If you watch the Tesla owner charging their vehicle, you can see him tapping the tail light of the car. Why does he do so? This is quite freaky, isn’t it? No, this behavior may look strange, but it’s reasonable. Now we’ll give a comprehensive explanation of this issue.
Why do people tap their Tesla cars before charging?
There is a ridiculous detail concerning people who bought Tesla cars: they tap the tail light several times with the Tesla charger either the tail lights or elsewhere on the back of the vehicle just before starting to charge it. Some people believe that it speeds up the charging and reduces the electric resistance of the joint.
Others say it’s such a way to open the charging port door. The fact is that the Tesla’s charging port is just attached to the tail light of the car and most Tesla owners tap the tail light just to give the charging port door a signal to open.
Finally, which of these points of view is correct? Why do people tap their Tesla cars? – If you’re aware of a bit about Tesla vehicles’ history, you must probably understand that the second variant is more rational, although it no longer makes sense and is more a tradition than a necessity.
Should Tesla owners tap to open the charging port?
The charge port of all Tesla cars is located right near the left tail light of the vehicle. The most straightforward way to open its door is to press the button on the Tesla charger, sending the NFC signal directly to your car’s charging port. The problem is that it works only for the Tesla charger at specified charging stations.
And if you charge your Tesla with a non-Tesla charger, tapping the Tesla tail light four or five times with the charging nozzle (the number of slaps varies from model to model) is the simplest way to open the charge port.
Are there other ways to open the charge port?
Of course, you can easily open the door of the charge port from the dashboard of the vehicle, and you can do the same using the Tesla application. But why are so many Tesla owners tapping their cars, why is this method so widespread? Why do people tap their Tesla?
We guess it depends on the people themselves. Some of the Tesla owners tap, because they may have forgotten to press the button on the dashboard of the car by the time they are taking the charging nozzle off. Some consider that using the Tesla application is inconvenient. Others continue doing it just automatically, as a habit or even a kind of tradition.
Although, there is an idea as well, that tapping with the nozzle is useful in sense of removing debris and static electricity from it. That could be reasonable sometimes, and probably some Tesla owners tap their Tesla just in case. Anyway, it is up to them to do so as it causes harm neither to them nor to their vehicle.
How to charge Tesla correctly?
One might ask the question: is it safe to charge Tesla cars, not on the specified Tesla stations? The answer is – yes, it is completely safe to charge a Tesla car not only at any charging station available but also in the garage or even nearby your home.
Using EQUIPMENT to charge anywhere
Of course, charging stations are preferable, as they are specially equipped for this. It’s the fastest way to charge the batteries of your vehicle.
But when there’s no such possibility, Tesla cars can be charged almost from any socket using Tesla’s Wall connector or a regular adapter. As you can find out from Tesla’s manual, the outlet for the adapter should have 10 amp, 230 volts characteristics.
Improved charging
A couple of Tesla drivers have reported that tapping on the taillight on a Tesla helps to align electrons to allow the vehicle to run efficiently once the battery goes out. Without tapping the taillight electrons will accumulate on charge ports causing longer chargers and a slower charge rate.
This method is intended to remove static electricity in the battery port before the charge is inserted, and help improve charging capabilities. But on the other hand, there’s no hard evidence on this issue.
Perhaps, this is theoretically possible, but no one has ever made any research on this action. As for us, we assume the benefits of tapping the cars’ tail light to be insignificant, and the procedure strange and freaky, and wouldn’t like to recommend it to you.
Avoid static electrical shocks
Often Tesla owners tap the vehicle before recharging it to avoid small electrical shocks from the potential difference of static electrical charge from the vehicle to you. Nevertheless, they have nothing to do with it. Tesla is metallic shielded with no charge under or over its body.
Is night time the best to charge Tesla?
Ideally, electric cars should be charged at night. This is either a convenient way to charge your car as fully as possible or make it most inexpensive.
The full battery charging takes up to 12 hours and even more, and you just can’t plan a long trip by car with the low battery charge. That’s the first reason why nighttime is the best for charging it.
Night electricity tariffs are usually significantly lower than daily rates, and if you charge your Tesla car at home or in the garage, the monthly electricity bill will be much smaller than if you’ve charged in the daytime.
FAQ
Why does everyone tap their Tesla?
No, Tesla owners tapping the tail light of Tesla before charging isn’t overall. This is just one of the possible ways to open the Tesla charger door, but it’s not the only way. Furthermore, for a typical Tesla owner tapping is only a habit or belief, nothing more.
What does the tap do on a Tesla?
The best answer would be a simple way to open up a car charging station. As with any electric vehicle, Tesla needs to recharge, and the plug in the charging station can be found underneath the taillight. If you use a non-Tesla charger tap with it four or five times at the tail light near the port.
Do you have to tap a Tesla?
No. Tesla owners can easily do it either from the dashboard or with the Tesla phone app. If you gonna charge your vehicle at one of the specified Tesla charging stations, the charger port can be opened by pressing the button on the Tesla supercharger.
Why do people double-tap the Tesla?
It opens up the port door in a very simple way. It is hidden under a panel that resembles an automobile taillight. Different Tesla models require a different minimum number of taps, but the most common number is 4 or 5 taps.
Just superstitions
Some Tesla owners say that if you do not touch the taillight three times you could be lucky. That seems like superstition or some silly thing. Some people say this gesture resembles hitting someone’s back to describe affection. It is probably these superstitions that underlie this phenomenon and perfectly answer the question: why do people tap their Tesla?
Summary
At least we are sure that most of those people from the numerous YouTube videos tap their Tesla precisely for superstitious, not rational reasons. Because tapping with the supercharger is quite not as convenient as pressing the single button on the dashboard. We leave it up to you, whether to replicate this or not, but let it be meaningful. Read about how to precondition Tesla battery