Jym: instead of a second connector, I went with the Tesla WC. Yes, it cost a couple of hundred more, but it can charge faster if I ever need it. Plus, the Tesla WC can talk to a second WC, should you become a multi-TSLA family, and want to charge both on the same circuit.
We only had a 120 v plug in our garage and it was the Ground Fault main for the house, which I did not want to use for overnight charging. Since I had to have an electrician come out anyway, I had him install a 60 amp circuit and cabling. The labor was the same as a 50 amp, just a few extra dollars for heavier gauge wire.
We only have a 100 amp circuit panel in the house, so the electrician setup a sub-panel for the car. No biggie, since the car charges at night, when we won’t be cooking or doing laundry, and the a/c is rarely on. A sub-panel was about half the cost of an upgrade to 240 which would have require a new meter from SoCal Edison.
But one thing to consider is a separate meter for the car alone. In SoCal, that means charging at 8 cents a KwH. If you have a long commute, the extra install expense might be worth it. (I have a short commute, so the payback was in many years.)
btw: technically, its 120 volt and 240 volt, but many of us old fogeys are still on 110/220.
fwiw: what I’ve read on the Tesla blog is to make sure that you get a heavy duty 14-50 receptacle (the female for plug in) if you go that route. A heavy duty receptacle is designed for plug in-plug out, unlike a standard dryer plug which has plug-in plug out once a decade.
Thanks @bluebayou
I had a typo above (was confirming 220 vs 240).
Its pretty unlikely we will be a 2 tesla family! And thanks for the head’s up about the heavy duty receptacle. My thought was to have the second connector bundle at home and to leave it permanently plugged into the wall, just using the charger part for the car, and then using the docking thing when not in use.
My commute is short. Is the speed of the WC really that much better to spend the extra $200?
For most people, probably not. If I was to do it over again – since I just go laid off, and may now be retired – I would have have just used the charging cable that comes with the car.
We got the Tesla wall charger not realizing one came with the car. But, kind of happy we did. The extra connection we carry in the trunk in case we need it for travel.
Tesla did a poor job staying in touch with their deposit holders, imo. Yes they have their website that you can log in on or read general email updates that were sent occasionally, but it wouldn’t have killed them to send more personal email blasts to their half million customers waiting more frequently. I almost felt like they WANTED people to drop off the wait list… and acted accordingly.
Only $1,000 (compared with $5,000 for S and X back in the day). And it is fully refundable if for any reason the person decides they don’t want to order the car.
They are making great progress (up to 3500 units/week, about 6 months behind the original, optimistic schedule), but those darn robots are hard to train…it’s almost like they have a mind of tier own.
Pulled the plug and placed the order the other day. additional $2500 deposit (non-refundable). Delivery expected in 3-6 weeks. Was surprised to see they take trade-ins. Might consider it.
Yay!!! Yes they do take tradeins. We gave our old Lexus as a gift to our “adopted” young athlete family, so can’t tell anything about trade in experience. Enjoy the $7500 tax credit! Welcome to the Teslahead society.
The big Q is: AWD or not, and what color?!
If you don’t get a 220 outlet installed by then, Teslas charge just fine from a regular 16 amp, 110V circuit. Just a bit slower.
