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0 pointsvel0city5y ago0 comments

Tesla might have one of the largest single charging network, but by default in the US they only support their own proprietary chargers. I see far more non-Tesla chargers around in my area. They're different brands, but they all use the same standardized plug.

Just go to any site showing chargers in your area. Turn on just the Tesla and Supercharger plugs. Then turn on just the J1772 and CCS plugs. See which one looks to be the bigger network.

https://www.plugshare.com/

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4 comments · 2 top-level

fastball5y ago· 2 in thread

Yes, but you can plug your Tesla into non-Tesla chargers if you buy an adapter. Doesn't work the other way around (and for many of those 3rd party networks they have the Tesla connector anyway AFAIK).

vel0cityOP5y ago

True, Teslas these days come with a J1772 to Tesla AC adapter. IIRC they're not compatible with CCS but CCS chargers are more rare than J1772 at the moment. However I often see only J1772 plugs or only Tesla plugs around me. It's rare for places to have both options.

Tesla was forced to make CCS compatible versions in Germany IIRC, so they could adopt the industry standard globally but instead choose to continue pushing vendor lock-in instead of open standards.

Either way that doesn't change the fact Tesla might be the single biggest network of chargers out there, but they're not the most common chargers out there. The majority of chargers out there will not work on a Tesla without an adapter.

If having the largest network of charging systems was really a long term play of theirs, you'd think they'd move to actually supporting the plugs which will probably be on ultimately the majority of cars on the road and take money from everyone instead of only customers of their cars. I question the long term importance of their charging network as more and more J1772/CCS cars get on the market and more J1772/CCS continue coming online. Imagine of Ford and Exxon had some exclusive pump and port agreement where Exxon stations could only sell gas to Ford cars but Ford gave adapters to allow Ford owners to fill anywhere, albeit with a bit more work. Sounds pretty dumb, right?

fastball5y ago

You seem to be attributing to an attempt at vendor lock-in what can be more easily attributed to the fact that these other "standards" were not common at all when Tesla started building their supercharger network, and once you have inertia it can be hard to stop.

It's like people complaining that Apple doesn't use USB-C in their phones, forgetting that when Apple made the switch to Lightning, USB-C didn't exist.

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Zanni5y ago

Those J1772 stations are useless unless you've got hours to kill. They charge at under 20mph--usually 18mph, but sometimes 12mph. And, in my experience, fully half of them are broken at any given time. The supercharger network compares favorably against the CCS network.

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