Newbie Duh Charging Question

[planetcase]

Hello Rivian Fam.

A few weeks in, and loving my R1S.

Taking my first road trip from MD to North Carolina soon.

1. Do I need to bring an adapter to utilize non Tesla Charing stations?
2. Are Tesla stations open to Rivian users yet?
   • And if so, do I need an adapter?
   • And if so, where to buy?
3. Is it safe to use the slow "drip charger" for a long period of time. In other words, if I ended up in the mountains without charing stations, could I use the slow charger that plugs into a normal outlet over a several day or week period, and let the car charge up 2 miles an hour at a time?
4. Anything else a newbie should know?

Thanks all. Appreciate you all for taking the time.

cc

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[COdogman]

1. No adapter necessary for non-Tesla chargers. Just make sure you only navigate to CCS (J-1772) chargers.
2. You cannot use Tesla superchargers but you can use Tesla "magic dock" chargers that have an adapter built in. Not many of them out there...
3. ABC (Always Be Charging). If you have the option to plug in at your destination I would always do so.
4. Make sure you have the Plugshare app handy and check the chargers you plan to stop at before navigating to them. And it's also a good idea to have the apps, accounts ready for any other chargers you plan to use on your route. It's still the wild west out there for charging and between broken chargers and busy stations it can be an adventure for sure! Best practice is to always research before you head to a charger.

Also, congratulations and welcome to the family!

 

[mikehmb]

Hello Rivian Fam.

A few weeks in, and loving my R1S.

Taking my first road trip from MD to North Carolina soon.

1. Do I need to bring an adapter to utilize non Tesla Charing stations?
2. Are Tesla stations open to Rivian users yet?
   • And if so, do I need an adapter?
   • And if so, where to buy?
3. Is it safe to use the slow "drip charger" for a long period of time. In other words, if I ended up in the mountains without charing stations, could I use the slow charger that plugs into a normal outlet over a several day or week period, and let the car charge up 2 miles an hour at a time?
4. Anything else a newbie should know?

Thanks all. Appreciate you all for taking the time.

cc

+1 to what @COdogman said. Would add that you should certainly get All The Apps before you set out, and learn ABRP and Plugshare. Plugshare will save you some frustration by helping you identify bunk chargers along your route.

I’ve got Chargepoint, EVGo, Electrify America, Chargeway, EV Connect, Plugshare and ABRP on my phone for regular charging on road trips.

Get the Tesla app as well, as you’ll need it should you find and use a Magic Dock-enabled Supercharger.

 

[Redline]

Please familiarize yourself with Plugshare and ABRP before you go. It seems you're very green to understanding charging, and you don't want a snafu on your first road trip.

 

[planetcase]

You guys are awesome. Thank you both for the great info. When I picked up my Rivian, the gentleman there said that Tesla was opening up to Rivian customers in Q1 2024 but that I'd need an adapter. Any truth to that?

And what is up with the cool photos? Libe

 

[RexRemus]

Hello Rivian Fam.

A few weeks in, and loving my R1S.

Taking my first road trip from MD to North Carolina soon.

1. Do I need to bring an adapter to utilize non Tesla Charing stations?
2. Are Tesla stations open to Rivian users yet?
   • And if so, do I need an adapter?
   • And if so, where to buy?
3. Is it safe to use the slow "drip charger" for a long period of time. In other words, if I ended up in the mountains without charing stations, could I use the slow charger that plugs into a normal outlet over a several day or week period, and let the car charge up 2 miles an hour at a time?
4. Anything else a newbie should know?

Thanks all. Appreciate you all for taking the time.

cc

I would suggest getting an L2 tesla adapter - aka "destination charger" - it can be handy as there are quite a few of these around and having a NACS to J1772 adapter can help with the ABC strategy. Beyond that exactly what @COdogman said!

To be clear - I am not endorsing THAT specific adapter, it's just the one I got and if you're new to this it can be helpful to at least have a place to start looking. It can also be good to get a supply of receptacle adapters to use the portable Rivian charger on any outlet you come across. This thread has some good info.

 

[mikehmb]

You guys are awesome. Thank you both for the great info. When I picked up my Rivian, the gentleman there said that Tesla was opening up to Rivian customers in Q1 2024 but that I'd need an adapter. Any truth to that?

And what is up with the cool photos? Libe

As far as fast-charging is concerned, Rivian has committed to delivering an adapter to owners who have CCS (which is currently every owner).

