Anyone upgrade to dual chargers after delivery?

[GasKilla]

I'm planning a trip at the end of the summer where an 80 amp destination charger is available and may be handy to charge at 80 amps (I won't be spending the night at the charger).

How many times have you charged above 40 amps?
Was the upgrade "worth it"?

I certainly like the idea of dual chargers but I'm not sure about the practicality in the real world.

Any input is appreciated.

 

[Boatguy]

I upgraded my 90D to dual chargers. And we've taken one trip where it charged at 80a at a destination charger. It also charges at 80a at home, but it would normally get a full charge overnight even with the 40a charger.

I bought it for use with destination HPWC chargers which I've read, and have seen, can be congested. One hotel we visit every year, where the nearest SC is about 120miles away, told us that earlier this year they had 8 Teslas as guests, and just one charger. The valets were busy guys shuffling the cars in/out of the chargers.

Is it worth it? It's hard to put that in the context of a $100K car. It depends on how many destination chargers you expect to use, how you value your time. Since I could rationalize the car, I was able to rationalize the charger!

 

[GasKilla]

I upgraded my 90D to dual chargers. And we've taken one trip where it charged at 80a at a destination charger. It also charges at 80a at home, but it would normally get a full charge overnight even with the 40a charger.

I bought it for use with destination HPWC chargers which I've read, and have seen, can be congested. One hotel we visit every year, where the nearest SC is about 120miles away, told us that earlier this year they had 8 Teslas as guests, and just one charger. The valets were busy guys shuffling the cars in/out of the chargers.

Is it worth it? It's hard to put that in the context of a $100K car. It depends on how many destination chargers you expect to use, how you value your time. Since I could rationalize the car, I was able to rationalize the charger!

I play the rationalize game too, working on that now ... thanks for the info

 

[Rockster]

Quoting myself from previous threads on this topic:

"100% of my non-SC charging while en route has used the dual chargers (all on 80 amp HPWC's). My destination charging has been limited to family members' houses and they've all been single charging, less than 50 amps. I would have hated spending twice the amount of time charging while en route."

"I think the HPWC is worth it. A number of times per year we want a relatively fast turnaround to leave for a trip in the evening, after having used the car all day. Charging in our garage at a faster rate is welcome. Also, nearly every time we've charged on an HPWC via Plugshare, we've been able to find an 80 amp one, which makes non-Supercharging charging while traveling faster and more convenient."

"In 40,000+ miles, I've truly needed 80 amp charging about 10 times, about half that being at home and the other half being while traveling. Being forced to charge at half that rate would have been maddeningly inconvenient. A 1% increase in price for the option of charging twice as fast is an easy decision for me."

 

[mikeash]

Just for the opposite perspective, I don't have dual chargers, have never wished I had them, and only would have been able to take advantage of them once in a year and a quarter of ownership. (And even that once didn't make a difference, 40A was more than enough to get me what I needed in the time I was there.)

That's not to say they're useless, they just wouldn't be useful to me. Whether they're useful to you depends a lot on where you are, where you plan to go, and how you plan to spend your time. I'd suggest spending some quality time with PlugShare mapping out trips you think you'd take, and see how much of a difference dual chargers would make for them.

 

[JPP]

When I ordered my S85 3 years ago, dual chargers were a factory option which I paid for. When I ordered my wife's S70D last year, I wanted dual chargers, but they converted to an 'after delivery' option. I tried to get my DS to coordinate installation prior to picking her S70D up at Fremont, but it did not happen. Required a 2nd trip. FWIW, I have used the dual chargers/HPWC maybe 6 times...probably not worth it (I have NEMA 14-50s at home---no HPWC).

 

[cpa]

About all that I can add, GasKilla is to elaborate on your opening comment--that you are planning an upcoming trip and that there is an 80A public charger there.

I have dual chargers in my S.

