step by step using NACS at Tesla Supercharger [help needed]

[ack154]

Ehhh...I'm gonna say it.....Plugshare and chargeway don't have all of the Tesla stations that are available to non-Tesla vehicles labeled corrected. That's a fact.

There's a new supercharger near me that is absolutely open to non-Teslas that PlugShare has wrong (never used the other one) and I've reported it 3 or 4 times in PlugShare, with a link to Tesla's own website, and it's still not correct. No trouble believing many others are wrong too.

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[AhardFSU]

whew, so glad you're here so folks aren't led astray by plugshare and chargeway.



ah yes, fordpass is another option.

when i'm pulling into a supercharger site i can see with my own eyes which stalls are open. the information i need before i arrive is how full the site is. since tesla's stall numbers are low on the post i won't know stall numbering until i'm close enough to have selected a stall already.

Tesla's stall count goes from left to right in most cases. The far left stall would be 1A and so forth. The count is usally 1A-1D and the 2A-2D and so forth, but this could vary from station to station.

 

[AhardFSU]

There's a new supercharger near me that is absolutely open to non-Teslas that PlugShare has wrong (never used the other one) and I've reported it 3 or 4 times in PlugShare, with a link to Tesla's own website, and it's still not correct. No trouble believing many others are wrong too.

Yes. And there's one in Tallahassee, FL that has been open to non-Teslas since April and Plugshare still has it wrong.

 

[kodiakng]

Tesla's stall count goes from left to right in most cases. The far left stall would be 1A and so forth. The count is usally 1A-1D and the 2A-2D and so forth, but this could vary from station to station.

thanks. the fact it varies from site-to-site and for larger sites who knows where they started counting make it a crapshoot when i can just look with my eyes to see what stalls are open.

 

[kodiakng]

There's a new supercharger near me that is absolutely open to non-Teslas that PlugShare has wrong (never used the other one) and I've reported it 3 or 4 times in PlugShare, with a link to Tesla's own website, and it's still not correct. No trouble believing many others are wrong too.

yes, and i also have had the same issue with fordpass.

information on these apps can be wrong so be prepared. as i've noted elsewhere, the tesla app and website are the canonical sources to supercharger information. similar situation goes for any charge point network.

 

[bbulkow]

I got my NACS from Ford a couple weeks ago, and haven't tried it yet. I do not plan to create a Tesla account since I rarely take road trips, but I do have a trip next week so I'm documenting the steps to start using it.....

-last updated 12/5/24, 5pm

Here's what I did, and what I have left to do below :

1. activate your Blue Oval Charge Network from your phone FordPass, so you can pay thru account for Plug&Charge at participating stations without having separate accounts set up on each. For details, depending what version of FordPass you have (4.x or 5.x) see https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...ow-do-i-activate-the-blueoval-charge-network/

In my case, I am still running FP 4.x, so the steps were:

1. Open the FordPass App.
2. Tap the Home screen.
3. Tap Connected Services.
4. scroll down to BlueOvalCharge Network, and tap "manage"
5. enter your credit card info in your Ford Wallet.
6. Tap Confirm Activation.
7. note: I was able to activate, but could NOT view TOU.

This *should* activate Plug&Charge... The idea is to avoide separate accounts on various chargers, but they are not always "in network", so the P&C does not always work.

It's probably a good idea to download/install the Tesla app as well if you have problems with P&C, or decide to subscribe to Tesla membership for lower cost rates if you use it a lot.


============ last updated 12/5/24

I am kicking this thread off as a question, and will continue to edit the top post as I get a complete set of step by step and test it out on the nearest Supercharger. I'll start with:

Q: How can I find a Supercharger online, and tell if my NACS adapter will work there ?



Q: do I need to create a Tesla account to pay, or is there always a way to pay w credit card on site or as a "guest"?

Q: once I pull up to a SuperCharger... what is the order of connecting NACS adapter, to dispenser, to Mache ?

