First Tesla Superchargers with "Magic Dock" CCS Adapter are online... and charged up a Rivian

[Shayne]

Thought I would post my experience future is looking good. A smooth 110 KW and a long 13 minutes. ?

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[Billyk24]

Thought I would post my experience future is looking good. A smooth 110 KW and a long 13 minutes. ?

Magic docks can't arrove fast enough.

 

[SWO]

In AZ during peak times EVGO is 0.69/kwh.

Cheaper to drive my F150 at those prices.

$	$ 0.69	$ 3.29
Mi	3​	18​
$/mi	$ 0.23	$ 0.18

 

[RickMachE]

Tesla is putting nearly all the MD SCs at high risk by removing parking blocks so CCS cars can reach. I'm sure their damage rate will increase. Mostly by Teslas backing in, ironically.

On our trip, a Supercharger location was next door. No Magic Docks. Every sign was bent backwards by Tesla drivers...

What is amazing tesla has put magic dock all over the place. While EA still can't repair stations. EA almost always have 4 stands and at least 2 don't work.
I drive from sea to spokane regularly. The EA In Ellensburg has gotten increasingly busy in last 3 years. To point of long waits. Still only 2 work. A few months ago, they were all down for repair for awhile. replaced 2 posts. Still only 2 work. 1 new and 1 old.
I have not stopped at an EA station without complaints of reliability. Tesla will soon be sole provider. Took only 2 tries first time and only because card I had on file expired. Hardest part is getting cord to reach. And WILL cause conflict. If I was tesla driver, if all spots are full, especially several (even 1) non tesla evs taking 2 spots.
Sadly tesla is the ONLY charge network that is reliable. It is also the ONLY charge network along all major freeways in US but also many other so you can road trip someplace.

EA exec recently said repair issues are largely due to parts inability and old units.

Cheaper to drive my F150 at those prices.

$	$ 0.69	$ 3.29
Mi	3​	18​
$/mi	$ 0.23	$ 0.18

This fails to take into account the 100% tank at your house, plus any free charging you obtain on your trips. On our 4,708 mile trip, we got over 30% of our fills FREE. Our average cost per kWh was low as a result.

 

[dbsb3233]

Cheaper to drive my F150 at those prices.

$	$ 0.69	$ 3.29
Mi	3​	18​
$/mi	$ 0.23	$ 0.18

When using DCFC, that's true. Fortunately most people rarely need to DCFC, and charge at home 90% of the time. DCFC is typically only for road trips. And on road trips, the priority is usually the type of vehicle needed for the trip.

But this is a good example why it's usually not worth it to buy an EV if you don't have cheap, easy, dependable L2 (sometimes even L1) where you sleep.

 

[dbsb3233]

This fails to take into account the 100% tank at your house, plus any free charging you obtain on your trips. On our 4,708 mile trip, we got over 30% of our fills FREE. Our average cost per kWh was low as a result.

Yep. A frequent road trip for us is Denver-Vegas (800 miles from our house). We break it into 1.5 days each way, thus a hotel stay along the way, usually with free charging. The hotels we use in Vegas have free charging too. And our home rate is just 10c/kWh. That means 4 100% charges at free or near free (roughly 800 miles worth) on a 1600 mile round trip. That's 50%.

On other road trips where we can't find as much hotel charging, we may only get that first 100% home charge dirt cheap, but that still usually keeps the average cost no higher than what gas would be.

 

[Stang68]

Had my first Magic Dock experience this week. Had to pull up very close but once that was done it was smooth sailing.
And yes you better believe I avoided the EA station in favor of the Supercharger!

 

[RickMachE]

Had my first Magic Dock experience this week. Had to pull up very close but once that was done it was smooth sailing.
And yes you better believe I avoided the EA station in favor of the Supercharger!

I don't get this. At most locations, Superchargers cost MORE than EA. When given a choice, I would spend less money, but whatever works for you. Park at an angle, no curb issue.

 

[dbsb3233]

EA exec recently said repair issues are largely due to parts inability and old units.

