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Charging your Bolt on Tesla destination chargers

3920 Views 85 Replies 28 Participants Last post by  Fjpod, 
F
Anyone have experience with this? Does it work? Is it worth the investment in an adapter?
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FTAFreedom
It's worth it if you travel away from home a lot. I have one and have used it maybe 3 times in the last year. I think it's worth it.
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T
Yes, they work.
Worth it? Look at Plugshare for the areas you travel and see if there are J1772 locations that are convenient for you. Then look for "Tesla" charging stations which are destination chargers. When I did this, there was always a J1772 I could use, usually co-located with a Tesla destination charger. So it's not worth it to me.
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ARob
Yes, it works. Is it worth the cost of an adapter? Debatable.

Hotels with Destination chargers are more common than J1772, so if you prefer overnight top offs on the go, the adapter is probably worthwhile.

In North America, there are currently 57,327 sites with 122,533 J1772 plugs, while only 4,957 sites with 11,878 Tesla L2 plugs according to Alternative Fuels Data Center. So chances are very high J plugs are available wherever you go. Recently, there was an article about a company investing heavily in J1772 plugs for hotels across the continent, so the Tesla hotel advantage isn't likely to last long. Further, the number of Tesla Destination chargers have actually dropped over the last few years, not by large numbers, but they aren't installing as many as in the past.

The most compelling reason seems to be people who frequently visit workplaces or hotels with Tesla Destination chargers. My advice is to use Plugshare to scan the locations and routes you might use in the future and determine if there really is a need.
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Y
At L2's, people don't hang around, ready to move their cars out of the charging spot as soon as their car is done. They may be at dinner, at the pool, sleeping, etc., etc.
This is from past experience.
You get to the hotel, the J1772 is taken but the Tesla destination charger is free.
Can you slot in to use the destination charger if you don't have an adapter?
I could because I had the adapter.
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Coastal_Cruiser
Is it worth it?

Well let's put it this way. If having the adapter gets you out a charging jam ONE time... it's worth it.

(and the price has come down $100 since I bought mine in 2019)

www.ebay.com

TeslaTap 50AMP - HIGH POWER - Tesla compatible J1772 adapter - MADE IN USA | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for TeslaTap 50AMP - HIGH POWER - Tesla compatible J1772 adapter - MADE IN USA at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
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F
Coastal_Cruiser said:
Is it worth it?

Well let's put it this way. If having the adapter gets you out a charging jam ONE time... it's worth it.
Click to expand...
Well said.
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ARob
Coastal_Cruiser said:
Well let's put it this way. If having the adapter gets you out a charging jam ONE time... it's worth it.
Click to expand...
A little napkin math. $150 for the adapter purchase means you pay $150 for the one time benefit?

Not trying to talk anyone out of buying an adapter, I own a Tesla Tap myself. But in 5+ years, I have used it 5 times, and one of those was to test it. The times I did use it were overnight top offs at hotels on trips and the benefit was clearly worthwhile. I didn't bother buying one until we retired and started doing road trips. So for me, the benefit has cost me about $37.50 per charging session. Sure, that number will go down over time, but it is worth considering the likelihood of needing the adapter before spending that kind of money.

Five years ago, the math was quite different, these adapters were $250 or so, and the number of J1772 plugs in the wild was a fraction of what is currently available. Back then, the benefit was much clearer, as were plug adapters for mobile charging cords to allow you to plug in at RV parks.

OP simply asked does it work and is it worth the investment. The answer is... it depends.
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Tazbeaux
I bought one. May never use it but glad I have it. When I bought my Bolt I had a 750 mile drive to get it home. I had to travel through an area where chargers were few and far between. My only option was a hotel with chargers where I planned to spend the night. The hotel had 2 vacant Tesla destination chargers and 2 J1772 plugs. One of the J1772 plugs was ICEd, if the other had been in use I would have been screwed. I bought my adapter ASAP when I arrived home.
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tagon1882
Rather have it and not need it than need it and not have it.
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gasbandit
I bought one for $130 and am glad it's in my trunk, just in case. Haven't had to use it yet. Though everybody should be saying whenever possible that it DOES NOT WORK ON SUPERCHARGERS. Some people might assume otherwise.
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jefro
Yes, worked perfectly.

