Elon Musk informed Norwegian officials that Tesla plans to open its supercharger network to other electric cars in September of 2022.
You might worry that millions of other electric cars are going to start clogging up the Supercharger sites here in the US. Don’t worry yet.
First of all, Tesla has sold most of the electric cars that can accommodate D/C fast chargers anyway. And secondly, it’s not anywhere near as easy in the US. In Europe, all the Teslas are equipped with a CCS charging port.
So the Superchargers in Europe are already physically compatible with other brands of electric cars in Europe. I’m confident that Tesla will make sure that they’re adequately compensated for charging the other cars so that the income can be applied to increasing the number of Superchargers and maintaining the ones already in service.
Here in the US, Teslas use the proprietary Tesla connector for home charging and supercharging. So far, no one makes an adapter capable of allowing a Tesla Supercharger to charge a car with a CCS or CHADEMO D/C fast charger. There’s no point in making one since a Tesla Supercharger will refuse to charge any car that’s not on its own network. That also goes for wrecked Teslas that have been rebuilt. Once a Tesla is marked as no longer in service, it’s deleted from the Tesla network, and Superchargers won’t recognize it or charge it up. You can use level two charging on a wrecked and rebuilt Tesla, but a Tesla loses a lot of its utility if you can’t supercharge it.
Conversely, Tesla sometimes sells an adapter that allows you to use a CHADEMO D/C fast charger to charge up a Tesla. I say sometimes because I tried to buy one from the Tesla store earlier today. I was told that it’s out of stock, but that they’ll email me if they get any more in stock. It’s a bit pricey, but considering that it transmits a lot of electric current and that it has to work in all kinds of weather, heat, rain, snow, ice, it’s understandable that it will be costly. There may come a time when I’m low on electrons and closer to an Electrify America car charging site than to a Tesla Supercharger. So I want to have one of these adapters in my trunk. Oddly, the Tesla store does sell two rather expensive Tesla to J1772 adapters even though a less expensive one comes included with each Tesla. Those adapters work only with level 2 chargers.
Looking toward the future, I can see a possibility that Tesla may want to open up the United States Supercharger network to other electric vehicles, but they’ll have to either sell adapters themselves or license the patent for the proprietary Tesla adapter Supercharger system so that other companies can make the adapter. The adapters would need to connect a Tesla Supercharger to a CHADEMO or CCS equipped automobile. There would need to be appropriate compensation to Tesla so that the network could keep growing and continue supplying electricity.
Frankly, I look forward to the day when there are plenty of places where electric cars can recharge at D/C fast chargers, and all cars can use all recharging stations.
Henry Farkas is a retired country doctor. He bought his Tesla Model 3 in the middle of the pandemic.
Tesla's Model Y has won U.S. News 'Best Luxury Electric SUV' award. U.S. News writes "Despite the onslaught of
new competitors, the Tesla Model Y is one of the most capable and well-rounded luxury electric SUVs that you can
buy at the moment," U.S. News added, “If you’re in the market, this is an option that’s well-worth a test
drive.”
The Model Y was first delivered to owners in early 2020 and was the automaker’s second mass-market vehicle after
the Model 3. The Model Y effectively expanded Tesla’s product line to include a new body style. Tesla’s Model Y
has rapidly become the company's best-selling vehicle, despite being more expensive than the Model 3. This
speaks to the prominence of the Model Y, dominating the widely-popular crossover SUV sector.
Tesla's Model Y starts at $62,990, making it much more appealing to mass markets than the Model X which starts at
$114,990. Tesla's Model X has been offered for seven years, but is still only produced for sentimental reasons,
according to CEO Elon Musk.
U.S. News highlights that, while the Model Y offers less cargo and utility room than the Model X, it still
includes many of the same tech features and comparable performance. A fully enhanced Model Y has a 0 to 60 MPH
of just 3.5 seconds while still having over 300 miles of range and a 155 MPH top speed.
It's no surprise that the Model Y was the recipient of the U.S. News ‘Best Luxury Electric SUV’ award as it
topped the list of best-selling EVs in the US in Q1 2022. In Q1 2022, U.S. EV sales were up 60% year-over-year,
demonstrating the continued shift away from internal combustion engine vehicles.
