My pickup experience

[Kaddy]

Picked up my R1T in Bellevue, WA. I live in Spokane…about 280 miles east. They tell me to charge at the Tesla station near George, but none of the 8 stations had an adaptor. They told me at the pickup location that most of the Tesla stations had adaptors. So I limp to a chargers in Moses Lake. I have 30 miles left, and this one is charging 13 miles per hour. Gonna get enough to make it to Ritzville, which apparently has faster chargers. Hoping to get home by 8:00pm, which is around 8 hours. Not the best experience…love the truck. Wish the staff would have been a little more informed.

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[DeafPug]

In Washington, it looks like the only Tesla sites that have the MagicDock with the Tesla to CCS-1 adapter in the charging pedestal are located in

Forks, WA
Quincy, WA
Moses Lake, WA

The 2nd and 3rd locations on that list are right along I-90 and located about half-way between Bellevue and Spokane. Hopefully, it wasn't just a matter of misunderstanding what they had said. I would definitely contact them after you get home and let them know the reality of using the Tesla chargers (when you don't have a CCS adapter).

You can configure the Rivian map to add Tesla charging stations to the map, but only those that have the MagicDock installed at them.

 

[Kaddy]

Neither Quincy nor Moses Lake had the adaptors…we looked at both. They’re showing on the network, but no dice yet. I had 1 mile left when I arrived to Ritzville, and am using an Electrify America charger that is running 331 per hr. Barely made it.

 

[COdogman]

Especially given this is a new vehicle to you, you should not be relying on last minute advice for charging stops. Plan your own trips and it will be a much more enjoyable experience.

 

[emoore]

Neither Quincy nor Moses Lake had the adaptors…we looked at both. They’re showing on the network, but no dice yet. I had 1 mile left when I arrived to Ritzville, and am using an Electrify America charger that is running 331 per hr. Barely made it.

Well from plug share there have been many people using the magic docks at Moses Lake. Although it looks like there might be an issue with them now. Maybe they are under repair.

 

[WSea]

Neither Quincy nor Moses Lake had the adaptors…we looked at both. They’re showing on the network, but no dice yet. I had 1 mile left when I arrived to Ritzville, and am using an Electrify America charger that is running 331 per hr. Barely made it.

There’s 2 TSCs in George…only one has magic docks. Simple advice-do some trip planning

 

[DeafPug]

Neither Quincy nor Moses Lake had the adaptors…we looked at both. They’re showing on the network, but no dice yet. I had 1 mile left when I arrived to Ritzville, and am using an Electrify America charger that is running 331 per hr. Barely made it.

The PlugShare listing for both shows the Magic Dock is installed - this is the larger dock that the charging cord is plugged into. https://www.plugshare.com/location/481218 shows an R1T charging at this location back in January (before the NACS announcement).

My understanding is that to use the Magic Dock, you need to use the "Charge Your Other EV" function in the Tesla app. When you do that, the CCS adapter is released from the docking station and stays attached to the charging cable. https://www.tesla.com/support/supercharging-other-evs#magic-dock has a video of how the Magic. Dock Adapter is released from the charging pedestal.

The Tesla app shows both of those sites as having MagicDocks right now.

A Tesla pedestal with Magic Dock

A Tesla pedestal without Magic Dock

 

[Dave Cundiff]

I agree that everyone should verify all verbal information with a second source, and should plan to arrive at any charger with enough charge to get to one or more backup chargers.

Unfortunately, backup plans are harder to make east of Ellensburg, especially if you aren't used to Magic Docks. The advice you got from Bellevue Service Center, while maybe lowest cost (Tesla quotes $0.32/kWh in Quincy/George and $0.31 at Moses Lake) may not have been the best advice for your circumstances.

For future trips to western WA, we've found a very reliable four-stall Electrify America in Ellensburg at the Taco Bell on Canyon Road, with several places to eat within walking distance. We've also found a reliable one-stall Shell Recharge station in Ellensburg on Third Avenue, a few feet west of Main Street, with multiple community/downtown businesses within walking distance. Both of these locations still have PlugShare scores of 10/10 -- the highest reliability. Shell's Ellensburg DC Fast charger is $0.35/minute for 50 kW, thus $0.42/kWh -- a relative bargain, if you have time for a slower charge rate.

When we picked up our R1S at Portland SC, they knew we lived 110 miles away -- so, as a courtesy precaution, they charged our MaxPack to 100%! We didn't need that much charge, but we appreciated the gesture. Your first time with a new EV, you deserve a worry-free experience and you didn't get one. You might have had a worry-free experience with an Ellensburg stop.

