New Charge Port - press to open

It's been there since the D's.

It works when the car is unlocked, it locks the chargeport when the car is locked.

Max* said:

It's been there since the D's.

It works when the car is unlocked, it locks the chargeport when the car is locked.

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I randomly opened a Tesla charge port door at a public 1772 station (to give them a charge because I was done) then didn't plug them in because of the adaptor, duh. I guessed the MS was locked because the door handles and side mmirror were retracted. So are you sure that it locks with the car doors?

GasKilla said:

I randomly opened a Tesla charge port door at a public 1772 station (to give them a charge because I was done) then didn't plug them in because of the adaptor, duh. I guessed the MS was locked because the door handles and side mmirror were retracted. So are you sure that it locks with the car doors?

Click to expand...

Yes, it does on recent builds like mine from last month and likely yours will. This is an area where Tesla has made a number of changes since the original MS came out in 2012. Take a peek at some of the lists people maintain on changes being intorisuced in new builds over the months and years and you'll find the detail.

GasKilla said:

I randomly opened a Tesla charge port door at a public 1772 station (to give them a charge because I was done) then didn't plug them in because of the adaptor, duh. I guessed the MS was locked because the door handles and side mmirror were retracted. So are you sure that it locks with the car doors?

Click to expand...

Handles and mirrors retracted doesn't mean locked, it could have just timed out. Only way to know if it's locked is to try the doors.

Good on you for trying to charge them though. I tried to give electrons to a Tesla a few weeks ago when I was done at a charging station, but ran in to the same problem you did (and their charge port was closed) I would recommend to people that if they want a charge, leave the port open and adapter in the port, it will lock in place so no worry of someone stealing it, but it would allow someone to plug you in!

And a UMC/HPWC/SpC cable will open the charge port even when it's locked.

Max* said:

And a UMC/HPWC/SpC cable will open the charge port even when it's locked.

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Not on my car it doesn't.... If that were the case you'd be able to unplug people from superchargers and HPWCs without their permission...

green1 said:

Not on my car it doesn't.... If that were the case you'd be able to unplug people from superchargers and HPWCs without their permission...

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Right. On my 9-2015 build S90D, unless my FOB is within range, I cannot manually-push-to-open the charging port, cause my HPWC to open the charging port, or remove my HPWC from the charging port if it was already plugged-in. To me, my 90D works just the way I'd want it to from a security perspective.

green1 said:

Not on my car it doesn't.... If that were the case you'd be able to unplug people from superchargers and HPWCs without their permission...

Click to expand...

It will open the port. It won't RELEASE the port. Go find a bunch of Teslas parked together that are locked. Hit the button on a UMC or HPWC and watch several charge ports on the cars open at the same time.

andrewket said:

It will open the port. It won't RELEASE the port.

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On my car that is not the case. The button does not open the port unless the car is unlocked, and the unlocking and releasing are always tied together on my car in every case.

green1 said:

Not on my car it doesn't.... If that were the case you'd be able to unplug people from superchargers and HPWCs without their permission...

Click to expand...

Do you have a D?

It will open the chargeport on the D when the chargeport is closed and the car is locked. Go try it (if you have a D). I've opened people's chargeport as they pulled into the SpC and I was unplugging, they got a good laugh (I think it was the guys first time SpCing and he was like "o look it opens on it's own" I later corrected him).

What you're thinking I said, and I did not, is that you're able to UNPLUG a cable if it's plugged in, that is absolutely not the case.

BertL said:

Right. On my 9-2015 build S90D, unless my FOB is within range, I cannot manually-push-to-open the charging port, cause my HPWC to open the charging port, or remove my HPWC from the charging port if it was already plugged-in. To me, my 90D works just the way I'd want it to from a security perspective.

Click to expand...

Try the bolded again. That's exactly how it works. And if it doesn't, you should complain to the SvC. The HPWC will open the chargeport door when clicked, even if the car is locked and the FOB is out of range. The rest of that statement is correct*

*Unless they changed something with the chargeport software/hardware in September.


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andrewket said:

It will open the port. It won't RELEASE the port. Go find a bunch of Teslas parked together that are locked. Hit the button on a UMC or HPWC and watch several charge ports on the cars open at the same time.

