As of Wednesday, GM Ultium EV owners across America will be able to cop an adapter and charge up on the go using a network of more than 17,800 Tesla Superchargers. No more constantly checking PlugShare to see if a CCS station is down, just roll up, plug in, and go. However, this great news comes with a few caveats, including the fact that General Motors electric vehicle owners will have to fork over more cash that Ford owners did when the Blue Oval rolled out Supercharger access.
That’s because instead of shipping free adapters to customers, GM is selling its adapter for $225. Yep, that’s $225 if you want to charge your GM EV on Tesla’s Supercharger network before you even pay for the charging itself. While it’s understandable that these adapters can’t be subsidized forever, a little courtesy would be nice, especially when you consider how GM really wants you to use it.
If you’re thinking that you can find an adapter cheaper than that, you’d be right. For instance, A2Z EV sells an adapter for $197, and Lectron sells an adapter for $199.99, both promising useful savings over GM’s own adapter, even if they do look like they could be slightly bulkier at first glance.
However, you might want to think twice before ordering. That’s because GM makes it abundantly clear that if you don’t use the company’s NACS adapter, your battery warranty could go up in smoke. As per the automaker:
GM strongly advises that customers use a GM-approved NACS DC adapter for charging on the Tesla Supercharger Network, which has been specifically designed to protect GM EV batteries while charging. Customers who leverage an adapter which is not sold or provided by GM could potentially damage the EV’s battery which could potentially void portions of the vehicle’s limited warranty.
On the one hand, substandard adapters are something to look out for. On the other, not being able to use a quality third-party adaptor with integrated temperature sensors and overheat protection out of warranty fears seems absolutely insane, especially if availability of GM’s own adapter is limited for whatever reason, including if you damaged your unit by leaving both it and a bowling ball loose in the trunk. Hey, Looney Tunes situations happen sometimes.
Still, assuming you do fork over the $225 for the adapter, you’ll first need to download an app specific to your model of car, either myChevy, myGMC, or myCadillac. Then you’ll need to set up the charging section of the app with your credit card information, and then you’ll be able to plug in the adapter and charge at V3 and V4 Tesla Supercharger stations.
While it’s great news that GM’s Ultium EVs can now be charged at Tesla stations, the stipulations around using only GM’s adapter seem insane. Much like how smartphones have approved third-party accessories, developing a list of approved third-party charging adapters would go a long way toward easing access.
(Photo credits: Chevrolet, GMC, Cadillac)
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I trust Lectron more than I do Ford, GM, etc.
This is one of those things I wouldn’t trust to some random-name-generated Chinese brand to save a few bucks. This has to deal with a lot of power operating under all kinds of environmental conditions with a proprietary plug design (I imagine) and being a large liability potential in the event of failure to trust to someone looking to save costs anyway they can. With so little accountability for these 3rd parties and no practical way to vet every one of them, it makes perfect sense. Yeah, maybe they could look to approve a few specific vendors (that might not really end up all that much cheaper after all the approval requirements), but it’s ultimately Tesla’s call as it’s their stations and I don’t see why they’d have any interest in assisting here. I wouldn’t if I were them.
Agreed. Like how that one Google engineer bought up a bunch of USB-C cables, ran a bunch of tests, and showed that most of the cables he bought technically didn’t meet USB-C spec and ran the risk of damaging your phone.
I actually side with GM on this one, though a certification program would be welcomed.
Yes but it was at the start of the USBC cable rolled out. Eventually all the manufacturers figured out where the correct corners to be cut and it became a big nothingburger. Same thing will happen with this, and / or less of a matter when cars uses NCAS from the factory.
Tend to agree. This is adding an additional set of contacts (resistance) into a circuit that is carrying several hundred amps. You need to do a lot of things right (materials, forces, alignment…) to make that connection properly. You also need to ensure that it can’t be removed under load. It is very easy to make a piece fit and look right for this job, but the severity of the consequences of doing it wrong justifies the caution. I’m confident that at some point there will be other certified adapters, but not worth taking the chance out of the gate.
