Do they sometimes limit supercharger speed?

[toolman335]

My wife's Model X does have unlimited free supercharging, but my Model 3 Performance does not. I'm only using the free 1000 miles that I got with mine, but both my car and hers still get the same slow rate only at that particular supercharger. Other thing is I have gotten significantly faster supercharging at other locations, maybe around 600+ miles per hour or in that ballpark but I don't remember the exact kW number. Hence I figure it can't be the car since it does charge fast elsewhere, and it can't be throttling because I don't have unlimited free supercharger miles, I don't actually use superchargers much, and because I even went once to that particular supercharger at 2am when I was the only car there and had the same issue. It's gotta be something related to that particular location, maybe a maintenance issue.

I'm not convinced it's a maintenance issue. I just think it's what specific locations can handle. I live in a relatively poor community. People were joking that there was no point in putting a SC in to begin with because there'd be no demand and there are no electricians smart enough to do it. Fascinating that it doesn't charge very fast lol. I find it hard to believe that something is actually wrong though. I think it is what it is.

 

[Watts_Up]

Do they sometimes limit supercharger speed?

This would not fair for Superchargers located in states where you get charged by time and not by kW.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

This would not fair for Superchargers located in states where you get charged by time and not by kW.

Mostly when you get charged by the time, they usually have at least two rates depending on the level of the charge, typically over/under 60, to roughly approximate to what you would have been charged had they been able to charge by the kWh

 

[Reality Studio]

I'm not convinced it's a maintenance issue. I just think it's what specific locations can handle. I live in a relatively poor community. People were joking that there was no point in putting a SC in to begin with because there'd be no demand and there are no electricians smart enough to do it. Fascinating that it doesn't charge very fast lol. I find it hard to believe that something is actually wrong though. I think it is what it is.

Hmm, if that's true then I wonder why they put 150kw chargers there if they are only capable of delivering 57kw. This is the location in questtion:

Thousand Oaks, CA - East Thousand Oaks Boulevard Supercharger | Tesla

...which claims 150kw but delivers 57kw, whereas when we go to this one just up the road with either of our cars:

Thousand Oaks, CA - West Hillcrest Drive Supercharger | Tesla

...we get the full 72kw. I attached pics when we charged the Model X a couple days ago to show it getting 72kw. It is odd that those "baby" superchargers outpace the larger ones at the other location.

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Aren't those 72 kWh Urban Chargers?

 

[Reality Studio]

Yup.

 

[Vthoma11]

I've been having somewhat of a similar issue myself in my facelift model s 90d. Back in the winter months I was getting as high as 160kw peak at the supercharger and sometime around February it started to decline. Today I cap out at around 119kw with the battery conditioned in 70 to 90degree weather. I've been to both v2 and v3 charging stations and made sure I was on the circuit alone and still no improvement. Tesla support is useless when it comes to anything battery and charging related it seems. I was told that the age of the car could be a factor then in their next breath say how shocked they were at the health of the battery since it is performing way better than whats expected for it. Even noticed how out of nowhere my may capacity range has been steadily increasing over the last few months. On the ideal range it started at 320 and now its at 349 dont ask how I have no clue lol. I was told to call the service center to have it looked into. Can anyone provide anymore insight as to why my charging speeds have dropped so much.

 

[Zcd1]

I've been having somewhat of a similar issue myself in my facelift model s 90d. Back in the winter months I was getting as high as 160kw peak at the supercharger and sometime around February it started to decline. Today I cap out at around 119kw with the battery conditioned in 70 to 90degree weather. I've been to both v2 and v3 charging stations and made sure I was on the circuit alone and still no improvement. Tesla support is useless when it comes to anything battery and charging related it seems. I was told that the age of the car could be a factor then in their next breath say how shocked they were at the health of the battery since it is performing way better than whats expected for it. Even noticed how out of nowhere my may capacity range has been steadily increasing over the last few months. On the ideal range it started at 320 and now its at 349 dont ask how I have no clue lol. I was told to call the service center to have it looked into. Can anyone provide anymore insight as to why my charging speeds have dropped so much.

