Tesla Supercharger PSA

[ClevelandBeemer]

Yesterday at a SuperCharger site I noticed something interesting. The site has both V3 and V4 posts. I chose the V4 post as I can park and not take up more than 1 space. While charging another Lightning rolls up and takes up 2 spaces at the V3 posts. This site has 28 posts, over 2/3 of which are V4 posts. To me the only reason the other Lightning driver chose the V3 is because they didn’t know the difference.

So PSA for all non-Tesla EV drivers. If you see a newer black and white V4 SuperCharger post, it has a much longer cable than the older style red and white Supercharger posts.

That is all. 🫡

Sponsored

 

[garsh]

Older V3 (and V2) sites placed the stations between the parking spaces, where it was easy to reach the charging port on the back corner of a Tesla. Newer V3 sites place the stations in the middle of the parking space, so that it can reach either corner.

 

[jamelski]

Naw they didn’t on purpose to piss off tesla fan boys

 

[garsh]

Note that this is a picture of a European V2 station. Those were upgraded to include a second CCS2 plug in addition to the NACS plug.

North American V2 stations are identical to V3 stations, but have a thicker cable. V3 stations have water-cooled cables, which allows them to be thinner.

 

[FloridaMan655321]

Still kind of a shame Ford (and others) haven't just put the charge port in the rear like Tesla does. I do have hopes that in the future all of this will be standardized.

Thanks for this post as I didn't know of the v4 being rolled out and how they look different. Good on Tesla doing a redesign to help out other manufactures.

 

[GoodSam]

Still kind of a shame Ford (and others) haven't just put the charge port in the rear like Tesla does. I do have hopes that in the future all of this will be standardized.

What is the best place for connecting for a vehicle pulling a trailer? One should not have to walk over cables or otherwise be restrained by the cable. Maybe overhead drop downs?
Should charging stations be more designed like gas stations?

 

[FloridaMan655321]

What is the best place for connecting for a vehicle pulling a trailer? One should not have to walk over cables or otherwise be restrained by the cable. Maybe overhead drop downs?
Should charging stations be more designed like gas stations?

I forgot all the trailers being towed that I see…..
Obviously a regular gas station type of chargers handles this. When have you seen a ICE vehicle have the gas tank filler located where our charge ports are located? They are all located in the rear

 

[electricpig]

Still kind of a shame Ford (and others) haven't just put the charge port in the rear like Tesla does. I do have hopes that in the future all of this will be standardized.

Thanks for this post as I didn't know of the v4 being rolled out and how they look different. Good on Tesla doing a redesign to help out other manufactures.

Nahhh, I rather be looking where I'm going. It also happens to be what people were/are accustomed to for fueling unless they are in a Tesla. It's just Tesla fans have brain washed people to think it's the "right" location. I read a while back the only reason it is located where it is is that during the development of the early cars, Elon was renting a mansion that Ford some reason was not able to get power unless it was located where it is now (don't remember exact details), and "insisted" that all Tesla have the port where it is. Supposedly the engineers and everyone else wanted a more traditional approach, but it didn't fit for Lord Elon.

 

[garsh]

Nahhh, I rather be looking where I'm going. It also happens to be what people were/are accustomed to for fueling

I can't think of a single gas vehicle that had the refill at the front-left corner of a vehicle.

All new supercharger installations are "ambidextrous". And even the older sites could be fixed somewhat inexpensively by repainting some lines. This will become less of an issue over time.

 

[JRDM2]

I think the current location of the port on the Lightning is best for home charging which is the strong majority of my charging. The port is right where you are already when you get out of the truck. The need to put them where Tesla does, for Tesla's legacy stations, will diminish over time.

 

[jefrank]

Given the number of folks I see that can't back into a parking place (but insist on doing so anyway), I think that was poor design decision by Tesla. lol

 

[doggod]

Nahhh, I rather be looking where I'm going. It also happens to be what people were/are accustomed to for fueling unless they are in a Tesla. It's just Tesla fans have brain washed people to think it's the "right" location. I read a while back the only reason it is located where it is is that during the development of the early cars, Elon was renting a mansion that Ford some reason was not able to get power unless it was located where it is now (don't remember exact details), and "insisted" that all Tesla have the port where it is. Supposedly the engineers and everyone else wanted a more traditional approach, but it didn't fit for Lord Elon.

What a sad hater life you must live.

 

[ogdobber]

All trucks should have the charging port in the very front right. This would make any (tesla) charger accessible (towing a trailer or not) also by being on the right, you could access curbside public street chargers.
the Lightning charge port is absolutely in the worst location, left side and way too far back.

 

[K6CCC]

the Lightning charge port is absolutely in the worst location, left side and way too far back.

Yep, about the worst place it could be.

As far as trailering, there is no overly good option other than a pull through stall. Fortunately, many new chargers do have at least a limited number of pull through stalls.

 

[CD4TNF]

@electricpig

Tesla’s charge port location is due to Elon Musk’s garage layout, says Lucid CEO
Peter Rawlinson was the chief designer of Tesla’s Model S, its first EV designed from the ground-up. Tesla CEO Elon Musk has denied that since Rawlinson is now a competitor leading Lucid Motors, but there’s plenty of evidence that he was in fact in charge of the Model S engineering despite Musk’s vengeful claims to the contrary.

Now, Rawlinson has given some interesting insights into the decision-making behind Tesla’s charge port location. He says that he was pushing back then (circa 2010) for the now popular front driver-side fender charge port location (via PC Mag):

I told him, look, it [should be] the front fender on the left-hand side. Most Americans drive nose in rather than parallel park. And if you drive nose in, you want the charge port on the front. You don’t want a long, dirty old cable coming past the doors. And you don’t want to put the charge port on the very front, like the Nissan Leaf, because it’s a vulnerable spot. You can have a slight bump or fender bender, which could mean you couldn’t open it if it was damaged.”

The Lucid CEO says that Musk insisted that this wouldn’t work for him because it wasn’t compatible with the way the garage in his rented mansion at the time was set up:

Well, that wasn’t acceptable to [Elon]. He said it wouldn’t suit the layout of his garage in Bel Air. So I said, ‘Well, where do you want it, then? What suits the layout of your garage in Bel Air?’ He said it’s going to be on the rear because he could trip over the cable. He was renting the property, and he didn’t even own the place, but we put the charge port on the Model S on the left hand rear because of the layout of his rented garage in Bel Air!

https://electrek.co/2025/01/31/tesl...e-to-elon-musks-garage-layout-says-lucid-ceo/

Sponsored