Just going to point out that the only adapter GM offers for sale on their own accessories site at the moment is the Lectron Adapter. You can’t order Tesla’s adapter.
https://www.threads.net/@amg_wgn/post/DAEIDL3xZ0O
It’s not GM’s own adapter, it’s just the Tesla adapter from them. Ford, Rivian, and all others have this EXACT adapter supplied directly from Tesla.
Yes the one that is pictured here is a Magic Dock adapter that Tesla is selling to mfgs, however GM has said that they will be using multiple suppliers and apparently have a picture of the Lectron unit as one of the ones they will sell you.
I think it’s pretty simple…
GM is “advising” this. It “could” impact your warranty.
It’s an older article and not about car chargers… but I think the comparison is relavent:
MacBook Charger Teardown Highlights Dangers of Counterfeit Adapters – MacRumors
If you buy a crappy adapter that melts because it uses a wire gage inside that is too small to handle the current? That’s on you.
Agreed. I can definitely see rolling out an approved 3rd party program but if you plug some cheepo Amazon adapter in and it short circuits the car that doesn’t seem like something that would be covered by warranty. Honestly for $25 difference in price I’d go for the one that’s designed for my car and the charging network. You did just spend $60k on your car, why not another few bucks to know it’s connected correctly to hundreds of volts, amps etc
And from Wirecutter:
A few years ago, UL worked with Apple to test 400 randomly purchased chargers of unknown authenticity from around the world from brick-and-mortar stores, online retailers, and flea markets. “Of those 400, 99 percent of them failed the most basic electrical strength test,” Aguilar told us. “Even more alarming, 12 of them were so poorly designed and constructed that they posed a risk of lethal electrocution.”
But how many of those aftermarket cords had jackets made of biodegradable materials that looked like they lived with a heavy smoker for a decade by the time they were a month old and were disintegrating in a couple more months even when sitting in a stationary, environmentally controlled environment? While I don’t doubt the terrible quality of most cheap knockoffs, I find it amusing that Apple thinks they can use themselves as a standard when pointing out poor cables.
Honestly, if you hadn’t said this was Apple, I would have thought you were talking about Mercedes biodegradable wiring harness.
Happily not familiar with that! Apple cords are bad, but they’re cheap enough and pretty superficial (the newer cloth jackets are better—clearing a bar that’s a subterranean tree root—but still not quite 7-11 register doo dad quality).
I don’t know why people subject themselves to these abuses. Just don’t buy GM and you won’t have this conundrum. Its not like they make particularly excellent EVs.
I don’t think there’s a sales person in North America that will risk losing a sale for $225.
So it’s pretty easy: Include the cost of the adapter in the walk-away price of the car, or I walk away. Buyers forget they have the leverage here.
Sony having an easy time slanging optical drives for its PS5 pro at an additional fee. Pigeons are pigeons, they’ll do what they’re told.
I can put up with a lot of tech in the car that I don’t need/want. But I will hold out as long as possible against a vehicle that requires another app for me to use it or fuel it.
But it isn’t required, no one is making you use a Supercharger, you can swipe your credit card at some other DCFCs.
What fun on a road trip! Drive around to different charging stations to see which one will work for me!
Not trying to be a jerk. Just opting out of that additional little inconvenience in my life.
No need to drive around. If you’ve got a phone with a data connection you search for chargers from one of the brands that do take credit cards.
And swiping your credit card isn’t another data collection redundancy?
Your credit card is used by retailers to track your activity. They know exactly what you’ve purchased and your name, in other words enough data to sell to a 3rd party.
I know I’ve returned things to Home Depot w/o a receipt simply by giving them my credit card that they use to look up and see if said item was actually purchased with that credit card.
OEMs will use any excuse possible to deny warranty.
*Vehicle existing may potentially void warranty
It’s wild to me how app-centric EV’s in particular are.
Like, if the manufacturers want charging to catch on, then I should be able to walk up to a charger and swipe a credit card or walk into the station and say “I’d like 30 kilowatt-hours on station 4, please.”
