Low supercharging speeds - due to cold or something else?

[Aellinsar]

I've had my 3 almost 4 years (50k miles) and have supercharged occasionally over that timeframe. The last 2 times I charged, I had pretty slow charge rates and I wondered if this was normal, a fault of the super charger, or something odd with my car.

The first time was a couple months ago when I was getting 61 kW at a 150 kW charger. Battery was at about 20% and it was 17°F outside. I'd driven for ~2 hours, but had eaten dinner (~45-60 minutes of the car being stopped) before charging. I attributed this to cold and thought that I should have charged before eating because the battery must have cooled off quite a bit.

This weekend, I supercharged again at a different 150 kW charger. I was making a round trip that would be tight on range, so I thought I would stop for 5-10 minutes on the way to my destination so that I wouldn't have to worry on the return trip. External temperature was ~40°% and I had been driving for ~1.5 hours and was at 65% charge. This time I only got 31 kW from the charger.

Does this seem unusual? Particularly in this weekend's case, I wouldn't expect 150 kW being at 65% charge, but from all the data I've seen (including past experience in my car) I'd expect more than 31 kW. Both times I was the only car on the charger and I even moved chargers to no effect.

 

[GtiMart]

Have you entered the supercharger as your destination? Did you see the car preconditioning the battery? If you haven't then it's definitely because the battery wasn't warm enough.
While driving, the battery does heat somewhat but the car will regulate it to a temperature that's well under the optimal supercharging temp.

 

[Aellinsar]

Have you entered the supercharger as your destination? Did you see the car preconditioning the battery? If you haven't then it's definitely because the battery wasn't warm enough.
While driving, the battery does heat somewhat but the car will regulate it to a temperature that's well under the optimal supercharging temp.

Perhaps not for long enough. In the first case, I entered the destination when we left dinner, but that was a ~5 minute drive. This weekend, I decided to charge 15-20 minutes from the supercharger so entered the destination then. Maybe that wasn't long enough to precondition.

 

[GtiMart]

I believe that's the reason. The way that the car heats the battery has changed since a year or two ago. It is now less aggressive, more gentle on the battery, but it takes a while. Some people report heating starting as far as 1.5-2h away from destination. It's worse if you have a single motor (SR+ or initial long range rwd) since there's only one motor/inverter available to generate heat with.

You are better (for quick charging) to drive to the SC, charge, and then go for dinner. Same with hotels and sleeping, it will charge faster if you navigate to the SC, charge and then go to sleep, instead of trying to charge in the morning on a cold battery.

 

[Jeremy3292]

You need to navigate to the supercharger in the on board nav for at least 30 minutes to get max charging speeds. This is noted in the owners manual.

 

[LoudMusic]

That's also V2 superchargers where the 150kW is shared between two charging stalls. Were there other cars at the supercharger? Was the stall that paired with your stall occupied?

 

[Aellinsar]

I believe that's the reason. The way that the car heats the battery has changed since a year or two ago. It is now less aggressive, more gentle on the battery, but it takes a while. Some people report heating starting as far as 1.5-2h away from destination. It's worse if you have a single motor (SR+ or initial long range rwd) since there's only one motor/inverter available to generate heat with.

You are better (for quick charging) to drive to the SC, charge, and then go for dinner. Same with hotels and sleeping, it will charge faster if you navigate to the SC, charge and then go to sleep, instead of trying to charge in the morning on a cold battery.

Thanks. I do have the LR RWD model. It's good to know it's just my behavior/car software and not anything weird with the car. I know if the past I've seen 150-250 kW charge rates with the car.

 

[Aellinsar]

That's also V2 superchargers where the 150kW is shared between two charging stalls. Were there other cars at the supercharger? Was the stall that paired with your stall occupied?

Nope. I was the only one there (and I tried multiple stalls anyway).

 

[RayK]

Nope. I was the only one there (and I tried multiple stalls anyway).

Then I would say it's because the battery is cold, if your SoC is < 45-50%.