Tesla sues maker of ‘highly unsafe’ breakaway EV charging adapters

Tesla suing a company that makes a MagSafe-style connector designed to let EV owners make a quick escape from a charging stall if they feel their safety is threatened.

The automaker alleges that the Escape Connector by company EVject is “highly unsafe and poses a high risk of injury to person and/or property,” according to the lawsuit filed in the US District Court for the Northern District of California last week.

Tesla is calling on the court to block EVject from calling the product safe, ban the import of the adapter in the US, and make the company pay no less than $75,000 in damages.

In the filing, Tesla says it has tested the North American Charging Standard (NACS) version of the EVject accessory in a high-current simulation with the company’s Supercharger cable and a vehicle EV port. Tesla found the EVject product got as hot as 100 degrees Celsius (the boiling point of water) while DC fast-charging at 420 amps.

Tesla also points out that the company has admitted that the adapter may get hot when charging a Cybertruck. EVject’s website markets the product by painting a fearful scenario: EV owners attacked while charging, and they can’t drive away to safety without getting out the car and unplugging.

EVject advertises the adapter as “fully compatible” with NACS vehicles and lists many Tesla models by name. Tesla, which runs the largest electric vehicle charging network in the world, argues that the Escape Connector could also put its charging cables at risk for damage. EVject advertises that the outer part of the breakaway adapter will protect the station plug when disconnected.