AC/DC - is rapid charging DC?

[MattyK]

I’m fortunate to have a variety of chargers nearby. I live in central London and have a three week old M3LR. I don’t want to f$ck up my battery.

My question is, are ‘rapid chargers’ (ESB 50kwh) chargers supplying a DC charge and therefore to be used sparingly?

 

[Stranger Dings]

I believe they are, but whether they really do significant damage is an open question. Some people seem to only ever Supercharge but haven’t suffered significant degradation.

I’d be interested to know what the facts behind DC charging really are.

 

[mongo]

I’m fortunate to have a variety of chargers nearby. I live in central London and have a three week old M3LR. I don’t want to f$ck up my battery.

My question is, are ‘rapid chargers’ (ESB 50kwh) chargers supplying a DC charge and therefore to be used sparingly?

That is DC, 50kW (not kWh), and is not going to hurt your battery. Tesla Superchargers can do >100kW.

 

[Overworked]

Any charger that has a CCS plug is going to be DC. Any with a Type 2 are AC.

 

[NewbieT]

When you charge on AC the car converts it to DC before putting it in the battery. So AC/DC is sort of irrelevant.

The higher rate of charge (kW) is more relevant and admittedly DC chargepoints do tend to be faster. I really wouldn’t worry about a 50kW machine that probably pumps out 40kW, when Superchargers can pump out 250kW.

The car is very good at managing this stuff. Don’t worry about it. If you’re really worried about protecting the battery, charge it after a drive when it’s warm, rather than after it’s been sat cold soaking overnight. It’ll charge quicker too.

 

[MattyK]

Any charger that has a CCS plug is going to be DC. Any with a Type 2 are AC.

Thank you to all that have replied - so helpful.
The ‘rapid chargers’ (50kw) come with three tethered plugs - if I were to opt for the type 2, then would that mean it *definitely* providing an AC charge?

 

[Yachtsman]

Thank you to all that have replied - so helpful.
The ‘rapid chargers’ (50kw) come with three tethered plugs - if I were to opt for the type 2, then would that mean it *definitely* providing an AC charge?

Yes

 

[MrT3]

if I were to opt for the type 2, then would that mean it *definitely* providing an AC charge?

Yes but be aware that the M3 is limited to 11 kW AC charging even If the charger can supply 22 kW.

 

[MovingSouth]

Thank you to all that have replied - so helpful.
The ‘rapid chargers’ (50kw) come with three tethered plugs - if I were to opt for the type 2, then would that mean it *definitely* providing an AC charge?

It would, but it can subject you to abuse from other EV drivers.

For many (but not all) chargers, only one of the plugs can be used at once. So you are tying up a rapid charger to use the slow 22kW (if 3 phase, and 11kW usable by most Teslas) Type 2 plug. Of course, it's even more annoying to turn up and find a PHEV plugged in that can only charge at 3.6 kW or 7kW (and the battery is full and the owner can't be found).

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

The car will automatically reduce the charge rate to a level it’s happy with. You often see posts from people asking why they’re only getting say 40kw on a supercharger and it’s usually because the battery is too full or cold.

In other words, there’s no need to worry about it, and as movingsouth says, but use a slow option cable on a rapid charger where they exist (often just the old ecotricity chargers)