Is 30 amps enough for charging? (Condo Owner)

[Yggdrasill]

A factor two, to be exact.

Incidentally, that is also a possible uncertainty factor involved when only stating the charging capacity in ampere, since the other factor, the voltage, could be 110V, or twice as high, for twice the charging power.

The charging power is really what one needs to know.

For example, my garage has only a 16A outlet, but with a 400V voltage, so I have a charging power of 6.4 kW. A night's charging (say 12 hours) will thus give me a good 76 kWh. Now I just need the car itself...

You have one phase 400V plug? That's unusual, and not something a Tesla can use to charge. (Edit: Actually, it should work if you have neutal available, then you basically have two phases. Though the car would interpret it as a fault with the third phase and be unhappy.)

I would think you have a three phase plug, with a total power of 11 kW. Or 110 kWh in 10 hours.

 

[lklundin]

You have one phase 400V plug? That's unusual, and not something a Tesla can use to charge. (Edit: Actually, it should work if you have neutal available, then you basically have two phases. Though the car would interpret it as a fault with the third phase and be unhappy.)

I would think you have a three phase plug, with a total power of 11 kW. Or 110 kWh in 10 hours.

No, it is a three-phase 400 V outlet, I believe it is called IEC 60309, the plugs are usually red.

 

[Yggdrasill]

No, it is a three-phase 400 V outlet, I believe it is called IEC 60309, the plugs are usually red.

Exactly, so it's 11 kW. (Or it's on a 10A breaker, limiting you to ~6.9 kW.)

 

[lklundin]

Exactly, so it's 11 kW. (Or it's on a 10A breaker, limiting you to ~6.9 kW.)

You're right, what a mistake.

Although the voltage between any two phases is 400V, the power available from the three phases with 16A each totals :

3 * 230V * 16A = 11 kW.

Thanks for pointing that out.

 

[ccutrer]

You're right, what a mistake.

Although the voltage between any two phases is 400V, the power available from the three phases with 16A each totals :

3 * 230V * 16A = 11 kW.

Thanks for pointing that out.

I may be wrong cause I know charging is a bit different in Europe... but...

In the US, you can only charge on a single phase. So even with a 480V 3phase wye connection, the best you can do is 277V. And that's only been enabled by the recently updated wall connector (old wall connector was limited to ~250V; 240V nominal). And beware that the 48A/72A charger is actually limited to 48A*240V=11.52kW. It's been confirmed that when hooking up to a 277V power supply, the car will lower the amperage to keep the overall power within limits. I'm not as familiar with the older 40A or dual-40A charger to know if they'll take a full 80A*277V=22.16kW supply (or even if they'll take 277V at all, but I think they will).

 

[Yggdrasill]

EU cars are equipped with a 400V (L-L) three phase charger. Standard is 11 kW (16A), dual chargers used to be 22 kW (32A), and now the upgraded charger is 16.5 kW (24A). You can also charge using single phase 220-250V, but no more than 32A (7.4 kW).

 

[lklundin]

I may be wrong cause I know charging is a bit different in Europe... but...

In the US, you can only charge on a single phase. So even with a 480V 3phase wye connection, the best you can do is 277V. And that's only been enabled by the recently updated wall connector (old wall connector was limited to ~250V; 240V nominal). And beware that the 48A/72A charger is actually limited to 48A*240V=11.52kW. It's been confirmed that when hooking up to a 277V power supply, the car will lower the amperage to keep the overall power within limits. I'm not as familiar with the older 40A or dual-40A charger to know if they'll take a full 80A*277V=22.16kW supply (or even if they'll take 277V at all, but I think they will).

The information I can find is that in Europe the Model S and X without options can be charged with 11 kW, via 400V, 16A 3-phase AC.

Here is for example a Model S review from 2014 (in German, but the charging-related acronyms seems clear enough to English readers):

Elektrische Power-Limousine: Tesla Model S

Actually, when I borrowed a Model S from the local store, I asked about my 3-phased outlet and was told that it would be usable, but the store did not have a matching cable to lend me, only a 1-phase cable for 3.68 kW. Too bad, since I had the car overnight.

 

[RobertF]

So an 8 hour overnight charge would give you 144 miles of range. I suppose the question becomes, is that enough for you?

I live in Huntington Beach, CA. SCE gives us 10 hours a day (10pm-8am) at their lowest electric car evening rate. That would be about 180 miles of range. That's plenty in my opinion. Even the 144 miles of range is adequate. You shouldn't let the battery run down to 0 anyway. If you start charging with 50-100 miles left in your battery you will have a pretty full battery using 30 amps

 

[Bishop]

I was charging at 25amps all last week just fine