Q: once connected, how do I initiate charge to start ?

Q: Best way to stop charge ? use the "unlock" button on Mach-e ?

I didn't scroll through all the replies but here are some answers>

Q: How can I find a supercharger online and tell if the adapter will work there?
A: I use the Tesla app, because it shows current $ rates and current number of stalls taken in real time, and also tells you which stalls are currently broken before you pull in and get frustrated, and it has a friendly map that only shows the chargers near me I can use. But you're allergic to the Tesla app, can't blame you, I do have to create an account just to see that info (I think). If I was going to make one more plug for the Tesla app, it's kinda critical to know if the station is busy, because you're going to take up two chargers. Much better to show up to a half-full (or less) charger - the tesla app shows this boldly. It looks like ABRP and the Ford app's "public charging" panel has the info too, at least in Ford app 5.x, if you update.

UPDATE: my version of the Ford app (5.x), under "energy", under "public charging", as a very correct map of all the stations including Tesla, including the number of stalls available (although, only if you click on them, they're in the overview on Tesla). See below. You might want to update.

If you have Google Maps in Android Auto and you're in your MachE, there's a spot to say whether you have an adapter or not. There's a button that shows up when you search for "Charging Stations", above the answers. It's already detected your car type, and whether you have an adapter is optional.

What about GM without AA, or on a "computer"? There is no direct way to tell (I have two stations right near my house, one is available and one is not) *directly*. Except, v3++ stations will be listed as "250KW" (or 350KW). Inaccessible stations will be listed as 72KW (or maybe 150KW in some cases?), and that's right in the web interface. Look for "250KW" or better. THIS IS NOT FOOLPROOF because there are some "weird stations" which are a hybrid, I think, but it appears to work in the stations I'm looking at near my house. And... just because it wouldn't be fun to be easy, if you use Google Maps on your phone, they map 250KW to "Very fast", so look for "very fast" or better. I mean, they COULD just use one nomenclature on both Android and Web but... they don't.

If you are physically at a station, if it looks like little tombstones, you can't use it. If it is a tombstone with a hole punched through the center, you might. If it has the hole-thing, you have to look to see if there's a band near the charging handle. AFAIR the not-usable ones have a silver band and the usable ones don't - but it could be the reverse. This is all too complicated for me to I use the tesla app.

Alternately, Plug Share when you search for a site has a annotation "open to non-tesla", which is what you're looking for and appears... pretty?.... reliable.... although you've seen reports in this thread that can be wrong - but in my area it isn't wrong at all in an area a lot of chargers - so - pretty reliable ?). When you search in PS, you can add the configuration "have adapter" to your car type and it'll start filtering correctly in the main view. (Oddly, in PlugShare, if you search for "available chargers", Tesla chargers never show up because Plug Share hasn't integrated with Tesla's real time info, so just *don't* ask for available chargers). Your question implies that you want to check a station with a "computer" not an "app" and I think Plug Share has a website also.

Also alternately, ABRP which many people love has the information. ABRP has real-time stall information, so I bet their other information is quite reliable, but I don't use this often enough to have a strong opinion.

UPDATE: I checked out the in-car "charging stations" app. It should def. be on the list! The benefit is its right in the car, doesn't require a streaming subscription, and has real-time information about how busy each station is. When you nav to a station through this app, it brings up the Ford nav app, so you'll be preconditioning - even for Tesla stations, it seems. The downside of this app is it is distance from car, so you'll have trouble checking on locations 250 miles away when you might need them , and there's no map, so you can't at-a-glance tell which stations are along your route. The real time in formation is well laid out though!

Last but not least - because I had to check - the Ford app *on my phone* has what looks like a very correct list. Unfortunately, I'm using 5.x not 4.x, so you might not have access. It's under the "energy" - "public charging" button. This *ALSO* lists the number of stalls currently available, and the current price. There's some reports that you can manually initiate a charge there, by stall number? That makes it fully replace the Tesla app. Use the "ultra fast only" (which seems to be all L3 chargers). The ford app looks like it improved since the last time I looked - pretty snazzy! - might be my new "goto" instead of using the Tesla app!

