Featured Our big unanswered questions about the switch to Tesla-style EV plugs

Wouldn't think the notion of splicing a longer line on a tesla supercharger was that crazy ... after watching training videos for 100kv transmission line applications -



splicing 'non' high voltage didn't seem to be such an insurmountable consideration.
More costly than using a new or longer DC charge cable? Probably ... or at least maybe.

 

When you splice you create a weak point AND resistance. Resistant places heat up. Tesla is going to upgrade their NACS chargers to v4 1000V-650A. 1500VDC is considered high voltage, but 1000VDC that consumers are near is high enough to worry about liability. Now think of the labor and materials involved. You cut off the head, splice 5 wires including 3 (+,-,gnd) that must be able to produce high current with a new cable with head attached. Then you recycle the old head. Unlike overhead powerlines, this splice must be good enough to stay when being run over, and with much cable movement. This versus opening the supercharger, then disconnecting the old cable and putting in the new one while upgrading it electrically for v4. The old head and cable then can be recycled. I know my grandpa used to twist splice and use electric tape, but this splicing requires a trained technician and more time than simply replacing the whole assembly - and you end up with a better product. Yes given more money it can be done well, but why propose a kludge that is more expensive than a correct upgrade.

 

IMO, no one is going to splice a longer cable onto an existing Tesla SC cable.
Maybe they'll replace half of them with new longer cables or something.
And/or they'll install some new adjacent chargers with longer cables

Mike