The story behind Tesla's charge port location

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Not sure whether this belongs here (competition) or in the charging forum... There's been much debate over which charging port location is "right". But this entry from Electrek is quite interesting (shows Elmo didn't suddenly become the person we now know, he's always been this way).

Tesla’s charge port location is due to Elon Musk’s garage layout, says Lucid CEO

If you believe the guy who designed the Model S, Rivian did it "right". But because Tesla was the trailblazer and has the biggest share of the market, turns out "right" is relative.

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[COdogman]

Not surprised at all by any of this. Not surprised to read it was a rented mansion garage, nor that Elmo is incapable of even admitting that Rawlinson worked for him

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

Not surprised at all by any of this. Not surprised to read it was a rented mansion garage, nor that Elmo is incapable of even admitting that Rawlinson worked for him

My thought exactly. All the arguing I've seen online about which location is "right". It's got nothing to do with that. It boils down to "right" to whom?

 

[ElGuano]

There is really only one “wrong” position, the Apple Magic Mouse charging port location.

 

[UnsungZero_OldTimeAdMan]

There is really only one “wrong” position, the Apple Magic Mouse charging port location.

100% The first ever decent mouse Apple has ever made... But they just had to f'up like that.

 

[sub]

The solution seems pretty obvious to me. No matter where you put it, it will be inconvenient for some people. At least on overpriced luxury vehicles they should just put ports in multiple locations.

 

[pamalabama]

To me it also sounds like a way to defend putting the charge port in a location that is not like tesla did it.

Backing into a charge space is the correct move and if you are going to put the port in the front, at least put it on the side that allows curbside charging

Tesla has the only 100% invisible charge port design in an EV in the sense that the charge port is hidden in the design with no additional seams. The tradeoff is that I looked at other cars with wraparound rear tail lights and only cheaper cars have taillights where the light has a hard cutoff on the sides instead of spilling over

 

[NY_Rob]

At least both Tesla and Rivian have their charge ports located on the driver side, our i3 has it located on the passenger side rear. I'm guessing it's located there because in Europe that would make it on the driver side rear?

So on our 3 EV's we have the charge ports located in 3 different locations:
Driver Rear- Model 3
Driver Front- Jeep 4xe
Passenger Rear- BMW i3

 

[moosetags]

The solution seems pretty obvious to me. No matter where you put it, it will be inconvenient for some people. At least on overpriced luxury vehicles they should just put ports in multiple locations.

Agreed. There should be two charge outlets. One front, and one rear. My Airstream Travel Trailer has two shore power outlets to facilitate hooking up. The old Jaguar sedans had a fuel filler on each side of the vehicle. At the cost of a Rivian, they should have thought of that.

Brian

 

[pamalabama]

no matter where the charge port is, tesla's station design was correct for the time. It is the least intrusive design in a parking lot and the most cost effective with the short cables. Now that other evs charge at the tesla station or some vehicles tow, things might be different.

In 5 years, evs with the "wrong" charge port location will be in the minority

Tesla dominates EV sales and when consumers finally have the need/desire to switch to another brand, the other brands will have charge ports in the same spot as tesla

 

[CharonPDX]

In my two-bay garage, I have two EVSEs on the sides just inside the garage door.

My Tesla, I'd park nose-in on the "left" side (looking in from the outside,) my BMW i3 I'd park nose-in on the "right."

Now with Rivian and Mach-E having their ports near the front, and being too big to both park in the double-bay, I park the Rivian backed-in in the spot the BMW sat, and the Mach-E in the single-bay to the right, the charge cord reaching over to that bay. (With my Arcimoto where the Tesla would park.)

(My kid's Subaru in the way.)

Although in winter, our teardrop travel trailer sits in the bay the Mach-E is parked in, so I don't have to winterize it or store it at a storage yard, and the Mach-E parks backed-in directly in front of that bay; the EVSE charge cord going under the double-bay garage door to plug in. (During the summer, the teardrop gets parked outside to the left of the single-bay garage, for easy access for sudden "hey, lets go camping this weekend" trips.)

 

[DuoRivian]

Not surprised at all by any of this. Not surprised to read it was a rented mansion garage, nor that Elmo is incapable of even admitting that Rawlinson worked for him

Rawlinson lost some credibility when he got a stupidly large $300M payout from Lucid and they only built something like 8000 vehicles.

 

[COdogman]

Rawlinson lost some credibility when he got a stupidly large $300M payout from Lucid and they only built something like 8000 vehicles.

Oh definitely. The auto industry is in a competition with the finance industry to see who can provide the biggest rewards for failure. It’s laughable.

 

[Zoidz]

At least both Tesla and Rivian have their charge ports located on the driver side, our i3 has it located on the passenger side rear. I'm guessing it's located there because in Europe that would make it on the driver side rear?

So on our 3 EV's we have the charge ports located in 3 different locations:
Driver Rear- Model 3
Driver Front- Jeep 4xe
Passenger Rear- BMW i3

No, the vast majority of Europe is left side drive. UK is right side drive, extending to countries that had UK ties - Cyprus, Guernsey, Isle of Man, Ireland, Jersey, Malta, and United Kingdom.

 

[shandel]

There is really only one “wrong” position, the Apple Magic Mouse charging port location.

To be fair, Garmin built their charge port on the bottom of the watch too, which is as non-sensible as Apple's choice. Endlessly frustrating in both cases. In Garmin's case, it's almost worse since you have to look at the screen to see if it's charged!

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