It's quite possible ford's new "charging portal" that they posted about has correct information, based on what I see in the 5.x ford app. If Ford has have real-time info in the app, Ford likely has good info on the website. I haven't check this charging portal thing.

Q: Order of connection.
A: Oddly one adapter vendor says adapter to car first, another vendor says adapter to cable first, so I don't think it matters really. I do adapter to cable first which is what A2Z recommends and I have their adapter. I think Ford might recommend the opposite. The adapter is pretty "dumb" (has some temp monitoring but doesn't participate in the data connection) so this all tracks for me that it doesn't matter too much - whatever's physically easier for you to get a good snappy connection. Althought - it could be the ford adapters care because they have different interlocks?

Q: how do I initiate a charge
A: If you were using the tesla app, which you are not, you could go to the app and "initiate charge" before you plug in, at which point you select a charger number (printed on the charger). OR, if you were using the Ford app version that supports "activate charger". After selecting the charger, and getting and OK from the app, plug the car in. But you're not, so you just plug in, and the backend handles everything - that's charge initiation for you.

If it faults for some reason (eg, bad credit card, stray quantum rays) you should see an error in the Ford app under alerts somewhere, hopefully you'll get enough info to know what to do. Your failure modes are (generally): something in the backend (rare), bad connection with adapter (high for me until I got the hang of it), charger fault (once). I had one of the A2Z adapters that are a complete... pain...to get seated right, so I had to practice a bit. AFAIR the charging circle turned orange if I had a partial connection, I think I also got a notification on the ford app in my phone. After that, there was still one time when the charge didn't start. You should see the circle lights go on the charge port, then they go to blinking blue (happy state) quicker than EA (about 10s in my experience). If you have the "charging" app on the dash display, you will probably see info about whether it's correctly charging - the ford app will have info when it starts. And you'll hear the happy whine of the charger.

By the way, EA participates in Plug and Charge, so if you want to see if you have P&C configured correctly, drive to an EA station and plug in. Since the EA stations have screens, if you don't have it right, it'll tell you. I also once called Ford support to check on my account status, they looked everything up and were ready to help if it wasn't all correct.

Q: how to stop charge
A: car button. There's an interlock, you'll hear it click when you can remove everything.

Welcome to the party! In my experience, having Supercharger access was a gamechanger, really, and i hate the overuse of that word. I never worry about a trip, ever again. I've given you the most detailed response I can muster because you've helped with my inverter install with crucial info -- thanks for that!

 

[Nathan R Jessep]

I got my NACS from Ford a couple weeks ago, and haven't tried it yet. I do not plan to create a Tesla account since I rarely take road trips, but I do have a trip next week so I'm documenting the steps to start using it.....

-last updated 12/5/24, 5pm

Here's what I did, and what I have left to do below :

1. activate your Blue Oval Charge Network from your phone FordPass, so you can pay thru account for Plug&Charge at participating stations without having separate accounts set up on each. For details, depending what version of FordPass you have (4.x or 5.x) see https://www.ford.com/support/how-to...ow-do-i-activate-the-blueoval-charge-network/

In my case, I am still running FP 4.x, so the steps were:

1. Open the FordPass App.
2. Tap the Home screen.
3. Tap Connected Services.
4. scroll down to BlueOvalCharge Network, and tap "manage"
5. enter your credit card info in your Ford Wallet.
6. Tap Confirm Activation.
7. note: I was able to activate, but could NOT view TOU.

This *should* activate Plug&Charge... The idea is to avoide separate accounts on various chargers, but they are not always "in network", so the P&C does not always work.

It's probably a good idea to download/install the Tesla app as well if you have problems with P&C, or decide to subscribe to Tesla membership for lower cost rates if you use it a lot.


