The New Tesla / NACS Charging Connector Explained

[hartmms]

Seeing how most of my P&C's have failed to work I'm really hoping that Testla isn't going to use P&C as THE auth and charge system as many of us havn't been successful with it in it's current state. If Ford can't seem to get P&C functioning all of the time I can see frustration at a Tesla SC in our future. If I can RFID with with my phone or via the Tesla app I'm a little more upbeat about yet another protocol or protocol switcher being in play.

We should differentiate between the protocol called "Plug and Charge" and the "application layer"/software stack that actually operates on the data sent over that protocol. When you plug in, the charger has to collect the car info then send it off to Ford. Ford must respond with information like "yea, let that VIN charge. Tell us what the total cost is and we will pay you". Lots of different bits of software and hardware involved with that and the failure could be anywhere: (charger software, ford software, cell connection between charger and internet, etc, etc)

So when we currently see failures in the experience, it's unclear where it failed. Maybe the charger software messed up and didn't send the data to Ford at all or incorrectly. Maybe Ford didn't respond with the right authorization to charge. I will hope that most of the failures are on the charger software stack or somthing charger related (not Ford's side). Once Tesla and Ford agree on the handshake for charging and billing, I would hope the "plug it in and it charges automatically" will work much better with Tesla superchargers.

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[azerik]

P&C is an industry wide standard. But yes, the problem could well lie in who's backend it's talking to and failing at. It's not like Ford is currently getting huge spikes of P&C requests. I'd love to see Tesla take on enrolling us (and everyone else) into NACS and hosting the P&C abilities. Nothing gets more stable the more hops it goes through.

 

[generaltso]

Too bad they aren’t more visually distinctive - like an informational display or something. That’s one thing I think that’s weird about Tesla superchargers - there’s absolutely NO user interface.

That’s because the user interface is in the car (as long as your car is a Tesla).

 

[Jimrpa]

That’s because the user interface is in the car (as long as your car is a Tesla).

I thought that might be the case. So how do non-Tesla owners use the magic dock superchargers?

 

[generaltso]

I thought that might be the case. So how do non-Tesla owners use the magic dock superchargers?

You have to use the Tesla app on your phone.

 

[eleven24]

What % of Tesla SC are V3? My guess is small, if this is correct the adapters will be useless to us, correct?

If you're filtering a Supercharger map, the 250kw chargers are V3 and the 150kw are V2. The 150's are in A/B pairs and will intelligently split charging using data from each Tesla. The 250kw chargers are standalone and do not share charging.

I'd suspect this might be part of the reason the 150kw chargers, or the L2's, will not be compatible with the CCS adapter. For these, the vehicle side software is a requirement.

 

[RickMachE]

While watching this, I thought of a potential concern with the adaptors. They’ll be carrying high voltage/high current. They’ll also be subject to frequent physical connections/disconnections by people who may at times … be “careless”. Aren’t the connectors going to be subject to wear over time and become “loose”? Leading to potential overheating or arcing?

The adapters that will roll out with the 12,000 chargers will be WITH THE VEHICLE. Therefore, they aren't going to be charging thousands of times.

 

[RickMachE]

Today, if you want to see the Magic Dock locations, simply use PlugShare, and add the SuperCharger network, but not the Tesla plug. Shows you all 12 Magic Dock locations easily.

When these all roll out, clearly PlugShare is going to have to have an easy way for us to identify them, since the adapter will be in your vehicle. FordPass will of course only show compatible locations.

 

[eleven24]

Too bad they aren’t more visually distinctive - like an informational display or something. That’s one thing I think that’s weird about Tesla superchargers - there’s absolutely NO user interface.

Having recently moved from a Tesla to a MME, I find it bizarre that the charging information is on the screen of the charger itself instead of in the car like the Tesla is.

Imagine the charging screen of your DCFC charger but being presented inside your vehicle, and with more information such as the charge curve. That's the way it should be.

 

[Maquis]

Today, if you want to see the Magic Dock locations, simply use PlugShare, and add the SuperCharger network, but not the Tesla plug. Shows you all 12 Magic Dock locations easily.

When these all roll out, clearly PlugShare is going to have to have an easy way for us to identify them, since the adapter will be in your vehicle. FordPass will of course only show compatible locations.

Won’t filtering by KW do it? V3s are higher power than V2s.

 

[RickMachE]

Won’t filtering by KW do it? V3s are higher power than V2s.

Guess so. I just tried setting just the Tesla network, and the Tesla plug, and if you go to the upper 150s+ there are 244 locations. If you then go to 150 and below, there are 250.

 

[superdave80]

Having recently moved from a Tesla to a MME, I find it bizarre that the charging information is on the screen of the charger itself instead of in the car like the Tesla is.

Even more bizzare is that Ford (in its infinite wisdom) will send this info to your phone FROM your car, but not onto the actual screen of said car. I swear, Ford has some strange phobia of giving us info about our vehicle.

 

[superdave80]

Laugh all you want about the idea and potential of inductive charging, but it completely eliminates all this noise. I use wireless charging almost exclusively on my phone and my charge port is as pristine as the day I got it. Friction sucks.

I wonder why the industry moved away from the paddle inductive chargers in the first place. They had demonstrated a 50kw version at one point.

I'm also hoping that roadway inductive charging becomes a thing, as that could eliminate most (all?) need for DC charging on long trips (crosses fingers...).

 

[TheSteelRider]

I wonder why the industry moved away from the paddle inductive chargers in the first place. They had demonstrated a 50kw version at one point.

I'm also hoping that roadway inductive charging becomes a thing, as that could eliminate most (all?) need for DC charging on long trips (crosses fingers...).

I wonder if it's a loss issue? When I wireless charge my phone at only, what, 18 Watts, things get pretty warm. I can't imagine what kind of heat ~10 KW would generate

 

[Guss-E 2021]

I wonder why the industry moved away from the paddle inductive chargers in the first place. They had demonstrated a 50kw version at one point.

I'm also hoping that roadway inductive charging becomes a thing, as that could eliminate most (all?) need for DC charging on long trips (crosses fingers...).

This one of those advances that if viable can become a true game changer. I'm sure we'll continue to see activity in the wireless space. Might take ten years but I bet it doesn't go away.

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