Tesla took first, second and third place with an impressive 52,051 registered units for the Model Y, and 47,682
registered units of the Model 3. These two models alone make up the bulk of the entire U.S. EV market. Tesla
also achieved third place with 9,250 registrations of the Model S and seventh place is the Tesla Model X with
4,899 registrations. Tesla remains the leader in EV sales, consistently selling a number of vehicles
unattainable to competitors.
You can add a fifth Quick Control icon to the Tesla app
Tesla completely redesigned their app with version 4.0 last year. Since then Tesla has been quickly iterating on its features with
updates and new features coming every few weeks.
With version 4.3 of the
Tesla app, Tesla added the ability to customize the Quick Control buttons on the main screen.
You can add up to four buttons, but with this little trick, you can also add a fifth icon.
Add a Fifth Icon to the Tesla App
To add a fifth icon start by long-pressing the row of icons to bring up an editing screen to sort or replace
those icons with the ones you use most frequently.
Now here is where the fun starts because it will take a little manual dexterity to add the additional icon
but when you do it correctly your sense of accomplishment will out weight your initial frustration.
Here is the trick:
With your right thumb, pick up one of the available icons and drag it over the fourth icon (in the screen
above it is the Front Trunk icon), but do not release it.
While keeping your right thumb held down, use your thumb on your left hand to press on the 1st icon (in the
screen above it is the HVAC icon), and drag it to the second icon (the Defrost icon). The icon you have
brought up will move offscreen to the right into the invisible fifth spot.
Release both fingers simultaneously and VIOLA a fifth icon will magically appear.
Have fun mixing and matching your icons as your needs change. You can update the icon bar as often as needed.
Video
Tesla used to allow users to continue to add an unlimited amount of icons, but it wasn't a great experience
so the total number of icons is now limited to five.
Additional Tips
There are several other useful bits of information about the Tesla app that could make it more useful.
For example, you can tap the battery icon at the top of the screen to access charging information. This
brings up the same information as tapping on the Charge Quick Control icon.
If you prefer tapping the battery icon, you can remove the Charge icon from the Quick Controls area, allowing
you to free up a spot, essentially giving you an extra Quick Control slot.
Wake Up Your Vehicle Quicker
When using the app most commands are executed through the vehicle's internet connection, which requires your
vehicle to be awake.
Waiting for your vehicle to wake up could sometimes take up to a minute, but there is a way to
speed it up if you're within Bluetooth distance (around 30 feet).
Some commands are sent via Bluetooth, which allows them to be completed even if the vehicle is asleep. This
includes locking and unlocking the doors.
When completing one of these commands, your Tesla starts to turn on almost immediately.
If you're waiting for your vehicle to turn on, you can send a command to lock/unlock your vehicle and your
vehicle should wake up quicker than just waiting.
Widget
If you've added a fifth icon to your Quick Controls and use the Tesla app widget, then the widget will now
display all five icons as well.
No Need to Wait
With the introduction of the Tesla app version 4.0 last year, Tesla quietly rolled out a feature that changes
the way you use the app.
Previously, you needed to open the Tesla app, wait for your vehicle to wake up, and then you could send a
command to the car, such as using turning on the climate system or using HomeLink.
However, now you can simply open the app, tap your desired function (it'll show a spinning circle) and you
can quit the app.
Instead of the command going directly to your car, it will now be sent to Tesla. Tesla's servers will be the
ones who wait for your vehicle to wake up, and when it does, Tesla will execute the command.
If for some reason Tesla isn't able to wake up your vehicle due to a poor connection or another error, then
you'll receive a notification saying the command failed.
This makes turning on the HVAC system a much more enjoyable experience.
TeslaFi is a service that logs your drives and charging sessions so that you can later refer back to them. We highly recommend checking them out if you use your car for business trips and would like to keep track of reimbursements, if you like to see how much you spend on charging or if you just love statistics. View their about us page and see everything they have to offer!
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