Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Robustness of CHAdeMO network compared to Supercharger Network

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
Twice in the last month I have received notifications from Greenlots of mechanical issues with the connector on BC Hydro DCFC units (one Eaton and one ABB). The Squamish, BC (Canada) unit appears to have been down since at least 25 March and is not expected to be back in operation until near the end of this month. The Kamloops, BC unit appears to have been down since 9 April with no projected date for returning to service.

From what I have read on this forum, I get the impression that many CHAdeMO DCFCs are single headed units. Is this the case in most locations? If so, the design of Tesla's supercharger network seems to be much more robust.

(Both Squamish and Kamloops have multi-headed Supercharger stations).
 
The key difference here is the word "network". Tesla planned superchargers to function as a network. CHAdeMO charging stations are not a network. With rare exceptions they're placed individually, generally for local use rather than inter-city travel, and often based at Nissan dealers rather than where a convenient location would be.
 
The reliability of many DC FCs in the SF Bay Area is so-so but used to be pretty poor, esp. ones on the Blink network, whether it be Blink - DC Fast Charger or Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles. Some of the latter are on the Blink network.

The Nissan Quick Charger - CHAdeMO DC Fast Charging for Electric Vehicles themselves, whether they be on Blink or not are not particularly reliable. It sounds like NRG eVgo is doing a decent jump of keeping their hardware running and fixing them quickly. Anything non-Supercharger not on that network in the Bay Area usually means == not very good reliability.

Even PlugShare - EV Charging Station Map - Find a place to charge your car! (which isn't networked) was sometimes down for weeks.
 
Twice in the last month I have received notifications from Greenlots of mechanical issues with the connector on BC Hydro DCFC units (one Eaton and one ABB). The Squamish, BC (Canada) unit appears to have been down since at least 25 March and is not expected to be back in operation until near the end of this month. The Kamloops, BC unit appears to have been down since 9 April with no projected date for returning to service.

From what I have read on this forum, I get the impression that many CHAdeMO DCFCs are single headed units. Is this the case in most locations? If so, the design of Tesla's supercharger network seems to be much more robust.

(Both Squamish and Kamloops have multi-headed Supercharger stations).

Though I agree that the Tesla Supercharger network is built more robustly than any other DC network I know of, the West Coast Electric Highway in the Pacific Northwest is also a very useful network for getting around.

http://www.oregon.gov/ODOT/HWY/OIPP/docs/ElectricHwyMapREV_4-15.pdf

The stations tend to be single headed DCFC (chademo) plus a single headed L2, and that makes them not so useful. But they've got excellent coverage of the major highways, and pretty good coverage of the rest of OR and WA. It appears they're located every 20-50 miles along the highways WCEH has covered.

It's one thing about the Pacific Northwest - we have a quite nice chademo network built out here, and it makes the Leaf and other compatible EVs much more useful for leaving one's metro area.

- - - Updated - - -

The key difference here is the word "network". Tesla planned superchargers to function as a network. CHAdeMO charging stations are not a network. With rare exceptions they're placed individually, generally for local use rather than inter-city travel, and often based at Nissan dealers rather than where a convenient location would be.

Oh yeah - and the WCEH tends to be located at public rest stops along the highway, parking lots of restaurants, and other public locations - not Nissan dealerships.