Rivian R1T and R1S trucks were allowed access to the previously Tesla-only Supercharger network in mid-March, as Tesla has been slowly allowing more electric vehicles to charge on its North American Charging Standard plugs with an adapter. A new Rivian owner was given something of a chilly reception when stopping for a top up at a California Tesla station while on a road trip. An “older gentleman” in a Model Y pulled up and went full Karen mode on the Rivian driver, going so far as calling the police on them for, um, trespassing, I guess?
He then pointed to the red “Tesla Vehicle Charging Only” signs and insisted that it was ILLEGAL for me to be there and that he was CALLING THE POLICE! I was taken aback by his extreme reaction. Perplexed, I finished disconnecting my adapter, got back into my R1T, and left. Fortunately, he didn’t try to stop me, but as I drove away, I saw him angrily talking on the phone, presumably to an unfortunate 9-1-1 operator. So much for the stereotype of EV owners being laid-back and friendly lol.
Perhaps the funniest part of this whole exchange is that the Rivian owner couldn’t even get the thing to charge anyway. Because his Rivian was so far down on the list to get the NACS adapter, he decided to order one from Amazon. After spending about five minutes trying to get the Tesla app to recognize his Rivian, he decided to give up and head to the now old-school EVGo charger for some CCS2-fed electrons.
Tesla folks have had these stations all to themselves since they started rolling out in 2012. With EV owners driving Fords, Volkswagens, Rivians, and Chevrolets starting to show up at Superchargers, they’re probably feeling a bit less holier than thou these days.