One More Thing.
There's a bit of history about that NEMA14-50 socket. Turns out that there were/are things like clothes driers that need a 240V, 40A circuit (36A current draw). A 40A circuit would, in theory, call for a breaker, wire, and socket that could (all three) support 40A.
But, if one looks at the available
NEMA sockets, there sure and begorrah aren't any 40A sockets in the collection. So.. The Next Size Up is a NEMA14-50.
But, to properly do a 50A 240VAC circuit, one should have the NEMA14-50 (rated for 50A), a breaker (rated for 50A), and (and here's the important point)
wire that's rated for 50A.
Turns out that the cost difference between a 40A and 50A breaker is minimal. The socket's the socket. But good old Copper Wire costs $$, and the bigger the diameter, the bigger the $$.
So, somehow, it became legal in the NEC (National Electrical Code) to put a 40A breaker, 40A wire, and a NEMA14-50 on the same circuit. All in the interests of saving some wire money. One is supposed to put a Serious Label on the socket when one Does That, and I suppose that's fine for somebody's clothes drier, especially if said clothes drier is some distance from the breaker panel.
But, if you're putting this socket in the garage where any old fool can put a NEMA14-50 plug into that NEMA14-50 socket, it sounds like one is asking for Serious Trouble. If it were me, with my nearest and dearest living in the house, I wouldn't take the risk.
Now, the Tesla Mobile Connector does max out at 32A. And that might be because, well, Tesla decided that 32A was enough for anybody, kind of like that IBM guy who thought that 1 MB of RAM was sufficient for computing going forward. But there's been the occasional comment that (a) there are houses where a clothes drier has been put in the garage, (b) said clothes drier is using a NEMA14-50 socket backed up with a 40A breaker and wire (because of course it is), and (c) the Tesla Mobile Connector has
no way to tell if, when outfitted with a NEMA14-50 adapter, whether there's a 40A breaker or 50A breaker out there. Note that a heavy, steady-state load on a XX Amperage circuit is required to run at 80% or less of the breaker/socket/wire capacity; 40A*0.8 = 32A, and, well, there you are. Tesla has by limiting the max load probably prevented any number of houses from catching on fire and going down in flames. (Note that just because a 40A breaker is listed as 40A; if one was drawing the max for a 50A circuit, that would by 40A, the breaker would not be likely to trip. But the wires would certainly heat up, not a good thing. When the NEC says, "80%", they don't say that for no reason.)
Now, with the Tesla Mobile Connector, one is not going to blow up anything, since it's going to limit things to 32A (40A breaker size) anyway. But that's
right now. Everybody and their brother-in-law is going to be using electric cars going into the future; and there's Wall Connectors for other cars as well as the Tesla Special and other Wall Connectors that can be plugged into that NEMA14-50. So, it might not be a problem for Right Now, but future stuff, you betcha.
Don't play with people's lives. If you're going to put in a NEMA14-50 for charging purposes, back it up with a 50A breaker and 50A wire as well, and don't listen to funny business about, "40A is OK" from that electrician.
I'll give the guy a break: He probably puts in a lot more clothes drier sockets than electric car sockets and may have apprenticed with an electrician who did a lot of that, too, and therefore may have gotten the Wrong Idea.
