Suicide charging port a massive problem?

[HaulingAss]

Because it's a plastic door.

Plastic breaks.

We have three early Model 3 with really large awkward plastic charge port doors that swing up and out that I thought were the worst design in the world for potential breakage but they are all doing fine over 5 years later. They get parked out in the snow and weather too.

The Cybertruck charge port design looks more robust (as it should - it's a truck) because it has a simple hinge design and short leverage distance. Provided the owner isn't overly negligent in terms of using common sense with regard to clearing the area of snow and debris before closing it, it should be fine.

Ooops! There, I used that word again, "common sense" seems to have left a lot of people behind these days. That's what happens when everyone gets a ribbon just for participating, even when they have failed the task. Because people start to believe they are infallible, that they don't have to watch what they are doing, and a failure couldn't possibly be due to their actions.

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[HaulingAss]

In all honestly, though, I’d be even more concerned about that spot being able to fit a CCS port, as required outside the US. It doesn’t look like it will fit. At best diagonally, which could be a bit odd. So it certainly looks like Tesla may have given almost no concern for other markets at this point. But let’s see.

I am so glad Tesla didn't "uglify" the design of Cybertrucks charge port to accomate inferior charge port standards in other markets. The N. American market is, by far, the largest market for pickups in the world and I'm glad Tesla drew a line in the sand in terms of bowing down to foreign powers (at least where pickups are concerned). Those markets may have a long wait to experience what Elon thinks is Tesla's best product ever.

I still think it's a crime against capitalism that the European Union mandated a failure of good engineering that is the CCS port. Yes, they effectively gave capitalism the middle finger and outlawed the superior NACS charge port design. It's never a good idea to engineer things by committee and then make anything not engineered by committee "non-conforming".

I'm all for using standards to improve things, but it has to be done using logic, not committees trying to use the standards setting process to gain a competitive advantage.

 

[Rutrow]

duct tape

That is (well, acutally gaffer's tape) what I was planning on doing anyway before going into the woods. I've found an ounce of prevention is better than a couple $100s damage.

 

[Setok]

We have three early Model 3 with really large awkward plastic charge port doors that swing up and out that I thought were the worst design in the world for potential breakage but they are all doing fine over 5 years later. They get parked out in the snow and weather too.

The Cybertruck charge port design looks more robust (as it should - it's a truck) because it has a simple hinge design and short leverage distance. Provided the owner isn't overly negligent in terms of using common sense with regard to clearing the area of snow and debris before closing it, it should be fine.

Ooops! There, I used that word again, "common sense" seems to have left a lot of people behind these days. That's what happens when everyone gets a ribbon just for participating, even when they have failed the task. Because people start to believe they are infallible, that they don't have to watch what they are doing, and a failure couldn't possibly be due to their actions.

Well a Model 3 isn’t used for offroad driving. Also it’s not on a fender which stick out and are most likely to catch a branch or rock when off-roading.

 

[Double Dare Fan]

That is (well, acutally gaffer's tape) what I was planning on doing anyway before going into the woods. I've found an ounce of prevention is better than a couple $100s damage.

That is what I was thinking. Keep a roll of Gorilla Tape or similar onboard, and slap on a piece or 2 before offroading. It is only a matter of peeling it off before recharging, and putting on a new piece only if more offroading will follow.
Wet surfaces? I will also keep a roll of those heavy-duty blue paper towels, and use one to wipe the door and the area around it before applying the tape, and just act quickly if it is raining.

 

[Setok]

I am so glad Tesla didn't "uglify" the design of Cybertrucks charge port to accomate inferior charge port standards in other markets. The N. American market is, by far, the largest market for pickups in the world and I'm glad Tesla drew a line in the sand in terms of bowing down to foreign powers (at least where pickups are concerned). Those markets may have a long wait to experience what Elon thinks is Tesla's best product ever.

I still think it's a crime against capitalism that the European Union mandated a failure of good engineering that is the CCS port. Yes, they effectively gave capitalism the middle finger and outlawed the superior NACS charge port design. It's never a good idea to engineer things by committee and then make anything not engineered by committee "non-conforming".

I'm all for using standards to improve things, but it has to be done using logic, not committees trying to use the standards setting process to gain a competitive advantage.

Unlike America, Tesla hasn’t been the king of charging networks in Europe, and we have had other fairly popular EVs. The NACS was not, I believe, an open standard at that time (and I’m guessing you still have to license it), so manufacturers didn’t have the realistic choice of using NACS, and everyone else was using CCS (except Nissan that also had Chademo). While I do think the EU overly regulates things, and it’s become a political union which I’m not so happy about, it’s fair to want a common standard so that cars can be selected on features rather than charging port, and can be charged anywhere. CCS was almost the only option for that.

