Is there somewhere i can read up on this or a detailed post about this. I'm trying to understand the differences between all the chargers onboard vs. the DC charger (i assume supercharging). It's all very confusing and the Tesla website isn't much help. I live in a Condo so for me i don't think i can set up a charger in my place and i want to know what i need for my car to access in public spaces and what options i have.
The term "charger" often gets misused when talking about EV's. A charger is a device that takes AC power (typ 120V or 240V) and converts it to high voltage DC (HVDC) at the proper voltage and current to safely charge the battery. You never see the charger; it is always built into the car.
The thing on the wall of your garage is not a charger. The proper term is "EVSE" (electric vehicle supply equipment), but people often (lazily) refer to it as a charger. The EVSE is basically a glorified extension cord with an electronic switch in it. Tesla's UMC and HPWC are both EVSE's. When you plug the EVSE cable into the car, the electronics in the EVSE and the car's internal charger communicate. The EVSE tells the car's charger how many amps the car can safely draw (the car may draw less, but not more than, what the EVSE tells it), and the car tells the EVSE it is properly connected and requests that the EVSE turn on the power (the EVSE connector is never energized until connected with a car and the car says go).
Charging with AC power using the car's internal chargers is called level 1 (using 120V) or level 2 (using 240V), aka L1 or L2
DC Fast Charging (DCFC), as called level 3 (or L3) charging, charges the car at a much higher rate than the onboard chargers can, using a very high power AC source (277/480V 3 phase AC). Supercharging is Tesla's brand for L3 DCFC. When DCFC, the car's internal charger is not used. Instead, an external, high power battery charger is used to feed the car's battery externally. The car's battery management system (BMS) communicates directly with the external charging station and instructs it on how much voltage and amperage to supply at any moment.
ChaDeMo and SAE-CCS are the two main industry standards for DCFC. The use a different set of electrical contacts for the L3 DC input than the L1/L2 AC input. Tesla's system is based on CCS, but is unique in that they use the same input pins for AC and DC charging. The "Supercharging hardware" in the car is little more than a set of contactors (relays) that switch the input power jack from feeding AC to the on-board charger or bypassing the charger and feeding HVDC directly to the battery.
Since the "Supercharging hardware" in the car is so simple, Tesla includes it on all cars, making "enabling Supercharging" entirely a software-controlled option. I see no reason they would do anything different for the Model 3.
As to what do you need for charging at public stations -
- If it's a public Tesla HPWC (240V L2), just plug in. The car will charge in a few hours.
- If it's a public non-Tesla L1 or L2 station (aka J1772, the SAE spec #), you just need the adapter provided with the car. Other than that, it's just like using a HPWC (possibly slower).
- If it's a Tesla Supercharger, just plug in. The car will charge in a few minutes.
- If it's a Chademo station, you need a $450 optional adapter. Chademo is slower than Supercharging, due to limits on the charging stations
- If it's an SAE-CCS station, you're out of luck. No adapter exists yet. As more stations come on line, Tesla may make an adapter.
