Charging stations progress? Adaptors available yet?

[Zadok]

I have inherited a Rivian and am very nervous re road trip charging station availability. I hope to drive from Virginia to Stanstead, Quebec this summer but am worried about the dearth and erratic quality of charging stations en route. Have the adaptors to Tesla chargers been invented yet? I so much want to take the truck up north but am hesitant to do so without reasonable access to superchargers.
Any tips and advice will be hugely welcomed.

Sponsored

 

[CommodoreAmiga]

Probably exist within Tesla R&D but they don't exist in the wild.

 

[R.I.P.]

I have inherited a Rivian and am very nervous re road trip charging station availability. I hope to drive from Virginia to Stanstead, Quebec this summer but am worried about the dearth and erratic quality of charging stations en route. Have the adaptors to Tesla chargers been invented yet? I so much want to take the truck up north but am hesitant to do so without reasonable access to superchargers.
Any tips and advice will be hugely welcomed.

I would recommend taking some time to familiarise yourself with "A Better Route Planner' and "Plugshare". Plot out the route, and you should have some pretty good data to go on.

You can use any Tesla destination chargers by purchasing a quality NACS to J1772 adapter. You cannot use supercharger fast chargers until Tesla opens that up to other vehicles, if they ever do.

 

[COdogman]

Until the infrastructure improves, make sure you plan your route using ABRP, use Plugshare to check the next charging station on your route is functioning, only set your Rivian navigation from station to station. This won't guarantee you don't have any surprises on your trip but it will give you the best chance of having a drama free road trip.

 

[2025R1S]

It is alarming how overly optimistic people are with respect to Tesla opening up the Supercharger network. They are counting their chickens before their eggs are hatched. The Supercharger network being made open is problem after problem to be solved for. There is no timetable that has widespread supercharger access in less than 1 year.

1. If the plan is to rapidly provide access to the Supercharger network, an adapter is needed. Tesla vehicles sold before a certain date will never be CCS charger capable. There is no OTA update, or retrofit to fix that. What is to say the same problem won’t also exist for every CCS EV on the road today?
   1. If every OEM needs to change something to allow their vehicles to be Tesla adapter compatible, will they do it, and if yes - how long will that take?
2. If an adapter is offered, how does Tesla plan on accommodating cars with inconsistent design? EV charging stations are most efficiently installed in ways that are different than pull thru gas stations
   1. Is the expectation they retrofit stations with 16ft cables?
3. Is the expectation that Tesla build new stations with both CCS and Tesla cables?
   1. How many years will that take? The rollout will be slow and consumers will not be ready for the years long wait for the CCS Supercharger network to be equivalent to the real Supercharger network
4. Is the expectation that Tesla retrofit existing stations with both Tesla and CCS cables?
   1. How many years will that take. See the response above. This is just not going to be an overnight thing

For CCS consumers, they probably would benefit quickest by Tesla offering a (probably very expensive) 16ft long adapter. That would make it universal for most EV’s, and eliminate the inconsistent design that CCS vehicles have.

It isn’t crazy to stop and also ask ourselves if we shouldn’t let the free market decide. Tesla knows what they are doing, and they are the gold standard for a reason. They aren’t going to risk that by being forced to reinvent the wheel that they’ve already perfected. Basically, I wish my R1S would come with a NACS connector and I could charge on the Supercharger network, because holy crap is every other path forward going to be a ridiculously long wait. And put the pipe down - quit dreaming and thinking these CCS stations can be thrown up overnight. Everything gets gummed up in permitting and approvals and site planning and OH EM GEE WHY DOES IT TAKE 18 MONTHS TO INSTALL A CHARGER?

 

[MIG]

I have inherited a Rivian and am very nervous re road trip charging station availability. I hope to drive from Virginia to Stanstead, Quebec this summer but am worried about the dearth and erratic quality of charging stations en route. Have the adaptors to Tesla chargers been invented yet? I so much want to take the truck up north but am hesitant to do so without reasonable access to superchargers.
Any tips and advice will be hugely welcomed.

Looking at ABRP there are L3 EVG0 and Electrify America chargers on the route, so why the concern?

 

[FrankieJ]

Looking at ABRP there are L3 EVG0 and Electrify America chargers on the route, so why the concern?

If there is any apprehension it is likely caused by the uncertainty surrounding whether the charges will actually be functioning once you arrive. There is an alarming number of stations that are not working. Some apps will actually tell you whether the charges are available or not but I’m not certain how accurate those are.

 

[Dark-Fx]

If the plan is to rapidly provide access to the Supercharger network, an adapter is needed. Tesla vehicles sold before a certain date will never be CCS charger capable

Basically, I wish my R1S would come with a NACS connector and I could charge on the Supercharger network

You already touched on why NACS won't work, but backwards. NACS is essentially just a modified CCS cable where the DC and AC pins are made common. It's called out as using the CCS signaling protocol. The supercharging stations will have to get upgraded hardware to even enable NACS vehicles to charge on them.

You could DIY the connector retrofit, and it would be up to the NACS specification then, but you still wouldn't be able to charge, because the station and your vehicle won't communicate with eachother.

 

[MIG]

If there is any apprehension it is likely caused by the uncertainty surrounding whether the charges will actually be functioning once you arrive. There is an alarming number of stations that are not working. Some apps will actually tell you whether the charges are available or not but I’m not certain how accurate those are.

If you're operating on the assumption that there are no functioning chargers anywhere then why own electric in the first place. I spent my first two weeks of EV ownership relying on public L3 exclusively and while the occasional charger was out of operation I never encountered a location with no functioning chargers or even fewer than 50% in operation (most were fully-functioning sites but a few had one or maybe two chargers that weren't fully functional). I'm also finding that some car dealerships are installing an EV charger or two that are unaffiliated with the bigger companies. They appear on some search apps.

There are also peer-to-peer options available as a back-up:

https://www.evmatch.com/

Also, AAA is including electrical charging stops on their trip planners and has mobile charging trucks rolling out in selected areas.

 

[Zadok]

Looking at ABRP there are L3 EVG0 and Electrify America chargers on the route, so why the concern?

Are they fast chargers and do they work?

 

[MIG]

Are they fast chargers and do they work?

Level 3 is Level 3, whether they're Tesla "superchargers" or some other company - they're all DC chargers. As to whether they all work, I can't make any representation. If they're all working today I can't guarantee what their status will be in the summer. In my experience an occasional charger will be out of service at any given point but most should be fine (even Tesla has broken units on occasion).

 

[TexasCrane]

https://abetterrouteplanner.com/?plan_uuid=9571690f-dd43-4f93-b95c-4fdc25ab207f

 

[WSea]

Are they fast chargers and do they work?

Need to do your own homework. On roadtrips, while charging, I spend a few minutes on plugshare reviewing my next charging stop. Super easy! always got charged up….except for an area with a power outage but gas stations were all closed too

Sponsored