Ford makes deal with Tesla to share its Supercharger network

My local charging rates:

• free - 6-7 kW AC, L2 chargers at local shops who want EV customers
• $0.12/kWh - 7 kW AC, my home L2 charger
• $0.35/kWh - local SuperCharger, up to 250 kW DC
• $0.45/kWh - Electrify America, ChargePoint, and EVgo fast DC chargers

if you're going to get free electricity, spoof a J1772 charger and get AC power. Then have enough computers to draw 6-7 kW. Much easier than trying to spoof fast DC charging and converting to a form the bitcoin computers can use.

Better still, get a solar panels and inverters to drive the bitcoin computer. Then let it run.

Bob Wilson

 

My Local rates:

• FREE: At home from my solar system. Charge rate: 7KW/L2 but sporadic depending on SOC of PV batteries
• $0.07/KWH Off Peak from the grid when I can't get Solar 7KW/L2
  
  • $0.10/Winter $0.24/Summer Peak rates generally avoided, Winter is not really a big deal.
• $0.45-0.60 at the various DCFC's within 10 miles of my abode. 50-350KW 2 EA, and 3 EVGO
• FREE: At the any of the three Volta L2 stations within 10 miles of my house
• Ridiculous: By the hour at a dozen or so L2 BLiNK stations floating around

I'm all in on the solar, I need to add about another 4-8KW of panels, and another 30KWH of battery, and I'll be able to pretty much keep my house going, and my cars charged without touching the grid. . . As long as I'm local. Once you have to travel it gets expensive for an EV. EA will cut 0.10 off the rate if you pay the monthly 'membership' fee, same for Evgo and Chargepoint. This is where things need to be a little more sane.

Since Tesla talks to it's cars OTA, ... It should know that VIN xxxx is geolocated at Lon,Lat, and thus should know if the vehicle was parked somewhere near where the charging is being attempted, and bark/complain/fail if something isn't kosher. It remains to be seen how this is all going to pan out. KIA/Hyundai are promising NACS sockets on the cars 2024/Q4. Will they have similar communcation capability? Only her hairdresser knows.

 

Seeing these home energy costs posted are they what the utility is selling the per kWh rate or combined with all the delivery charges and taxes?

Looking at my bill, the per kWh charge is $0.107/kWh but if I take my total monthly cost divided by kWh usage it jumps to $0.18/kWh. That almost doubles the cost of charging which at the end of the month isn't a huge amount unless alot of miles are driven in a month.

 

I calculated mine with all the taxes, fees and delivery charges to be about: $0.125/kWh.

 

Wow!! My off peak rate is $0.28/kwh in the winter and on peak is $0.64/kwh. Summer is $0.34/kwh and $0.69/kwh. I knew there was a reason I put in solar. My delivery charges are about $0.05 of the above numbers

 

Wow!! And it is CA that is pushing hardest for EVs and to get rid of ICE cars.

 

+$20/mo meter charge. Most solar plans with sell-back require 'Demand' metering which is $30/mo. I don't sell back, I'm behind a transfer switch. So about $0.80/day for the privilege of having the meter.

 

Hydroelectric power is the reason ours is so cheap.

 

I had thought that NACS would essentially use ISO15118 for plug-and-charge. So the adapter wouldn't need to have any active circuitry, and can largely be a passive device. I recall that Ford wanted customers to use Ford Pass app, and not require that people set up the Tesla app - that was described as a deal-breaker if the Tesla app were required.

Now Tesla might still want to be able to identify the adapter to ensure that people aren't using cheap knock-offs - that's almost a different thing, that could almost be handled with something like a NFC token built into the adapter.

 

Tesla's responsibility should end at the NACS plug or maybe the business end of the magic dock dongle.
It's easy enough to detect something going wrong with temperature sensors. Trying to apply DRM to
a passive adapter is simply madness, and would undoubtedly set off extensive reverse-engineering
efforts that would waste a lot of time and if anything, increase risk to the public.

_H*

 

The problem is that a dodgy adapter could damage the connectors on the Tesla cable or the car charging port. If that happens, then who has the liability?

I don't know if the adapter itself has a temperature sensor, or whether there is even a way for it to report status back to the supercharger. You would probably have to depend on the temperature sensor on the supercharger handle, and hope that it could pick up temperature anomalies in the adapter itself.

 

Today, I was catching a quick charge at the Shelbyville SuperChargers where a technician was installing the 'compatibility mode' in the chargers. This enables Fords with adapters to charge at these units. It was taking him less than 5 minutes to take off the shells, do the mod, and button them back up.

I asked about my BMW i3-REx and he said it would require a Magic Dock cable.

Bob Wilson

 

Per a comment in the SE forum BMW/MINI plan to add Supercharger access sometime during 2025. So maybe in a year or so the I3 will get full access like Ford.

 

Given the grim future for CCS-1 chargers and their companies, I'll get the NACS adapter when available.

Bob Wilson