Tesla sued this startup. Dropping the case was “a guessing game”

• Tesla sued EVject earlier this year because its Escape Connector was allegedly “unsafe.”
• Tesla dropped the case after much back and forth and several attempts to stop the startup’s project.
• The Escape Connector breaks in half, allowing electric vehicle owners to escape a sticky charging situation.

Imagine the following scenario. It’s late evening and you’re waiting for your electric vehicle to charge at a public DC charging station. You are in the vehicle and see someone approaching. What are you doing?

Maybe it’s nothing, but you’d rather drive away just for peace of mind. The highlight: First you have to remove the charging cable. Do you have enough time? Will the person coming towards you increase their speed as soon as they see you get out of the car?

It’s a heartbreaking experience and that’s why Utah-based company EVject created the Escape Connector. In short, it is a type of adapter that you connect to the end of the charging cable and then plug it in to charge. If you need to drive off in an emergency, simply stop the charging process using the electric vehicle screen and then drive off. The connector is available for vehicles with NACS, CCS1 or CCS2 connectors.

EVject’s plug splits in half, leaving the charging cable behind and providing much-needed security. Once charging is finished, no more current flows through the charger cable or the piece left in the charging port, making it completely safe.

However, Tesla didn’t think so. Earlier this year, the company sued EVject, saying the device was “unsafe.” Tesla subjected the Escape Connector to some stress testing and concluded that the temperature could exceed 212 degrees Fahrenheit after 30 minutes.

According to EVject founder Kreg Peeler, this testing session was extremely flawed and even Tesla’s equipment failed. “They didn’t use communications links. They just wired the two hot pins, meaning charging would have continued even if we had a heat sensor,” Peeler told InsideEVs. “An adapter, including Tesla adapters, only knows when to turn off when it stops the communication pins or sends another signal over the communication. They didn’t do any of that.”

Initially, Tesla sent a cease and desist letter to EVject, claiming that the Escape Connector and related marketing materials violated Tesla’s trademark rights. EVject removed all Tesla references and anything else that might have to do with trademark infringement, but then Tesla filed a lawsuit against EVject, claiming the connector was unsafe.

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EVject

The automaker eventually dropped the lawsuit, but adapting the product to Tesla’s standard was “a guessing game,” according to EVject’s Kreg Peeler. The solution was to add a temperature sensor to the Escape Connector that would automatically cut off power if the surface temperature exceeded 140 degrees. But it was difficult to get there because Tesla didn’t just say, “Do this and everything will be fine.” Instead, the Model 3 maker responded when something was wrong without providing the manual for what to do.

“Basically they don’t tell you what it has to be, but they tell you if you missed it,” Peeler said. “So that’s the way they play, and I think part of it is that they’re constantly changing, right? They’re constantly adjusting and pushing their own standards, and that’s why they don’t want to publicly quote what the standard is because it might change next week. That’s my guess, but that’s what happens when you really try to change an entire industry.”

Peeler said he holds no grudge against Tesla and reiterated several times during our interview that he and his company are Tesla fans. He just wishes things had gone differently, with a little more constructive criticism and easier collaboration.

Photo by: EVject

One half of the EVject Escape Connector remains in the car’s charging port and can be easily removed after driving safely.

Photo by: EVject

The other half remains on the charging rod and can also be removed without risk of electric shock.

“We just wish they would do things a little differently,” said the startup’s founder. “We don’t like the fact that there’s a big public announcement that we’re ‘unsafe’ because we just don’t believe that’s the true statement.”

The roughly 3,500 people who ordered the device before the entire court fiasco were offered a free replacement with the updated version, but only about 600 chose that route. For the remaining 2,900, the original connector was “okay.” Customers who need to use the plug in an emergency will receive a free replacement. Owners can pull out the half that remains in the charging port without risk of being electrocuted. However, the connector is assembled at EVject’s factory using a special press, so it is not possible to reassemble it by hand.

“We’ve never had a complaint from a customer,” Peeler said. “And they also recognize that the new device won’t change anything. We don’t change our materials. We don’t change the way it conducts electricity. Nothing changes with the device, except when Tesla overrides its devices, our device turns off. This is it.”\