I know it's been talked about before on AudiWorld, but I would like the latest info on the best Tesla charger adapter to buy for the etron - the Tesla Tap or the Lectron adapter? It's an easy quick buy on Amazon for the Lectron model or is the Tesla Tap a better product? The Tesla Tap also has a 40A and 50A model. Any input will be helpful as I want to buy one before for my trip out east.

 

I have the TeslaTap mini 60A and it's really nice if you're okay with the extra cost just for the super-small size. My only complaint is that it's *really* tight, at least on 1st use (the manual acknowledges this and says it loosens up a little over time), but the size along with the 60A rating are really nice for throwing into storage (it easily fits in the mini left glovebox if you don't want to throw it in the frunk).

 

I've used the TeslaTap 40 amp at numerous destination chargers with no problem. Maybe it's where we've stayed but I've never pulled enough kW to justify the 50 or higher amperage.

 

I have a TeslaTap 50 amp and I can say that it's a very high quality product. I've only used it a couple times but I was quite impressed with the fit and finish of it. I don't know if that makes it worth the cost over the Lectron one, especially considering that it's completely passive -- it is literally just a heavy duty cable with a Tesla female socket on one side and a J1772 male plug on the other. So pretty much any product that has properly sized cabling inside and reasonably high quality plug/socket components should work just as well.

 

Thanks everyone - going to order the Tesla Tap tomorrow. Will sleep on the 40A or 50A tonight.

 

I have ordered two of these:


They have worked no problem. I used my first one for exactly two charges in the wild and my second one for maybe eight charges so far. The first one did not fail, but was lost by the hotel valet. They hotel knocked $160 off the room and I ordered another one the same morning from Amazon for delivery to the next hotel. I have found that I have used them far less than anticipated, but I stow it in my charging bag in the frunk and it is simply another piece of necessary EV gear if you are going to road trip.

 

Hello all. Recently got a '22 E-Tron and was doing some research on this same adapter and found a video that explained which one would pair best for the E-Tron. Since it's a 48 volt system I understood that it needed to have a 50 amp adapter or else over time there could be damage to the adapter and possibly the vehicle. Dialing down the incoming charge might be an option but after watching a video on YouTube I wanted to share, what's everyone's opinion on this? If you don't want to watch the entire video just skip ahead to the 9 minute mark. The guy explains things clearly and again, unless I misinterpreted something the 50 amp adapter is the way to go here.

 

The onboard charger in the e-tron is 11kW (250V @ 48A). That's it's maximum charge rate. However, the J1772 protocol is designed such that the onboard charger does not always draw the maximum it can. Instead, the EVSE (the "charger" on the wall) tells the car how much it may draw. So if you use the Audi provided EVSE with a NEMA 14-50 plug at the 100% setting, it's going to tell the car's onboard charger to limit the current to just 40 amps (the maximum sustained current for a 50 amp circuit). 40 amps * 240 volts = 9.6kW.

There are hard-wired EVSEs (notably, many Tesla destination chargers) that can deliver as much as 80 amps of current (80A * 240V = 19.2kW). If you connect the e-tron to such an EVSE, the EVSE will tell the car's charger that it may draw up to 80 amps, and in response the car's onboard charger will draw its maximum 48 amps. As you noted, if you use the 40 amp TeslaTap in this configuration, there could be problems as more current will be passing through the TeslaTap than it is rated for. And there's no way in the e-tron to "turn down" the current it's drawing -- it will always draw the maximum that the EVSE allows (up to 48 amps).

This is why I purchased the 50 amp TelsaTap. While strictly speaking, using the 80% rule for electrical ratings, one should actually be using an adapter rated for ~60 amps, I'm confident that the 50 amp adapter works fine when connected to a >40 amp EVSE. And in fact, I have empirical evidence to support this -- the last long trip I took, I plugged my e-tron into just such a hardwired high-power Tesla destination charger. The dash readout showed 11kW charging rate (full 48 amps) and the (50 amp) TeslaTap stayed cool to the touch for the entire 3 hour charging session.