If you are looking to buy yourself a Tesla soon, you might be wondering if it comes with its own charger?
After all, you will need to charge your Tesla several times a week or perhaps even daily. Depending on how far your commute is, of course.
So, does your Tesla come with a charger?
The short answer is:
No. Teslas do not come with a charger when you buy them.
They do, however, come with a mobile connector to help you charge your electric vehicle almost anywhere there is an electric outlet.
The mobile connector kit from Tesla comes with the following cables to give you some flexibility with charging.
- Adapter for standard 120 volt household outlets (NEMA 5-15)
- Adapter for public charging stations (SAE J1772)
The challenge is, however, that charging at home with a standard 120V wall plug will only give you so-called “Level 1” charging. This will charge your Tesla very slowly. It depends on your Tesla model, but you could only receive 2-4 miles of charge per hour by just plugging into the standard 110/120V connector in your garage, for example.
If you have a short commute or only use your EV for short trips, this is fine. However, most of you will need more I am sure.
What you really need is a Home Wall Connector from Tesla.
Get A Home Wall Connector
A Tesla Home Wall Connector will boost your charging rate significantly. It depends on where you live and how your home is wired, but the following chart from Tesla will give you a good idea of what kinds of charge rates you can get.
Just to give you an example, you can get anywhere from 8-30 miles per hour on a Tesla Model 3.
| Wall Connector Technical details | Charge Speed Max miles of range per hour of charge | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Circuit breaker (amps) | Maximum output (amps) | Power at 240 volts (kilowatt) | Model S (mph) | Model 3* (mph) | Model X (mph) | Model Y (mph) |
| 60 | 48 | 11.5 kW | 34 | 44 | 30 | 42 |
| 50 | 40 | 9.6 kW | 29 | 37 | 25 | 36 |
| 40 | 32 | 7.7 kW | 23 | 30 | 20 | 29 |
| 30 | 24 | 5.7 kW | 17 | 22 | 14 | 21 |
| 20 | 16 | 3.8 kW | 11 | 15 | 8 | 14 |
| 15 | 12 | 2.8 kW | 7 | 11 | 5 | 10 |
Sure, a wall connector along with the work to install it will set you back something in the ballpark of a few thousand bucks. But, if you want to make the most of charging at home, one of the huge benefits of owning an electric car, it is worth the cost.
Tesla Superchargers
Of course, if you really want to boost your Tesla battery in the shortest amount of time possible then a Tesla Supercharger makes sense.
This will cost you more than charging at home in most cases, but if you are going on a long trip or need to charge along the way, then Tesla’s network of chargers is ideal.
You don’t need a cable to charge there because each supercharge comes with one.
