daveo4EV

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I’ve been driving EV’s for nearly 7 years and have the following thoughts on EV charging and what your want in the car to maximize your charging options while traveling.

NOTE; this is the boy-scout approach and is over the top - but it is complete and it’s what I carry in the frunk of my EV’s (and the back of my Bolt) - you don’t have to do this, but it’s a fairly complete set of gear that you can carry with you so your charging options are maximized while traveling with your EV
  1. Install a high quality EVSE in your home garage - the mandatory Taycan EVSE is an excellent high quality EVSE perfect for home charging duty
    1. leave this charger in the garage so you have a charger setup/ready to go for daily use
    2. like most EV chargers the Porsche one is simply a branded J-1772 charger and will charge most any other EV (including Teslas) - so this is a great home EV charger suitable for charging a Taycan and any other EV you, familiy or friends might bring home.
  2. Purchase a 2nd mobile EVSE to “live” in the car - this charger should have a wide range of plug-adapters to maximize your road warrior charging options - I recomend the Porsche for this, but if you’d like to save some money the Tesla 32 amp gen-2 EVSE is less than $300 a great mobile charger with a wide range of NEMA plug-adapters
    1. full kit of NEMA plug adapters, so you can charge at most _ANY_ electrical outlet you may encounter in north america
    2. the Tesla Gen2 EVSE (32 amp) + all the adatpers + JDapter or Tesla-Tap is less $$$ than the Porsche EVSE
  3. JDapter or TeslaTap- this is a nice pig-tail that will allow you to use any Tesla L2 chargers you might encounter in the wild - very useful and there are 1000’s of Tesla L2 chargers in the US (hotels, wineries, golf courses, businesses, post ranch inn) - this will allow your Taycan to use these wonderful L2 chargers - and sometimes businesses only have Tesla L2 chargers - no J-1772 - so this is a great option, and it’s small and light
    1. July 12th edit: changing my recommendation to 80 amp version of the JDapter - I've observed my Taycan can charge at 48 amps when provided with a 48 amp Tesla Wall Charger - and you might actually encounter one of these in the wild - and if you want to be fully "in spec" you shouldn't use a 40 amp adapter with a 48 amp Tesla charger - so you should get the 80 amp version to be full in spec and not overheat the adapter if you're using a 48 amp Tesla L2 charger
    2. to my knowledge TeslaTap does not make an 80 amp version - so that means JDApter is the best choice. Tesla Tap does make a 80 amp adapter - that is recommended.
    3. there are more 60 amp Tesla L2 chargers in the wild that you might imagine so this is a serious consideration for your road warrior kit - as always make the best decision for you armed with the latest information.
  4. High quailty NEMA 5-20 extension cord - 15 to 50 feet (your choice) - very helpful for trickle charging overnight at hotels and such.
  5. High quaiity NEMA 5-20R to NEMA 5-15P adapter - this allows you to use your NEMA 5-20 extension cord w/5-15 outlets (5-15 plugs are normal household outlets) - when using it this way make sure to put the NEMA 5-15 adapter on your EVSE so your don’t pull too many AMPS
    1. this avoids the need to have both a NEMA 5-20 & NEMA 5-15 extension cord - also since you are packing the 20 amp extenstion cord it's safe to use it with 15 amp plugs since it's a lower amperage than the cord is rated…it's bad to pull 20 amps across a 15 amp cable, but it's just fine to pull 15 amps on a 20 amp rated cable…
  6. High quality NEMA 14-50 extension cable - big and heavy - so length is your personal choice preference - but very helpful sometimes to reach that wonderful 14-50 plug that‘s just a bit out of reach of the 20’ foot EVSE range
All of this gear fits in the ‘frunk’ of most EV’s and therefore you can have it as a “kit” ready to go, but out of sight freeing up space in the more accessible and more often used rear trunk.

