A video of a Ford Mustang Mach-E at a Tesla Supercharging station in the U.S. was recently sent to our mailbox with a question of what is happening here?
We know that Tesla has a small pilot project to open Superchargers for non-Tesla EVs, but it’s only in the Netherlands and only a small number of stations, where the company already retrofitted Supercharging stalls with the CCS Combo 2 plugs.
But a Mach-E, connected to a Supercharger in the U.S.?
“New one for me–this is a brand new Supercharger in Franklin, MA, just powered up this week and is not yet even active on the Tesla website. I got a charge this weekend and lo and behold, a Ford Mach-E was charging there–ever seen this? I wouldn’t believe it either so I shot a photo and a few seconds of video.”
Well, let’s take a look. The charging stall appears to be a standard Supercharging stall, with Tesla’s proprietary plug (so no CCS1 plug compatible with the Mach-E). Then, there is an adapter… however, not to CCS1 plug, but to SAE J1772 AC plug, which means that it’s already wrong. You can’t really charge like that – AC from a DC fast charger.
The confirmation that charging is not happening can be seen in the charging light – it isn’t blinking.
The answer is that someone is pulling a prank, or maybe seriously wanted to see whether a Tesla to SAE J1772 adapter (envisioned for AC charging) will allow charging from DC.
It might be something like the Lectron – Tesla to J1772 Adapter – offered for about $160 or so. It can be used if someone would like to charge non-Tesla EVs using a Tesla Wall Connector (AC).
If that would be the case, please check our very own Tom Moloughney’s video about EV charging and a presentation of the Tesla to SAE J1772 adapter here.
As of now, Tesla is not yet offering Supercharging for non-Tesla EVs with CCS Combo 1 inlet. By the way, we are also waiting for the launch of the new adapter to charge Tesla cars at CCS1 chargers (see test results in South Korea here, but the imported adapter does not work in the U.S.).
In a follow-up email, we received some additional info:
“Some folks asked me if I could confirm that it was drawing current, but since it wasn’t my car I didn’t want to peer in. But I can say that the station was live as I drew a charge on my Tesla Model 3.”
Hat Tip to Ted!!!
