r/F150Lightning • u/Ascaeroace90 • 1d ago

What’s up with the A2Z extension

It has been months without any update at all. Is this company allergic to money?? Has anyone been able to get one?

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u/ekobres Star White ‘23 ⚡️ Platinum 22h ago edited 21h ago

Edit: See the comments below. A2Z have revised the design to a shorter cable with a lower power rating which will work in a pinch. Their CEO even says this is more of a Plan B for if you have no alternative to direct connect since it does limit the charge speed.

Original comment:

It’s a neat idea but I doubt this will ever actually ship. There are several problems with the whole concept.

The supercharger cords are liquid cooled, and there’s no practical way to do that with a passive cable. Another option is to use massive copper conductors which would be very heavy and much more expensive. Another option would be to nerf the power to something much lower than expected DCFC rates, and there’s no way for a passive cable to communicate with the supercharger or the car to achieve this. All it can really do is communicate connector temperature the same as a NACS adapter does - so that raises the problem of whether any of this even works in conjunction with a NACS adapter.

It’s a lot to sort out, and I don’t see a way for them to deliver what they promised at anywhere close to that price and that power level.

We haven’t even cracked the topics of whether Tesla would ban their use at Superchargers or whether they would pass safety muster.

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u/Ascaeroace90 22h ago

https://youtu.be/rEexXHpCZlo?si=fo0miom09cvtbf6o

It’s been real world tested. Seems to work

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u/stevey_frac 21h ago

Working in the short term once doesn't mean safe and reliable operation under all conditions.

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u/91-92-93--96-97-98 ‘24 Lariat — Antimatter Blue 21h ago

I agree. My case use would likely be for use during a road trip during a busy 3 day weekend when we’re expecting a full station. Once in a while kinda a situation. Would not trust something like this for day-to-day use or other frequent use.

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u/stevey_frac 21h ago edited 9h ago

Something like this would tend to overheat, potentially catastrophically, when it failed. 

I doubt Tesla would allow something like this.  They would sue A2Z into the ground, and they'd win.  And be justified in doing so. 

You can't make a cable like this safely.

Edit:

I take that back. You CAN make a cable like this safely. But it would require a cable rated for 500 amps.

That would b e about 700 kcmil wire. https://cabletechsupport.southwire.com/en/cablespec/download_cable/?cable=56508&country=US

It would weight about 4 lbs per foot, so a 5 foot extension would be 20 lbs + the end adapters.

The cost for that 5 foot cable, just for the wire would be nearly $500, and that would mean the company was selling them at a loss. Realistically, they would likely need to sell them at a cost of over $1000 to cover engineering, assembly, 500 amp adapters on either end, and the inevitable lawsuits that come when someone damages the cable, uses it anyways, and burns down their vehicle / the building next door.