How Does The Model S Charge at Home?

European cars all have a Type 2 (Mennekes) compatible charge port (only). It is modified slightly to take the higher current from the Superchargers.

The photo of the white car with the black charging plug looks a little like Tesla's North American plug, but looking at it closely, I think it actually is a Type 2 plug.

The photo of the HPWC and plug looks like a stock photo of North American kit. It should not be on the UK website.

GSP

GSP said:

The photo of the white car with the black charging plug looks a little like Tesla's North American plug, but looking at it closely, I think it actually is a Type 2 plug.

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You can tell it's a euro car because the USA cars have the charge status LEDs in a ring around the connector, whereas the euro cars (with the larger diameter Type2 connector) don't have room for them there and have them in the side of the main rear lamp lens - as in this photo.

So to answer the question in the thread title, for home charging Tesla don't currently offer (in the UK) any suitable EVSE, expecting you to get it from one of the suppliers under the Government (OLEV) subsidy scheme - Chargemaster, British Gas etc. Those typically offer you the choice of a tethered cable with type2 connector on the end of it, or a type-2 socket on the wall unit into which you would plug the type2-type2 cable supplied with the car.

If for some reason you don't qualify for the subsidy or don't like what's on offer, there's plenty of suppliers of either permanent-install or portable-plug-in EVSEs:

https://evconnectors.com/electric-vehicle-chargers-and-accessories/Other-Electric-Vehicle-Charging-Products
http://nuworldenergy.co.uk/shop/nucharge
http://www.automobile-propre.com/boutique/
http://www.e-driver.net/mobile-ladebox-juice-booster-1/

Just trawled my bookmarks to find those links, and noticed that most of these suppliers had added new products since I last looked! Nice to see an expanding market for this stuff.

martinwinlow said:

The (first) photo with the 'Tesla' logo'ed plug could well be a Type 2 setup on closer inspection but compared to the size of my Chargemaster socket, it doesn't look big enough.

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I think that's just optical illusion in the photo. The hand-grip on these connectors is significantly slimmer than the actual mating part on the end (which is hidden in shadow in these photos).

How the blazes is the SC connection going to work then? Surely they aren't going to use the 5 chunky pins on the Type 2 - designed solely for AC use - to work with 120+kW of DC? So, the SC tethered lead (if it has one, like the US version) has a Type 2 female plug on it? MW

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Yes. Actually, the standard type2 is specified for DC on the AC pins, but not at high enough current for full-power Supercharger use: Tesla's euro connector uses the same shape as standard type2 and hence can mate with it, but has longer pins for use at the Supercharger.

IMO, the net result is rather neat - a much better solution than they've gone with for North America.

Hi Martin,

Can you post a picture of your home charger and socket? If it has 7 pins it is a type 2 socked. Did British Gas install that? Chargemaster has home charger units that have a type 2 plug. You wouldn't need to use the two ended cable. The first image with the blue and white charger has a 7 pin mennekes type 2 plug.



If this is not the charger you have, then I suggest that you contact chargemaster and see if they can help with replacement. Somebody mentioned they replaced a charger for free. Home Units

Chargemaster also has wall units that don't come with a plug. Instead they have a socked. obviously it would be better if you install a home charger with a plug so you can leave the cable in the car and use it at public charge stations that have type 2 sockets like these:



More pictures of street chargers with a type 2 socket and no plug (you need the two ended cable):
Berkeley Square: charge point in London
POLAR teams up with Transport for London

Chargemaster indoors public charger with a card reader and type 2 socket (you need the two ended cable):
Wall Mounted Units

Hi Martin,

I posted a long answer with pictures and links but this website doesn't display them until my messages are approved by a moderator which causes a lot of delays. So I will try to repeat without active links. Select the links, then right click and open in new tab.

The double ended cable is for public chargers. Notice the card reader in the middle: (you need the double ended cable to use these)
Wall Mounted Units

Also check the pictures of these street chargers. (you need the double ended cable to use these too)
Berkeley Square: charge point in London

The home charger that you need comes with a plug and you don't need the double ended cable to use that. The first image on this page shows a blue and white charger that has the 7 pin mennekes plug. That is the charger you need.
Home Units

If you have something else contact chargemaster.
Customer Service
24-hour helpline for Chargemaster Plc customers: 0845 528 0289
General enquiries during office hours (9:00am to 17:30): Telephone: 00 44 (0)1582 400 331

If you want you could post a picture of your charger and socket.

I am a Model S owner in California. My wife and I are currently in London for a few days before going on to Norway for two weeks. Today we walked from our hotel in Kensington to the Tesla store in the Westfield mall. Now back in our hotel room I came across this thread and followed the link that @martinwinlow posted. This is the first time I have seen the UK Tesla website. The Charging page appears to show the correct UK cable and connectors but the HPWC photo looks like the same photo as on the US website. I have an HPWC in my garage at home and love it.

I was hoping to see a right hand drive Model S in the Westfield Tesla store today but they had a left hand drive car on display! Store employee Victor told me they have had that car for many months for display purposes since RHD production only began just recently.