(And yes, I’m aware that the nature of vehicle charging means that the amount of kwh that can be supplied per minute is going to vary depending on SoC, battery chemistry, battery temp, and a host of other factors, all of which should be described in the datalink layer in the supercharger).
You can do that with other companies DCFC it is just that Tesla didn’t originally design their superchargers to work with anything other than a Tesla. So they didn’t see the need to be able to pay any other way than through your CC on file with them.
I have a feeling that this is illegal, just like how GM can’t void your warranty for using a non-GM oil filter. There is a law on the books.
Which I think is why GM used the word “potentially” twice, they don’t have the legal standing but they do want to bully people.
Very common actually
Yeah, that’s the sense I get. They can’t extort you for more money just to keep your warranty.
I could be wrong about this, but I think warranty coverage can be denied if the non-OEM approved part actually causes the problem. So using a non-GM oil filter per se can’t legally void your warranty, but if the non-GM oil filter causes damage that damage is not covered by the warranty.
I presume this is why GM states that a non-approved adapter may void the battery warranty instead of will void warranty.
Happens in many industries.
It’s not.
What they are saying is that if your cheap Chinese adapter is responsible for breaking something they won’t cover it under warranty. That’s just common sense.
What isn’t allowed and what they aren’t saying is that use of that cheap adapter voids ALL warranties automatically. I think that is what you may be referring to.
!00%
When I was active in the Subaru scene the number of guys who would cite the Magnuson-Moss act chapter and verse, but without actually understanding what they’d read, was substantial. Like, dude, my guy: if your catless exhaust and free-flow intake screw up the AFR of your car because you were too cheap to tune it and the fact that you’re running too lean overheats your engine components leading to premature failure, Subaru can absolutely deny the warranty. They can’t, however, deny a warranty on the radio of the car because of that.
I don’t see how it is in anyway possible for the adapter to damage the battery. It is the charging station that could over charge it or charge it at the wrong voltage. As I’ve said below Tesla says you can’t use any adapters with their superchargers unless it is supplied by Tesla, either directly from them, or as supplied by the vehicle MFG who purchases them from Tesla.
It is interesting that you have to use an app to enable the charger, Fords will do plug and charge at the few superchargers that will work with CCS vehicles. Last week we took a road trip in my Son’s Lightning and we did bring along the Lectron adapter he purchased, just in case since he like many other Ford owners still hasn’t received the official Tesla adapter. In all our travels the only supercharger with CCS communication was one with the Magic dock and it wasn’t exactly on our route.
Note my son did request his free “Ford” adapter the day that Ford opened up orders, but it was later in the day since he had meetings that morning and couldn’t get a chance to do it until lunch time here on the west coast.
It is pretty lame that the GM vehicles will not support plug and charge, at least initially, and you have to use the rebranded Tesla app to activate the chargers. I’m guessing that will eventually change but with the decimated supercharger group at Tesla it may be sometime before they turn that on.
It is also annoying that Tesla is starting to supply them to GM when there are still many Ford and Rivian owners waiting for theirs.
I also wonder just how hard GM is going to go after owners about voiding the warranty. They do know when and where you charge. If they get a notice that you’ve charged at a non-magic dock supercharger and have not purchased an adapter from them will you be getting a notice that your warranty has been voided. How will they know that you didn’t somehow buy one from Tesla or borrow one from your buddy who did buy one from GM or get one from free from Ford or Tesla.
This isn’t shocking. The charging networks say that only OEM adapters are officially supported. That translates to “no help from us if bad stuff happens using our charger”. Companies can and will deny any liability for using non OEM accessories in any field, not just here.
I wonder if the second owners buying these off lease will get told. Probably not and then get big mad at GM when something totally unrelated happens and GM weasels out by pointing to the third party adapter in the car.
A lot of FUD and ignorance in the comments here. Third party adapters are banned at almost all charging sites. Electrify America bans them on their station. They state to use the Tesla CCS to NACS adapter only. It’s because people buy cheap adapters that overheat or were not tested properly.
