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Faster A/C charging?

Terryaki

Member
Feb 24, 2019
10
14
Ogden
Given the battery pack that will be required for the tri-motor, I have to wonder if Tesla might have a noticeably larger inverter onboard for A/C charging, also have a mobile charger that can handle higher amps as well as new Destination chargers that support higher amps.
I've considered getting a destination/wall charger in my garage for my Model 3 (just using mobile charger currently), That way I could benefit from it for my M3 and simply use it when my Cybertruck comes around. But were Tesla to release a higher amp one for the Cybertruck, i'd rather just wait and get that higher-amp unit as that's what I would want.
Thoughts/opinions on the Tesla releasing such a unit?
 
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Akikiki

A'-Lo-HA ! y'all
Nov 26, 2012
6,324
4,452
Kaneohe, HI
There is plenty of time before you need to worry about which wall connector you should use with CT. Don't try to get ahead of Tesla.

Don't forget your source (home) has to be able to support the circuit for wall connector to get more. I don't need to know the answer for you home, but does yours? Else waste of time.

Example: If you have a charging window at home from 08:00 pm to 06:00 am, does it matter if the CT takes 3 hours or 5 hours to charge as long as it's done by departure time? What's the point of charging faster unless your situation demands it every day? You have to weigh the cost of infrastructure installation against the gain/need.

Mobile charger of higher amperage? Doubtful, their pattern is lower, not higher. But again. Time will tell.
 
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ewoodrick

Well-Known Member
Apr 13, 2018
5,285
3,721
Buford, GA
Given the battery pack that will be required for the tri-motor, I have to wonder if Tesla might have a noticeably larger inverter onboard for A/C charging, also have a mobile charger that can handle higher amps as well as new Destination chargers that support higher amps.
I've considered getting a destination/wall charger in my garage for my Model 3 (just using mobile charger currently), That way I could benefit from it for my M3 and simply use it when my Cybertruck comes around. But were Tesla to release a higher amp one for the Cybertruck, i'd rather just wait and get that higher-amp unit as that's what I would want.
Thoughts/opinions on the Tesla releasing such a unit?

For the truck, doubtful.

Why do you need more for the car? It'll charge from empty to fill in about 10 hours at 32A
 

Cyber_Dav

Member
Nov 30, 2019
145
163
SoCal
Given the battery pack that will be required for the tri-motor, I have to wonder if Tesla might have a noticeably larger inverter onboard for A/C charging?
A common guess is two inverters, rather than one bigger one. But no one knows yet.

So, as others said, wait before doing anything specifically for the Cybertruck. :)
 

Terryaki

Member
Feb 24, 2019
10
14
Ogden
Thanks everyone. Let's see. No I don't need it now, which is why I haven't bought it already. However occasionally I do have situations where the extra charge speed would be beneficial. Just not often. Yes my house & panel can handle the additional theoretical amps.

The reason I can see them possibly doing this is that with the size of the CT's battery pack, the charge time with the current wall charger would actually be relatively long. Maybe double the 100a/h pack on the S. If such is the case I can see them maybe updating the charger to still try to full charge the CT in timeframe closer to what we currently see for S, X & 3.
 

ewoodrick

Well-Known Member
Apr 13, 2018
5,285
3,721
Buford, GA
Thanks everyone. Let's see. No I don't need it now, which is why I haven't bought it already. However occasionally I do have situations where the extra charge speed would be beneficial. Just not often. Yes my house & panel can handle the additional theoretical amps.

The reason I can see them possibly doing this is that with the size of the CT's battery pack, the charge time with the current wall charger would actually be relatively long. Maybe double the 100a/h pack on the S. If such is the case I can see them maybe updating the charger to still try to full charge the CT in timeframe closer to what we currently see for S, X & 3.

A bigger charger isn't generally the issue. It's that most homes can't provide that amount of current!
 

Big Earl

bnkwupt
Jul 12, 2017
4,915
8,790
Springfield, VA
A 200 kWh Cybertruck (my guess for the tri motor) would take 17.5 hours to fully charge at 48 amps, 240 volts. Increase it to 72 amps and the charge time is reduced to just under 12 hours. Charging at 32 amps on a gen 2 mobile connector is in excess of 24 hours.
 

McMoo

Member
Nov 19, 2018
162
132
St. Louis
A 200 kWh Cybertruck (my guess for the tri motor) would take 17.5 hours to fully charge at 48 amps, 240 volts. Increase it to 72 amps and the charge time is reduced to just under 12 hours. Charging at 32 amps on a gen 2 mobile connector is in excess of 24 hours.

My guess is the pack will be less than 200 kWh, maybe as low as 150 kWh. Newest model X gets 351 miles out of 100 kWh and I have to imagine there’s going to be some breakthrough battery tech in the next few years.

I think faster supercharging is more important, 250 kw all the way to 80% or so would be huge.

Faster AC charging may be a selling point but 48 amps is probably enough for 99.9% of cases. Destination charging if towing wouldn’t have you leaving with a full battery but any standard road trip will allow for at least 1 supercharger stop in 500 miles of driving. Not many can go for that long without stopping anyways.
 
