Charging questions

[Sandym]

Hi,
I am in the process of buying my very first Tesla model 3 standard and having some basic questions so please bear with me!

Based on what I have read, the model 3 Standard version in only capable of being charged at 7.7kW. So, does this mean if I plug the car to a 22kW charging station, it will still get charged at 7.7kWh or am I getting this wrong?

I also have a 120kW charging station near my house, will it make any difference with respect to charging time? Am honestly confused with this and appreciate any guidance here!

Thanks,
Sandy

 

[sightman]

Congrats! The SR has a max 7.7kW AC charging limit and a 175kW for DC charging. Keep in mind the DC charging speed will vary depending on the vehicles state of charge and the 175kW is peak. Regardless of the stations output, these are the SR's maximums and it is the car that tells the infrastructure how much power to supply.

 

[F14Scott]

Your car charges two ways:

1. Level 1 (120V AC home wiring) and Level 2 (240V AC home and commercial wiring) are home and business connections. These AC currents go into the car via a "connector" that is often improperly called a "charger." The AC charger is built into the car, converts the AC to DC that goes into the battery, and, in your case, will draw up to 7.7 kW, even if plugged into a more powerful AC connector. At that rate, your car will fill in a few hours.

2. If you use a Level 3 DC charger (such as a Tesla Supercharger), it will bypass the internal charger and just dump its big DC current right into the battery, charging your car in about half an hour.

 

[Sandym]

Thanks folks for the super quick response! Iam buying a new 2023 Tesla model 3 Standard version.
Let me ask a few more follow up questions
1. If a charging station offers a 11.5/ 7.7 kW charging then do I presume that they are offering AC charging and if they offer 60 or 120 kW, it’s a DC charging? How do I differentiate between the two?
2. If I plug the car to a 120kW station and as the car has a 60kWh battery then in theory it should take me all of 30mins to get the battery fully charged right?
3. The charging station offers 3 plugs. - CHAdeMO, CCS and Mennekes, do all 3 work or do I need an adapter? If yes, can you please recommend one?
4. I have read that it’s recommended to use AC charging instead of DC charging as it might affect the battery life, can you please confirm this?
Thanks again!

 

[Grabthar]

1. That's roughly true. You can easily tell the difference between AC and DC charging stations - the DC ones are bigger and have much thicker cables.
2. Not true - as your charge level increases, it takes more and more time to add the electrons. The last few % of your battery (going from say 95% to 100%) can take as long as going from 0% to 90% or longer.
3. I don't know Mennekes, but CHAdeMO and CCS both work. CHAdeMO does require a special, separate adapter and its charging speed is limited to 50kW.
4. Yes - AC in general is better on your battery. DC or "super charging" is like a raging river loading charge in your battery; AC is more of a gentle stream.

 

[expat]

Mennekes is the same as that blue AC cable that is supplied with the car. So that's 7.7 kW AC charging for you. Don't bother with the chademo adapter unless that's a plug you would need often in your area. It's being phased out. The CCS is a mennekes with two extra pins and used for fast DC charging. Don't bother with that either unless you're in a hurry or on a road trip it's usually more expensive and not as good for the battery.

EV's are not all that practical unless you get a home charger installed. The Tesla Wall charger is a nice one and comes with it's own cable, but you could get others installed that use that blue cable that came with the car. Those mobile chargers are not really meant to be used on a daily basis and are really slow.

 

[BitJam]

The AC charger is built into the car, converts the AC to DC that goes into the battery, and, in your case, will draw up to 7.7 kW, even if plugged into a more powerful AC connector. At that rate, your car will fill in a few hours.

Great post! One correction. At 7.7 kW (240 volts x 32 amps via NEMA 14-50, for example) it takes about 10 hours to fill the car. My rough rule of thumb for my LRMY is 10% per hour. Maybe 8% or 9% in the winter cold.

 

[RayK]

Great post! One correction. At 7.7 kW (240 volts x 32 amps via NEMA 14-50, for example) it takes about 10 hours to fill the car. My rough rule of thumb for my LRMY is 10% per hour. Maybe 8% or 9% in the winter cold.

True for a LR vehicle but OP is talking about a Standard car, with a smaller battery.

 

[BitJam]

True for a LR vehicle but OP is talking about a Standard car, with a smaller battery.

This is why I specified my vehicle. Assuming no losses, the 50 kWh battery in a standard Model 3 will take 6.5 hours to fully charge from a 7.7 kW source so the rule of thumb should be about 15% per hour. That's faster than a LRMY but it's still incorrect to say it will fully charge in a few hours.

 

[GSP]

@Sandym - Congraultions on your Model 3 purchase. I see that you are in Portugal, and some of the responses are from here in North America. There are some differences in electrical systems and EV charging options between North America and Europe. Some of the responses here are North American specific.

Discussion of European EV charging can be found in this forum:

Europe

Discussion about chargers and charging in Europe

teslamotorsclub.com

I would look there for information on how quickly SR Model 3's charge at 22 kW and 11 kW Mennekes charging stations.

GSP

 

[holmgang]

Thanks folks for the super quick response! Iam buying a new 2023 Tesla model 3 Standard version.
Let me ask a few more follow up questions
1. If a charging station offers a 11.5/ 7.7 kW charging then do I presume that they are offering AC charging and if they offer 60 or 120 kW, it’s a DC charging? How do I differentiate between the two?
2. If I plug the car to a 120kW station and as the car has a 60kWh battery then in theory it should take me all of 30mins to get the battery fully charged right?
3. The charging station offers 3 plugs. - CHAdeMO, CCS and Mennekes, do all 3 work or do I need an adapter? If yes, can you please recommend one?
4. I have read that it’s recommended to use AC charging instead of DC charging as it might affect the battery life, can you please confirm this?
Thanks again!

1. easy rule of thumb. basically any station advertising <43kw is AC. they're most commonly 22kw or 11kw.

2. theoretically, under best case. but 120kW power is not a guaranteed constant, thats the maximum power as negotiated between your car and the station, and things that could slow it down include the station having to share that power with another stall, or your car dropping power as the battery gets closer to full. 3rd party stations often dont provide their maximum advertised power. tesla stations do.

3. you only need a CCS2 or Type 2 cable from the station. or, the station has a Type 2 outlet, into which you need to plug your own cable. Rarely, a station has a multi-phase IEC outlet, into which you plug the 'mobile connector' (and adapter) that comes with the car.

you should never have to touch chademo. in europe 95% of the stations are CCS2 or Type 2, so you dont need to think about this.

4. DC has more power. more power generally wears down battery quicker. but its a long sliding scale and nothing you need to think about.

 

[Sandym]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Meanwhile, it appears that the model 3 SR has a 11kWh onboard charger and not 7.7.. anyone here can confirm this?

 

[E90alex]

Thanks for all the feedback and suggestions. Meanwhile, it appears that the model 3 SR has a 11kWh onboard charger and not 7.7.. anyone here can confirm this?

All SR/RWD vehicles max out at 32amps AC charging so 7.7kW.

There have been some reports where people have had the PCS replaced due to failure and a 11kW/48amp max version was put in instead, but those are exceptions to the rule.