Magic Dock

[10SGMom]

I was recently at a Supercharger in New Jersey. Surprised this Mustang was able to charge there. Must be Magic Dock compatible. Owner had a heck of a time trying to get the cord to reach and ended up taking two spots. When he finally got it to reach, only one other car was charging so he thought it was ok. Within minutes others arrived and one had to wait. Not his fault cord didn’t reach. Both Ford and Tesla are offering this charging solution without having the proper equipment to support their customers. I believe this is going to cause a lot of ill-will among all EV owners. Perhaps the NACS plugs issued by other manufacturers should have an extension cord.

 

[karkrazy]

Wait till you see the F150 Lightning’s taking up 3 stalls

there is so much variability around where the charge ports are placed on vehicles… it’s gonna be ugly.

 

[SVMike]

Wait till you see the F150 Lightning’s taking up 3 stalls

there is so much variability around where the charge ports are placed on vehicles… it’s gonna be ugly.

Tesla has been, roughly, doubling the number of stalls in the US every 4 years since the model 3 began shipping. So even if they do not increase that rate, but they start adding longer cables and/or drive thru locations they can allow for different configurations over time without too much trouble. All cars get to use the new designs and the (much smaller number of) non-Teslas can have plenty of available stalls.
They will clearly have data on who charges where and be able to expand or retrofit as needed.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

View attachment 1040776View attachment 1040776
I was recently at a Supercharger in New Jersey. Surprised this Mustang was able to charge there. Must be Magic Dock compatible. Owner had a heck of a time trying to get the cord to reach and ended up taking two spots. When he finally got it to reach, only one other car was charging so he thought it was ok. Within minutes others arrived and one had to wait. Not his fault cord didn’t reach. Both Ford and Tesla are offering this charging solution without having the proper equipment to support their customers. I believe this is going to cause a lot of ill-will among all EV owners. Perhaps the NACS plugs issued by other manufacturers should have an extension cord.

Probably has their own adapter. (Magic Dock allows any CCS car to use a Supercharger, but Ford and some other owners now have their own adapters so can use any V3 that has NACS charging (Tesla plug, CCS communication) enabled.)

The issue of cable reach is part of the reason Tesla removed the stops, to allow cars just to get a little closer.
Apparently Tesla is/was designing a version with an extension cord precisely because of this problem. That could help the CCS EV owners themselves as the need for extra spots isn't just bad for Tesla owners, it can prevent a CCS EV from charging between two other EVs.

I don't think it'll cause ill-will. Tesla owners know _why_ they were taking up multiple spaces. Non-Tesla people will ultimately learn to the rule to park as far to the right as possible and Tesla owners may park on the left to give non-Teslas more space.

 

[Dangaurd_Ace]

I agree the CCS adapter needs an extension, I have a few level 3 adapters that have a 1 Meter (3 feet) cord.
I've seen some angst at the chargers, some park sideways some take 2 spots.
what is the right answer?

 

[Exelion]

A little late, but one of the solutions Tesla has implemented in its newest installations is positioning the charger unit between the cars, rather than at the very end of the parking stall. This allows cars to forward/back to position themselves for better reach. Simple fix, but not something Tesla can do retroactive to stations already in service. I can't imagine Tesla repositioning the charging units at all their sites.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

A little late, but one of the solutions Tesla has implemented in its newest installations is positioning the charger unit between the cars, rather than at the very end of the parking stall. This allows cars to forward/back to position themselves for better reach. Simple fix, but not something Tesla can do retroactive to stations already in service. I can't imagine Tesla repositioning the charging units at all their sites.

Also for cost reasons Tesla prefers to use back-in stalls. The pre-fab units are back-in.

 

[DonTom]

What is the difference between the Magic Dock Supercharger withOUT using their Magic Dock adapter and using your own adapter compared to any other V3 or V4 Supercharger with your own Tesla Supercharger to CCS adapter?

Those that have Magic Dock will work withOUT using their adopter, just bring your own SC to CCS adapter.