Peak charging speed is SOC (state of charge) -dependent.

Unless Tesla has throttled your maximum charging speed, then if you begin charging at the same SOC and with the battery at the proper temperature/pre-conditioned, you should see similar maximum speeds, though even that peak won't last long.

Peak speed seems to occur between about 15 and 35-40% SOC - below or above that, it's slower.

 

[Gasaraki]

Quick question, does anyone know if superchargers sometimes limit charging speed? My wife took her Model X to a 150kw supercharger in Westlake Village, CA and was surprised how it capped at 56kw so I decided to try my Model 3 performance at the same location to see if it was an issue with her car. I went on three occasions including once at 2am when I was the only car there and saw the same thing, it would race up to 56kw then abruptly stop and go no faster. I've only used superchargers a handful of times but I have definitely seen my car charge significantly faster than that so I was curious, is this normal? Do superchargers sometimes just cap their speed at certain times of the year?

No. HOWEVER the car computer will throttle speeds based on charge left, and the environment conditions. When the charge handle gets really hot, speed will drop like a rock (Gen 2 chargers). This obviously happens more in the summer months.

Gen 3 stations have water cooled cables so overheating of the cable happens a lot less.

 

[Aphinity]

I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that many supercharger locations share current sources between stalls. Meaning, if you're charging next to someone who is charging, the two (or more) of you may be splitting the current.

Try taking a stall with nobody beside you and see if it affects your speed. It definitely does where I am.

 

[Rocky_H]

I haven't seen anyone mention the fact that many supercharger locations share current sources between stalls. Meaning, if you're charging next to someone who is charging, the two (or more) of you may be splitting the current.

Try taking a stall with nobody beside you and see if it affects your speed. It definitely does where I am.

You have the concept right, but I need to correct this information a little bit--it's not always "beside". It depends on where the building contractors placed the stalls.

Each number goes to a unit of the charging hardware, and it's split between A and B sides. So in some locations I have been to, they are positioned in a row like this:
1A 2A 3A 4A 1B 2B 3B 4B

The 1A and 1B share, but they are not next to each other. So look at the naming labels on the bottom of the pedestals.

The newer, faster version 3 Superchargers with the thinner liquid cooled cables don't have this power sharing thing, so it's not a consideration, but there are still plenty of the V2 around the country where this sharing thing matters.

 

[Aphinity]

You have the concept right, but I need to correct this information a little bit--it's not always "beside". It depends on where the building contractors placed the stalls.

Each number goes to a unit of the charging hardware, and it's split between A and B sides. So in some locations I have been to, they are positioned in a row like this:
1A 2A 3A 4A 1B 2B 3B 34B

The 1A and 1B share, but they are not next to each other. So look at the naming labels on the bottom of the pedestals.

The newer, faster version 3 Superchargers with the thinner liquid cooled cables don't have this power sharing thing, so it's not a consideration, but there are still plenty of the V2 around the country where this sharing thing matters.

Interesting, thanks! I'm not sure you're correct on the V3 superchargers not sharing though. At least in Abbotsford, the L3 supercharger 'regulars' i spoke to all confirmed that they have seen their rates drop when others plugged into stalls next to them. Maybe it depends on the location? Or maybe it was in their head?

 

[Rocky_H]

Interesting, thanks! I'm not sure you're correct on the V3 superchargers not sharing though. At least in Abbotsford, the L3 supercharger 'regulars' i spoke to all confirmed that they have seen their rates drop when others plugged into stalls next to them. Maybe it depends on the location? Or maybe it was in their head?

They are set up differently such that it's almost certainly in their heads. They have one extremely high power cabinet that feeds four pedestals. The V3 are advertised as maximum 250kW power per stall in an ideal case. 250 X 4 = 1 megawatt. The cabinet is specc'ed at a bit less than that--maybe 750 or 850 kW, but I think can run short bursts above its rating. So hypothetically, if four cars, all Model 3 long range, and all with low state of charge, all looked at each other and plugged in at the same synchronized moment...then, yeah, kinda, maybe it might be possible that someone gets slightly limited. But in practical reality, not generally going to happen.