A little technical tidbit: What we consider normal electricity (our homes and the entire power grid) use Alternating Current (AC). AC powers light bulbs, motors, and appliances. All batteries (including the car batteries) are DC. A converter is necessary to change the AC in your house to the DC the car needs. Every Tesla has a small converter built into it, so you can just plug the car into an outlet to charge it. Tesla Superchargers are actually huge DC converters that supply massive amounts of DC directly to the battery module.
The biggest thing to adjust to when owning an electric car is the change of mindset. With a gas car, you make dedicated stops just to put more fuel in the car. With an electric car, you add power at the stops you were going to make anyway (or you choose stops based upon surrounding amenities). Electric car chargers are everywhere, and until you drive an EV, you won’t realize just how common they are (you could always open the plugshare app on your iPhone and look). Malls, restaurants, coffee shops, hotels, parking garages, rest stops, office buildings, and even Disney Parks all have car charging stations. The search for power on the road isn’t normally necessary since you are leaving home with a full charge every morning, but it’s great to know that it’s available if you need it. Most electric car owners learn where these “destination chargers” are and will frequent the businesses that have them. The fear of running out of electricity is so common for new EV owners that it has a name: Range Anxiety.
The parts of the page below will attempt to answer the most commonly asked questions that are not readily answered anywhere else on the web.
What is included with the car?
It doesn’t happen often, but people really do buy Teslas thinking they can add gasoline.
Included with every Tesla is a connection kit. This kit includes a 20’ charger cable can be connected to any type of power plug imaginable with the correct adapter. The two adapters included are a stove plug (NEMA 14-50) and a regular wall outlet (like a lamp plugs into). If you have a different plug in your garage you want to use, order the adapter ahead of time (don’t expect the service/delivery center to have one on the shelf).
How long does it take to charge?
These speeds are the average speeds I have experienced over a variety of temperatures. The full chart (from Tesla’s website) is below.
Regular wall plug (like is all over your house) will add 5 miles per hour. From dead to full is about 3 days. If you only used 30 miles of battery during your daily driving, you will be recharged in 6 hours.
The included NEMA 14-50 will charge at a rate of 30 amps. This is fairly fast and as you can see in the chart below will add about 30 miles in an hour. The car will charge from dead to full in 9 hours. If you only used 30 miles of battery during your commute, you will be recharged in an hour.
The most common home charging solution is to have a wall adapter installed, which charges at 48 amps (about 45 miles in an hour). Dead to full in 5 1/2 hours, the 30 mile commute recharges in about 40 minutes.
Having a Wall Connector Installed
Because I have an electrical background, I didn’t think it was a big deal to install the wall connector. I live in an apartment and my landlord had no objections to having his electrician install a wall connector (at my expense).
I should warn you, there are some electricians (like the one I got) who see the phrase “electric car charger” and see dollar signs. Do yourself a favor - get a few quotes. Tell the electricians that the charger will need 60 amps at 240 and doesn’t require a neutral, but needs a ground. That is all they should need to know.
Charging on the road
There are a variety of options for charging when you are on the road, and I will try to cover them all here.
The superchargers at the Springfield Mall (VA) max out at 120kw. The chargers will charge a Model 3 in less than an hour, and will add over 100 miles of range in less than 20 minutes.
Supercharging
By far, supercharging is the fastest way to charge a Tesla. The on-board navigation will tell you how long to charge and where to stop to do it. Superchargers vary (they are not created equally). Generally speaking, the newer the charging station, the better it is, but they all will charge exponentially faster than home charging solutions and are great if you are traveling. Because of the VW-Dieselgate settlement, soon there will be charging stations for other (non-Tesla) cars with high power DC everywhere. For the technically curious, a Supercharger is a DC charger that is capable of dumping hundreds of kilowatts of power into the vehicle (as fast as the battery cooling can cool the cells). For the less technically curious, this is fast - about 40 minutes will fill a mostly dead battery using older superchargers. Using new ones, about 15-20 minutes will fill the battery. The emptier the battery is, the faster it will charge, so there is often little benefit to sticking around longer than the computer tells you to (typically 15 minutes to a half hour), especially if your route is littered with superchargers (like I-95).
When you arrive at a supercharger, note that each supercharger slot has an ID with a number and a letter. Power is split between the two letters, so try to find a stall where both “A” and “B” are open for maximum charging capacity. With the newest superchargers, this doesn’t matter, but assume it does unless you have no choice.
Tesla Destination Chargers
Destination chargers are designed to provide high power (not as fast as supercharging) by using the same wall connector that is installed in most homes. Most destination chargers can be expected to add 30 miles per hour of charging, making these great options at hotels and restaurants. I will often use the PlugShare app to find a restaurant or hotel with a destination charger and that is what makes my decision to stay there. Most places don’t mind if you call ahead to ask if the parking spaces (and charger) are available. Some will even cone it off for you.
Chargepoint (and other) destination chargers
These are getting better as time goes on. Found at grocery stores (Whole Foods stores often have destination chargin), malls, airports, and some restaurants, these destination chargers use a billing system that is connected to an app on your phone (super simple to setup and use). Many places set the price for charging at the cost of electricity, some set it free, and some (like the PA Turnpike) gouge you and provide super slow charging that is essentially useless. Using phone apps like PlugShare helps you find destination chargers that work well (these really can be all over the map). These third party chargers will use a different plug than your Tesla, but don’t worry, an adapter is included with the Tesla.