Tesla opens up their EV connector design to the world (North American Standard)

[crashmtb]

Hopefully this will improve the CCS standard,

I’ve sat in on ASME/SAE standards meetings.….not happening any time soon ?


also, WRT proliferation of standards:

https://xkcd.com/927

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[CommodoreAmiga]

The reason people say Tesla Superchargers are more reliable has little-to-nothing to do with the connector, however.

Tesla built a charging network that ONLY has to work with Tesla vehicles. It had better be reliable!

The CCS DCFC stations have to charge with many different manufacturers and models.

 

[Dark-Fx]

The reason people say Tesla Superchargers are more reliable has little-to-nothing to do with the connector, however.

Tesla built a charging network that ONLY has to work with Tesla vehicles. It had better be reliable!

The CCS DCFC stations have to charge with many different manufacturers and models.

And no two engineers will implement a standard in exactly the same way either.

 

[DJG]

It's very carefully worded, but what it says is:
"we look forward to future electric vehicles incorporating the NACS design and charging at Tesla’s North American Supercharging and Destination Charging networks."

To break that down, other EVs can already charge at the Tesla Destination chargers - we do not need a new standard for that to happen. The thing that prevents other EVs from using the superchargers is the communications protocol, which is specifically exempted from this Tesla-announced NACS "standard" - the Tesla plug is just "a purely electrical and mechanical interface agnostic to use case and communication protocol".

In other words, they have totally left open their ability to license or restrict who can use the superchargers, and have made no promise here that the superchargers will be available to anyone other than Tesla owners,

While this move may be in Tesla's short-term interest, it is also short-sighted. Competing standards rarely result in the best technical solution prevailing (insert obligatory VHS vs BetaMax reference here...), instead what happens is the marketplace is treated like a fruit stand in an action movie - left in shambles until the pricipals sort out their differences. That is NOT good for the millions of us who own non-Tesla vehicles, and I would argue it's not good long-term for Tesla owners either.

Guess anyone can interpret it differently, but to me that clearly says implement the NACS plug and you're welcome to come charge. It doesn't say that's the only way you'll be able to though.

No manufacturer in their right mind would build their vehicles with a Tesla/NACS plug if it didn't inherently come with the ability to use the network. That's literally the entire point. Regardless of the posturing, the plug doesn't matter from a tech standpoint, it's about access. A plug is a plug.

 

[Revelation]

The reason people say Tesla Superchargers are more reliable has little-to-nothing to do with the connector, however.

Tesla built a charging network that ONLY has to work with Tesla vehicles. It had better be reliable!

The CCS DCFC stations have to charge with many different manufacturers and models.

It's been working overseas just fine with non-Tesla vehicles...

 

[VSG]

Okay, so I guess what you guys are getting at is Tesla may only authorize charging to vehicles that have the Tesla socket as OEM and not allow the unwashed masses to connect/charge via Tesla to CCS adapter.

Which is exactly what we have now - they could easily open the supercharger network to the rest of us right now. We would have to use an adapter, but who cares. In fact Tesla could make money by selling a proprietary adapter and also charging us for electricity from their superchargers. Instead Tesla is trying to force everyone to change to their plug design, at great expense, without making any promise in return. Win for Tesla maybe, but not for anyone else.

If Tesla is so convinced of the superiority of their charging network, they should open it up to everyone and let the market decide. I would gladly use Tesla superchargers if they prove to be more convinient, reliable and cheaper than EA, but Tesla won't allow my Rivian to use their network so I guess I'll never know.

 

[DJG]

It's been working overseas just fine with non-Tesla vehicles...

Right, and what plug do they use there??

Perfectly proves the point - THE PLUG DOESN'T MATTER. A plug is a commodity. This is about access and who pays for it.

 

[Revelation]

Right, and what plug do they use there??

Perfectly proves the point - THE PLUG DOESN'T MATTER. A plug is a commodity. This is about access and who pays for it.

That has nothing to do with the post I replied to.

 

[Zorg]

The Tesla plug is so much nicer to use than CCS. I for one would love to see Rivian add a NACS port to their R1. Access to CCS and Tesla SC would be best of both worlds. Based on how fast Tesla is rolling out SCs in the US, it will be a long while before others catch up.

Ultimately, I am for whatever gives me the most reliable access to fast charging.

 

[Dark-Fx]

It's been working overseas just fine with non-Tesla vehicles...

TeslaBjorn has a lot of complaints about using the CCS superchargers with non-Teslas. He preferentially uses Ionity chargers because they are more reliable and faster.

 

[Revelation]

TeslaBjorn has a lot of complaints about using the CCS superchargers with non-Teslas.

Okay, I'll check him out. Haven't watched his channel in a long time so maybe I missed some issues.

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

It's been working overseas just fine with non-Tesla vehicles...

Non-Teslas have NOT had the same level of reliability at Euro Tesla SCs that have opened to non-Tesla vehicles.

 

[Milermore]

I'll admit that I am ignorant on this topic.
If I had a Lectron Tesla to J1772 adapter, could I use it on my non-Tesla at a Tesla L2 charger?

And shouldn't we expect to see a supercharger version of this soon?
(**EDIT - replaced "ccs" with "j1772" - thank you for the correction)

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

I'll admit that I am ignorant on this topic.
If I had a Lectron Tesla to CCS adapter, could I use it on my non-Tesla at a Tesla L2 charger?

And shouldn't we expect to see a supercharger version of this soon?

That isn't a CCS adapter. It's Tesla to J1772. You can use it to charge a non-Tesla EV at a Tesla "destination" EVSE (not supercharger).

 

[Iwannarivian]

Tesla is opening up their proprietary charging solution,

Opening the North American Charging Standard | Tesla



Hopefully this will improve the CCS standard, or Tesla will get more to adapt to their standard. Whatever it is this is a good move (whatever their motive is).

So does this mean if we buy a CCS/NACS (Tesla) adapter we can charge our NON Tesla EV at Tesla Superchargers today? If I recall, we can already use destination Tesla chargers (haven’t tried).

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