Companies have already had recalls on adapters and tests have shown that many third-party units do not work well. Do you really want to save $35 by risking an electrical issue. We see it with cheap chargers in people’s homes.
“A lot of FUD and ignorance in the comments here.”
I don’t know about that. It seems like the majority opinion of the commentariat is that buying an unapproved knockoff adapter to save $25 is a bad idea.
Isn’t part of the Magnusson-Moss warranty act that if an OEM part is required to maintain warranty eligibility, then the manufacturer must provide that part free of charge?
“GM strongly advises that customers use a GM-approved NACS DC adapter”
‘Advises’ does not mean ‘requires’, but they likely really hope they can scare you into using their adapter.
It’s only required if you use Tesla chargers.
Since using the Tesla network is optional (legally speaking) I don’t think there’s a leg to stand on here.
Also, doesn’t the Magnusson-Moss warranty act have a provision that specifically excludes damage caused by a non-OEM part? If this adapter actually causes damage to the battery, I’m not sure the Magnusson-Moss warranty act would even apply. Damage caused by an OEM-approved device would be covered by warranty, though.
As pointed out above, GM “advises” use of an approved adapter and does not specifically say a third-party adapter voids warranty. I’m not sure this warning is anything different than standard language regarding the use of non-OEM parts.
Except it’s not required just “to maintain warranty eligibility”. You can continue charging the same way you have been and happily maintain warranty eligibility without this extra part.
It’s required “to maintain warranty eligibility if you want to unlock the extra ability to partake in Tesla supercharging.”
And the thing is like $20 more than the non-GM alternatives so it’s not exactly like they’re gouging you on the price.
But I was gonna use that extra 20 bucks to buy my kid a drink and snack at Starbucks.
Now WTF do I do?
“Customers who leverage an adapter which is not sold or provided by GM could potentially damage the EV’s battery which could potentially void portions of the vehicle’s limited warranty.”
Leverage? Really?
Saying “use” was too clear was it?
Are they deliberately trying to leverage language that makes it harder to understand?
Or maybe these adapters get wedged on and will only release if you jam a pry bar in there and lean on it.
“leverage” because it’s the proper terminology. Just like we’re leveraging low orbit jokes.
Makes me think of the “Nintendo Seal of Quality” back in the NES days. While some third party peripherals were dodgy, most were fine. However, it being electrical, I’m surprised there is no “GM Seal of Quality” so approved third party adapters could be used.
This requirement to use the GM adapter is likely because there are some inexpensive, poorly made adapters available that may work. Keeping up with a list of authorized adapters would be a lot of work so it’s a lot easier to say “GM only”.
For an extra $25, it’s worth not killing the warranty or letting the magic smoke out of the HV battery.
Right now there are only the 2 adapters listed in the article on the market. The real reason behind this is Tesla as they are the ones that say you can’t use 3rd party adapters, only ones sold by Tesla or the OE mfgs who get theirs from Tesla.
Companies have had recalls already on their adapters as they were overheating and causing issues. Electrify America also tells you not to use third party adapters for CCS to NACS. They specifically state to only use the one purchased through Testa. Why would you risk such an expensive device to save $35?
No, they were not recalled for overheating, they were recalled because the latch pin could allow you to unplug the J3400 plug from it without pressing the button and stopping the charge.
There absolutely have been recalls due to overheating.
I’d love to see some proof of a J3400 to CCS adapter that has been recalled due to overheating. The only J3400 to CCS adapter that I can find any evidence of a recall on is the Lectron for its ability to be unplugged while charging is in progress. I find no recalls for the A2Z unit.
Can we get something like UL-listed adapters? Someone who makes sure they are good enough, that’s not a car manufacturer.
Good thing Lucas electrics doesn’t make these…oh yeah, on EV’s you don’t even have to add your own smoke; they do it all on their own!
This sounds like my Chrysler dealer when my minivan throwed an error about servicing the charging system. According to them, its because I didn’t use a Mopar charging station.
Its like Apple telling me only use our cords and charging blocks that you have to pay extra because its not included. Different scale of technologies but same concept.
Thats why we have standards and protocols for third party suppliers build the same thing.