I think there are valid arguments against that regulation, but I understand the logic.

The NACS is more elegant. There is a downside, though. It’s not capable of three phase AC charging. So home charging would be slower.

Regardless of the politics, that’s the current situation. CCS is needed here. I hope Tesla brings it elsewhere. It would be good for the market and good for Tesla (remembering that the F150 is coming to Europe).

 

[Bill W.]

If this does turn out to be an issue, it will be resolved long before my reservation number becomes active...!

 

[HaulingAss]

Well a Model 3 isn’t used for offroad driving. Also it’s not on a fender which stick out and are most likely to catch a branch or rock when off-roading.

The charge port is closed when driving. Sure, if you rip off the fender flare, you rip off the door of the charge port. Because the door is part of the fender flare.

So what? You get a new left rear fender flare. Tesla parts prices tend to be very reasonable.

 

[charliemagpie]

I would have liked easy access to a 240v plug port on a fender.

 

[Tiberius]

is it a problem? Maybe to the 1% of owners that might, on occasion, bushwhack through dense brush for .5% of their ownership experience.
Not a MASSIVE problem though - more like a mild inconvenience somewhere less then a destroyed headlight lens or other trim piece that bushwhacking is likely to prise away from the car.
In the overall ownership experience, almost nothing.

 

[HaulingAss]

Unlike America, Tesla hasn’t been the king of charging networks in Europe, and we have had other fairly popular EVs. The NACS was not, I believe, an open standard at that time (and I’m guessing you still have to license it), so manufacturers didn’t have the realistic choice of using NACS, and everyone else was using CCS (except Nissan that also had Chademo). While I do think the EU overly regulates things, and it’s become a political union which I’m not so happy about, it’s fair to want a common standard so that cars can be selected on features rather than charging port, and can be charged anywhere. CCS was almost the only option for that.

I think there are valid arguments against that regulation, but I understand the logic.

The NACS is more elegant. There is a downside, though. It’s not capable of three phase AC charging. So home charging would be slower.

Regardless of the politics, that’s the current situation. CCS is needed here. I hope Tesla brings it elsewhere. It would be good for the market and good for Tesla (remembering that the F150 is coming to Europe).

Why do you think use of the NACS standard requires licensing from Tesla after they made it an open standard? Absolutely makes zero sense. By definition, it does not require licensing, Tesla gave it away for free when they published the standards.

Before it was an open standard Tesla made it clear that they wanted others to use to use it and would make it easy/cheap for others to use it. But legacy auto was still in the mode of trying to isolate Tesla, make it difficult for electric cars to gain traction, and hopefully make Tesla fail. There was no way Tesla could work with that, otherwise they would have made a related standard to take advantage of 3-phase AC charging. The truth is, no one wanted EVs to be easy to adopt, particularly if they were Tesla EVs.

It's been an uphill battle for Tesla every step of the way and it's only now, now that they are top dog, that others come sheepishly to them to take advantage of what they have created with their own money. The reason they are not leading the way in Europe is only because the EU actively prevented them from doing so.

 

[HaulingAss]

That is what I was thinking. Keep a roll of Gorilla Tape or similar onboard, and slap on a piece or 2 before offroading. It is only a matter of peeling it off before recharging, and putting on a new piece only if more offroading will follow.
Wet surfaces? I will also keep a roll of those heavy-duty blue paper towels, and use one to wipe the door and the area around it before applying the tape, and just act quickly if it is raining.

Have people lost their minds around here? A massive problem, LOL! I've been off-roading for decades and I don't see the problem. A lot of my off-roading was in the PNW which typically involves a lot of crashing through alder saplings and driving over branches that love to "thwack" the side of your rig.

Nobody is going to put Gorilla Tape to hold the charge port cover closed simply because they're going off-road, because that would be inconvenient and there is not a shred of information that hints it will be needed. It's the over-active imagination of people who have never designed a real product before.

Armchair quarterbacking seems to have become really popular in the last decade.

 

[Crissa]

Because it's a plastic door.

Plastic breaks.

Why would you worry about that? If it breaks, you replace it. It's plastic.

-Crissa

 

[Crissa]

... being able to fit a CCS port, as required outside the US.

Only the EU requires them. New Zealand and Australia also use them, but don't require them. Nor commonly use the three-phase power they enable at level 2.

Most of the world does not require any specific standard.

I still think it's a crime against capitalism that the European Union mandated a failure of good engineering that is the CCS port. Yes, they effectively gave capitalism the middle finger and outlawed the superior NACS charge port design.

NACS doesn't allow the three phase AC that is common in EU Type 2 AC charging.

We'd be incompatible either way.

-Crissa

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