Length of cord on universal charger (can it reach from right side of car?)

[NigelM]

...if they could just go with right side in left-hand drive cars, that would be nice. As others have pointed out, that is the curb side when parking.

We have almost zero curbside parking and it would be a pain to walk around the car every night. Many (most?) of us plug in primarily at night which means primarily at home and it's the most convenient thing to get out the car, plug it in and go into the house. I'd vote for left-side.

I wonder if they plan to put the port on the left still in right-hand drive cars?

They did with the Roadster.

In the Roadster section, *slcasner* described a way of getting to the middle of his garage...may be helpful to the OP:

Not exactly answering the question, but related: I have an HPC in addition to the mobile cable, and I have an unfinished garage, so I ran the cable across a rafter to the middle of the garage (so it is above the driver's side of the car) and then attached it to a 2x6 installed as a counterweighted see-saw hinged on the rafter. I attached a pull-cord to the end of the see-saw, so I can just pull it down, lift the end of the cable from the Y hook on the see-saw board and plug right into the car. Takes only a few seconds. A similar arrangement could be used with the mobile cable if I used it mostly at home and only occasionally needed to take it down for mobile use.

Pics and explanation over here.

 

[Andrew Wolfe]

The reason that one would have to make such a cord and cannot buy one is that such a cord would not meet electrical code requirements in most areas.

 

[roblab]

The reason that one would have to make such a cord and cannot buy one is that such a cord would not meet electrical code requirements in most areas.

A short search for RV supplies reveals that Amazon.com has 15 and 30 foot 50 amp extension cords for sale. I think, though I would not know not being an electrical code specialist, that the hand made cord would meet code. There is nothing hard about wiring, only making sure your wire sizes and outlets meet code. The rest is simply tightening down the screws.

Amazon.com: 50 amp rv extension cord

 

[NielsChr]

That's interesting... every car I've owned has had the filler on the left, but I'd prefer to have the Tesla's charge port on the right.

I'll park in the right-hand space in the garage, near the wall, and the right wall is where the breaker panel is, so it's the easiest place to install the charger plug.

My wife's car is in the middle space, and the somewhat smaller left space is for workshop tools (it's not quite large enough for a car).

The Tesla store people showed me the cable, and it looks long enough to run from a wall to the opposite side of the car - I'm not worried about the distance. I assume the car won't move while the cable is plugged in, so I can't forget to unplug it....

but I am worried about the cable sticking out when one of us parks to the left of the S (I've measured it, we'll need to park carefully since the model S is so wide). I guess it won't stick out any further than the side mirrors do, but I'll need to make sure that there are no coils of cable that can be run over when the other car is parked.

I'm not sure why it would have been difficult to have charge ports on both sides.

/Mitch.

I’m in the exact same situation - I can't reverse into the parking area as there is a wall to the right, and I need to park it right up to the wall to make room for my wife’s car on the left - if I reverse into the parking area I will not be able to open the driver’s door - therefore I need to park with the nose in front (to get my door to the left) - the charger plug will then stick out to the left as well (witch is same side where my wife parks) - to be honest, she can NOT park properly and I’m lucky if she leave me decent space to get out of the car.
I’m quite ancients that she will hit the charger plug while she maneuver out the parking area - if not the first day, then the second.

I would pay extra to have a charge plug at both sides or even better inside the frunk/trunk - this would be handy if parking outside town (no wandalisem) - about safety the cable could always be disconneted in the other end

 

[MitchL]

This might be worth a trip to the Tesla Store... perhaps I can persuade them to plug the cord in (at least the end that goes into the car) and let me take a picture of it or measure it. I _could_ back into the space in the garage, but I'd sure like to have a parking sensor/radar to make that easier (I hope at least the rear camera has the superimposed guidelines to help me).

One thought would be for me to be able to park outside. I have a convenient spot outside that I currently park the minivan, it's next to a shed that has plenty of power. No parking contention, power on the correct side, but the car would have to live outdoors at night. Might be fine for our fair weather days.

/Mitch.

 

[Andrew Wolfe]

A short search for RV supplies reveals that Amazon.com has 15 and 30 foot 50 amp extension cords for sale. I think, though I would not know not being an electrical code specialist, that the hand made cord would meet code. There is nothing hard about wiring, only making sure your wire sizes and outlets meet code. The rest is simply tightening down the screws.

Amazon.com: 50 amp rv extension cord

You can use a 50A, 30' cord if it is 6-gauge. That is what is for sale. I wouldn't try to make my own cord using 6-gauge. The wire is over 4mm thick. It is not a job for amateurs. Code requires that the connectors be protected against forces pulling the wire out of the plug/socket and that is pretty hard to do with a 1" wide cable without molded plugs.

Also - using multiple cords (18' more after the 30') is generally not recommended although the Tesla charger is probably fine with any reduced voltage. A cord that big only drops a volt or two at 50A.

 

[rogbmw]

Charging Cord Length

Getting ready to have the outlet wired in the garage, but need to know how long the Tesla Charging Cord is that comes with the car and attaches to the 14-50 (Dryer) plug in.

 

[dsm363]

Getting ready to have the outlet wired in the garage, but need to know how long the Tesla Charging Cord is that comes with the car and attaches to the 14-50 (Dryer) plug in.

The UMC is 18 ft

 

[johnnyS]

We have our Nema 14-50 on the right side of the garage. This has worked well for us. I just have to remember to pull in far enough that I can walk around the back of the model S with the garage door shut.

 

[brianman]

@johnnyS - Your Roadster looks a little unusual. It's missing the T logo, and has some weird cursive on the trunk and some weird pipe coming out the bottom.

 

[aaronw]

I think I would prefer if the charger were in the front of the car.

 

[Bipo]

Renault Fluence Z.E. has two charging ports, one at each side of the car, just ahead the front doors. Here you can see a couple of pics showing it:

I don't really know the reasons that Tesla has to don't put two ports in the Model S, since is a quite expensive car...

 

[mitch672]

Renault Fluence Z.E. has two charging ports, one at each side of the car, just ahead the front doors. Here you can see a couple of pics showing it:

I don't really know the reasons that Tesla has to don't put two ports in the Model S, since is a quite expensive car...

2 simple answers:

#1 Elon most likely didn't want to

#2 additional parts cost, adding to the manufacturing process complexity, and it's not needed.