Charging Speed

[CFD13]

Does Tesla reduce charging speed for old free charging cars. Please refer me if already a tread. I have A 2016 Model S P85 and finally decided to take a two week road trip in WY, MT, ID, UT and back to CO. It was the most painful road trip ever done in my life and will not do it again. I would rather take my ML and pay the gas. The low charge rates are so terrible and wasted hours a day. I was following Tesla recommendations and were getting charging rates at 22 Kw. One charge when start a trip was in West Yellowstone that Tesla said would be 15 minutes but then change to 30 minutes when arrived after going 10 MPH under the spreed limits because of the trucks. Ended up over an hour with a 25 KW charge rate. Another example was from Bozeman, to SLC. Had a stop in Pocatello and was changed to Idaho Falls and we were charging at 35KW to get to next destination which was skipping Pocatello and said this is crazy at this rate and better to make extra stop at higher speed.

Anyway, please tell me they is not the case for new cars. I had a Plaid + (wanted that 520) that Tesla canceled as they were not making it. Just found out my car is useless as a road car. Hope things are better for newer cars.

Any thoughts are appreciated. Also, sorry for any confusion as i am now sitting in the hospital with Covid to top of the trip and have a little brain fog.

 

[ucmndd]

Yes. Read the thread literally adjacent to the one you just created for background.

Supercharging Speeds: Who, what, where, why, and when

Everyone's been asking me for details on supercharger speeds. I think it's time to do an FAQ on this and break things down on the technical side. Post your Model S/X supercharging questions below, and I'll update this top post with as many answers as possible. I'll also add in some additional...

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[ucmndd]

Go straight to this post on page 3 from earlier today if you want to cut right to the chase.

Supercharging Speeds: Who, what, where, why, and when

Supercharging speeds have improved dramatically over the past decade. The graph below provides some perspective. In order of descending charge rate: 2018 Model 3 LR (Blue), 2015 Model S 85 kWh (Black), 2012 Model S 85 kWh (Red)

teslamotorsclub.com

 

[CFD13]

Thanks

 

[Ostrichsak]

That's low even for that vintage car. I would highly recommend you study up on the Superchargers themselves as which ones you connect to can make a HUGE difference. v2 Superchargers were paired and you will see 1A, 1B, 2A, 2B, etc. on them. This is important. If someone is connected to 3A, for instance, you do NOT want to be on 3B. You will get the left-overs of whatever 3A isn't using on that pair's max. Always look for an unpaired supercharger first. If the connection is slow don't be afraid to move to another one either. Lastly, make SURE that the next supercharger stop is in the nav. This can be from your final destination being input and the car automatically knowing the next Supercharger stop or you may have to manually put the next Supercharger stop in if your the type who just drives by the seat of your pants. (also, stop doing that as these cars rely a LOT on you putting your destination in the nav for things you're likely not yet aware of) The car uses this to start preconditioning (read: heating up) the battery pack before you arrive so as soon as you plug in the pack is warm to accept the highest rates of charge possible. If you don't do this, it can take quite a while in these temps for the pack to come up to temp to ramp up the charge rates. Those three tips will likely make a big difference in your charge rates on longer road trips.

 

[Rocky_H]

First off, shame on most of you. I was just searching but am having trouble finding it now, but it was thread that was almost exactly like this story. Someone was getting extremely low Supercharger rates, and the first few comments were all just flippantly saying, "Oh, that's #Chargegate." "You've been throttled." "That's how it is now--sucks to be you." ...which sounds a bit like I am seeing here.

But it was like 20-30 kW, which is WAY lower than that charge throttling from Tesla and a couple of us were pointing out that it was far too low to be Chargegate. So the OP went to Tesla and they found that it was a defect in the car's battery cooling system, so the car was keeping its own charging rate down in order to not overheat the battery, since it couldn't cool itself. Tesla repaired the cooling system, and the charging speeds went back up to normal.

So these 25 and 35 kW charging power levels that @CFD13 is seeing I'm pretty sure are NOT the Tesla imposed reductions on older cars. This does sound to me like defective battery cooling that needs to be repaired.

 

[RDS]

I agree with Rocky that this a problem with your car that requires repair!

 

[IanMcL]

I have a 2016 S 85D pre uplift.
I drive up and down the UK abd it takes a lifetime!
Charging, if I sm lucky will start as high as 118kw for a second or 2 and then decrease immediately, 1 by 1 until about 98. Then it will stay for a very short time, before carrying on until 60s. Then lower and lower.
Owing to the need to get to or return to superchargers sparsely placed, I have to charge to 85 or 90%. By then I have been there up to an hour abd a half!!!

Surely this is mot normal? Can anything be done?

Thanks