Those other V3 & V4 Tesla SCs without Magic Dock will never work with an adapter unless the non-Tesla vehicle has a FW update for Tesla Supercharging. So far, that is only Ford and Rivian. These vehicles will only work after they get the FW update that allowed Tesla supercharging. But the Magic Dock Superchargers will work using your own adapter on ANY non-Tesla, without using the Tesla provided adapter and requires no FW update on the Non-Tesla.

-Don- Reno, NV (not a single Magic Dock in all of NV, but a few at useless locations in CA, a mile or so from real CCS chargers).

 

[Rocky_H]

Those that have Magic Dock will work withOUT using their adopter, just bring your own SC to CCS adapter.

But the Magic Dock Superchargers will work using your own adapter on ANY non-Tesla, without using the Tesla provided adapter

No, you're kind of missing what the Magic Dock actually is. There is no "bring your own adapter". The Magic Dock IS the adapter. That's the point of it.

 

[DonTom]

. The Magic Dock IS the adapter.

Yes, but you did NOT understand my post. On those with Magic Dock, but when the Magic Dock is NOT used, we can still use our own SC to CCS adapter, and it will work fine for CCS on ANY non-Tesla, such as Chevy EVs or Energica motorcycles.

Those V3 and V4 chargers that do NOT have Magic Dock available will only work with Ford & Rivian (with these cars needing a SW update to work), but will NOT work at all with Chevy or others even if you bring your own Tesla SC to CCS adapter.

This proves a difference between the V3 Superchargers that have the Magic Dock available and those which do NOT in BOTH chargers when NO Magic Dock is used with either.

IOW, the difference is MORE than the Magic Dock. The difference is in the chargers that have it available and those which do not.

IOW, do NOT use the Magic Dock, bring your own adapter instead and it will still work, unlike the chargers that do NOT have the Magic Dock of the same version 3 Supercharger.

IOW, I was curious what is different in the Tesla Superchargers themselves between those which have the Magic Dock available and those that do not.

FWIW, I have used the Magic Dock (Placerville, CA) so I know about the adapter that comes out when charging a non-Tesla.

-Don- Reno, NV

 

[Rocky_H]

Yes, but you did NOT understand my post.

I got that other part of it, where you were talking about some stations already being authorized versus others still requiring the partnership agreement. But where you were telling people to "just bring your own" adapter to a Magic Dock station, that's the part that didn't make any sense.

 

[DonTom]

"just bring your own" adapter to a Magic Dock station, that's the part that didn't make any sense.Supercharge

I did NOT say it was necessary to bring your own adapter. I only said it will still work if you do use your own instead of Tesla's. It proves there is a difference between those MD Superchargers and others, even if the same version of SC (such as the 250 KW V3 without the MD) that was all I was saying.

IOW, the difference with Magic Dock and non-Magic Dock is NOT in the MD adapter. It is in the charger itself. I am trying to ask what that difference is.

 

[RTPEV]

Those other V3 & V4 Tesla SCs without Magic Dock will never work with an adapter unless the non-Tesla vehicle has a FW update for Tesla Supercharging. So far, that is only Ford and Rivian. These vehicles will only work after they get the FW update that allowed Tesla supercharging. But the Magic Dock Superchargers will work using your own adapter on ANY non-Tesla, without using the Tesla provided adapter and requires no FW update on the Non-Tesla.

Can you cite a reference or source that says this is the case (versus just user error or other random handshaking issues that occur with CCS)?

 

[E90alex]

IOW, the difference with Magic Dock and non-Magic Dock is NOT in the MD adapter. It is in the charger itself. I am trying to ask what that difference is.

The difference is just in the software. The magic dock locations are programmed to allow anyone to charge.

Non-magic dock locations are programmed to only allow specific cars to charge.

 

[gtae07]

A little late, but one of the solutions Tesla has implemented in its newest installations is positioning the charger unit between the cars, rather than at the very end of the parking stall. This allows cars to forward/back to position themselves for better reach. Simple fix, but not something Tesla can do retroactive to stations already in service. I can't imagine Tesla repositioning the charging units at all their sites.

There's also the approach from the Metter, GA supercharger (pic from streetview). Put it between the parking rows so the non-Tesla cars can park on the other side and not block a spot...