Mach-Lee
Well-Known Member
- First Name
- Lee
- Joined
- Jul 16, 2021
- Threads
- 210
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- 7,957
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- 16,032
- Location
- Wisconsin
- Vehicles
- 2022 Mach-E Premium AWD
- Occupation
- Sci/Eng
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- #1
I recently received my A2Z NACS adapter and decided to visit the closest supported Tesla Supercharger for testing (Ford adapter wasn't going to arrive in time for planned trips). Charged from 19% to 80%. In short, everything worked as expected. 
Kudos to Tesla and Ford engineers for getting everything worked out so this is a superior charging experience. Parking to get the cable to reach is the worst part.
First, I have some tips for pulling up:
Tire is almost touching curb:
Of course each site is different so positioning may vary. I want to emphasize that not every space at a Supercharger will be usable for Fords because of obstacles, always look and verify the area is clear for your nose before pulling in. At this Supercharger, I could not use 2 of the 8 spots. There was a big concrete lamppost base between two of the chargers, and the end spot was not available to me because there was a bollard to the right of that dispenser. So I had to use the second dispenser from the right (which takes up two Tesla spots). But I did this late at night so I had the Supercharger all to myself. Behold the glory of 8 working stalls to choose from:
Plug & Charge worked great, shortest handshake time ever (~15 sec).
I fully preconditioned to 26ºC before leaving home, but the battery had cooled off during the drive to 17ºC. My peak rate was only about 120 kW at 19% and the boost was very short because of the sub-optimal battery temps. Couldn't do anything about that because we can't en-route precondition to Superchargers yet, and there were no other nearby chargers to substitute in the nav. Hopefully they add them soon so we can get preconditioning and max rates.
Here's the charge curve from 19% to 80%. Again, weird dip at the beginning because of cold battery temps:
The full 500 amps is available to use the whole time. Not many CCS chargers are capable of 500A or maintained to that level. No "limited by charger" here, full power baby!
And this is for the charger nerds, but this is exquisite output regulation. Delivered amps perfectly tracks requested amps, within one amp, without delay.
Why can't other companies make DC chargers that function perfectly like this?
One good change I noticed is the software allows the battery temp to get up to 40ºC after the update, before it would only allow 35ºC max which was too conservative. This should help decrease slowdowns from thermal throttling in hotter temps and reduce A/C compressor noise/use.
The A2Z adapter worked fine and didn't even get warm (15ºF temps). I verified the safety interlocks on both latches work and present the 330 Ω load if opened. The adapter is dense, very tough and feels like quality construction. The tolerances were good, the Tesla cable seemed like a perfect fit without getting stuck, same with the CCS side. The only annoying thing about it was the latch for the Tesla cable. It's a little difficult to slide, which could be a challenge for some people. The slide could have been made more ergonomic, perhaps with a triangular profile or knurled texture. But it works and I have no other option right now, so can't complain too much.
And now for a story. So while I was sitting at the deserted Supercharger wondering if any Teslas would show up and react to newfound awesomeness at their station, of all things a KIA EV6 pulls in and backs up. It's a couple. Wife gets out and tried to plug in, and that went about as expected. I walked over and told them it wouldn't work with their car. She said her car told her it would.
I replied "It only works with Teslas, Fords, and Rivians right now". She asked where the next charger was, I told them. Well, the next CCS charger was a 50 kW unit 41 miles down the interstate in the direction they were headed. The only other option was to backtrack 31 miles to the Electrify America station they had already passed. So if you're doing the math, that's a 72 mile stretch on I-94 without a CCS charger, but the Supercharger is right in the middle of that stretch. After looking at their navigation for a few minutes, they left.
I don't know how low they were, but having to go an extra 30-40 miles to the next charger in 15ºF temps could be a dicey situation. I hope they made it. Clearly they were inexperienced owners to think a Tesla Supercharger would work on their KIA, but if their navigation system sent them there, that's a major fail for KIA. I felt bad if that was the case, that's shouldn't happen to anyone. They were probably pretty embarrassed and frustrated. Accurate route planning to compatible, functioning chargers is critical. It also shows how important it is for everyone to access the Superchargers, especially ones in areas where there are no other CCS chargers nearby. I was able to charge and they couldn't, even if I had let them use my adapter. Realizing the degree of disparity here, I was unsettled. Changing needs to be equal for everyone already.
So in summary, the Plug & Charge Supercharger experience is great and getting access is a big deal. This will help non-Tesla travel in some areas immensely. I'm hoping to use a few Superchargers for a trip in a couple weeks, the alternative is a bunch of less reliable stations that are slower. The A2Z adapter works fine and others can't come soon enough. There's going to be a lot of charging disparity until everyone can get access. Dawn of a new age for EVs, the world just got smaller.
Kudos to Tesla and Ford engineers for getting everything worked out so this is a superior charging experience. Parking to get the cable to reach is the worst part.First, I have some tips for pulling up:
- You will have to pull up really far so your nose is over the curb.