In my opinion, this opens up much more of the country and scores of secondary highways for road trips. Dual chargers provide the flexibility of taking spontaneous side trips or the longer but less frequently traveled road. For me and my wife, thinking that we cannot take a certain highway or a spontaneous side trip because, horrors(!) we can only charge at 40A just limits the utility of our S.

Lastly, there are more and more destination chargers (like at Mammoth Lakes) that are proximate to Superchargers. It is comforting that we do not have to spend additional time at a Supercharger if we can get enough charge at the destination in a shorter amount of time. It frees up the Supercharger for others.

 

[Xenoilphobe]

Both my S's have duals and a CHADeMO adapter, if CHADeMO stations were more reliable, I wouldn't need the dual chargers, but I have relied upon them many times in over 100,000 miles of combined driving between the two cars. I wouldn't get a Tesla without them and frankly think Tesla should standardize on one format to stop the confusion. The more they standardize, the easier it is for the consumer.

 

[Evee]

Ive had them from the beginning, it makes it easier to keep a lower avg. SOC%, depending on your circumstances, but most people won't really need the speed boost. I can only think of 2 times where I felt they were seriously useful, had I charged at 40a I probably still would have made it tho..

 

[mmccord]

In a year and 38k miles I have never had the need. Anything slower than chademo (40-50kw) just isn't reasonable, imho. I'm not hanging out for 2-3 hours waiting for an 80a charge, and if I'm there overnight 10kw is sufficient.

All that being said, I'm considering getting the second charger added anyway for use at home. Occasionally it'd be nice to charge more quickly before heading out again.

 

[TexasEV]

In a year and 38k miles I have never had the need. Anything slower than chademo (40-50kw) just isn't reasonable, imho. I'm not hanging out for 2-3 hours waiting for an 80a charge, and if I'm there overnight 10kw is sufficient.

You wouldn't necessarily have to hang out for 2-3 hours to benefit from 80A charging. What if you're there anyway, such as at a restaurant? While you're there for an hour you could add 58 miles. Or for a few hours at a museum or amusement park, etc. on a day trip. Or what if you're there overnight with one or two other Teslas? Each charging for a few hours may be sufficient.

 

[crikescrikes]

I'm planning a trip at the end of the summer where an 80 amp destination charger is available and may be handy to charge at 80 amps (I won't be spending the night at the charger).

How many times have you charged above 40 amps?
Was the upgrade "worth it"?

I certainly like the idea of dual chargers but I'm not sure about the practicality in the real world.

Any input is appreciated.

Here's my "any input":

I ordered my Tesla with a dual charger, and installed a HPWC on a dedicated 100 amp circuit. For me it's worth it because

I'm an impatient person and don't enjoy charging at rates slower than 1 mile per minute. Especially if I come home with a low tank and have plans for an evening drive with the AC on high.

Or I wake up in the morning only to discover I forgot to plug in overnight....... at least with duals I can get 60 miles of charge as I have breakfast and get ready to leave.

Of 9 Chademo chargers in my area, 8 are off limits to Tesla's!! So charging with duals on my home's 100 amp dedicated connector is my best and fastest option.

If you have access to Superchargers and Chademo stations, my guess is you probably wouldn't get much use of your duals -- mainly because you only seem to be considering it for one night. Even if you're not spending the night at the site with the 80 amp connector, you'd probably be able to park for 3(?) hours at 30mph adding 90 miles? Are you arriving empty?

But .....if price of the duals is not really a problem, I say get duals. I don't think you'll regret it.

I sometimes drive for Uber, come home and want to go on an night cruise, so it's nice to get a charge of 1 mile per minute. If you plan on being the taxi for friends and relatives who beg to experience insane mode "Again, let's do it again!" It'd be a bummer to own the best car in the world, but have to tell friends and relatives (even once) that they'll need to wait several hours or more before going on a long ride. In my opinion, the best car in the world deserves the best and fastest charging rates EVERY time.

