What side will Charging Port be on?

[IanNubbit]

The "correct" way should be driver rear on every vehicle. Normaly cars are built to be that way (import cars that are normally sold in LHD markets you'll see on the passenger side). This should apply for ICE and EV in my opinion, I get why some like the front plug location, but besides at home, charging in public stations you almost immeditaly become the "jerk" of the station. see any Mach-E or similar in a Tesla Supercharger

 

[KevinRS]

The "correct" way should be driver rear on every vehicle. Normaly cars are built to be that way (import cars that are normally sold in LHD markets you'll see on the passenger side). This should apply for ICE and EV in my opinion, I get why some like the front plug location, but besides at home, charging in public stations you almost immeditaly become the "jerk" of the station. see any Mach-E or similar in a Tesla Supercharger

The problem with that idea that one way is "correct" is Tesla wasn't the first to build chargers. Some other companies put them on the other side before Tesla even started. Tesla's model is becoming the standard, but that doesn't mean everyone else was wrong.
With ICE vehicles, even within a manufacturer, they switch it up between different models. Ever been to a gas station like at Costco? Everyone enters from the same side, so half the pumps are on the left, half on the right. If all vehicles filled on the driver's side, half of the drivers would have to stretch the hose over the vehicle.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Ever been to a gas station like at Costco? Everyone enters from the same side, so half the pumps are on the left, half on the right. If all vehicles filled on the driver's side, half of the drivers would have to stretch the hose over the vehicle.

We do that anyway, even with the same car lol. We just jump in the shortest line. As the posted signage says, the hose will reach either side of the vehicle.

So long as the hose or charging cord is long enough, it's not a problem.

 

[beatle]

Yes, I do the same. I'm not a fan of charging ports being on the passenger rear. Driver front is "okay" on a Rivian since it's near the very front, but it's not so great on a Mach-E where it's closer to the A-pillar. Sometimes you can't position the car close enough to the supercharger pedestal to plug in since the cables are too short.

Glad to see Slate put it on the left side, which is the right side, not the right side, which is the wrong side.

 

[Mr. Slate]

hey as long as this has turned into a driving into vs backing into dialog, I'll weigh in.

1. backing into your own garage is a luxury. You can back in as fast as you can back out and the next morning you start your day with a sweet sweet drive out.

2. backing into *most* parking spaces (see point 1.) Plus, backing in is safer than backing out. Envision a kids sports game, you pull into the space, and when you go to back out there are a bunch of little ones running around. This is why many ice cream truck drivers have a rule of "never back up" it is bad for customer retention.

3. pulling into a parking space is completely appropriate in two situation, a.) you can pull through the space and 2.) diagonal parking, there is a special place in hell for people who back into, or pull through a diagonal parking space.

I am of obviously trying to inject some levity here, but seriously, once you go back (in) you'll never go back (out). Now practice backing up so you won't be one of those 3 point back in and forth and back in again folks.

 

[KevinRS]

The main issue with backing in is you are backing into the confined space, instead of backing out into the open space. This may be mitigated with a good camera system and practice. Some cars show an artificial top down view, assembled from multiple cameras, that shows where your car is in relation to everything including neighboring cars and lot lines.

 

[sodamo]

hey as long as this has turned into a driving into vs backing into dialog, I'll weigh in.

1. backing into your own garage is a luxury. You can back in as fast as you can back out and the next morning you start your day with a sweet sweet drive out.

2. backing into *most* parking spaces (see point 1.) Plus, backing in is safer than backing out. Envision a kids sports game, you pull into the space, and when you go to back out there are a bunch of little ones running around. This is why many ice cream truck drivers have a rule of "never back up" it is bad for customer retention.

3. pulling into a parking space is completely appropriate in two situation, a.) you can pull through the space and 2.) diagonal parking, there is a special place in hell for people who back into, or pull through a diagonal parking space.

I am of obviously trying to inject some levity here, but seriously, once you go back (in) you'll never go back (out). Now practice backing up so you won't be one of those 3 point back in and forth and back in again folks.

while I agree, I sure would like to see you back a full size vehicle into a Walmart slot in a single smooth motion. I’m hopeful my Slate facilitates that.

 

[Yeller Feller]

Charge port should be behind license plate, obviously.

 

[IanNubbit]

The main issue with backing in is you are backing into the confined space, instead of backing out into the open space. This may be mitigated with a good camera system and practice. Some cars show an artificial top down view, assembled from multiple cameras, that shows where your car is in relation to everything including neighboring cars and lot lines.

The issue is backing into a controlled space, compared to back out into chaos of a parking lot

 

[Mr. Slate]

The issue is backing into a controlled space, compared to back out into chaos of a parking lot

Both these issues can be mitigated by diagonal parking, i dont't know why so many bigh-box-stores etc don't utilize them, the number of spaces they'd lose is negligible in a bigass parking lot. Is it because with one way loops each car would have to pass in front of the store on each visit?

 

[bartflossom]

Needs to be in the tail fin.

 

[ElectricShitbox]

I'm not going to wade into pulling in/backing in discourse, because backing in is the only correct answer regardless of what lazy people/local municipalities say.

On the original point, early prototypes had the chargeport on the passenger rear, but the production truck will have it on the driver rear.

As for ideal chargeport location, there's a few thoughts I have. Driver front makes the most sense for fast charging, as it's the closest to the driver door. Even though backing into spots is the only correct answer (see above), a port on the front means that you can still charge with a trailer hooked up, although this will probably be an infrequent issue with the slate. That being said, putting the chargeport on the passenger side means that it could be charged while parked curbside, helping people without driveways. With this truck marketed to people that don't already own EVs, making AC charging easier would increase adoption. The new Leaf has separate AC and DC charging ports on opposite sides, and they have them the wrong way with DC on the passenger side and AC on the driver side.
For charging in your garage, EVSEs are typically about 25 feet long, so it should reach all 4 corners of a vehicle without issue. While people will argue that the port location should be decided in order to interface with Tesla's outdated V3 chargers, I see no need to design a new vehicle based on obsolete tech that's being phased out and replaced.

 

[kvermeer]

So the charging port is on the rear left. So people like me will hsve to back up their Slate into a one car garage? My Chevy Bolt has the port on front left.

It's just a Slate, with only 50+ or 80+ kWh capacity you don't need a huge charger to go from 0 to 100 overnight. An L1 charger reaches anywhere, and most L2 chargers have relatively generous cable lengths (and in any case, they're little more than a 240VAC extension cord, so it's not hard to move them or get longer ones).

It's the big, fat, expensive DCFC cables where manufacturers design them such that you have to pull in a certain way.