Rivian R1S Caught Testing New Tesla Supercharger Stall In Alaska

It’s the first Magic Dock-equipped Supercharger in the state.

By: Iulian Dnistran

Oct 2, 2023 at 8:03am ET

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After launching the first non-Tesla Supercharger in the United States back in March, the Elon Musk-led company went months without expanding its CCS1-compatible charging network.

However, a report from August said that the Magic Dock-equipped stalls made their way to Texas, then to Canada, and more recently to Alaska. And, as you might expect, the workers who installed the chargers had to test that they were working properly, but what do you use to check if the CCS1 plug is delivering power, seeing how Teslas sold in North America come with the NACS inlet from the factory?

Well, one could go for the Ford F-150 Lightning, as the installers in Texas reportedly used, or one of Rivian’s offerings could act as the vehicle of choice, which is what the workers in Alaska reportedly went for, according to X user @markhkinak, who posted a photo of a gray R1S topping up its batteries at Alaska’s first-ever Magic Dock-equipped Supercharger (embedded below).

The user who posted the photo above said in his post that the installers also used the Chevrolet Bolt EV to test the newly installed energy source, although there’s no picture of the GM-made electric hatchback.

The CCS1-compatible Supercharger in Alaska is located in Chugiak, near Anchorage. It’s one of the two Tesla EV charging stations in the state, the other one being located in Soldotna, but this one only carries NACS plugs compatible with Tesla vehicles.

In June, Rivian announced a deal that will allow owners of the R1S SUV, R1T pickup, as well as the upcoming R2-based models to use any Tesla Supercharger in the United States and Canada from 2024 with the help of an adapter. Furthermore, all of Rivian’s passenger vehicles will get the NACS connector from the factory starting in 2025, eliminating the need for an adapter.

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At the same time, any CCS-equipped EV can use one of Tesla’s roughly 15 so-called Magic Dock Superchargers in North America that offer both a NACS and a CCS1 connector.

Besides Rivian, which updated the software of its vehicles to show CCS1-compatible Superchargers on the navigation screen, several other automakers announced similar deals with Tesla, including General Motors, Ford, and Volvo.

As always, we’d like to know what you think about this, so head over to the comments section below to give us your thoughts.