That statement is factually incorrect. There is a difference in charging time, and the difference is significant for many people that have posted about it in this thread and others.
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48 amps or 72 Amps... Why should I get either?
- Thread starter mzpolo
- Start date
I think these two answer everything!
72A for me. The biggest reason is the lack of charging options in the Virginia Beach area. When I need to get a charge, I will want to be able to get there and charge without spending another 4 hours.
Cellsaver
Member
Question: how do I know if I have 48 or 72 amp on my P90D? I bought a demo so it wasn't a custom order. When I supercharge it says 48 amps (but it's greyed out) don't know if this matters.
The 48A or 72A onboard inverter is only used for AC charging.
Supercharging is DC charging. The onboard inverter is not used during Supercharging.
How do you charge your car at home and what is the amperage of your home charging circuit? What does it show for amperage when you charge at home starting from a low state of charge?
If your P90D was a showroom demo car it probably does not have the 72A charging option
The greyed out 48 means you have the 48A charger. It would be a greyed out 72 if you had the upgraded charger.
Mike
I personally cant see any reason to update for charging at home. I installed a 14-50 socket and it charges at 30 miles per hour. I cant see any reason why in just a few hours you will be at full charge, Even if you drove 200 miles a day at current charging rate it would still be charged full in less than 7 hours.
Nosken
Active Member
You can make the decision later, since it is the same price whether you configure the car with it, or add it later. I think, it is just a software upgrade.
It might be useful if
1 - You have (or are willing to pay for) an 80+ amp circuit and Wall Charger to deliver the 72A sustained
2 - Your electricity rates are such that you can't get a full charge within the lowest rate time window (not aware of any)
3 - Your daily driving requirements are such that you frequently return home having used 200+ miles of range, and need to drive again for a significant distance (more than ~80 miles) within an hour or 2
72A home charging isn't needed for the vast majority of people, but I'm sure there is a small percentage for whom it is a necessity.
1 - You have (or are willing to pay for) an 80+ amp circuit and Wall Charger to deliver the 72A sustained
2 - Your electricity rates are such that you can't get a full charge within the lowest rate time window (not aware of any)
3 - Your daily driving requirements are such that you frequently return home having used 200+ miles of range, and need to drive again for a significant distance (more than ~80 miles) within an hour or 2
72A home charging isn't needed for the vast majority of people, but I'm sure there is a small percentage for whom it is a necessity.
Returning to the original poster's question, about a year ago I posted the above. Since then there have been a few noteworthy developments to support my points. The most pivotal is the advent of about 400,000 actual reservations for the Model S which is scheduled to begin shipping this year and rapidly ramp up production in subsequent years. Presumably Tesla believes this will impact Supercharger availability and has prudently implemented two policies to partially mitigate congestion at Superchargers, 1) the elimination of "free charging forever" for new Teslas, 2) the imposition of a Supercharger idle fee.
Superchargers Stations are not built in automated factories like cars. Permitting, regulatory and negotiation hurdles require a lot of time for each prospective host location and it is simply not possible to ramp up Supercharger installations to keep pace with vehicle production. Therefore, despite Tesla's best efforts, it is fair to say that if they are successful in rapidly ramping up Model 3 production to hundreds of thousands per year, the handwriting is on the wall regarding future Supercharger congestion.
Another thing to consider is that many existing Tesla owners have orders for Model 3s. So in the future there will probably be a higher incidence of two or more Tesla's in the garage. In these cases it may make more sense to install an HPWC and have high capacity on-board chargers to conveniently share the connector rather than multiple dedicated NEMA 14-50 outlets.
Paraphrasing Elon, its good to have options. Having high capacity on-board chargers is a prudent option to reduce wait times at the increasing numbers of destination chargers that are being built when inevitably Supercharger congestion becomes more prevalent.
Larry
Yes, you can defer the decision. However, you are incorrect. It costs $1,500 for the high capacity charger at the factory, and it will cost $1,900 to do it as a retrofit at a service center.
It is definitely not a software upgrade. It is entirely a hardware upgrade.
Another consideration is that just as Superchargers will be come more congested with the advent of the Model 3, so will Service Centers. Some of my membership are already complaining about wait times. In the future service center time will be at a premium and I seriously doubt that the price to retrofit a charger won't go up.
Larry
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Nosken
Active Member
Thanks for the correction, my old eyes and the faint gray of the type made it look like it said $1500.
X Fan
Active Member
If you plan on installing a HWPC in your home and can afford the extra cost, go for it.
It has come in handy for me over the last 9 months that I have needed a quicker charge.
It has come in handy for me over the last 9 months that I have needed a quicker charge.
Tesla has a standard on-board charger with a capacity of 48 amps. To upgrade to a high capacity charger requires physically switching it out to a new high capacity charger with a capacity of 72 amp.
You are probably confusing this with the process whereby battery packs are upgraded from 60 kWh.
Larry
No, soon after the refresh the 48A chargers could be updated to 72A with just a firmware change. Then it was a separate part. That's why there were arguments here early on about whether or not 48A chargers could be upgraded after purchase-- some could and some couldn't.
Larry, I'm sure a typo slipped into your statement, and that you intended to say "Model 3".
Yes, thanks for the response. Even though its only a few hours old, unfortunately TMC doesn't permit me to correct my original posting to avoid confusion.
Larry
In addition to ones others mentioned, if you are in a multi-Tesla household, you will definitely like high amp charging. In addition, the public L2 station near us support 70A charging as well.
