150kW supercharger charging at 50kW?

[Siciliano]

So this morning was my first time juicing up at a supercharger. Per Tesla's website, the location is capable of "up to 150kW". There were 4 stalls and no one else was there. It took 20 minutes to charge only 42 miles. The display showed 50kW and didn't really go any higher...

I read this online about the 150kW chargers:

After update and warmup: v2019.12.1.1 with On-Route Warmup:

100 miles - 11 minutes, 53 seconds (improvement of 15.9% / 135 seconds)
150 miles - 18 minutes, 32 seconds (improvement of 16.3% / 217 seconds)

My charging speed was only about 1/3rd of the tested speeds above. Maybe it was a bad unit in that particular spot???

 

[Uncle Paul]

Maximum Surpecharging speeds are only available when you arrive at a very low state of charge. As you battery fills up, the charging speed tapers off. Near full charge it is at a snails pace.

Charging speed also is dependent on the temperature of your battery when you arrive. Too hot or too cold will also slow down charging.

Selecting the Supercharger location on your display, prior to heading that way will also allow your battery to be optimized to take the fastest charge possible.

In other words, a nearly empty battery will charge much faster than a nearly full battery.

You may see the same thing when charging your cell phone. It also slows charging minutes as it get near full.

 

[smatthew]

It could also be a bad unit. If I get a low charge rate I always move to another spot. Beware of supercharger pairing.

Even V3 superchargers have bad days...

 

[SigNC]

Also, if you arrive at a very low state of charge on a v2 charger it has to put in VERY high amps which is one of the reasons they changed the charging curve to only ramp to max after you get to 11%. As such, the handle can get pretty hot and it will throttle your charge speeds artificially due to the hot handle. Easiest fix for that is once you get up to about 20-25% move over to another free plug if there is one around.

Even in the above scenario you would easily get over 50kW so you likely just showed up with a higher state of charge.

 

[Phlier]

Great replies posted so far. Just one thing to add... make sure you have the supercharger you're going to stop at as your active destination in your nav system. The computer will show you a message stating, "Pre-conditioning the Battery for Supercharging" ten to twenty minutes (depending on outside temperature, how fast you're driving, and the current temperature of your battery pack) prior to reaching the supercharger to help insure that the battery pack temperature is in the "sweet spot" for fastest charging. Try to avoid surprising your car by just showing up at a supercharger without setting it as the destination in the nav.

When I go on road trips, I've found that I spend a lot less total time stopped for charging if I stop more frequently and for shorter periods than less frequent, longer charging sessions. That's because of that "sweet spot" @Uncle Paul was telling you about. If you plan your trips to stop and charge from, say, 10% to 80% and then start driving again, you'll spend a lot less time sitting at a supercharger than waiting for that last 20% charge (from 80% to 100%). The wait from 80% to 85% isn't too bad, but the wait from 85% to 90% gets long, and anything over 90% is, at least IMO, painfully slow.

 

[smatthew]

Great replies posted so far. Just one thing to add... make sure you have the supercharger you're going to stop at as your active destination in your nav system. The computer will show you a message stating, "Pre-conditioning the Battery for Supercharging" ten to twenty minutes (depending on outside temperature, how fast you're driving, and the current temperature of your battery pack) prior to reaching the supercharger to help insure that the battery pack temperature is in the "sweet spot" for fastest charging. Try to avoid surprising your car by just showing up at a supercharger without setting it as the destination in the nav.

When I go on road trips, I've found that I spend a lot less total time stopped for charging if I stop more frequently and for shorter periods than less frequent, longer charging sessions. That's because of that "sweet spot" @Uncle Paul was telling you about. If you plan your trips to stop and charge from, say, 10% to 80% and then start driving again, you'll spend a lot less time sitting at a supercharger than waiting for that last 20% charge (from 80% to 100%). The wait from 80% to 85% isn't too bad, but the wait from 85% to 90% gets long, and anything over 90% is, at least IMO, painfully slow.

We all have different tolerances. I think charging to 80% is painful. If I'm mid-road-trip I don't want to charge higher than 60% unless I need more power to get safely to the next supercharger.

 

[Celledral]

I believe the MAIN ISSUE is the charger handle. With the current heat wave, the charger handles get extremely hot, which throttles the SC speed. Use a towel, preferably wet if possible and cover it up before you start charging. The direct heat from the sun amplifies and triggers the heat sensor when exposed.

 

[Gasaraki]

The supercharger station can be too hot also. Like Celledral said, v2 superchargers don't have liquid cooled cables so they overheat, especially the handle. Even if the charging level started at 148KW, it will slow down to 30-50KW especially on 90F+ degree days. V3 superchargers have thinner, liquid cooled cables.