Returning from Vegas Wednesday, there was a tech working on the EAs in Richfield UT. I talked to him a bit. He was replacing the old plastic thermal sensors with newer metal ones that he said don't fail as often. Failing thermal sensors is a common problem at EA stations when the power derates to 31kW. Sometimes it's a cable cooling failure but often it's just the temp sensor that fails and the charger thinks it's cable cooling, and it limits it to the 31kw level that's safe for the cables without cooling.

He said he did the Green River station that morning and was heading to Beaver next. He's based out of Denver, and was driving a Tesla. He said they have a Mach-E and an Ioniq 5 they use as dispatch vehicles as well. Said he's only been on the job 6 weeks.

 

[RickMachE]

Returning from Vegas Wednesday, there was a tech working on the EAs in Richfield UT. I talked to him a bit. He was replacing the old plastic thermal sensors with newer metal ones that he said don't fail as often. Failing thermal sensors is a common problem at EA stations when the power derates to 31kW. Sometimes it's a cable cooling failure but often it's just the temp sensor that fails and the charger thinks it's cable cooling, and it limits it to the 31kw level that's safe for the cables without cooling.

He said he did the Green River station that morning and was heading to Beaver next. He's based out of Denver, and was driving a Tesla. He said they have a Mach-E and an Ioniq 5 they use as dispatch vehicles as well. Said he's only been on the job 6 weeks.

I didn't use Richfield, used the free Utah charger there. Green River I did use, they had one broken.

Talked to a tech at a station on our trip, repairing an old ABB location. He works for ABB and was also a few months new on the job.

 

[dbsb3233]

I didn't use Richfield, used the free Utah charger there. Green River I did use, they had one broken.

Talked to a tech at a station on our trip, repairing an old ABB location. He works for ABB and was also a few months new on the job.

We use the free one (UDOT) going westbound as a "hotel charger". We stay at the Quality Inn a block away so it's easy to just use those CPs then walk back and get it at 100% just before going to bed.

But when going eastbound we spend the night in Grand Junction instead. Those CPs are kinda slow for a mid-drive stop. We also wanna grab something from Walmart sometimes.

Actually any more we usually skip Richfield going that direction and stop at Salina, but we were low on charge this time and needed to stop there.

 

[SWO]

This fails to take into account the 100% tank at your house, plus any free charging you obtain on your trips. On our 4,708 mile trip, we got over 30% of our fills FREE. Our average cost per kWh was low as a result.

Yep, I commented on the price of one charging station. I've taken >2k mi trips and my car is charging for free right now at work so I know how the math works...for me.

$.69/kwh is expensive.

 

[Stang68]

I don't get this. At most locations, Superchargers cost MORE than EA. When given a choice, I would spend less money, but whatever works for you. Park at an angle, no curb issue.

Well I was definitely excited to use a Magic Dock for the first time. I guess in the future I will see what makes more sense based on a couple of factors:
-Wait time
-Cost
-If the shitty EA station is working at all
-If the shitty EA station is giving full power
-If the shitty EA station is communicating with the cars properly
-If the shitty EA station is taking less than an eternity to even talk to the car
-If the shitty EA station doesn't have broken CCS handles
-If the shitty EA station isn't behind a Walmart next to dumpsters
-If the shitty EA station isn't overrun by ID.4s charging to 100%

 

[RickMachE]

Yep, I commented on the price of one charging station. I've taken >2k mi trips and my car is charging for free right now at work so I know how the math works...for me.

$.69/kwh is expensive.

Yes, 69 cents is outrageously expensive.

 

[mkhuffman]

Well I was definitely excited to use a Magic Dock for the first time. I guess in the future I will see what makes more sense based on a couple of factors:
-Wait time
-Cost
-If the shitty EA station is working at all
-If the shitty EA station is giving full power
-If the shitty EA station is communicating with the cars properly
-If the shitty EA station is taking less than an eternity to even talk to the car
-If the shitty EA station doesn't have broken CCS handles
-If the shitty EA station isn't behind a Walmart next to dumpsters
-If the shitty EA station isn't overrun by ID.4s charging to 100%

Many of the reasons why public charging sucks, in a nice little list. Beautiful.

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