Can Tesla cars be charged at a non-Tesla charger?

Double Dare Fan

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Exactly what it says on the tin.
I tried finding the answer with a search engine, but all I found was stuff about charging non-Tesla cars at Tesla Superchargers.

If this has already been answered, please post the URL to that thread, or merge this one.
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TirNaOg

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Yes. But you will probably need an adapter.
YOu might also need to download and app to your phone and setup an account with supplier
 

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Currently there are adapters for North American Tesla cars to charge at:

✅ J1772 - the standard Level 2 charging point, there is an adapter you can buy.
✅ NEMA 14-50 - the standard RV connector, you can buy an adapter which has multiple plugs. (If I recall, these are swappable plugs on the standard granny (Level 1) adapter)
✅ NEMA 15-5 - the standard level 1 household outlet. Every Tesla has had this cord included. The actual amperage pulled is set inside the car, so you can use different rated outlets down to one, I think.
✅ CHAdeMO - Japanese DC faster charging. There was an adapter so that a Tesla can charge at this (now orphaned in EU and NA) charging standard.
❌ CCS, CCS1 - The North American DC charging standard that augments J1772 with DC pins. There are third party and Korean adapters, but currently, there isn't a way to charge at these. ❗This is expected to change in the near future.

In Europe, Tesla switched to the EU CCS2 standard. So all chargers are compatible in that region now. And in China, Tesla has always used the Chinese standard.

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Yes, absolutely.

The Level 2 charging (AC,240V,) standard in the US is Jj1772. Each Tesla sold ships with an adapter that will allow the car to be charged at J1772 stations. They are found everywhere. Look on Amazon to see the dozens that are offered for sale. If you want to charge at home there is no reason why you are limited to a Tesla wall charger. If you already have a BEV that charges with J1772 you can use whatever you charge that with to charge your Tesla though you may want to get a higher power J1772 station than what you use to charge an older BEV with small battery and low Wh/mi rating.

The picture isn't so rosy when it comes to DC Fast Charging (Level 3). The "standard" is CCS but there is another system called CHAdeMO that is becoming rarer and rarer though even today most new CCS stations will include at least 1 CHAdeMO terminal. Don't know how long that is going to last. Tesla sells an adapter by which you can charge your Tesla from a CHAdeMO terminal. The shortcoming is that it is limited to about 50 kW but few CHAdeMO stations produce more than that anyway. Another is that the adapter costs $500. I have used it once [Edit: 3 times] in the US but in Canada I use CHAdeMO stations more often than I use Tesla Superchargers.

That leaves CCS. Up until recently a Tesla owner in North America could not charge from a CCS station. Recently a Chinese company has started selling a CCS to Tesla adapter and it is getting mixed reviews as it does not currently work properly with every CCS terminal but evidently they are working the bugs out and it is getting better, It is also quite expensive and also limited in the power it can handle.

In the CONUS you are unlikely to need to charge at other than a Tesla charger. To see if I am telling the truth lay out some trips you are likely to take with ABRP or check along the route with PlugShare. Now do the same thing for Newfoundland. A year ago the only Tesla charger on the island was at the Fogo Island Inn where the charging is free (destination charger) but a night's lodging will cost you a couple weeks salary. Now there are a handful of destination chargers but better than that there are a series of stations,all new, with one CCS and one CHAdeMO at 50 - 60 kW all along the Trans Canada highway. There are no SC. If you wanted to tour there you would have to rely on CHAdeMO.

Every Tesla also ships with a Level 2 Universal Mobile Connector. There are perhaps a dozen "adapters" for this unit which allows plugging into about a dozen different 120 and 240V outlets. Only one adapter is currently provided with the unit (NEMA 5 - 15P for 12 A charging from ordinary wall outlets) but they sell a set of 10 or so others and they sell individual ones as well. Most people get at least NEMA 14-50R as they are quite common in places like trailer parks. Third parties make additional adapters that adapt additional types of plugs to the UMC plugs. If you can find A/C to plug into you can generally charge but there are limitations with respect to speed (max. 40 A) but you can buy and carry portable plugin J1772 chargers that take this limit up to 48 A. This is a no no in the US but not in Canada (as of a couple of years ago - they may have "caught up")..
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