Now I’ve had this ”full” kit for years, I have several EV’s but only one full road warrior kit - and move it from car to car based on which car I’m traveling in. while I love my kit and I’m very proud of my kit, I will 100% admit utilization is very very very low, and it probably un-necssary. However in 7+ years I have used the following items quite a bit:

Mobile EVSE while traveling
JDapter
NEMA 14-50 adatper
NEMA 6-50 adatper
NEMA 5-20 adatper - trickle charge overnight at various hotels & parking garages…slow charge but better than nothing overnight.
NEMa 5-20 extension cord
NEMA 14-50 extension cord

surprisinglly in 7+ years, none of the 30 amp adapters have had any utilization which I thought would be more common when I put the kit together - but it turns out I’ve just never used them.

anyways this is how you do it if you want to overkill your EV charging options for traveling - frankly a NEMA 14-50 EVSE is all you’ll need + JDapter + Fast Charging and you can drive most anywhere these days with an EV and charge.
Sponsored

 
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daveo4EV

daveo4EV

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here is a picture of all the "adapters" I have in my kit - again this is not for the faint of heart and entirely un-necessary - and 7 years in many have remained unused "in the wild" - but it's listed here for completeness - and yes I could charge my EV at virtually any plug one could/should find in North America…

Porsche Taycan EV Roadwarrior adapters “kit” All Adapters 1.0
 
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  1. NEMA L6-20P to 14-50R - 240V - 20 AMP Service - 16 AMP Charge - 3840 watts
  2. NEMA 6-30P to 14-50R - 240V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 5760 watts
  3. NEMA L6-30P to 14-50R - 240V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 5760 watts
  4. NEMA 5-15P to Tesla Charger - 120V - 15 AMP Service - 12 AMP Charge - 1440 watts
  5. NEMA 10-30P to Tesla Charger - 240V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 5760 watts
  6. NEMA 14-30P to Tesla Charger - 240V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 5760 watts
  7. NEMA 6-50P to Tesla Charger - 240V - 50 AMP Service - 40 AMP Charge - 9600 watts
  8. NEMA 14-50P to Tesla Charger - 240V - 50 AMP Service - 40 AMP Charge - 9600 watts
  9. NEMA SS2-50P to 14-50R - 240V - 50 AMP Service - 40 AMP Charge - 9600 watts
  10. TT30P to 14-50R - 120V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 2880 watts
  11. NEMA 5-20P to 14-50R - 120V - 20 AMP Service - 16 AMP Charge - 1920 watts
  12. NEMA 6-20P to 14-50R - 240V - 20 AMP Service - 16 AMP Charge - 3840 watts
  13. NEMA 10-50P to 14-50R - 240V - 50 AMP Service - 40 AMP Charge - 9600 watts
  14. NEMA L14-30P to 14-50R - 240V - 30 AMP Service - 24 AMP Charge - 5760 watts
adapter #11 & #12 have been replaced with "official" and supported adapters from the EVSE manufacturer since this photo was originally taken.
 
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Adapters I've actually used over the past 7 years - in order of frequency - top is most frequent - bottom least frequent

Often
  • JDapter/Tesla-Tap - NOT SHOWN
  • NEMA 14-50
  • NEMA 6-50
  • NEMA SS2-50P (marine shore power connector - concert venues as well - stadiums may have these in parking lots - this pig tail converts the round connector to a standard NEMA 14-50 plug - I have been surprised how many of these plugs I've found over the years and charged at 40 amps)
Sometimes
  • NEMA 5-15
  • NEMA 5-20
  • NEMA 14-30
Rarely
  • NEMA 6-30 (Laguna Seca garage tire warming plugs)
  • NEMA L14-30
not listed - then probably never used other than in testing
 
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Toby Pennycuff

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Dave,

Thanks for all of this detail! Were most of these adapters (the non-plug converters anyway) "Lowes" or "Home Depot" projects?

Toby
 


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Adapters I've actually used over the past 7 years - in order of frequency - top is most frequent - bottom least frequent

NEMA 14-50
NEMA 6-50
NEMA SS2-50P (marine shore power connector - concert venues as well)
NEMA 5-15
NEMA 5-20
NEMA 14-30
Amazon and do it yourself

All "hand made" adapter were of the following model:

[Plug-Type] I wanted to achieve to NEMA 14-50 "socket"

i.e. take ANY plug I wanted to be able to plug "into" and convert it to a NEMA 14-50 - and then rely on "in car" AMP adjustment to make sure I don't overload the circuit

from the numbered list:

