Working with TurboCord

I purchased a dual voltage TurboCord to satisfy some very specific objectives. I needed a charge cable to keep in my electric vehicle (EV) for opportunistic and emergency charging. This charge cable needs to be compact and take full advantage of both standard 120 volt household outlets and high voltage outlets. Finally, this charge cable needs be safe and easy to use by the rest of my family.

This EV parking spot at Saint Mary’s College is BYOC (Bring Your Own Cable).

Turbo cord is perfect for opportunistic charging whenever there is a household receptacle near a parking spot. A few hours of trickle charging can provide a critical buffer to get to the next destination.

Charge anywhere with adapters

The compact design of TurboCord can be a bit of a disadvantage whenever 5–15 receptacles are mounted upside down, which is very common in commercial buildings. This is really a shame because this cord works perfectly whenever receptacles are mounted right side up. My initial solution was to carry a foot long 5–15 extension cord, but I’ve since moved on to a better solution.

It would be better if TurboCord’s sliding clip stayed with the 6–20 adapter.

TurboCord was also designed with a sliding clip that primarily attaches to the base unit, not the adapter. When trickle charging, there are two separate pieces to keep track of to put it all back together. In this case, compact means easily lost. The sliding clip is important for locking the 6–20 adapter in place, I worry it could be dropped and shatter.

My solution was to zip tie TurboCord’s 6–20 adapter to the base. I purchase an inexpensive 6–20 to 5–15 adapter for trickle charging. I also purchase 6–20 to 10–30 and 6–20 to 14–50 adapters for Level-2 charging when the vehicle has safe access to dryer or RV receptacles. These other receptacles are very common.

With just one connector on the charge cable for both 120 and 240 volt connections, it becomes possible to use a 6–20 extension cord to increase reach for all adapters.

Compact and simple to use

TurboCord is possibly the smallest mobile charge cable available. With this compact design come some limitations. TurboCord only supports 16 amps when connected to any 240 volts service. This allows the cable to be small, and by only supporting a single amp setting, there is no need to worry about the number amps supported by various receptacles.

Many parking structures have receptacles located within reach of parking spaces.