Tesla launches $190 CCS adapter for new Model S and Model X, offers retrofits for older vehicles

Tesla confirmed that its new Model S and Model X vehicles are now compatible with its new CCS adapter that is now offered for €170 (~$190 USD) and it will soon offer retrofits for older vehicles.

As we previously reported, Tesla has always used its own proprietary charging connector in its vehicles to work with the Supercharger network in North America.

In Europe, the company was using the Type 2 connector, but Tesla switched to a CCS plug for Model 3.

In December, the automaker started retrofitting European Supercharger stations with “dual charge cables” to support the existing connector and CCS standard.

This gave an advantage to the Model 3 since it would be able to use both Tesla’s Supercharger network — as the company retrofits more stations —  and new CCS charging networks such as Ionity or Fastned.

But at the time, Tesla also reassured Model S and Model X owners that a CCS adapter was coming for their vehicles.

Last month, we got a first look at Tesla’s new CCS adapter being used on a Model S:

This week, Tesla updated its European Supercharger support page to confirm that all Model S and Model X vehicles produced after May 1, 2019 are compatible with the new adapter:

“All Tesla Model S and Model X vehicles produced after May 1, 2019 have the technical capability to charge at CCS Combo 2 charging sites with the use of a CCS Combo 2 adapter.”

There’s apparently a hardware change that is needed to work with the new CCS adapter.

For existing Tesla owners, the automaker says that it will offer retrofits for older Model S and Model X to work with the new adapter starting on June 1.

The company says that the “CCS Combo 2 retrofit service will cost €500” and it will include the adapter, which will cost €170 for new owners.

Tesla hasn’t updated the support page for the US or Canadian market like it did for European markets.

The adapter is still not listed for sale on Tesla’s website. We contacted Tesla about the update and we asked if it will be also available in other markets, like in North America, where CCS charging station networks are also growing.

Update: A Tesla spokesperson told us that they will make sure owners in North America will have access to all “compelling networks”, but they have nothing to announce now.

Electrek’s Take

The good news is that it is significantly cheaper than the CHAdeMO adapter — for new buyers at least. For existing owners, it’s about the same price as the CHAdeMO adapter because of the cost of the retrofit.

But it’s not necessarily a good thing. It depends on what Tesla does with its Supercharger network in Europe.

If Tesla ends up building most its new Supercharger stations with CCS, owners will absolutely need to get the adapter and at that point, it should be standard.

In February, Tesla updated its charging connector support page in Europe to show that the new CCS adapter is standard on “all custom order Model S and Model X vehicles from February 1.”

But after we reported on the update, Tesla reached out to say that it was a mistake and they have removed the page and all mentions of the adapter being standard.

That’s OK if Tesla still includes a mix of Type 2 and CCS at current and new Supercharger stations, but it’s not clear what are Tesla’s plans on that front.

We will keep you updated as we learn more.

Update: regarding Tesla’s comment, they weirdly didn’t confirm the availability of the same adapter for the NA market, but they say that they are committed to owners having access to all “compelling networks”. It should mean that they will make a CCS adapter available in NA, but they could claim that there’s no other “compelling” network.