Don’t waste your money on a CCS -> NACS adapter today.

But as others have said, you may want to invest in an L2 adapter (NACS <-> J1772) should you end up using a Tesla destination charger (which are level-2 only, not DCFC aka fast charging).

 

[RexRemus]

You guys are awesome. Thank you both for the great info. When I picked up my Rivian, the gentleman there said that Tesla was opening up to Rivian customers in Q1 2024 but that I'd need an adapter. Any truth to that?

And what is up with the cool photos? Libe

Rivian is supposed to be providing us adapters for supercharging at some point this year, but I'm not sure there's a terribly fine point on when - as with most things always assume it's SOON TM

Until then, be as prepared as you can be. Charge any time you're sitting still and power is nearby, and follow the advice already given here. ALWAYS have a backup plan, always leave a safety margin on range to get to another charger of SOME kind, and plan on waiting longer to charge than you think it will take. Charger etiquette is typically... a nightmare. So expect there to be a line of people waiting at any stop and expect most to not understand how things should work haha. This will just help you build in time and not arrive disappointed/later than planned.

 

[Redline]

You guys are awesome. Thank you both for the great info. When I picked up my Rivian, the gentleman there said that Tesla was opening up to Rivian customers in Q1 2024 but that I'd need an adapter. Any truth to that?

And what is up with the cool photos? Libe

Mostly true. Rumor is March. You'll be sent an adapter.

Right now you can use the Magic Dock locations.

 

[SoCal Rob]

Hello Rivian Fam.

A few weeks in, and loving my R1S.

Taking my first road trip from MD to North Carolina soon.

1. Do I need to bring an adapter to utilize non Tesla Charing stations?
2. Are Tesla stations open to Rivian users yet?
   • And if so, do I need an adapter?
   • And if so, where to buy?
3. Is it safe to use the slow "drip charger" for a long period of time. In other words, if I ended up in the mountains without charing stations, could I use the slow charger that plugs into a normal outlet over a several day or week period, and let the car charge up 2 miles an hour at a time?
4. Anything else a newbie should know?

Thanks all. Appreciate you all for taking the time.

cc

Welcome!

This article does a pretty good job describing things and is reasonably up-to-date. https://arstechnica.com/cars/2022/07/the-ars-technica-guide-to-electric-vehicle-charging/

Two things that I think are mentioning in addition to that article:
1. As @COdogman already wrote, a limited number of Tesla Superchargers are outfitted with Magic Docks which will work with your Rivian since starting a charging session from the Tesla app releases the required adapter.
2. Outside of the Tesla world, the connector shape lets you know if you’re getting Alternating Current up to 240V (Level 1 & Level 2 via J-1772) or high voltage Direct Current DCFC (Direct Current Fast Charge via CCS / Combined Charging System). A lot of people substitute Level 3 or L3 for DCFC when writing. I know this bothers some people since it isn’t technically correct, but I don’t think it‘s going away.

The adapters for Tesla destination chargers which can be used today will NOT work at Superchargers. We should be getting Supercharger to CCS adapters from Rivian, but we don’t know exactly when.
edit: typo

 

[planetcase]

Thanks again all. Lots to digest. I am going to read through this a few times. I don't even know the acronyms, so I'm going to learn those and then dig into the articles. Appreciate you all taking the time to write.

 

[COdogman]

I would also recommend reading some of the amazing road trip reports folks here have posted. Even if it isn't going the same route as you have planned, it will include some of the above advice along with the types of surprises that you should be ready for when EV road tripping.

If you do a forum search for titles that include "trip report" it should pull up quite a few.

 

[KBabione]

You may want to check out this post for the charging kit I take with me when visiting family or a VRBO: Charging Kit for Traveling

 

[planetcase]

I've been reading non stop since I started posting. Another question. I will be in mountains and of course will have my Rivian Mobile Charger. Is this ok to use with an extension chord? We will be in a cabin, and I will need to run 25 -50 ft of extension chord to get to my RS1

 

[planetcase]

+1 to what @COdogman said. Would add that you should certainly get All The Apps before you set out, and learn ABRP and Plugshare. Plugshare will save you some frustration by helping you identify bunk chargers along your route.

I’ve got Chargepoint, EVGo, Electrify America, Chargeway, EV Connect, Plugshare and ABRP on my phone for regular charging on road trips.

Get the Tesla app as well, as you’ll need it should you find and use a Magic Dock-enabled Supercharger.

Just downloaded all those apps!

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