Tesla drop a bomb, UMC replacement options?

[strider]

To be fair to Tesla, here's some history. Every single EV, before the Model S, and I'm including the Tesla Roadster here, required you to buy a wall mount charging station for your home.

Tesla decided to do something radically different with the Model S. They decided to make a portable EVSE that was relatively high power (40A) and could be plugged into a variety of plugs with appropriate adapters.

This was ambitious for several reasons. First a 40A charge rate results in potentially twice as much heat resistance than charging at 30A, which is what most of the industry had been capping their mobile chargers at. Second, the plug adapter is yet another connection point that has to be made very reliable under heavy electrical loads.

Not really adding to the discussion but just to be pedantic... Tesla did not require a wall mount when buying a Roadster, at least not in 2010 when I bought mine. It came w/ a UMC and 120V cable and you could buy the HPC if you wanted.

Also, I would contend that manufacturers limiting their EVSE's to 30A is because neatly all EV's only have 6kW chargers so the car can't use anything higher anyway.

If heat is a problem then just limit the UMC to 30A and if someone wants more then they can buy an HPWC. That's still better than 13A. Seems like a simply solution to me?

 

[Cosmacelf]

I stand corrected, and I agree with what you wrote Strider.

 

[ckessel]

I visit relatives regularly and charge at their house. I've stayed overnight at hotels and used their 14-50 to charge.

I'm in the US, so not affected, but if there were no UMC I wouldn't have bought the car. No mobile adapter, no sale.

It wouldn't even matter if there were superchargers on every block. I only want to sit at a SC when I absolutely have to for road trips. Charging at home (or relatives houses or hotels I'm staying at overnight) is a big part of the value in an EV, for me.

- - - Updated - - -

There are two US 40A plugs in use, they are simply discontinuing support for the less commonly used one (NEMA 6-50).

I'm sure it's a rare one, but it was a crucial one for me as it fits the 6-50 at my father-in-law's house (he used it for a welder I think).

 

[mgboyes]

The cable in that movie is DIY, it is just a generic Dostar cable (like evconnectors in the UK sells) with a Tesla logo sticker on it and an integrated open charge port pcb with push button mounted. Tesla does not sell this cable, it is a DIY job.
My guess is that Tesla will only offer the standard 5m 32A (3-phase) Mennekes cable like they do in other European countries. If you want a different length (5m is considered too short by many owners) or color or 16A (single charger) you will have to source that yourself. And the open charge port pcb is another story, that is pure DIY.

LuckyLuke my apologies you are (at least partly) right!

My Delivery Experience Specialist confirmed that the Type 2 cable being supplied with UK cars does not have a charge port button, but it is going to be 7.5m long (which is important for me since at my parents' house the charge point will be about 6m from the car).

 

[arg]

My Delivery Experience Specialist confirmed that the Type 2 cable being supplied with UK cars does not have a charge port button, but it is going to be 7.5m long (which is important for me since at my parents' house the charge point will be about 6m from the car).

That's interesting. At 7.5m, makes the idea of a 13A plug to Type2-socket EVSE more attactive again: I had convinced myself I want at least 10m on my 13A EVSE, and that 5m+5m wasn't attractive compared to a completely separate 10m of cable (weight of the extra 5m of thinner cable less than the housing necessary for the type2 socket, and having the 'works' in the middle of the cable seemed like a bad idea. But 7.5m + 3m, maybe...