So I was in Manteca to Supercharge on the way back home yesterday and upon arrival there was one car charging in stall 4A. This was about a quarter after 2 so temperature outside was around 100F. I parked in stall 1A and handle was barely warm to the touch. I proceed to plug in and hop back in the car with the AC on 70F. Immediately I'm charging at 114kW so I thought it was going to be a good charging experience this time. It didn't take long before it dropped to about 40kW as indicated in the light green line below.
So I go back outside and touch the handle and it is hot at this point. So I proceed over 1B. During this time no cars arrived so there isn't a load at this site. I don't recall if the one Tesla charging left at this time. The handle was barely warm probably due to temperature outside but I start off with a decent charge of 102kW and it quickly drops within 5 minutes to 40kW again. I go back outside and touch the handle and it is hot.
I remember reading in a thread where someone put a cool towel on the Supercharger handle and it helped. So I'm not claiming to be the first to try this but at least document my scenario. I always carry with me a microfiber towel in case I need to clean up fresh bird poop or something. And I did have with me that day a vacuum sealed metallic water bottle and the water was still cold 8 hours later. I did check that the louvres were open to help cool the battery, which I understand can hamper charging speeds. So I soaked the 12"x12" towel with cold water and wrapped the handle with the towel. I figure if anything I won't have a hot handle to touch at the end of the charge. I was hoping for it to help right away so I was disappointed to see nothing changed. But within 5 minutes it started to go up from my 40kW charge rate. Slowly it kept going up until it peaked at 50kW and remained there until it started to slowly taper off towards the end of my charging.
Theoretically since the charging rate had been drastically reduced, the cable had time to cool down and ramped up once it cooled down. So I guess it could be a nothing to see here moment.
So I go back outside and touch the handle and it is hot at this point. So I proceed over 1B. During this time no cars arrived so there isn't a load at this site. I don't recall if the one Tesla charging left at this time. The handle was barely warm probably due to temperature outside but I start off with a decent charge of 102kW and it quickly drops within 5 minutes to 40kW again. I go back outside and touch the handle and it is hot.
I remember reading in a thread where someone put a cool towel on the Supercharger handle and it helped. So I'm not claiming to be the first to try this but at least document my scenario. I always carry with me a microfiber towel in case I need to clean up fresh bird poop or something. And I did have with me that day a vacuum sealed metallic water bottle and the water was still cold 8 hours later. I did check that the louvres were open to help cool the battery, which I understand can hamper charging speeds. So I soaked the 12"x12" towel with cold water and wrapped the handle with the towel. I figure if anything I won't have a hot handle to touch at the end of the charge. I was hoping for it to help right away so I was disappointed to see nothing changed. But within 5 minutes it started to go up from my 40kW charge rate. Slowly it kept going up until it peaked at 50kW and remained there until it started to slowly taper off towards the end of my charging.
Theoretically since the charging rate had been drastically reduced, the cable had time to cool down and ramped up once it cooled down. So I guess it could be a nothing to see here moment.
