Umm, how is charging with the Tesla adapter supposed to work?

[billy_at]

I got my Tesla adapter in December, but haven't tried it yet. I basically always charge at home, only relying on external chargers for road trips over 200 miles.

I wanted to try out the Tesla adapter today, so I wouldn't be surprised by any potential issues if I had to use it in a true charging emergency on a road trip (i.e. no Electrify America chargers close enough).

I pulled into a Wawa with Tesla Superchargers and connected my adapter to the station's cable....but no matter what I did, I could not make the insanely short (3 feet?) cable reach my charge port. I tried straddling the line, I tried angling the front of the car toward the charger - nothing worked. It might have worked if I parked completely perpendicular to the parking lines so the charge port would be right next to the station, but I already looked like an idiot in the busy parking lot, backing out and adjusting and taking up multiple spots.

So how is this supposed to work? Tesla charging is by no means essential to me, but it's nice to have it as a backup. Are only certain Tesla stations upgraded with long enough cords to charge a Mach-E?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I can't figure it out!

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[HuntingPudel]

The V3 units have supremely short cables. Some are placed so it’s impossible for a non-Tesla to use them. In order to use a V3 unit, you need to park in the “wrong” space (so that the charger is on the left side of the car) and pull up so close to the charger so that the car is nearly touching it. At that point you will still have a little difficulty plugging in due to cable tension. The V4 units have longer cables so they’re easier to use. ??

 

[Mach-Lee]

I got my Tesla adapter in December, but haven't tried it yet. I basically always charge at home, only relying on external chargers for road trips over 200 miles.

I wanted to try out the Tesla adapter today, so I wouldn't be surprised by any potential issues if I had to use it in a true charging emergency on a road trip (i.e. no Electrify America chargers close enough).

I pulled into a Wawa with Tesla Superchargers and connected my adapter to the station's cable....but no matter what I did, I could not make the insanely short (3 feet?) cable reach my charge port. I tried straddling the line, I tried angling the front of the car toward the charger - nothing worked. It might have worked if I parked completely perpendicular to the parking lines so the charge port would be right next to the station, but I already looked like an idiot in the busy parking lot, backing out and adjusting and taking up multiple spots.

So how is this supposed to work? Tesla charging is by no means essential to me, but it's nice to have it as a backup. Are only certain Tesla stations upgraded with long enough cords to charge a Mach-E?

Sorry if this is a dumb question, but I can't figure it out!

Pull up right next to the charger with your nose over the curb. Then it will reach.

 

[dbsb3233]

The V3s have 6 foot cables. The V4s have 9 foot cables.

As noted above, the 6' reaches if you get the car lined up directly and get within about 6" of the charger. Most stations allow for that (they even took the parking blocks and bollards out at most of those eligible stations). But some have a curb that makes it impossible to reach straight in.

Sometimes you have to get creative, depending on the layout. Sometimes there's a solo charger off to the side, or an open spot on the far right end that allows you to get closer.

 

[Sikkun]

Are only certain Tesla stations upgraded with long enough cords to charge a Mach-E?

Only V4 have longer cords and Mach E can’t use V1-2 period.

 

[billy_at]

Thanks for the answers!

This particular station had a curb next to it so I don’t think I could’ve gotten the nose of the car close enough without hitting the curb (or scraping the car against the charger - a risk I definitely wasn’t going to take for an experimental charge!).

It sounds like I had a v3 charger. How do I distinguish v3 from v4 stations? Does PlugShare include that or do I need to get the Tesla app?

 

[billy_at]

This was the station:

Wawa
970 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills, PA 19342, USA

https://www.plugshare.com/location/290256

 

[billy_at]

Based on some limited research on supercharge.info, it seems like there are very, very few v4 stations so far. Is that accurate?

 

[kens]

I use the method above to pull straight in with my nose over the curb, if you're unsure if you'll hit the curb get as close as you dare and get out to check clearance, most likely you'll clear.

You should try and take the charger furthest to the right if open, if there is open space at the right hand end this will keep you from taking two spaces. If the end spot isn't open just use the charger you need and take two spaces, that is how Tesla tells use to do it.

If you find you'll need to charge more than a couple times in a month (trip, etc) it's probably worth paying for a Tesla membership to get a discount. It's $13, but you'll break even around 140kw, the rest of your charging for the month you'll save.

 

[dbsb3233]

Based on some limited research on supercharge.info, it seems like there are very, very few v4 stations so far. Is that accurate?

Yes, very few V4 stations. They're black & white rather than red & white.

At the station he was at, 1st choice would be that one on the side of the far left. Just have to hang out in the aisle a bit

 

[bdeweese]

Didn’t I read somewhere that Tesla is also retrofitting V3’s with longer cables? I ask, because we also ventured out today on our first road trip with our new 24 MME. Made a stop at Tesla in Tacoma, WA. Pretty sure the units were red and white. We pulled straight in and had no issue with the cable length. Not sure if the cords were longer than 6 ft or if the orientation of the chargers was better - but it worked fine.

Only issue I had was, not having used the adapter before, at first I couldn’t get the Tesla plug to plug into the adapter. Was worried that I was doing something wrong. Turned out it just takes a really firm push - more so than the connection of the adapter (Lectron) to the car. Once I figured that out it was easy peasy. Truly plug and charge!!

 

[Stanmckinney]

I was able to plug mine in. Tried two chargers. Neither would charge.

 

[Sikkun]

This was the station:

Wawa
970 Baltimore Pike, Glen Mills, PA 19342, USA

https://www.plugshare.com/location/290256

Looks like other Mach E’s have charged there. If you don’t want to try clearing the curb there is the charger you can pull right next to that would work.

 

[kens]

I was able to plug mine in. Tried two chargers. Neither would charge.

We aren't allowed to charge at all Tesla chargers, are you sure the station you were at was open to Ford?

 

[dbsb3233]

Didn’t I read somewhere that Tesla is also retrofitting V3’s with longer cables?

I don't think so. Tesla did say at one point that they were planning to make an extension cable for sale, but that idea seems to have died (for good reason, IMO). Too thick/heavy/expensive to be very practical. A 3rd party company is testing one now (A2Z) though.

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