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[Richard230]

Attached is page one of the article.

[Richard230]

Here is page 2.

[DonTom]

Tesla doesn't seem to have much issue with this. When I was charging here (Tesla Supercharger with Magic Dock--now four in CA) there was a Tesla charger repair man there. He didn't know or need to know much about electronics and such. He got an alarm at this house to tell him the charger cable was leaking coolant. He showed up in a Tesla Model 3 (like mine), not a van. But his car had a lot of tools as well as the cable.


I BSed with the guy the entire time I was charging my 2020 Esse Esse 9.  I got to see the inside of the Tesla V4 charger, the coolant bottle inside that feeds the coolant down the charging cable. There isn't much inside these V4 Tesla Superchargers. They do not look complicated inside. Just the HV buss and the coolant and little else.


Anyway, it looked like repairing Tesla Superchargers is a job almost anybody can do. Most of their problems are just the cables--as they get moved around a lot. And they are not all that difficult to replace.


IMO, Tesla Superchargers were very well thought out in their design. No screens, no switches or buttons(other than the one on the handle that opens the Tesla Charge door via wireless). Just plug in and walk away.


However, it is not so easy for the non-Teslas that must use the Tesla App.  Not too bad for me as I already have the account setup because of owning a Tesla.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Stonewolf]

All the real stuff is in a cabinet nearby, the "charger" is just the dispenser.

I respectfully disagree about the design of Superchargers, they tie you into accounts, relationships, and external control mechanisms. I don't want an app or an ID in my vehicle that links to an account I have to set up, or add payment details to or agree to a terms and conditions document deliberately designed to be impenetrable to me. I show up, preauth with my credit card, plug in, and when I'm done it settles the payment. Europe is moving towards mandated at-terminal credit card acceptance without prior relationship and without use of an external control device and that is 100% the way to go.

[DonTom]

All the real stuff is in a cabinet nearby, the "charger" is just the dispenser.

Yes, I realize that. But I have never seen inside any of those. I think almost all charger issues are in the cable. If not Tesla, add the screen, credit card readers, and other stuff commonly giving issues.

I respectfully disagree about the design of Superchargers, they tie you into accounts, relationships, and external control mechanisms. I don't want an app or an ID in my vehicle that links to an account I have to set up, or add payment details to or agree to a terms and conditions document deliberately designed to be impenetrable to me. I show up, preauth with my credit card, plug in, and when I'm done it settles the payment. Europe is moving towards mandated at-terminal credit card acceptance without prior relationship and without use of an external control device and that is 100% the way to go.

For the USA, there are no chargers that are more reliable than Tesla. Also, none that are easier to use.


Broken credit card readers are very common in the USA. And ChargePoints do not accept credit cards, just their own RFID card. I prefer this to the other methods.  The only method I do not care for is using a Smartphone to activate a charger, as I normally have mine off and it takes quite a while just to boot the thing up.


-Don-  Auburn, CA

[Specter]

The two biggest failure points on chargers are The cables, they get trashed, cut, stolen, etc and the rectifier packs inside them, or the DC modules as they are called in other industrys.  Those run at  pretty much 100 percent load all the time and take a beating, BUT they for the most part, are plug and play, the card pops, a red light comes on, the tech removes the card, and plugs a brand new one in.  The old card, not sure if they refurb them or not, I have seen them have a core charge and then no core so ::shrug::

Most of the damage to the cards is heat generated, an SCR gets hot and cooks a spot, burns it, ok that can take the card out for good, the other common fault is a cap blowing. those can be replaced fairly easily.

The third, and not too common fault is fod.  Water gets in and shorts shit, the  mud daubers nest in the vent holes, and/or drop dirt on shit in there which bridges something short, fire ants dig in, and eventually expand their mount phase to phase, stuff like that.   Let's not forget the rattlers and swingers either (scorpions).

Credit card readers can be an issue, Jim Bob gets  tired of his card being declined so drop kicks it,  touch screens can get punched out, and network issues.

This stuff is not TOO expensive to fix, but the problem is, uncle sam gave them money to put it in, NOT to maintain it, so when it does break, it's on the owner to fix, no incentives there, and most of them, have not got the thing paid off to begin with, now it wants another 3 or 4 K to fix?  yah no thanks.


In reality, the chargers really are not that much more complicated than a fork truck charger, except for the crude comms they have for CCS, (just another card to swap) and of course the higher voltages on the DC side, but you are already playing with 480 on the AC side so not much difference really.