============ last updated 12/5/24

I am kicking this thread off as a question, and will continue to edit the top post as I get a complete set of step by step and test it out on the nearest Supercharger. I'll start with:

Q: How can I find a Supercharger online, and tell if my NACS adapter will work there ?



Q: do I need to create a Tesla account to pay, or is there always a way to pay w credit card on site or as a "guest"?

Q: once I pull up to a SuperCharger... what is the order of connecting NACS adapter, to dispenser, to Mache ?

Q: once connected, how do I initiate charge to start ?

Q: Best way to stop charge ? use the "unlock" button on Mach-e ?

I just did a nearly 1,200 round trip from NW Ohio to Baltimore. I used Telsa Superchargers 4 times and had no problems. I'm not sure the order you connect is important. I just put the adapter on and plug it into my car. I have my Ford Pass account set up for plug & charge and it has worked at all the Telsa and Electrify America stations. I have had only one problem with Telsa when it wasn't compatible with my car. What I would suggest is when you get near your destination, where you know there are Tesla Superchargers, go into the app on the car for "Public Charging" (it will only show you the chargers within a relatively short range of your location). The nice thing about the app in the car, is it will show you which Telsa stations are not compatible with your car and which ones use the adapter and are plug & charge. I did not find that information on any of the other apps I used.

I used the navigation in the car to chart the course to my next charging station, but it doesn't give me any info when you start the trip to tell you the status of the station when you get there. I went about 125 miles to an Electrify America, only to find this!!!

They were swapping out the chargers, but the mapping app didn't know that! Not good.......I was at 12%! I went into the "Public Charging" in the car app and it showed a Tesla station (which is the next picture below, where we charged on the way to Baltimore, just .2 miles away. Whew!).

The nice thing about the "Public Charging" app in the car, is it tells you how many chargers are "available" at EA stations and whether the Tesla stations will work with your vehicle. I'm sure there is a way put that into your GPS when you are leaving for the next charging stop, but I didn't take the time to figure it out.

As for cost, I have not set up a Tesla account, because most of my driving can be satisfied with the stage 2 charger in my garage, which works great. In case you are wondering.....I put on 43 kWh in my garage to 100% before I left for the trip and I charged 9 more times (not counting maybe 3 kWh in a casino parking garage which was "free"...LOL). I don't know what the cost was at my house, but I charge at night at off peak hours.

Anyway, the total coast EA and Tesla was $218.86 and got me 218 kWh of juice. I used to drive a Chevy Traverse and it was at least $75 a fill up and who knows how many fill ups it would have taken? At least four to get there and back and no Blue Cruise! (which worked GREAT on I-70, but sucked on the PA turnpike).

To initiate the charge at Tesla, I just plug it in and wait. There are no screens at ALL at Tesla, so the first time that was unnerving. There is no card swipe or anything, so you have to be in the Tesla app or have the charge & pay set up on your account.

The most tricky thing at Tesla is the short cord, compared to EA. Sometimes you can get lucky and they have a space on the end or a charger

perpendicular to the other chargers. If not you have to hope you can clear the curb or park on an angle, which is a little embarrassing.

When done, just hit the unlock button and take your adapter and you're done!

Good luck!! The Tesla adapter is a game changer. It really helped on our trip!!

 

[bbulkow]

I just did a nearly 1,200 round trip from NW Ohio to Baltimore. I used Telsa Superchargers 4 times and had no problems. I'm not sure the order you connect is important. I just put the adapter on and plug it into my car. I have my Ford Pass account set up for plug & charge and it has worked at all the Telsa and Electrify America stations. I have had only one problem with Telsa when it wasn't compatible with my car. What I would suggest is when you get near your destination, where you know there are Tesla Superchargers, go into the app on the car for "Public Charging" (it will only show you the chargers within a relatively short range of your location). The nice thing about the app in the car, is it will show you which Telsa stations are not compatible with your car and which ones use the adapter and are plug & charge. I did not find that information on any of the other apps I used.

