the maximum DC fast charging power despite doubling the battery pack capacity. BMW just didn't invest much money on i3 upgrades which might be understandable considering what must have been very high i3 development costs.

For those longer trips when I've used DCFC stations, about 50% of my attempts have failed which I attribute to the design of the SAE CCS connector.

We might have a clearer answer after NACS plugs are added to existing DC fast chargers. I suspect software incompatibilities between many different EV models and DC fast chargers play a role in the poor reliability.

Everything I've read about the Tesla connector suggests that it's a much better design than our CCS ports.

Maybe for 400 V systems. However, will it work well with 800-900 V systems? The CCS-1 plug and port were designed to work at 800-900 V. Tesla claims that NACS was as well, but Tesla makes no 800-900 V EV's and has apparently only recently began installing Superchargers that can charge at 800-900 V, so there hasn't been any real-world experience with 800-900 V NACS.

 

[JohnKelly]

In the Olympic Peninsula and around Olympia and the Washington coast where I often take long trips, I have never seen a Tesla Super charger station full. They rarely seem to have more than one or two cars. The Magic Dock I used has 8 stations. Never seen more than 2 Teslas there at once. Perhaps in LA or somewhere you would be right, but I have been at this for 7 years and done a lot of long distance driving in my early i3. For me, the i3 is absolutely a "road tripping vehicle", and I am happy to have another DC charging option 90 miles from me. My record is 515 miles in one day over mountain passes in the winter time. We regularly take the 150 mile trip from the coast to Port Angeles and this is the only fast charger along the way. I try to use the REX as little as possible, so this saves me time sitting at a level 2.

 

[larrykalenda]

I agree with JohnKelly. One of the reasons I got my i3 is traveling from Prunedale, CA to Oceanside, CA to see my Dad at least once a month. 421 miles each way. The SuperCharger sites that I see have many chargers and few cars. I have not figured out the payment issue yet, but I have ordered this adapter Lectron Vortex Plug | Tesla Supercharger to CCS Adapter | 500A | 1000V so that I can charge at SC station. It is pricey but this is the only adapter that I have been able to find that charges at more than 12 kW. Once I get my i3 back from auto body shop I will test the adapter and see how/if it works.

 

[EvanstonI3]

I agree with JohnKelly. One of the reasons I got my i3 is traveling from Prunedale, CA to Oceanside, CA to see my Dad at least once a month. 421 miles each way. The SuperCharger sites that I see have many chargers and few cars. I have not figured out the payment issue yet, but I have ordered this adapter Lectron Vortex Plug | Tesla Supercharger to CCS Adapter | 500A | 1000V so that I can charge at SC station. It is pricey but this is the only adapter that I have been able to find that charges at more than 12 kW. Once I get my i3 back from auto body shop I will test the adapter and see how/if it works.

An adapter will not do you any good. If a Magic Dock is not installed you won't be able to use the SuperCharger. Period.
For SuperChargers with Magic Dock, you need to use the TESLA APP to initiate the charge and pay. Otherwise they will lock you out from using the SuperCharger.

 

[larrykalenda]

I have the Tesla app and account/payment set up for non-Tesla vehicles. It says that there is a non-Tesla charging station (with Magic Dock) not too far away. That is all that I can do until I get the adapter and my car back.

 

[JohnKelly]

I have the Tesla app and account/payment set up for non-Tesla vehicles. It says that there is a non-Tesla charging station (with Magic Dock) not too far away. That is all that I can do until I get the adapter and my car back.

I would be curious to know if you get a drivetrain error after your first use of a Tesla super charger. I did after both times I used one. It went away after using a regular CCS fast charger...

 

[ksnax]

"This Tesla Supercharger to CCS Adapter is designed exclusively for EVs brands that have joined the North American Charging Standard (NACS), " - Lectron website

 

[Miyanc]

EXCLUSIVE COMPATIBILITY - This Tesla Supercharger to CCS Adapter is designed exclusively for EVs brands that have joined the North American Charging Standard (NACS), enabling non-Tesla EVs, including GM, Ford, Honda, Hyundai, Kia, Rivian, Mercedes, Nissan, Polestar, Toyota, Jaguar Land Rover, Volvo, and Fisker to access high-speed Superchargers.

no bmw listed

 

[duanew]

I wish they would start being clear and tell us whether existing CCS cars will be supported for every brand. I don't see why not. Maybe they are not sure yet.