Hi,

Check the first image. This is the charger you want. It has a type 2 plug (not socket).

Home Units

HPVC is not ready for UK. Here is what is says in Martin's link:

• 
• Wall Connector
  (Coming 2015)

Martin from your message it appears like you have a home charger unit with a type 2 socket on it but no plug. You can of course use the double ended cable and either leave it there plugged all the time or unplug it and take it with you in the car.

But I want to add that the double ended cable was not meant for home chargers that have sockets and no plugs. The cable was for public chargers that have sockets. Here you can see a public charger with a type 2 socket but no plug. It means you need the double ended cable. More pictures here: Berkeley Square: charge point in London




Chargemaster also has indoors public chargers that have a type 2 socket but no plug. You can see them on the following page. Notice the card swipe section in the middle.
Wall Mounted Units

The charger you need is this one from this page: Home Units


HPWC is not needed for home charging. HPWC makes more sense in the US where the electric output is 110V and you need to install something. It is either a 240V Nema 14-50 socket or an HPWC. But in the UK you can have free chargemaster home chargers, thanks to a government grant and even the 240V 16A base model provides 10 miles of charge per hour. For £99 you can get 240V 32A and that provides 21 miles per hour. There is no need for HPWC. The reason why US owners have a HPWC is not because it charges so fast but because their car doesn't have a type 2 socket. The HPWC is the only home charger they can have. They can't use other chargers without an adapter.

On another website somebody mentioned that chargemaster swapped their home unit with another model for free. They also work with British Gas. Those British Gas chargers branded Polar, are by Chargemaster too. So give them a call if you have a charger different than the home charger in this image.

To summarize, the best thing to do would be contact British Gas or Chargemaster and have their type 2 home charger installed in your garage, driveway or front garden for free. If you are driving more than 100 miles per day you could have the 240V 32A version for £99. Home owners without an electric vehicle also qualify for the government grant. If you have relatives you might visit regularly they could have their free type 2 charger installed too. Just contact one of these two places:

Electric Vehicle Charging Offers - Save Energy - British Gas
Welcome to ChargeMaster!

The government grant for free chargers ends in March 2015. Tesla HPWC is expected in 2015 too. Therefore even future Tesla owners from the UK should have their type 2 chargers installed now.

The problem in the US is that there is a code/law that prohibits EV to be directly connected to any power outlet. IOW, it's not allowed/possible to just plug in your car. There needs to be a "charger" that makes sure there is no power at first, negotiates the connection to the car and then allows the current to flow. It also prevents the cable to be just pulled while power is present. So it needs to have the unlock button that disconnects the power before you can unplug it. So we all have to buy these totally overpriced 'chargers' that don't really do anything but switching power on and off between the plug and the car. To make things worse, the code only allows the cable from the outlet to the "charger" to be one foot long and no extensions are allowed. So the entire weight of the charger is pulling down on the plug! Great thinking!

I hate that they call these boxes "chargers". It totally misleading. They have components in them worth $40, they don't do any type of charging. All they are really is one switch with some simple electronics. The actual charger is inside every EV.

Hi Martin,

Sorry for the duplicate content. I had some problems with forum software blocking my messages because I'm a new member here. My earlier messages were indeed invisible for many hours.

On this page there is a Polar (chargemaster) charger with a socket but no plug. A tethered 6.6 kwh charge point
I thought maybe you had one of these installed by mistake which would tie up your two ended cable unnecessarily. From your topic title I thought you might be a novice user. I'm glad you are very knowledgeable about home chargers.

I think the most amazing thing about home chargers is that they can be installed in front gardens and currently it's for free. I recently read that number of Victorian houses in the UK is close to number of cars. Considering that front gardens can be converted to parking spaces, a big percentage of the UK drivers could drive EVs easily and charge at home overnight without any additional load to the grid. It is a shame all this information is not communicated better to the public but instead they keep adding all these city center street chargers that nobody seems to want to use.

David99 said:

The problem in the US is that there is a code/law that prohibits EV to be directly connected to any power outlet. IOW, it's not allowed/possible to just plug in your car.

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Hmm... I live in California and am not aware of a law as you describe in your post. I have a 240V NEMA 10-50 outlet in my garage that I can plug my Model S into though I always use my HPWC for charging since it charges twice as fast as the 240.

Your HPWC has relays and communicates with the car. It complies with the code

Hi Martin,

That's not my website. When you post a link here the forum software replaces the link with the page title which is why it says "My own 6.6 kwh charger" even though I didn't type that.

Teo said:

Hi Martin,

That's not my website. When you post a link here the forum software replaces the link with the page title which is why it says "My own 6.6 kwh charger" even though I didn't type that.

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I changed it for you. The software for this forum isn't perfect but it's pretty easy to use.

Teo said:

Hi Martin,

That's not my website. When you post a link here the forum software replaces the link with the page title which is why it says "My own 6.6 kwh charger" even though I didn't type that.

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The forum software puts in the page title of the web page that you reference. You can edit that later if you wish, and dsm363 did it for you this time. Enjoy TMC!