Click to expand...

Exactly.

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Plugging in a car that doesn't belong to you?

Lots of people describe how it works, exactly as I've described it. Again, it might be a D-only thing.

Having replaced my P85 with a P90DL 10 days ago, and also got v7.0, something weird is definitely going on with the business of opening and unlocking chargeports. I think there are bugs here.

What I find is that with my UMC I can get the charge door to open (even when I don't have a key anywhere near the car) BUT that the lock pin on the connector (I'm in the UK) remains closed, so even though the port is open I can't push the connector in.

Anyway it's quite possible that some changes have been made in this area in V7.0 and they're causing different/unexpected behaviour in both US and EU cars.

On my old P85 the charge port door always opened reliably when I pressed an opener button (on the UMC, on a supercharger, or a third party fob) and I was always then able to plug in.

velocty said:

Click UMC/HPWC button:
Car Locked = Opens charge port, will accept connector, will begin charging, and will NOT release connector for removal.
Car Unlocked = Same, but WILL release connector for removal

This is exactly how I would want it to behave.

I haven't had it reject the connector with the car locked mgboyes, but i'll pay attention and see if it happens.

Click to expand...

I experience the exact same behavior. Even demonstrated it recently to another owner.

I'm glad I encountered this thread. My 85D is just over two months old. For the first few weeks I struggled at home with my UMC, clickity-clicking the connector trying to open the port -- it always did, after a variable and sometimes lengthy series of clicks. Then for a few weeks the first click worked every time. Then again it became difficult. I'll just use the press-on-port-door method, which I just successfully tested, henceforth.

velocty said:

I just tried a few combinations on my 90D and works exactly as Max* described.

Press charge port door with finger:
Car Locked = Does NOT open
Car Unlocked = Opens

Click UMC/HPWC button:
Car Locked = Opens charge port, will accept connector, will begin charging, and will NOT release connector for removal.
Car Unlocked = Same, but WILL release connector for removal

This is exactly how I would want it to behave.

I haven't had it reject the connector with the car locked mgboyes, but i'll pay attention and see if it happens.

Click to expand...

My ideal would be the above, but if the car has finished charging it should allow the connector to be removed, and then close the door.

brec said:

I'm glad I encountered this thread. My 85D is just over two months old. For the first few weeks I struggled at home with my UMC, clickity-clicking the connector trying to open the port -- it always did, after a variable and sometimes lengthy series of clicks. Then for a few weeks the first click worked every time. Then again it became difficult. I'll just use the press-on-port-door method, which I just successfully tested, henceforth.

Click to expand...

Try placing the connector near the 2nd row passenger door window and the pillar. That's where the antenna is.

My 2 week old 85D works exactly like this.

My old S85 also worked like this, in theory, but was much less responsive to the button on the HPWC than the 85D. The S85 used to require a couple of presses on the button before the charge port would open.

velocty said:

I just tried a few combinations on my 90D and works exactly as Max* described.

Press charge port door with finger:
Car Locked = Does NOT open
Car Unlocked = Opens

Click UMC/HPWC button:
Car Locked = Opens charge port, will accept connector, will begin charging, and will NOT release connector for removal.
Car Unlocked = Same, but WILL release connector for removal

This is exactly how I would want it to behave.

I haven't had it reject the connector with the car locked mgboyes, but i'll pay attention and see if it happens.

Click to expand...

andrewket said:

Try placing the connector near the 2nd row passenger door window and the pillar. That's where the antenna is.

Click to expand...

With the car locked (another feature new to me from this thread) I just clicked the connector in the vicinity of the driver-side rear door handle. The port opened on the first click. It's not sufficient data to publish in a peer-reviewed study, but hopeful.

brec said:

With the car locked (another feature new to me from this thread) I just clicked the connector in the vicinity of the driver-side rear door handle. The port opened on the first click. It's not sufficient data to publish in a peer-reviewed study, but hopeful.

Click to expand...

The older Model S's are pretty deaf when it comes to listening for the charge port open signal. The recent ones hear it from 3 meters away and more.

A reliable location that is also pretty easy is to hold the charge connector over the hatch back glass immediately up from the charge port. All you have to do it reach up and over a little so that the charge connector is close to the hatch back glass and push the button.