How to charge your non-Tesla at a Supercharger and what NOT to do!
RSymons “RSEV” 0 HN recommenders · 2022–2025
255K views · tutorial · dated · Uploaded 2022-05-28
A guide to charging a non-Tesla EV, here a BMW i4, at a Tesla Supercharger in the UK, with do's and don'ts. It shows the process in practice now that the network is open to all cars.
HN links it as concrete proof that other brands already charge on Tesla chargers in Europe.
9:31Around The Corner - How Differential Steering Works (1937)
US Auto Industry
17:08Cities Aren't Loud: Cars Are Loud
Not Just Bikes
9:31How Differential Gear works (BEST Tutorial)
ConceptVBS
3:18A New Car UI: How touch screen controls in cars should work
Matthaeus Krenn
35:07These Stupid Trucks are Literally Killing Us
Not Just Bikes
5:49The 919 Tribute Tour: On-board record lap, Nordschleife.
Porsche
6:19Why Electric Bikes are More Dangerous than Motorcycles
FortNine
9:41Spinning Levers - How A Transmission Works (1936)
US Auto Industry
16 comments from Hacker News
> and it’s likely the only automakers left after the EV transition are Tesla, Ford, and possibly Rivian That isn't remotely likely. The European EV market is 3 times the size of the North American EV market at the moment. Here's what that looks like: [LINK] [LINK] Have a look at Norway's sales for 2022. 4 of the top 10 vehicles are Volkswagens (VW ID.4, Audi Q4 e-tron, Skoda Enyaq, Audi e-tron): [LINK] > and deploys tens of Superchargers per month So you mean people will have more places to charge their BMWs or Audis or Toyotas or Hyundais, etc? So what: [VIDEO]
> not least due to lack of charging network It's true that there need to be more fast chargers, but it's also true that this notion of "no charging network for CCS cars" is making less sense every month. You can get across America and Canada on CCS chargers. For example on Petro-Canada or Electrify America (and there are more charging networks than just these two): - [LINK] - [LINK] A Better Route Planner is a good tool to try out routes in various models of EV to see how easy or hard a given trip will be: - [LINK] Europe sensibly standardized on CCS type 2 Combo so any brand of car can charge on any brand of charger. Even Tesla is finally opening their chargers to all brands in Europe: - [VIDEO] Eventually Tesla will do the same in North America and that will make more CCS chargers available.
> Non tesla fast charging is an absolute disaster Doesn't seem to be. Tesla's chargers have been behind the curve versus others with lower speeds, still only 400 volts, and only supporting one brand of car. Tesla is at least slowly starting to support other brands: - [VIDEO] But Circle K, Gridserve, Ionity, etc. are better charging stops with faster chargers: - Circle K: [LINK] - Gridserve: [LINK] - Ionity: [LINK]
> All new EVs in Europe already use CCS and Tesla are slowly opening up their network to other brands of car. Yes. You're restating what I have said. Tesla should hurry up and open them all. > So how is Tesla part of the problem? Because Tesla chargers are not open to all brands everywhere. A better question to ask is why is Tesla not the leader in multi-brand charging. Other charging networks have delivered chargers which support all brands of EV with longer cables for more vehicle types and are faster than Tesla's chargers to boot. How can I charge my Volvo truck on Tesla's existing chargers: [LINK] What about my bus: [LINK] How do I charge my Porsche Taycan on Tesla's chargers at 800 volts instead of this 400 volt business: [LINK] How do I charge my BMW without blocking another charger due to Tesla's short-sighted charger design: [VIDEO] Tesla's V4 chargers will apparently have longer cables, but Tesla is still no Alpitronic.
You don't seem to be across what's happening in Europe. All of the companies you mentioned are invested in Ionity which provides 350 kW chargers at over 400 locations: [LINK] Europe has standardized on CCS Type 2 Combo for charging. Any CCS EV can charge on any CCS charging network. Teslas can charge on Ionity, BMWs can charge on Tesla chargers, charging networks like FastNed, BP, GridServe, EnBW, Circle K and friends can charge all brands, etc.: [VIDEO] [LINK] [LINK]
> Why would you let your competitor who are barely trying to deliver EVs freeload on it? This is such strange thinking. It's not like Tesla will give away free charging. The reality is more EVs using your chargers means more revenue. High utilization is better than low utilization. But you won't listen to me about it, so listen to Tesla instead: [LINK] This is what Tesla is already doing in Europe. It's easy in Europe because Europe has a common charging standard in CCS Type 2 Combo: [VIDEO] A big benefit of CCS for Tesla owners is that they can easily switch to other charging networks when Tesla's network is uncompetitive: [LINK] The sad thing for North America is that it looks like Tesla will take the extremely cynical approach of allowing low volume manufacturers (like Aptera) to use Tesla's chargers if they adopt Tesla's plug. Hence the recent announcement of Tesla's plug supposedly being "open" and a "standard" now (as opposed to Tesla's previous faux openness): [LINK] Tesla believes that having the chargers support more than one manufacturer in this way will qualify Tesla chargers for US government subsidies. Tesla wants public funds, but doesn't want to provide public infrastructure by using CCS Type 1 Combo. Maybe they'll allow other EVs to charge using a dongle, maybe they won't. But having to carry around a dongle merely to charge your car is just dumb. One more thing to buy, one more thing to lose, one more thing to break. Europe shows it doesn't need to be this wa
> "Now [the Supercharger network] the linchpin of their brand and their competitive moat against other automakers." This is a very American perspective. The North American EV market is about a third the size of the European EV market. Europe standardised on CCS Type 2 Combo and all brands of EV can charge on all chargers, no nonsense with incompatible plugs and protocols. Here's an American car reviewer charging an EV in Europe and wishing America was the same: [LINK] Here's a BMW charging on a Tesla charger as Nature intended: [VIDEO] North America's incompatible charging infrastructure is a profoundly stupid outcome and only serves to make EVs worse than ICE vehicles. America is still good at innovation but has forgotten how to do implementation. > But ask the short sellers: Whether the plan is to dominate global EVs or refill batteries, it rarely pays to bet against Musk. Eh, lately it's paid well to bet against Musk. With the 70% fall in Tesla's stock price short sellers have profited: [LINK]
I'm making the argument that all brands of EV charging network should charge all brands of EV. Anything less is backward, primitive, and simply dumb infrastructure. In Europe, Tesla charges Tesla drivers less for charging and other drivers more. Tesla also has membership pricing: [VIDEO] Other charging networks also have brand specific deals and membership pricing.
