A Rivian R1S driver published a post on a famous electric cars owners forum, in which he referred to a dispute that broke out between him and a Tesla Model Y driver, where the second denounced the presence of the former inside one of the charging stations, claiming that it was “Intended for charging Tesla vehicles only, and called the police on him.
New News - Weird
We usually hear about someone calling for help in the event of an emergency, but when you go to an electricity supply station to find the owner of another car accusing you of being in the wrong place, the matter even escalates to the point of calling the police as well… this is weird!
A Rivian driver wrote:
“He then pointed to the red ‘Tesla Charging Only’ signs and insisted that it was illegal for me to be there, and that he was calling the police! I was surprised by his extreme reaction.”
Pointing out that the Rivian driver’s ignorance of the fact that Tesla has recently made charging service available to other brands, so that electric car owners now can easily recharge inside Tesla stations, is the reason for the outbreak of this illogical dispute.
Goodbye To Portable Adapters for Car Recharging
Tesla granted Rivian car owners access to its recharging system last month at eligible Supercharger stations. Ford EVs can be charged using superchargers as well, while electric cars from General Motors, Volvo and Polestar are next on the list.
Non-Tesla cars still require an adapter to charge. In 2025, automakers will begin manufacturing electric vehicles with the Tesla-powered NACS port instead of the CCS ports they currently use, making adapters unnecessary in the future.
According to the Rivian driver’s account, his attempts to establish a constructive dialogue with the Tesla driver and convince him of the fact that the service had become available to everyone were of no benefit at all, which forced him to leave the charging station immediately, especially after he noticed that his electrical transformer was not working at all.
He also pointed out in his post that the Tesla owner made a phone call at the end of the confrontation between them, as it seemed that it was directed to calling for help. Because his exaggerated emotions suggested that, he said.
The Electric Vehicle Community Needs to Be Educated
The Rivian driver’s post sparked widespread debate among car owners, with many agreeing on the need for better communication and higher levels of education within the electric car community.
Some have also criticized Tesla for keeping the red signs that say “Charging Tesla vehicles only” while these stations and their superchargers have become available to some other brands.
Experts expect this problem to become more and more severe over the next few months, with the possibility of Tesla Supercharger stations becoming crowded with other cars.
What Is the Secret Behind the Initiative of Tesla to Open the Fast-Charging Network to Other Companies?
Some analysts believe that the goal behind Tesla abandoning the exclusivity of the fast-charging service and making this feature available to other cars is not related to achieving more profits, but rather the leading American company aims to obtain the largest amount of data from electric car users.
As the electric charger, especially the fast charger, needs to communicate with the car’s battery to know some things related to its needs, and this is what will give Tesla the ability to access the database of drivers of competing vehicles, every time they use Supercharger stations to charge.
Source: BC Mag
