Supercharging with a trailer

[Camper Van Someren]

I’ve noticed that in most cases Teslas need to back in to superchargers because the port is in the back and the cord is very short.
The CT appears to also have the port in the back which will be problematic if it is towing a trailer.
Pull-through superchargers would be really nice but I don’t see this happening any time soon since Tesla has optimized space by placing them on the outside of parking lots.
An extension cord might work, but I assume Tesla designed the short cords to keep resistance low, and an extension might cause overheating or voltage drop.
Easiest would be for Tesla to redesign and place the port on the front of the truck, so that owners could pull forward into the supercharger, then back up with the trailer.
Thoughts?

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[Saskateam]

With air suspension it makes disconnect and reconnect fairly painless. Drop the air, back into trailer and raise air. Trailer picks up and then just lift the jack connect wires and close the hitch. To disconnect the trailer put jack down, disconnect and drop air to pull away.

On highway charging stations with space, I think they are doing pull through charging stations.

 

[Camper Van Someren]

With air suspension it makes disconnect and reconnect fairly painless. Drop the air, back into trailer and raise air. Trailer picks up and then just lift the jack connect wires and close the hitch. To disconnect the trailer put jack down, disconnect and drop air to pull away.

On highway charging stations with space, I think they are doing pull through charging stations.

I didn’t think of how air suspension helps with disconnect etc, but that is still a fairly big pain to have to disconnect every time you need to charge. That takes a 30-min stop and makes it close to an hour. I’d definitely appreciate it if they would add a charging port near the front that could accommodate pull-forward supercharging.
Anybody who is on twitter want to hit up Elon and ask if we’re gonna need to disconnect trailers to supercharge?

 

[Saskateam]

A lot of the charging stations are also congested making backing up difficult. I use air dump on a semi for trailer hookup and disconnect. Takes about 5 minutes to drop or pick up a trailer.

 

[Camper Van Someren]

5 minutes sounds pretty good but you also have to find a place in that congested charging station to leave the trailer while you charge.
Also I will be doing this alone so they had better have multiple camera angles showing the hitch to help me line it up...

 

[ReddykwRun]

5 minutes sounds pretty good but you also have to find a place in that congested charging station to leave the trailer while you charge.
Also I will be doing this alone so they had better have multiple camera angles showing the hitch to help me line it up...

Please see: Norway Supercharging V3 Trailer Friendly

https://www.cybertruckownersclub.com/forum/threads/norway-super-charger-v3-trailer-friendly.1266/

This style of SC allows you to pull through like at a gas station and stop where it matches up even while pulling a trailer. I would hope that they will be installed here in the states as well.

 

[isync]

OP has valid concern. I tow a few times per year helping family members move, ranging from 250 to 350miles each way. I can't ditch my truck with CT that need trailer removed before SC. Some may said disconnec/reconnnect trailer is easy and quick, but it's just not my thing. I don't want to touch that once it got hook up by uhaul guys. Elon needs to figure out a way to solve this or his plan to over take F150 as work truck of choice will go nowhere.

 

[Team Platypus Deathmatch]

Most gas stations are setup to drive through them. I think chargers are pull-in/back-up because there is a longer waiting time to charge compared to fueling ICE at the moment, and you are able to charge more vehicles with a smaller footprint of space available. Larger stations will probably start to offer pull-through charging lanes, especially once the Tesla Semi and Cybertruck deliveries start to pickup.

 

[C T Rick]

Isn’t the typical charge port a 4 wire connection? How difficult or involved to have a front and rear port built into the ct?

I’m more familiar with the bmw i3 and being a short vehicle, I can reach the charge Port with the cord either pulling up from the front or rear.

What’s the typical length of a charging cord? Or a supercharger cord?
Is there such a thing as an extension cord that can be carried in the truck?

Costco who’s probably the largest volume gas station in the country has extended fuel hoses to allow for pulling up on either side and still reach. Yes, it’s a fuel and vapor hose, not electrical, but that’s where Larger wire gauge Comes in?

Rick

 

[ldjessee]

The cables are not long and do not have any reel or other feature like hoses for liquid fuel (though I am not sure why not, it has worked for even the heavier, longer hoses at semi-diesel pumps).

https://468y981o84o43v2wo2600a0gcj-...esla-Supercharger-2-Jeff-Cooper-CC-BY-2.0.jpg

 

[ajdelange]

I'm guessing the hoses are 7' long. A V3 running at its maximum of 250 kW is delivering 625 amperes. The square of that is 390625 A^2. No. 4 copper wire is 0.2" in diameter and has a resistivity of 4.7421 Ω•m so that a loop of 10 feet would present resistance of 0.0035 Ω and dissipate 1.367 kW. That's equivalent to 4665 BTU/h which means about .4 of a ton of chilling would be needed to dispose of it and keep cable temperature manageable (the V3 cables are liquid cooled). Obviously doubling the length of the cable would double the amount of copper in the cable thus increasing its cost, double the cooling requirement, double the energy lost. Another factor is that 28' of No 4 is worth over $20 and is thus, believe it or not, a temptation for thieves.

Because of this I think that if extension cords are required they are going to have to be carried by the CT owner and they are going to be a sight to see as they will have to be appreciably bigger than No. 4 as I don't see them being liquid cooled.

 

[Crissa]

...double the cooling requirement...

It would more than double it, because it's not shedding heat effectively down its length like an extension cord normally does.

But yes, longer high power charging invites lots of problems!

-Crissa

 

[Luke42]

Larger stations will probably start to offer pull-through charging lanes, especially once the Tesla Semi and Cybertruck deliveries start to pickup.

I don't expect Tesla Semi folks to use the same superchargers as personal vehicles.

Something which looks a lot more like a conventional truck stop would likely work better for them.

I used to drive a Volkswagen Jetta TDI, and I occasionally had to fuel at truck stops. It takes longer to fuel an 18-wheeler than you'd think, because they often have multiple large tanks. (Tanks on both sides, plus a reefer tank.) The fueling stalls are outfitted with pumps on both sides, and the pace is just different (more deliberate and businesslike).

It's easy to imagine that a truckstop for Tesla Semis would look a lot like a conventional truckstop layout-wise, with a different balance of chargers and parking. That's a very different setup from a regular supercharger, which is built around the needs of travelers in personal vehicles.

 

[ajdelange]

I think there will be "truck stops" for the Semi's where you will not be able to charge your S or X or 3 or Y but I think that maybe, if Tesla does indeed use the dual charge port configuration on them, may be accessible to the CT (or, perhaps, at least the TriMotor).

OTOH Semi's do, and I expect will continue, to use regular Super Charger stations as they do now.

 

[Crissa]

When traveling, I usually stop at truck stops to refuel, honestly. They tend to have cheaper fuel and showers and 24hrs without going into an urban core and seeking out the Safeway or Costco whatever cheap local gas which usually isn't 24hrs.

-Crissa