- Make sure there are no objects in the plane between the Supercharger dispensers like bollards or lamp posts.
- Some spots may not be usable by Fords because of obstacles.
- Try to use the spot furthest to the right first. Park next to other non-Teslas if possible.
- Especially if you have a GT, also make sure there aren't objects sticking up from the ground that will scrape your front splitter.
- I've seen spots with electrical boxes or bollard remnants sticking up from the ground.
- Ignore the lines on the ground when pulling up. You should be focused on the dispenser pedestal and positioning your vehicle in reference to that only. Shoot the gap between the dispensers.
- Pretend the side of the Supercharger is like your garage door jamb when you're pulling in your garage. You want to be as far left as possible while driving past without touching. Pull up until your front left corner is right beside the dispenser.
Tire is almost touching curb:
Of course each site is different so positioning may vary. I want to emphasize that not every space at a Supercharger will be usable for Fords because of obstacles, always look and verify the area is clear for your nose before pulling in. At this Supercharger, I could not use 2 of the 8 spots. There was a big concrete lamppost base between two of the chargers, and the end spot was not available to me because there was a bollard to the right of that dispenser. So I had to use the second dispenser from the right (which takes up two Tesla spots). But I did this late at night so I had the Supercharger all to myself. Behold the glory of 8 working stalls to choose from:
Plug & Charge worked great, shortest handshake time ever (~15 sec).
I fully preconditioned to 26ºC before leaving home, but the battery had cooled off during the drive to 17ºC. My peak rate was only about 120 kW at 19% and the boost was very short because of the sub-optimal battery temps. Couldn't do anything about that because we can't en-route precondition to Superchargers yet, and there were no other nearby chargers to substitute in the nav. Hopefully they add them soon so we can get preconditioning and max rates.Here's the charge curve from 19% to 80%. Again, weird dip at the beginning because of cold battery temps:
The full 500 amps is available to use the whole time. Not many CCS chargers are capable of 500A or maintained to that level. No "limited by charger" here, full power baby!
And this is for the charger nerds, but this is exquisite output regulation. Delivered amps perfectly tracks requested amps, within one amp, without delay.
Why can't other companies make DC chargers that function perfectly like this?
One good change I noticed is the software allows the battery temp to get up to 40ºC after the update, before it would only allow 35ºC max which was too conservative. This should help decrease slowdowns from thermal throttling in hotter temps and reduce A/C compressor noise/use.
The A2Z adapter worked fine and didn't even get warm (15ºF temps). I verified the safety interlocks on both latches work and present the 330 Ω load if opened. The adapter is dense, very tough and feels like quality construction. The tolerances were good, the Tesla cable seemed like a perfect fit without getting stuck, same with the CCS side. The only annoying thing about it was the latch for the Tesla cable. It's a little difficult to slide, which could be a challenge for some people. The slide could have been made more ergonomic, perhaps with a triangular profile or knurled texture. But it works and I have no other option right now, so can't complain too much.
And now for a story. So while I was sitting at the deserted Supercharger wondering if any Teslas would show up and react to newfound awesomeness at their station, of all things a KIA EV6 pulls in and backs up. It's a couple. Wife gets out and tried to plug in, and that went about as expected. I walked over and told them it wouldn't work with their car. She said her car told her it would.
I replied "It only works with Teslas, Fords, and Rivians right now". She asked where the next charger was, I told them. Well, the next CCS charger was a 50 kW unit 41 miles down the interstate in the direction they were headed. The only other option was to backtrack 31 miles to the Electrify America station they had already passed. So if you're doing the math, that's a 72 mile stretch on I-94 without a CCS charger, but the Supercharger is right in the middle of that stretch. After looking at their navigation for a few minutes, they left.I don't know how low they were, but having to go an extra 30-40 miles to the next charger in 15ºF temps could be a dicey situation. I hope they made it. Clearly they were inexperienced owners to think a Tesla Supercharger would work on their KIA, but if their navigation system sent them there, that's a major fail for KIA. I felt bad if that was the case, that's shouldn't happen to anyone. They were probably pretty embarrassed and frustrated. Accurate route planning to compatible, functioning chargers is critical. It also shows how important it is for everyone to access the Superchargers, especially ones in areas where there are no other CCS chargers nearby. I was able to charge and they couldn't, even if I had let them use my adapter. Realizing the degree of disparity here, I was unsettled. Changing needs to be equal for everyone already.
So in summary, the Plug & Charge Supercharger experience is great and getting access is a big deal. This will help non-Tesla travel in some areas immensely. I'm hoping to use a few Superchargers for a trip in a couple weeks, the alternative is a bunch of less reliable stations that are slower. The A2Z adapter works fine and others can't come soon enough. There's going to be a lot of charging disparity until everyone can get access. Dawn of a new age for EVs, the world just got smaller.
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