Just adding to the, "No, it (very likely) won't kill you" shark frenzy.
First: Every Single Blinking EV Connector of whatever flavor, standard, and type is very thoroughly designed Not To Have Live Electricity On It until:
- The cable is plugged all the way into the car.
- The computer inside the car and the computer in the Wall Connector or equivalent have Checked Everything that says that the cable is all the way in.
So, we're talking wires with computer protocols running on them. And said wires with protocols are designed Not To Make Contact until the connector is all the way in.
Just so we're clear on this: It's not just Tesla connectors at home: Superchargers, which run considerably higher voltages (from whatever vendor - Tesla, CCS, CHADEMO, etc.) have got these safety protocols on steroids.
I happen to have a Gen 2 Tesla Wall Connector in the house and I had the joy and delight of watching the electricians put the thing into service. Y'know what's in the heart of that box? An honest-to-golly
Contactor, just like the big honking relay (that's what a contactor
is) that's in your HVAC system. Power has to go through that energized contactor in order to get to the car, and you can bet your bottom dollar that said contactor is fail-safe: No drive, no contactor making contact. When I plug in the car, nothing starts happening until the contactor goes, "Clunk!". And doing anything, like removing that cable, results in the contactor going, "Click!" in the opposite direction.
Now, let's get real. The actual contacting surfaces inside the Tesla (which are also very thoroughly depowered and disconnected when a cable isn't in there) and on the cable itself appear to be silver plated. For good reason: Silver's the Connector Metal of Choice when it comes to low resistance. But, if you want scratch-resistance, you want something hard, like steel. But steel doesn't conduct so well. So, alloys. And mechanical design. I (obviously) wasn't involved in any way with Tesla cable design, but I know how this goes: A thick layer of silver is plonged onto the contacts and the designers
expect that the silver's going to get shoved around. The wiping action is likely designed to redistribute the silver as time moveth on, and the thickness, number of layers of different metals, and all that are designed right in there. I'm not one of those types of connector engineers, but I've been exposed to that kind of thinking in my daily work.
Does this mean that one can grab a steel bristle brush and go cleaning? Absolutely, positively
not. Gentle cloths and cleaning materials, please. Poking a steel paper clip in there: Not a good idea, for longevity, anyway.
Second: I've worked, at times, as a reliability engineer. Conclusion: Given a big enough population of parts, be they resistors, ICs, Piston Rods, Crankshafts, connectors, relays, electrical breakers, light bulbs, you name it: Everything is going to have a failure eventually. Nothing lasts forever, and that's double for moving parts. Remember that contactor I mentioned, before? Remember that I said that a Tesla disconnects power from from the socket in there? What happens if something fails?
Things fail short. Things fail open. Springs fatigue and break. Insects get into things. Yeah, the physical design of all these high voltage, high-current connectors are rigged so that the plastic overlaps the heck out of the conducting surfaces. But, sure and begorrah, if you got a couple million ignorant kindergardeners and/or toddlers playing every day with the cable end, sooner or later one of them is going to get zapped. This is why we don't let kids play in busy streets, mess around in open circuit breaker panels, or pump gas. Adults know better than to play the odds for no good reason and what, "Danger!" means. Kids.. not so much.
I still think that putting an extra safety switch in is a waste of time and money. It's a very low (but not zero) probability that it might be useful.