I guess it's like deciding whether to get a spare tire or not. It doesn't seem practical to carry one until you end up with a flat in the middle of the night on a dark road in the mountains with no cell service miles from town and no one drives by. In this real world a spare would be the most practical thing to have.

Imagine a situation where you need to tell someone they need to wait 8 hours for you to give them a ride because you forgot to charge overnight, and you opted not to get a dual charger for your $100,000 car!

Practicality in the real world? Only you know what's best for your real world.

To help you decide, listen to your Tesla as she's charging in the silence of the night....... I heard mine say dual chargers, duals, duals, duals....please?

 

[CuriousG]

Of 9 Chademo chargers in my area, 8 are off limits to Tesla's!! So charging with duals on my home's 100 amp dedicated connector is my best and fastest option.

How do they enforce this? Seems extreme especially since you have to pay for your charge like everybody else.

 

[crikescrikes]

How do they enforce this? Seems extreme especially since you have to pay for your charge like everybody else.

Nissan owns the Chademo chargers, which are managed by JumpSmart and require swiping a membership card and Tesla owners are not allowed to become JumpSmart members. They mentioned that they'll consider allowing Teslas to join "in the future", and I'm not making a big deal about it because I have my HPWC and dual chargers.

 

[CuriousG]

Nissan owns the Chademo chargers, which are managed by JumpSmart and require swiping a membership card and Tesla owners are not allowed to become JumpSmart members. They mentioned that they'll consider allowing Teslas to join "in the future", and I'm not making a big deal about it because I have my HPWC and dual chargers.

I'm assuming they're all at the Nissan dealers? If not, I suppose you could always use someone else's card or if have another EV to register membership?

 

[crikescrikes]

I'm assuming they're all at the Nissan dealers? If not, I suppose you could always use someone else's card or if have another EV to register membership?

None are at the Nissan dealer. All 9 are at public locations around Maui. My opinion is that at one time Nissan believed if they had the monopoly of fast chargers they would always get the majority of EV sales. That was true for a few years, but I don't think Leafs will out sell Teslas over the coming years. I think their stragety of not allowing Teslas membership will backfire. I've heard from Leaf owners on Maui that they'll jump ship to Model 3 as soon as their lease expires. At least Elon is open to Nissan using SuperChargers if they share the cost of the network -- but Nissan won't ....... Could it be pride?

 

[mmccord]

You wouldn't necessarily have to hang out for 2-3 hours to benefit from 80A charging. What if you're there anyway, such as at a restaurant? While you're there for an hour you could add 58 miles. Or for a few hours at a museum or amusement park, etc. on a day trip. Or what if you're there overnight with one or two other Teslas? Each charging for a few hours may be sufficient.

I'm lucky if I can find a 30a j1772 here on the east coast. Finding an 80a charger, LOL

In a year I've ran into a grand total of ONE, and it is now dialed down to 40a due to power company demand charges

 

[GasKilla]

The other factor is that I *may* upgrade my charger circuit when I get solar (right now I charge at 7.2kw) so when that happens I can get a HWPC on a 100 amp breaker, so yes I'm on the road of rationalization.

 

[Rocky_H]

I have had my Model S for two years now, with just the single charger. There were a couple of times, back when the Supercharger network didn't exist in my part of the country that it would have been useful on a very adventurous trip I took. Now, Superchargers are there, and it doesn't matter. There is one remaining place we go sometimes where it would be kind of useful, but again, I think it will get a Supercharger in the next few years and then won't be useful at all anymore.

I actually talked with my wife about this a few weeks ago, and the economics just don't make much sense. We do those trips a couple times a year, and she pointed out that we could rent a car several times over for the $2,000 cost. We are very well covered with a single charger and the $450 CHAdeMO adapter.

 

[e-FTW]

This is like asking if dual-motors are worth it. some will respond with a touch of confirmation bias. We all have it, and so do I!
My take here: I did not get dual-chargers, and I could have used it for the first time on Friday

tl;dr All things being equal, I would still skip it. YMMV.