Like a spare tire or cell phone or can of tire goo, you carry it until you need it.
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jefro said:
Yes, worked perfectly.

Like a spare tire or cell phone or can of tire goo, you carry it until you need it.
Click to expand...
LOL... while we are speaking of tires, they say the 2023 tires are "self-sealing".
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a priori
Coastal_Cruiser said:
Is it worth it?

Well let's put it this way. If having the adapter gets you out a charging jam ONE time... it's worth it.

(and the price has come down $100 since I bought mine in 2019)

www.ebay.com

TeslaTap 50AMP - HIGH POWER - Tesla compatible J1772 adapter - MADE IN USA | eBay

Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for TeslaTap 50AMP - HIGH POWER - Tesla compatible J1772 adapter - MADE IN USA at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products!
www.ebay.com
Click to expand...
Yes. Exactly.

I doubt I ever will recoup the $130 I spent, as each charge I get at a hotel or restaurant saves me between $1.50 and $4.00 in electrical costs. In fact, I've given a tip larger than the value of the charge to a hotel valet who set it up for me. The real value is in knowing I can charge at so many more places. It makes life easier and takes away some of the stress of wondering where to charge and whether it will take a lot of time.

To me, it is "worth" it for peace of mind and time gained.

I might as well as if the extra I paid for the S&S or color choice was worth it. To me it is, but to someone else it isn't. I've gained something I sought and paid money for it. (And I paid tens of thousands of dollars less than if I bought an Ioniq 5, EV6, Tesla, etc.
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M
I bought the Lectron 48 Amp adapter and have used it 3 times. But the beauty is I got the Tesla mobile evse with both 5-15 and 14-50 pigtails for $200 and that is my portable unit for travel, the 14-50 adapter draws a non-adjustable 32 Amps.

Glad I got the Lectron Tesla adapter.
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S
For us, one benefit is planning a DCFC stop along our monthly trip, which has no backup other than hotel Telsa L2 within 45 miles.

Without the Tesla adapter, we would need to arrive with >20% more SOC, just in case the DCFC fails. With the adapter, we can roll in on fumes, and if the DCFC fails, we overnight charge.

So it saves us about 15 minutes of charging per month.
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GregBrew
Fjpod said:
LOL... while we are speaking of tires, they say the 2023 tires are "self-sealing".
Click to expand...
Same as the other years. The OEMs were never called "run-flats", because they never have been.
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Fjpod said:
LOL... while we are speaking of tires, they say the 2023 tires are "self-sealing".
Click to expand...
Yes, as Greg points out, they are NOT "run-flats" but as someone who was exceedingly unlucky with nails and screws, the "self sealing" Michelins allowed me to deal with replacement/repair on my time schedule, not having a spare tire present.

I replaced them all in my 2019 with "self-sealing" tires. The dealer originally fixed it and then backed off ever fixing them thereafter.

I have now found a tire shop that will "plug" them properly and I have to head over there one of these days, as I have a "slow leak" in my right front tire that I have "topped off" with air now twice.
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jefro
As mentioned above, your travels will dictate if you might need it and if you might want to use it. Hotel stays may be the biggest draw. Second may be places where you want to stay for an hour or more.
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SpicyBolt
We just came back from a one week road trip, and used our new TeslaTap Mini (Made in USA version), at the last two hotels. The Mini was expensive at about $300 with shipping and tax. Will I ever get my money back in free charging? Nope! Highly unlikely. Sometimes I just like nice things, and it fits easily in the center console in a little cosmetics bag.

Unlike other adapters TeslaTaps will even work at gen 3 Destination Chargers that are set to charge only Teslas. David Mahlmeister of TeslaTap installed a PCB to allow it to work.
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