I used the navigation in the car to chart the course to my next charging station, but it doesn't give me any info when you start the trip to tell you the status of the station when you get there. I went about 125 miles to an Electrify America, only to find this!!!

They were swapping out the chargers, but the mapping app didn't know that! Not good.......I was at 12%! I went into the "Public Charging" in the car app and it showed a Tesla station (which is the next picture below, where we charged on the way to Baltimore, just .2 miles away. Whew!).

The nice thing about the "Public Charging" app in the car, is it tells you how many chargers are "available" at EA stations and whether the Tesla stations will work with your vehicle. I'm sure there is a way put that into your GPS when you are leaving for the next charging stop, but I didn't take the time to figure it out.

As for cost, I have not set up a Tesla account, because most of my driving can be satisfied with the stage 2 charger in my garage, which works great. In case you are wondering.....I put on 43 kWh in my garage to 100% before I left for the trip and I charged 9 more times (not counting maybe 3 kWh in a casino parking garage which was "free"...LOL). I don't know what the cost was at my house, but I charge at night at off peak hours.

Anyway, the total coast EA and Tesla was $218.86 and got me 218 kWh of juice. I used to drive a Chevy Traverse and it was at least $75 a fill up and who knows how many fill ups it would have taken? At least four to get there and back and no Blue Cruise! (which worked GREAT on I-70, but sucked on the PA turnpike).

To initiate the charge at Tesla, I just plug it in and wait. There are no screens at ALL at Tesla, so the first time that was unnerving. There is no card swipe or anything, so you have to be in the Tesla app or have the charge & pay set up on your account.

The most tricky thing at Tesla is the short cord, compared to EA. Sometimes you can get lucky and they have a space on the end or a charger

perpendicular to the other chargers. If not you have to hope you can clear the curb or park on an angle, which is a little embarrassing.

When done, just hit the unlock button and take your adapter and you're done!

Good luck!! The Tesla adapter is a game changer. It really helped on our trip!!

I would be interested, if you look at your Ford app under "energy" -> "public charging", whether you see Tesla stations with current number available, and with an "initiate" button? Android vs IOS? Ford app version? I'm on 5.many

On my phone, if I wasn't actively driving (or if I was copilot), the Ford app seems pretty good now.

Agreed the cable issue is the greatest problem.... thus I've always looked for non-busy stations.

 

[dtbaker61]

I will come back and update the top post someday after I actually get to try a supercharger. I went on a road trip last week, and ended up using an ElectricfyAmerica charger (twice) and a Ford Dealership once.

The nearest TSupercharger was a little further out of the way, so I didn't try it.

Plug n Charge did not work at the EA station or the Ford Dealership ?! I just paid w credit card at the dispenser.

 

[Womps]

Are your number correct here? This would indicate you paid $1.00 per kWh.

 

[dtbaker61]

Are your number correct here? This would indicate you paid $1.00 per kWh.

prices in NM are generally $0.64/kwhr at public charging DCFC, the Ford dealership near me is $0.45. I dunno about Superchargers since I haven't used one yet.

 

[MustangJim]

Is there any work being done to connect other memberships like Tesla to the Blue Oval network to enable discounts for members like we can get with EA through plug and charge?

 

[Nathan R Jessep]

Are your number correct here? This would indicate you paid $1.00 per kWh.

You are correct, I either added wrong or wrote it wrong. I made 8 charges using either EA or Tesla supercharges and going back through my charging history and comparing it to my messages showing what was billed to Ford Pass....it shows 358 total kWh for $195.05. I made one other charge at a Dealership where I had to use a credit card, but I don't think it was crazy expensive. So, the above 8 charges would be $.54 per kWh, if my math is correct. I know there are a lot of engineer types on this site and math was not my strong suit, so that's why I went to law school. Sorry...... But the overall sentiment is still the same: I enjoyed the experience more than had I driven my wife's Jeep Cherokee.

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