Glad it worked out this time, @Kaddy. Enjoy your R1T!

 

[Kaddy]

Especially given this is a new vehicle to you, you should not be relying on last minute advice for charging stops. Plan your own trips and it will be a much more enjoyable experience.

The PlugShare listing for both shows the Magic Dock is installed - this is the larger dock that the charging cord is plugged into. https://www.plugshare.com/location/481218 shows an R1T charging at this location back in January (before the NACS announcement).

My understanding is that to use the Magic Dock, you need to use the "Charge Your Other EV" function in the Tesla app. When you do that, the CCS adapter is released from the docking station and stays attached to the charging cable. https://www.tesla.com/support/supercharging-other-evs#magic-dock has a video of how the Magic. Dock Adapter is released from the charging pedestal.

The Tesla app shows both of those sites as having MagicDocks right now.

A Tesla pedestal with Magic Dock

A Tesla pedestal without Magic Dock

That’s weird…wife and I looked at them, and don’t recall seeing any that had a dock.

 

[CharonPDX]

Yep, PlugShare shows multiple "no NACS adapter support" vehicles charging in Quincy, and that the stalls going back to last September. If you don't know what you're looking for, seeing the Magic Docks isn't obvious. And if you just pull out the handle, it will come out with just the NACS connector. You'll need to either use the Tesla app to "Charge your non-Tesla" to have it lock the Magic Dock to the NACS end, or if you press and hold the button on the handle for a couple seconds before pulling it out, it will remove with the Magic Dock.

But yeah, the Rivian delivery people really dropped the ball there. Knowing your drive home, they should have helped you confirm a route home, and how to use a charger.

 

[Redline]

Rivian people need to be better at this, but so does OP.

You’ll get there. It’s intimidating at first, but once you get the hang of EV route planning, what chargers work, etc, it’s a breeze. Currently helping my FIL get his R1S next week.

 

[TTedP]

Not sure if you knew but you have to interact with Magicdocks differently to get the adapter to release when using.

 

[Redline]

Press and hold the button for 2 secs, push in and pull out. Plug into car, and boom charging.

 

[StevePAWA]

I agree that everyone should verify all verbal information with a second source, and should plan to arrive at any charger with enough charge to get to one or more backup chargers.

Unfortunately, backup plans are harder to make east of Ellensburg, especially if you aren't used to Magic Docks. The advice you got from Bellevue Service Center, while maybe lowest cost (Tesla quotes $0.32/kWh in Quincy/George and $0.31 at Moses Lake) may not have been the best advice for your circumstances.

For future trips to western WA, we've found a very reliable four-stall Electrify America in Ellensburg at the Taco Bell on Canyon Road, with several places to eat within walking distance. We've also found a reliable one-stall Shell Recharge station in Ellensburg on Third Avenue, a few feet west of Main Street, with multiple community/downtown businesses within walking distance. Both of these locations still have PlugShare scores of 10/10 -- the highest reliability. Shell's Ellensburg DC Fast charger is $0.35/minute for 50 kW, thus $0.42/kWh -- a relative bargain, if you have time for a slower charge rate.

When we picked up our R1S at Portland SC, they knew we lived 110 miles away -- so, as a courtesy precaution, they charged our MaxPack to 100%! We didn't need that much charge, but we appreciated the gesture. Your first time with a new EV, you deserve a worry-free experience and you didn't get one. You might have had a worry-free experience with an Ellensburg stop.

Glad it worked out this time, @Kaddy. Enjoy your R1T!

We‘ve driven our R1T to Walla Walla and Spokane from the Olympic Peninsula 4 or 5 times now. A little jumpy about it the first time, but once you get the hang, it’s mostly a very easy thing. This comment is right on- Ellensburg and Conserve mode will do you. One trip was with my 82 y.o ‘no way ever in an EV’ mom. Now she just glows about how smooth and wonderful it is to ride with us. We also take it on all of our extended road trips. 22k in the first year alone. It’s just an adjustment- like going from Mac to PC or vice-versa-but PLEASE don’t start that argument here, hee hee! Adjusting for cost of electricity, I reckon we’ve saved at least $3k in fuel this year vs. A 20-mpg average ICE truck- my 09 Silverado got worse MPG, but it’s old- Helps take the sting out of inconvenience. And zero oil changes, etc, etc. No vehicle is perfect, but on balance, I’d never go back.

 

[ryunited]

I need to learn more about these magic docks and how to use them...

But it's weird to me that they gave you the truck uncharged? My R1S was delivered to me with at least 75% charge if I recall correctly.

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