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Danny Brown

Member
Apr 13, 2019
139
165
Rocket City (Huntsville, AL)
I’d argue that the bigger the battery, the LESS true need for high-amp L2 charging (and in some cases, less need for Superchargers).

If I owned a TriMotor CT, and had it charged to 400 miles (80%), I could go almost 2 weeks of my usual usage (200 mi/wk) before I HAD to plug in. Said another way, my daily commute would take 40% LESS, as a percentage of battery required, then my current P3D. (40 miles = ~15% in P3D; would be ~9% of TriMotor CT)

Given that I only use a NEMA 5-15 for my P3D, the bigger battery of the CT would make me even less inclined to install high-amp L2 charging. But that’s just me.
 

woodguyatl

Member
Oct 3, 2018
446
359
GA
Given the battery pack that will be required for the tri-motor, I have to wonder if Tesla might have a noticeably larger inverter onboard for A/C charging, also have a mobile charger that can handle higher amps as well as new Destination chargers that support higher amps.
I've considered getting a destination/wall charger in my garage for my Model 3 (just using mobile charger currently), That way I could benefit from it for my M3 and simply use it when my Cybertruck comes around. But were Tesla to release a higher amp one for the Cybertruck, i'd rather just wait and get that higher-amp unit as that's what I would want.
Thoughts/opinions on the Tesla releasing such a unit?

Given that the new Gen 3 HPWC max out at 48 amps I think we can conclude that the CT will not been able to charge faster than that.
 
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doghousePVD

My grandfather’s car
Dec 3, 2018
572
463
New England, USA
I think most of slow charging advocates miss the point. People are not buying 150-200 kWh batteries because they drive 10 miles to work.

They are towing, going to cabins with no/minimal power, to trailheads far away from any Superchargers, traveling a lot in very cold locations, etc.

A nominal 500 mile range will be less than 250 miles towing a big trailer in cold weather, assuming flat terrain. Higher speed AC charging will be mportant.

The 500 mile CT is not for urban cowboys going to the mall. The short range trucks, sure.

I can’t wait for my CT. I use the 72 A charging on my X all the time. Important for midday charging when needed.
 

McMoo

Member
Nov 19, 2018
162
132
St. Louis
I think most of slow charging advocates miss the point. People are not buying 150-200 kWh batteries because they drive 10 miles to work.

They are towing, going to cabins with no/minimal power, to trailheads far away from any Superchargers, traveling a lot in very cold locations, etc.

A nominal 500 mile range will be less than 250 miles towing a big trailer in cold weather, assuming flat terrain. Higher speed AC charging will be mportant.

The 500 mile CT is not for urban cowboys going to the mall. The short range trucks, sure.

I can’t wait for my CT. I use the 72 A charging on my X all the time. Important for midday charging when needed.

Of course the 500 mile truck is for urban cowboys. It’s both a status thing and the only way to get the fastest acceleration times. 99% of CT owners will never do the things you mentioned.
 

doghousePVD

My grandfather’s car
Dec 3, 2018
572
463
New England, USA
Of course the 500 mile truck is for urban cowboys. It’s both a status thing and the only way to get the fastest acceleration times. 99% of CT owners will never do the things you mentioned.

Status? 99.99% of the population will not be able to see or understand the differences between the different flavors of the truck.

Who is so silly to think a 3 second pickup is important for 100,000 purchasers? A few sure, just like the people who a snow plow on the front of a Porsche.
 
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M3BlueGeorgia

Active Member
Dec 10, 2018
1,321
1,041
Atlanta, GA
Of course the 500 mile truck is for urban cowboys. It’s both a status thing and the only way to get the fastest acceleration times. 99% of CT owners will never do the things you mentioned.

Maybe, but if you want to haul a heavy non-aerodynamic load or pull a 7,000 lb trailer (or both), you'll need notional 500 mile range and triple motors to get decent speed and 300 mile range.

Back to the original question: Some early Model S had dual chargers and some also had 80A support, so the capability already exists in Tesla's software for both these..
I'll be interesting if Tesla provide either of these two capabilities on the tri-motor CyberTruck.
 

Akikiki

A'-Lo-HA ! y'all
Nov 26, 2012
6,324
4,452
Kaneohe, HI
Still back to the question. There was not question in your question. :)

There's a lot of "gee, I hope it has this or that" going on. And Elon has encouraged people to feed them what they want to see on the truck, but unless these same people are tweeting what they want to him to put on it
 

Qbenjamin

Frugal But Classy!
Jan 7, 2017
1,139
673
Braavos
I'll definitely be highly disappointed if dual chargers aren't even offered as an option. The rated range capacity of 500 miles is enticing, but also a bit of a concern. My X currently charges at 26 mph, with a capacity of 225 "miles" (notice the asterisks here). If the CT charges at the same rate (let's say 30 for giggles), then you'll need at least 13 hours just to charge to 80%. This isn't ideal at all, especially since we know that miles don't equal true miles in an EV. Some may say not to let it fall low enough to worry about it, but that's an exception, not the actual premise. We should be able to get a full charge overnight at home, heck I even have a 100 amp breaker ready to go (we know that may be useless since its potentially maxed at 48 amps).
 
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