?Drop off of rate of charge at Supercharger St Leonards

[Dborn]

Hi. I have free supercharging for life. I have noted a drastic slowing of charge rate down to around 35kwH even when the battery is quite low. I seem to recall the charge rate being over 100 when battery was at low levels. Are they trying to discourage us from supercharging? If so, this is REALLY sneaky!!!

 

[conman]

Has this happened just once or every time? Sometimes you just need to unplug and plug in again, or try another booth and it fixes low charge rates. Even shared booths should be 70kW.

 

[Icey]

I don't think they would do that, It would cause chaos that your car takes 4 hours charge and 20 model 3 waiting to charge.

 

[Dborn]

Been happening every time I charge lately and that is around once a week.

 

[smithy]

Yep I noticed it too, been happening for me for the past few weeks there. I used to be able to get 110kW charge rate when the battery was around 50%, would hang around 100-105 until at bout 65%, then be at 90-95 until early 70s, then drop to 50-60 until I got 80%. The last few weeks I'm lucky to get 60-70kW when starting and by the end it is at 35-40kW. A lot of the time there has only been 1 other car there (on a different pairing) when I've been charging.(I've got a 2018 S 100D)

 

[Paul Sawatzky]

It could be due to a software update to the cars changing the charging profile after a few thermal runaway events.

 

[djayz]

It could be due to a software update to the cars changing the charging profile after a few thermal runaway events.

Yeah wasn’t there a recent software update for the older models (75 and 85D mostly affected I believe) after the car that caught fire in China and Tesla admitted they lowered the full battery capacity of the vehicle? I suspect they also probably lowered maximum charging speeds.

 

[eclectricdave]

On my last trip to Rich SC I had about 50% left & could only charge at 42kW max. Thought at the time it was cold batteries.

 

[ICUDoc]

I rarely charge at Artarmon but the other day I got: 28kW.
W
T
A
F?

 

[SSonnentag]

I’m getting greatly reduced charging rates as well. My taper starts at 35% now instead of at 55%. And it tapers more quickly than before too.

 

[SSonnentag]

I used to charge from 20-90% in about 55 minutes. Now it takes about 80 minutes.

 

[Blue heaven]

With an early 85kwh battery I'm still getting 116kw at 25% and 60kw at 60%, that's on the Eaton regional Supercharger.
Have the Sydney and Melbourne City chargers been turned down? Best way to check is try a regional supercharger under the same temperature and charge percentage conditions.
Note: At 160,000kms this 85kwh battery has conducted no more than 30 supercharger sessions in 4 years.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Yeah wasn’t there a recent software update for the older models (75 and 85D mostly affected I believe) after the car that caught fire in China and Tesla admitted they lowered the full battery capacity of the vehicle? I suspect they also probably lowered maximum charging speeds.

Nope!
I just got back from a trip to Narrabri in my Aug 2016 S75D with 107,000kms.
Got 93kW at central coast and Jerry’s plains superchargers both ways.
Been getting max 65kW at St Leonards lately, today was 37kW with battery at 40% and not sharing a stall. Something fishy going on.
Software was 2019.20.4.2 for all charging sessions.

 

[ICUDoc]

I got 115kW in Tuggerah the other day- it's Artarmon, not the car...

 

[smithy]

If I was into conspiracy theories I'd say it coincides with closing the showroom

 

[Murbs]

it goes without saying that only Tesla can give a definitive answer as to what's going on.

But perhaps a plausible explanation is that Tesla has had their supply capacity constrained by the relevant power Utility?

 

[paulp]

it goes without saying that only Tesla can give a definitive answer as to what's going on.

But perhaps a plausible explanation is that Tesla has had their supply capacity constrained by the relevant power Utility?

Maybe tesla are restricting locally owned cars to encourage them not to use the supercharger. Only way to know is for a visiting car from another state to try it

 

[Ashleysteadman]

+1 I’m only getting max 40kw at St Leonards regardless of state of charge - I thought it may have just been me! I work nearby so it’s my local Supercharger.

As others have suggested this has been sometimes when I’ve been the only car there! 9 month old S75D here.

 

[Shock-On-T]

They might be trying to save money on the demand charges (aka "capacity charges").
This is where the utility charges more than the standard rate per kWh for power drawn at higher than a certain kW.

 

[Shock-On-T]

Much as I sympathise with trying to reduce local charging, this really is a problem for me.
I rarely use the supercharger to save money. I had the $1/day unlimited AGL plan for a while, and now pay just 13c/kWh off peak, so about $8 for a full battery. I'd be mad to sit there for an hour to save a few bucks.
But, in my line of work I'm frequently required to drop what I'm doing and head out of Sydney (eg. Canberra, Newcastle).
In these situations I sometimes am caught short and need to go to the supercharger before I start the journey. The slow supercharging has been a nuisance in these situations.
The Central Coast SC is a boon for the Newcastle trips; if I have 25% or more I can just head north and drop in there. But Canberra is a different story, I need a good 70% to make it to Goulburn, and a few times I've been at 40% and it's taken over 30 minutes to get to 70% at St Leonards.