- Extra automakers are gaining access to the Tesla Supercharging community
- Tesla house owners aren’t precisely thrilled, particularly when the house owners have to take up two charging spots to plug-in
- OEMs are engaged on fixing the issue
As you in all probability know, Tesla Superchargers have began opening as much as non-Tesla EVs just like the Ford F-150 Lightning and Chevy Blazer EV. Because of this house owners of Ford, Rivian, and now Basic Motors automobiles are lastly in a position to plug in (if they will get a NACS adapter, that’s) at most charging stalls throughout the U.S.
Sounds nice, proper? Nicely, yeah. It’s. Tesla’s Supercharging community is probably the most mature in your entire nation. Tesla house owners are accustomed to a seamless charging expertise—simply again in, plug in, and juice up. However non-Tesla EVs? It won’t be that easy. See, the cost ports on another EVs are all over—entrance, again, proper, left—you title it. That is inflicting a serious headache as help for brand new producers comes on-line and new Supercharger customers attempt to determine methods to cope with Tesla’s brief Supercharger cables.
Tesla’s official answer is to only to double-park, which, underneath regular circumstances, is not that massive of a deal. However when Superchargers are in busy places or as folks journey on holidays, the thought of 1 (or extra) chargers being unavailable is usually a massive downside.
[I]n some instances you may need to park over the road with a purpose to cost comfortably. Keep away from parking diagonally to succeed in the cable and attempt to impede as few cost posts as doable. Cost port places differ by EV mannequin, which requires cable sharing between adjoining stalls at many websites.
Regardless of Tesla having an official answer, house owners of non-Tesla EVs are sometimes not sure of methods to really park once they pull as much as a charger. One Blazer EV proprietor on Reddit complained concerning the charging cable being too brief. One other Cadillac Lyriq proprietor posted a photograph of an extraordinarily overstretched cable, albeit final yr at a Magic Dock location.
A separate Lyriq proprietor was noticed taking on three separate spots (as Tesla confirmed how not to do within the illustration above). It is not clear if this was as a result of cable not reaching or as a result of the proprietor wasn’t positive methods to correctly park the automobile on the charger. Regardless, there’s clearly each an training subject and an infrastructure subject at play right here.
It is not honest to lump all non-Tesla Supercharger customers into the identical group. Many homeowners are literally very respectful of how they park on the chargers. For instance, a few movies of Blazer EV drivers present the house owners utilizing the right-most stall to reduce their influence on different automobiles. Others have used pull-through stalls (like those demonstrated right here) to keep away from double-parking, however not all places have a majority of these placement.
So, what is the repair right here? For now, nothing.
Tesla engineers have straight up warned towards utilizing NACS extension cables at Superchargers, so a direct technical answer is out. Schooling? Nicely, Tesla exhibits people methods to park proper within the app wanted for charging, in order that’s not working both. Evidently that is greater headache than what might be solved by EV house owners alone.
Fortunately, OEMs are addressing the issue. For instance, Rivian has voluntarily relocated the charging port on the upcoming Rivian R2 in order that it’s positioned in the identical location as Tesla’s automobiles. Tesla, because the proprietor of the Supercharging community, appears to be prioritizing the rollout of V4 Supercharger stalls with longer cables. It is not a direct repair by any means, nor low-cost, nevertheless it’s progress.
Which means be ready to buddy up with some non-Teslas on the Supercharger for slightly bit—as a result of there are extra automakers getting added to the Supercharger community subsequent yr. And perhaps do not berate anyone simply because they’re taking on two stalls.