> This is a terrible mistake on Tesla's part. No, the terrible mistake is to have incompatible charging infrastructure. All brands of EV charging network should charge all brands of EV. Anything less than that is a profoundly brain-dead outcome. You can fuel any brand of ICE car at any brand of fueling station because the fuel is compatible and the fueling infrastructure is compatible. Standards make that possible. EVs need not and must not be any different. Europe already has the benefit of standardising on CCS type 2 Combo for EV charging. And that means you can charge a BMW i4 on a Tesla charger, exactly as it should be: [VIDEO] Equally it means you can charge a Telsa on Ionity or FastNed or Circle K or GridServe or EnBW or McDonald's or BP or Shell or any other charging network. North America doesn't deserve to be held back by primitive, incompatible EV infrastructure. North America deserves compatible EV charging infrastructure for all EVs.
In Europe you can go ahead and charge your BMW i4 on a Tesla charger. Europe wisely set a common charging standard: [VIDEO] Incompatible charging infrastructure is a profoundly stupid outcome. All brands of charger must charge all brands of EVs. It's a mistake to support closed infrastructure. Demand more and better.
The practical reality is charging with other EV brands on Tesla chargers is already happening regardless of where the charge port is: [VIDEO] Don't worry about it.
> why should Europeans fund a foreign proprietary tech They aren't. They are funding CCS chargers with CCS Type 2 Combo plugs that can be used by all EVs. Here's a BMW charging on a Tesla V2 charger: [VIDEO] Tesla's new V4 chargers come with displays and card readers thanks to sensible EU (and UK) regulation: [LINK] The V4 Tesla chargers still aren't that great compared to other charger manufacturers, but it's an improvement over Tesla's V2 and V3 chargers.
> Now it's 2023 - the Tesla connector is superior to the European standard, European EV companies still lag behind and the Tesla standard is being adapted by the industry without any government intervention. This is a complete misunderstanding of the situation. The reality is Europe is a long way ahead of North America on EV infrastructure. The European charging networks are compatible with all EVs because of standardization. More investment has gone into charger manufacturing and charging network deployment because of standardization. You've been able to charge other brands on a Tesla chargers for a long time in Europe: [VIDEO] You can charge your EV on a 400 kW charger from Alpitronic and FastNed: [LINK] Or use a 400 kW charger from Kempower and Shell: [LINK] Or whatever EV on whatever charging network you like. Europe has done EV infrastructure right. And they've got a plan to make it even better: [LINK] In contrast, North America continues to thrash about trying to arrive at a charging standard. It's still going to be years of fiddling around to get anywhere near where Europe already is. The result North America has ended up with is CCS chargers with Tesla's plug on the end. North America could have and should have got to standardization sooner.
> We already live in a world where ... other cars can only charge at unreliable expensive non-Tesla chargers. No, that's North America. Europe is different: [VIDEO] Although Tesla's V4 chargers still suck for 800 volt cars which is a shame. Tesla must try harder: [LINK] [LINK]
Tesla's chargers have charged all brands in Europe for a long time now. Here's one charging a BMW: [VIDEO] Another BMW: [LINK] Here's one charging a 400 volt Kia: [LINK] Here's one not doing a good job charging an 800 volt Kia: [LINK] Tesla does need to do better on 800 volt charging. If Alpitronic, Kempower, ABB, EvBox, and friends can all do it then Tesla can do it too.
> Tesla's charging infrastrucute is a competitive advantage. Tesla's charging network being closed is detrimental to EVs. Closed, incompatible infrastructure is dumb infrastructure. Closed, incompatible infrastructure is backward and primitive. As a self respecting car buyer you should actively select against brands that try to lock you in and brands that try to shut you out. What you want is smart infrastructure. You want to demand that all brands of EV can charge on all brands of charger with no dumb charging accounts. The good news is Tesla chargers work with non-Tesla EVs. They've been open to all EVs in Europe for years. They're open to all EVs in Australia. Tesla has even started to open them to all EVs in North America. It works because Tesla has adopted the CCS charging standard in North America (just like Tesla was already using in Europe and Australia). NACS is CCS charging with the J3400 plug. J3400 is the third plug type CCS supports. Here's a Chevy Bolt charging on a Tesla charger in California. It works because it's CCS: [LINK] Here's an MG charging on a Tesla charger in Australia: [LINK] Here's a BMW charging on a Tesla charger in England: [VIDEO] Here's a Kia charging on a Tesla charger in England. No dumb Tesla account, no idiot Tesla app. Contactless payment just as Nature intended: [LINK]