  1. purchased - I'll try and find the source
  2. DYI - purchase a NEMA 6-30 "plug" + wire + NEMA 14-50 "socket"
  3. purchased
  4. Tesla Gen-1 mobile EVSE adapter
  5. Tesla Gen-1 mobile EVSE adapter
  6. Tesla Gen-1 mobile EVSE adapter
  7. Tesla Gen-1 mobile EVSE adapter
  8. Tesla Gen-1 mobile EVSE adapter
  9. purchased
  10. purchased
  11. DYI - purchased 5-20 extension cord - cut off one end - expose the wire - wire into a NEMA 14-50 "socket"
  12. DYI - similar approach to #11
  13. purchased
  14. purchased
most of the materials I "sourced" from amazon or dedicated EV charging sites

if I had it to do over again I would do the following

get the adapters for the mobile EVSE (Tesla mobile gen2 + all adapters)
get the NEMA SS2-50P (shore power)

I've attached a document that I wrote up in 2013 w/links - they may or may not still work…apologies if they don't

the real key to this approach with Adapters is to have some way to adjust the charging rate (either with the EVSE or in-car) because some of the adapters covert say 30 amp plugs to the 50 amp plug - and since the EVSE doesn't know it's using a converter cable and you're using a 50 amp plug on the EVSE you MUST be able to ramp down the AMP's for a 30 amp converter cable to 24 amps - so the EVSE doesn't draw too much current…this can be achieved with the right car (Tesla) or the right EVSE (Porsche Mobile connect EVSE) - but either way you MUST be able to adjust charging rate when using these types of approaches…or both ends of the cable must be "matched"…
 

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here is a link to the "shore" power to NEMA 14-50 pig-tail - this is a MUST have for any "elite" EV Roadwarrior…

https://www.evseadapters.com/products/cs6365p-50a-locking-to-14-50r-adapter/

this adapter is 100% "safe" because the SS2-50 _IS_ a 50 amp circuit - so this is just converting one type of 50 amp socket/plug to another type of 50 amp socket/plug - so it's safe to use without the need to "adjust" charging amps…

the real danger is when you start coverting 20/30 plug types to 50 amp EVSE plugs - as mentioned above.
 
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Disclaimer: I share this information in the spirit of "knowledge" - weather or not it's appropriate for you personally to embark on any of these adapters is your personal decision. It is to be noted that attempting to use a 20 or 30 amp plug with a 50/40 AMP EVSE requires actual knowledge about how all of this works - if you lack this knowledge please do not use any adapters listed here…

there are REAL dangers in pulling too much current across wire not spec'd for the higher amps - these wires can/will/have caught fire/melted and caused real/cosmetic damage when use outside the electrical specifications they were designed for.

If you want the safest use case for EVSE's stick with the manufacture's provided adapters and do not modify/fold/spindle/mutulate your EVSE or use cables/adapters that have not been approved by your EV manufacturer…

and again I state as I started this thread - the utilization of all these converters has been very very low in my experience - and you'll cover 98% of your charging needs with: J-1772 Public Chargers, CCS Fast Chargers, NEMA 14-50, and JDApter/Tesla-Tap - adapters or converters beyond that core set will see very little actual use or should only be pursued for specific uses cases (example: you are often at a family's house with an unused NEMA 14-30 plug in the garage (water heater)…and you'd like to charge from it when ever you visit)

if you burn down your house it's not my fault - and it's a real honest possibility if you abuse this knowledge.
 


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Don’t play with adaptors/plugs cables. It’s got wrong written all over this. Big plugs, with small cables is a bad idea. You or someone will die. Simples.
 
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it should be noted - I have retired #11 & #12 as there is now "official" adapter solutions for those plug types…
 

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it should be noted - I have retired #11 & #12 as there is now "official" adapter solutions for those plug types…
I’ll apologize in advance if you’re already answered this question, but for a portable charger to take on the road why do you recommend the 32 amp and not for just a very few dollars more available 40 amp portable chargers,?
 
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@Nevadagame what an excellent question:

given infrequency of use - and likely overnight @ hotel 32 amp vs. 40 amp is not likely to make the difference (since most road trips fast charging is the watch word of the day - and L2 charging is "overnight" @ the hotel)

if you were at 5% battery and plugged into 32 amp vs. 40 amp the charge time different @ the hotel would be:
95% of 83.4 kwh is 79.23 - let's call it 80 kWh
charge time for 80 kwh @ 32 amps - 7.68 kW - 10.5 hours - call it 11 hours
charge time for 80 kWh @ 40 amps - 9.6 kW - 8.5 hours - call it 9 hours

