What Supercharger speeds should I be receiving?

[cpa]

We have a January 2018 Model 3 long range. According to the phone app, the code is 2019.20.4.2. The car has a little over 5,000 miles on the odometer. My wife drives it on errands around town.

From my best recollection and scribbled notes, here are the Supercharger speeds that we have received the handful of times we have plugged into a Supercharger.

Jan 2018: Seaside Service Center. At ~50% battery, the car was receiving between 38-48kW.
Jan 2018: Fresno Supercharger (the next day) At ~30% battery, the car received between 38-48kW, finally climbing all the way to 53 kW at 55%.

Those were coolish days, so I chalked the low rate up to the weather.

April 2018: Casa de Fruta Supercharger: After a 90-minute drive from home and arriving with <20%, we initially received ~90kW, then by 35% was receiving <60kW. Later that same day we arrived at Kettleman City with ~25%, and the rates were similar--starting out around 90kW, and tapering down rather quickly by 35%. The weather was typical April weather in the Valley--high 60s-low 70s.

July 2018: Kettleman City Supercharger: Arrived with about 15% and now received slightly more than 100kW until 25% or so, tapering down like before. At 60% the rate was around 40kW, and we departed.
July 2018: San Luis Obispo Supercharger: Arrived with ~20% and received around 95kW. It took nearly an hour to reach 90% for our drive home.

April 2019: Fresno Supercharger: Arrived with 35% and received about 48kW. Rate increased slightly at 55% to about 60kW before tapering down rapidly.

Today, July 2019: Fresno Supercharger: Arrived with 51%. Plugged in at two different stalls and received 52kW tops, and tapering down to 40kW at 65%.

So, is this normal? With all the hoopla about Model 3s receiving "up to 150kW" and others showing their touchscreens with these fantastic rates, what is the issue here?

We never shared a charger at any time. My wife would like to take a road trip soon, but will not want to take the Model 3 if charging will take nearly twice as long as advertised by Tesla.

Tesla replaced our battery in March this year, by the way.

 

[jebinc]

We have a January 2018 Model 3 long range. According to the phone app, the code is 2019.20.4.2. The car has a little over 5,000 miles on the odometer. My wife drives it on errands around town.

From my best recollection and scribbled notes, here are the Supercharger speeds that we have received the handful of times we have plugged into a Supercharger.

Jan 2018: Seaside Service Center. At ~50% battery, the car was receiving between 38-48kW.
Jan 2018: Fresno Supercharger (the next day) At ~30% battery, the car received between 38-48kW, finally climbing all the way to 53 kW at 55%.

Those were coolish days, so I chalked the low rate up to the weather.

April 2018: Casa de Fruta Supercharger: After a 90-minute drive from home and arriving with <20%, we initially received ~90kW, then by 35% was receiving <60kW. Later that same day we arrived at Kettleman City with ~25%, and the rates were similar--starting out around 90kW, and tapering down rather quickly by 35%. The weather was typical April weather in the Valley--high 60s-low 70s.

July 2018: Kettleman City Supercharger: Arrived with about 15% and now received slightly more than 100kW until 25% or so, tapering down like before. At 60% the rate was around 40kW, and we departed.
July 2018: San Luis Obispo Supercharger: Arrived with ~20% and received around 95kW. It took nearly an hour to reach 90% for our drive home.

April 2019: Fresno Supercharger: Arrived with 35% and received about 48kW. Rate increased slightly at 55% to about 60kW before tapering down rapidly.

Today, July 2019: Fresno Supercharger: Arrived with 51%. Plugged in at two different stalls and received 52kW tops, and tapering down to 40kW at 65%.

So, is this normal? With all the hoopla about Model 3s receiving "up to 150kW" and others showing their touchscreens with these fantastic rates, what is the issue here?

We never shared a charger at any time. My wife would like to take a road trip soon, but will not want to take the Model 3 if charging will take nearly twice as long as advertised by Tesla.

Tesla replaced our battery in March this year, by the way.

While it's easy and accurate to say, "Well, it depends..." I am surprised to see yours that low. Not sure why, but I think the M3 can ramp up as high as 300kW, if connected to the appropriate V3 charger. Otherwise, I would think you would get north of a 100kW with ease if on a V2 charger - especially if not shared.

 

[SigNC]

it does seem lower than normal. Did you set it to route to the supercharger far enough away that it could warm the battery before you got there?

 

[Tam]

...July 2018: San Luis Obispo Supercharger: Arrived with ~20% and received around 95kW. It took nearly an hour to reach 90% for our drive home...

My goal in a road trip is to charge just enough to get to the next destination and not 90% SOC which in your case that took 1 hour.

 

[cpa]

it does seem lower than normal. Did you set it to route to the supercharger far enough away that it could warm the battery before you got there?

No. But the air temperature was near 90 when I arrived. It is July, and it is interior, not coastal California.

 

[cpa]

My goal in a road trip is to charge just enough to get to the next destination and not 90% SOC which in your case that took 1 hour.

I understand, but my wife wanted to do some errands after we arrived home, so I figured that a 30% buffer upon arriving home would be adequate for her to do her wifey thing the rest of the afternoon. We had, ahem, a lively discussion on an earlier trip when we arrived with about 14%. I did not want to go down that rabbit hole again.

 

[ewoodrick]

Are you plugging into paired pedestals with someone else charging?
What's the max rate of the charger? Some only support 70kW.
Have you looked at the multitude of posts with the charging graphs on the forum?

 

[Tam]

...lively discussion...

I am not surprised that it might be quite disappointing in real life.

All those advertised impressive numbers are laboratory conditions: Brand new factory, optimized temperature, current, and charging from a low SOC...