This doesn’t strike me as unreasonable since the adapter is specifically designed to protect the battery. If the adapter were a passive device (i.e. one without temperature sensors and overheat protection), requiring a specific adapter would not be reasonable.
Honestly, using a knockoff product to save $25 sounds like a bad idea given how much replacement batteries cost. Just pay the $225 and be happy to not have to use Electrify America anymore.
The thing is that those 3rd party adapters do have the temp sensor in them. Plus there is one in the plug and charge port.
Is it worth taking any risk it to save $25? EV batteries are incredibly expensive.
The third-party adapters do not appear to be 100% identical to the ones GM is selling. Given this, there is a chance they worsen battery degradation over time (I suppose there is also a chance they could be better for battery degradation, but that seems unlikely). If your battery lasts 12 years instead of 13 years due to a mildly inferior adapter, you cost yourself a lot more than $25.
They definitely aren’t 100% identical to the Tesla unit GM supplies but the idea that the adapter could somehow damage the battery is just scare tactics on GM’s part to keep Tesla happy. Fact is it is the vehicle that tells the DCFC what voltage and current it needs and if that communication is lost the charging session stops. Could the 3rd party adapter cause damage to the charging port or plug certainly.
Update it appears that GM has announced they will be using multiple suppliers and have a picture of the Lectron unit on the purchase page.
Yeah I could understand if you could pick these up on Ali for $50 but to save 25 bucks it just ain’t worth it. It doesn’t seem like GM is charging an absurd markup considering what the other two are selling for.
You need an app to use a charging adapter. What happens when the networks are phased out? Both of my cars relied on 3G for vehicle communications. They now can’t talk to the cloud. 4G/5G won’t be around forever. Are they building contingencies into the systems so they could be easily upgraded to 6G?
You need the app on your phone to pay for the charge as apparently Tesla and GM aren’t going to support plug and charge at superchargers at this point in time.
You’ll also need to use an app to charge at the superchargers with the magic dock.
I assume billing and all that is handled through the charger so it’s not like the car needs a connection to charge is my guess, but it got me thinking about it in a broader sense. My cars didn’t rely on those communications so it was actually preferred to lose connectivity. Losing remote unlocking and window status wasn’t a big deal. Newer cars do a lot more with their data connections and considering how many manufacturers left customers in the dust and said “sorry” when 3G turned off, it could be a much bigger problem in the future.
The app is not in the vehicle it is on your phone. The vehicle does not need a connection to charge. When plug and charge is activated you don’t need the app but apparently for whatever reason plug and charge at superchargers is currently only available for Ford and Rivian vehicles. I’m pretty sure plug and charge isn’t active for GM vehicles because Elon threw a fit and fired the entire supercharger team before hiring some of those people back. So at this point they were just focused on making charging happen with a rebranded Tesla app, the same one anyone can use to charger their CCS vehicle with a Magic Dock Supercharger.
More fiddly short-sighted penny-grabbing bull crap that will keep even more people from EVs. This is akin to paying GM for a $200 funnel to use at a gas pump to keep the warranty of an ICE car. “Screw widespread adoption we can make $225 today and who cares if we don’t sell EVs later”
Makes me wonder about the stability and reliability of Ultium batteries.
I’m sure it is just a scare tactic on GM’s part to keep Tesla happy.
So, we just need someone to buy that adapter and figure out who actually makes them and see if you can get one that’s not GM branded but the same thing for less.
Good luck getting your hands on one, but I can tell you it is almost certainly made by Tesla like the ones Ford and Rivian will give/sell you. Once my Son’s shows up I’d gladly post a picture of it IF we could post pictures here. The fact that it is made my Tesla is the reason that GM is saying they will void your warranty if you use a different adapter as it is Tesla that says you can only use an adapter supplied by them or the vehicle’s manufacturer.
Well according to another poster GM has pictures of the Lectron unit on the purchase page as well as the Tesla unit and has announced that they will be using multiple suppliers. So yeah my son has one in his Lightning that he paid $180 for with a discount code.