I recommend the Tesla mobile 32 amp charger for the following reasons
  1. price - $275 for a small, light, well made, well designed, rugged 32 amp EVSE is the best deal going in the EVSE community - seriously show me another mobile charger for $275 that is small compact and simply works so well
  2. the 32 amp mobile charger from Tesla has a wide range of adapters for most any plug you'll encounter - the 32 amp mobile charger has the following NEMA adapter available for purchase (it comes with a NEMA 14-50)
    1. 5-15 - 120 volt 15/12 amps
    2. 5-20 - 120 volts 20/16 amps
    3. 6-15 - 240 volts 15/12 amps
    4. 6-20 - 240 volts 20/16 amps
    5. 10-30 - 240 volts 30/24 amps
    6. 14-30 - 240 volts 30/25 amps
    7. 14-50 - 240 volts 50/40 amps (32 amp limit of EVSE)
    8. 6-50 - 240 volts (50/40 amps (32 amp limit of EVSE)
  3. The Tesla Mobile EVSE is much smaller and lighter than the Porsche model.
  4. the Tesla 40 amp Gen1 corded mobile EVSE is limited to NEMA 14-50 - but it's 40 amps, but it no longer has the NEMA adapters - it's a fixed 14-50 charger these days (it used to have it's own set of adatpers
  5. there are other non-Tesla mobile EVSEs - but none that I've seen match the quality, mobility, adaptability of the Tesla offering - and keep in mind the price of $275...
so for the "road warrior" kit - you have the following elements:

total is $734 w/Jdapter or $674 w/TeslaTap (you need one or the other not both) - or almost half the cost of the Porsche Mobel connect EVSE with more adapters than Porsche even offers or comes with…

also you honestly have to back out the cost of the JDapter - since for any serious EV road warrior you're going to have one of these regardless - because this lets you use Tesla L2 chargers at businesses and hotels and such…

so independent of the JDapter/Tesla-Tap - the total cost of the 32 amp Tesla Mobile EVSE w/7 NEMA plug adapters is $495.00 - or almost 1/3 of the Porsche charger.

A quick survey of Amazon - shows EVSE's range in price from $189 (16 amps) - $699 - and not all of those are "mobile" or even have plug adapters as an option..most aren't even 32 amps.

the closest competitor to the Tesla offering in terms of price and feature appears to be this one…

https://www.amazon.com/MAX-GREEN-Ou...1&keywords=40+amp+evse&qid=1590177764&sr=8-13

@ $279 w/5 adapters - but it's only 16 amps - not even 32 amps like the Tesla model.

no question 40 amps is better - but the question is given frequency of use and the likely use of fast chargers - the 32 amp options is worth considering in my opinion, but only as an informed purchase…also keep in mind with 7 adapters in play - only 2 of those adapters are 40 amps - the other 5 adapters are all far less than 40 amps, and not even 32 amps - so if you're using the adapters you aren't charging at 40 amps anyways…

I hope this helps - I won't tell you the 32 amp is ideal, but I'll state it's nice set of compromises for price, flexibility, portability and general utility. 40 amps would be better, but I don't have a product that is as good on price or flexibility or mobility in mind or that I've found.

The Porsche product is a great product and excellent EVSE and oozes quality - but it's price point of about $1300 before any adapters - and it's weight/size make it less desirable than mobile alternatives - but there is NOTHING wrong with the Porsche charger, and given how infrequently you will actually use a mobile EVSE on the road - it's really NO problem to simply pack the Porsche charger only when you Tavel, and let it live in the garage the other 98% of the year…

I quote from my first post:

Now I’ve had this ”full” kit for years, I have several EV’s but only one full road warrior kit - and move it from car to car based on which car I’m traveling in. while I love my kit and I’m very proud of my kit, I will 100% admit utilization is very very very low, and it probably un-necssary.​
 
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new plug adatper - NEMA 10-50

here is the NEMA 10-50 to 6-50 adapter on amazon $39

https://smile.amazon.com/NEMA-10-50P...217743&sr=8-10

in 7 years I’ve never encountered 10-50 plug on the west coast of the US…but this would work for any EVSE with 6-50 plug adatper - and no special instructions because the amps are the same - this is the simplest of adatpers.

I’m not recomending it - but it’s a plug type that was not previously covered...listed here for completeness.
 
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Porsche Taycan EV Roadwarrior adapters “kit” Screen Shot 2020-06-03 at 2.34.00 PM
Sponsored

 
 




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