Despite the latest nauseating news about Tesla CEO and Nazi salute enthusiast Elon Musk, Tesla’s Supercharger network is still the most comprehensive charging network in the country and the connector is now the North American Charging Standard (NACS). Superchargers are equipped with relatively short cords that work fine for Teslas, which all have charging ports on the rear left side, but they’re too short to reach the charge ports on some other EVs. Aftermarket charging adapters pose safety concerns due to thermal management and other issues, but EV charging equipment supplier A2Z plans to launch a new extension cable this summer that addresses both thermal management concerns and access concerns for non-Teslas.
As the transition to industry-wide NACS adoption continues and more EVs of all makes gain access to the Tesla Supercharger network, this extension cord may become a necessity. Some EV owners are forced to take up two charging stalls for the Supercharger cord to reach their cars’ charge port, which can understandably ruffle feathers. A2Z’s extension cord is NACS to NACS, so you’ll still need another adapter for cars equipped with CCS ports, but it has four thermal sensors, two for each plug. It’s rated for 1,000 volts and 350 amps, and when electricity is flowing at high rates it can create a lot of heat, so the thermal sensors are capable of completely cutting off energy flow if the thermal threshold is surpassed. When it reaches production, the extension cord is estimated to be a length of five feet and weigh around seven pounds.
The YouTube channel State of Charge tested out A2Z’s prototype extension cord which is much longer and heavier than the final product, but host Tom Moloughney had no issues to report. While Tesla’s latest V4 Superchargers have longer cables than the first three generations, it’s not likely that all the pre-existing Superchargers will be retrofitted with longer charging cables for a long time, so this new adapter may end up saving a lot of drivers a lot of headache in the interim. Motor1 reports,
“Think of it as a giant elongated adapter,” A2Z engineer Robert Powell—who was formerly at Tesla—told Moloughney in an interview. “It keeps the communication going for not only the vehicle side temperature sensors but also the charger side temperature sensors.” The enclosures are also IP-67 rated, so snow or small puddles around the charger won’t be a problem, Powell said.
He added that he has tested the 5-foot extension cable on several EVs, including the Chevy Equinox EV, Ford F-150 Lightning, Chevy Bolt EV, Hyundai Ioniq 5 and more—it had no issues reaching the charging port on any of these models.
The CEO of A2Z Amine Zitore said it will open a testing program for a handful of EV drivers next month, and that market launch is expected this summer. The current prototype cord is listed on the A2Z website for $284, though it’s currently out of stock, so we expect the final sale price to be around that mark. Preorders for the official A2Z Supercharger extension cable are supposed to open a month before the official launch of the final cord, but the company is currently in the process of obtaining safety certificates for the product, so that preorder date is still up in the air.