 

[redgt]

That is not normal. At least when compared to my LR rwd model 3

Sorry I dont have detailed notes for my 3 but lately when I've supercharged it gets 146 kW for a while - 640 miles/hour

A recent trip with my X where I took notes I got 140 kW @ 43%, 129 @ 50%, 72 @ 75% - Added 33 kWh in 20 minutes

My 3 is noticeably faster at the supercharger ... I think you should have yours looked at

Also when I am not happy with my speed I'll try a different stall. I've got from 36 to 140+ by moving. I was the only one at the entire supercharger

 

[Tam]

Ok. Maybe this is not as fast as compared to the youtuber 1 year ago:

 

[Tam]

My Model 3 LR in a Supercharger session that took 34 minutes to go from 9% (28.6 miles) to 80% (247.6 miles):

 

[redgt]

great data @Tam

what app is that that tracked the charging? kinda a bummer it does not show kW

71% soc gain (+53 kWh) in 34 minutes. Averaged 384 miles/hour and 93 kW

Were you at a 120 kW max charger?

 

[Zoomit]

That is not normal. At least when compared to my LR rwd model 3

Sorry I dont have detailed notes for my 3 but lately when I've supercharged it gets 146 kW for a while - 640 miles/hour

A recent trip with my X where I took notes I got 140 kW @ 43%, 129 @ 50%, 72 @ 75% - Added 33 kWh in 20 minutes

My 3 is noticeably faster at the supercharger ... I think you should have yours looked at

Also when I am not happy with my speed I'll try a different stall. I've got from 36 to 140+ by moving. I was the only one at the entire supercharger

Agreed, those rates don't represent typical Supercharging speeds, especially after the V2 stations were upgraded to 150kW and the 3 LR charging profiles were increased with the 2019.20.1 firmware.

Tips:

1. Help ensure the battery is warm by selecting the SC on the nav, which will turn on On-Route Battery Warmup
2. Charge when the ambient temperature is not hot (cooler is better)
3. Charge on a stall that hasn't been recently preheated by a previous car (admittedly, this is hard to tell, see #5)
4. Don't use a shared stall at a V2 station
5. Try another stall

Ok. Maybe this is not as fast as compared to the youtuber 1 year ago:

This charging example is out-of-date. The Model 3 LR charge power, on 2019.20.1 or later, will now rise much faster and taper later. On a 150kW V2 stall, it will normally charge above 130kW when below 50% SoC. Here are some example sessions from various posts in this thread: V3 Supercharging Profiles for Model 3. Note, this collection is of near optimal sessions, and does not represent "average" results. Still, you can get a sense of the possible variations below 60% and the consistency above 60% SoC.

My Model 3 LR in a Supercharger session that took 34 minutes to go from 9% (28.6 miles) to 80% (247.6 miles):

// cut //

This looks like a charge profile with a firmware between 2019.12.1 and 2019.20.1, due to the false 500 mi/hr limit and the notch down to ~80kW at 60%. The latest profile allows a slightly later and more linear taper. Here's a post with more examples of that previous profile: 150kW Supercharging for Model 3

 

[Tam]

what app is that that tracked the charging?

That's teslalog.com but be warned that it doesn't log trips for Model 3 but it does log charges for Model 3. It can log both trips and charges for Model S and X.

...it does not show kW...
Were you at a 120 kW max charger?

Both teslalog.com and teslafi.com seem not to log kW rates for superchargers but they do for AC chargers (such as home and other L2).

It's done at 120kW Tejon Ranch in March 2019 this year and the battery is about 1 year old.

 

[Tam]

...This looks like a charge profile with a firmware between 2019.12.1 and 2019.20.1, due to the false 500 mi/hr limit and the notch down to ~80kW at 60%. The latest profile allows a slightly later and more linear taper. Here's a post with more examples of that previous profile: 150kW Supercharging for Model 3

It's based on older firmware in March V2019.8.3.

 

[Zoomit]

Both teslalog.com and teslafi.com seem not to log kW rates for superchargers but they do for AC chargers (such as home and other L2).

TeslaFi will definitely log charger power for all charge sessions—examples are in the threads I linked previously.

 

[Tam]

TeslaFi will definitely log charger power for all charge sessions—examples are in the threads I linked previously.

They should log kW rates but there seems not an easy way to see from their tables and graphs.

Here's Teslifi.com from the same session. The dark brown Charger Actual Current in kW is zeroed out both on the graph and table:

 

[darth_vad3r]

what is the issue here?

Let us know what Tesla says the issue was once they get back to you.

Tesla replaced our battery in March this year, by the way.

What was wrong with it?

 

[Zoomit]

They should log kW rates but there seems not an easy way to see from their tables and graphs.

Here's Teslifi.com from the same session. The dark brown Charger Actual Current in kW is zeroed out both on the graph and table:

Charger Power is the parameter of interest. It can be added to the table by editing the layout with the button just above and left of the table.

But again that charge session is not representative of what someone should expect of their car today as the software on both the Superchargers and the cars have been updated. The net result, replicating the same scenario, would be a decrease in charge time by at least 10%. An ideal V2 charge session from 9-80% would be under 27 minutes, a 20% decrease from 34 minutes.

 

[Tam]

Charger Power is the parameter of interest. It can be added to the table by editing the layout with the button just above and left of the table...

But again that charge session is not representative of what someone should expect of their car today as the software on both the Superchargers and the cars have been updated. The net result, replicating the same scenario, would be a decrease in charge time by at least 10%. An ideal V2 charge session from 9-80% would be under 27 minutes, a 20% decrease from 34 minutes.

It works. Thanks for the tutoring!

It's old obsolete firmware but it might be helpful for @cpa to get an idea of Charger Power kW rates:

At 50% mine was still at 117kW.

At 60%, it's at 66kW