NACS Adaptor & First Super Charger Charging Experience

[LaJollaAaron]

Got my adaptor a few days ago. Was eager to try out the "Super Charger" experience. I had already added my vehicle to the Tesla App (My daughter drives a Model 3, which I own.)

I drove to a Super Charging location I was familiar with. Followed directions. No joy. Kept getting "unplug and try again." Which I did several times. Then, I noticed that I had plugged into a Super Charger that the App was showing as out of service (duh), so I moved. Still unable to charge. I called Rivian customer support. A courteous young woman went through several trouble shooting steps (software reset, vehicle reset) still no joy. The "error message" on the Tesla app said something to the effect of "Vehicle not authorized to use Super Charger." At this point, we were about to give up and try reaching out to Tesla customer service when I noticed on the map page of the Tesla App that the Super Charger station I was at, was not "showing" as an available charging station. Turns out there is another bank of Super Chargers about 1 block away. I drove over there, the Rivian service person stayed on the phone with me. Got to the other charging station, plugged in. Same error message. "Vehicle not authorized to use Super Charger." At this point she couldn't help me any further, and said it is likely something on Tesla's side because my software was current, using the issued adaptor etc. and that I should call them. Right as I was about to hang up and try to contact Tesla, the display showed it had started charging, so it just took a minute or so to realize I had switched to an "authorized" location.

I successfully charged. It was saying 287miles per hour charging rate (I was at 14% to start) it slowed to about 185miles per hour when it got closer to 80%.

There is one other issue that I experienced. I signed up for the $14 Tesla "member" plan, but I am being billed(charges my credit card immediately, and received an "charging sessions summary" email immediately) by Rivian, and it's significantly more expensive. I'm waiting to see if the systems "talk" to each other and make the adjustment, but I fear I will need to call Rivian to sort out why I am paying the higher price.

Lesson learned.

The Rivian charging map shows "available" (meaning Rivians can charge there) stations, I would use it. The Tesla App mirrors this data. But it also shows Tesla only charging stations. Make sure you are going to a Super Charger that Tesla has opened to Rivian.

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[mikehmb]

(Edited) You probably landed an older gen SC that doesn’t talk to the Rivian (NACS != NACS standard). But glad it worked on the 2nd one!

Older SCs won’t show in the Rivian app because they’re incompatible. This nearly bit me in the a** a few weeks ago because I was nearly reliant on the SC where I was, but found an alternative.

As far as we are all aware, plug-and-charge is not tied to your Tesla subscription, so you need to go through the Tesla app to get member pricing.

 

[harkco]

Good info and thanks for taking the time to share your experience. I recently received mine and am eager to give it a try.

 

[Electrified Outdoors]

Got my adaptor a few days ago. Was eager to try out the "Super Charger" experience. I had already added my vehicle to the Tesla App (My daughter drives a Model 3, which I own.)

I drove to a Super Charging location I was familiar with. Followed directions. No joy. Kept getting "unplug and try again." Which I did several times. Then, I noticed that I had plugged into a Super Charger that the App was showing as out of service (duh), so I moved. Still unable to charge. I called Rivian customer support. A courteous young woman went through several trouble shooting steps (software reset, vehicle reset) still no joy. The "error message" on the Tesla app said something to the effect of "Vehicle not authorized to use Super Charger." At this point, we were about to give up and try reaching out to Tesla customer service when I noticed on the map page of the Tesla App that the Super Charger station I was at, was not "showing" as an available charging station. Turns out there is another bank of Super Chargers about 1 block away. I drove over there, the Rivian service person stayed on the phone with me. Got to the other charging station, plugged in. Same error message. "Vehicle not authorized to use Super Charger." At this point she couldn't help me any further, and said it is likely something on Tesla's side because my software was current, using the issued adaptor etc. and that I should call them. Right as I was about to hang up and try to contact Tesla, the display showed it had started charging, so it just took a minute or so to realize I had switched to an "authorized" location.

I successfully charged. It was saying 287miles per hour charging rate (I was at 14% to start) it slowed to about 185miles per hour when it got closer to 80%.

There is one other issue that I experienced. I signed up for the $14 Tesla "member" plan, but I am being billed(charges my credit card immediately, and received an "charging sessions summary" email immediately) by Rivian, and it's significantly more expensive. I'm waiting to see if the systems "talk" to each other and make the adjustment, but I fear I will need to call Rivian to sort out why I am paying the higher price.

Lesson learned.

The Rivian charging map shows "available" (meaning Rivians can charge there) stations, I would use it. The Tesla App mirrors this data. But it also shows Tesla only charging stations. Make sure you are going to a Super Charger that Tesla has opened to Rivian.

Thanks for sharing this. Eventually I would like to see plug and charge support membership pricing. Currently, to get membership pricing one needs to initiate through the Tesla app before plugging in. I created a short video of how to get the membership pricing.

 

[mathieson]

Were you using the Rivian adapter or a third party adapter?

 

[Greg Chick]

My first try with the free A2Z charger Adapter,
I do not have a Tesla membership, (I do not pay, I have the App only). I paid about .50 cents a Kw. It started at about 200 KW, reduced to about 125 Kw. The Tesla kiosk has no readout, so my dashboard was my monitor, it did not show price. Later my Rivian App on my phone showed the details because the Payment was done via my Rivian account / Credit card listed on my Rivian App. MY guess is the Tesla account is better information live as well better price per Kw.
Incidentally, my credit card on my Rivian account was old, so the Rivian App automatically used my alt. credit card I had listed. The App told me this happened, thank you Rivian.

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