My car won't charge faster than 60kW

[bluetinc]

Cerie,

I've had to travel longer than 45 minutes to fully warm my battery up to the point that it is able to take a full 120kW charge after it was cold soaked. Did you do this after that car was cold soaked overnight?

Peter

Yes it is but I did not have home set in my Nav.

@FlasherZ This is an 8 stall charger and I wanted to give it a chance to ramp up so I was only able to test out two stalls. I also had a brain fart and couldn't remember which stall I had the 60 kW issue with two weeks ago so I can't say for sure it wasn't that one either.

 

[wk057]

Keep in mind the charger banks in the superchargers can only be switched out between stalls in groups, not individually. If memory serves from badgering a supercharger tech in Hamilton, NJ, they're in groups of three units, so, 30kW granularity. Would fit with 60kW (two groups) if for whatever reason the cabinet decided not to switch in the next group (60-90kW) because of one or more reasons. Speculation: One reason that comes to mind would maybe be that you're at say, 75kW or less on the taper curve that it would just round down to two active charger groups. No sense wasting that capacity and wear on components to save ~1 minute of charge time. The one VisibleTesla curve of 60kW limit seems to suggest otherwise, but fits with only two groups being switched into the stall in use for whatever reason.

 

[trils0n]

Keep in mind the charger banks in the superchargers can only be switched out between stalls in groups, not individually. If memory serves from badgering a supercharger tech in Hamilton, NJ, they're in groups of three units, so, 30kW granularity. Would fit with 60kW (two groups) if for whatever reason the cabinet decided not to switch in the next group (60-90kW) because of one or more reasons. Speculation: One reason that comes to mind would maybe be that you're at say, 75kW or less on the taper curve that it would just round down to two active charger groups. No sense wasting that capacity and wear on components to save ~1 minute of charge time. The one VisibleTesla curve of 60kW limit seems to suggest otherwise, but fits with only two groups being switched into the stall in use for whatever reason.

I think something like this is most likely, given my experience and what I've heard from Supercharger Techs. The switching is not happening properly at certain Superchargers for whatever reason. Either bad installation/repair or a bug or a combination of the two.

 

[Cerie]

Cerie,I've had to travel longer than 45 minutes to fully warm my battery up to the point that it is able to take a full 120kW charge after it was cold soaked. Did you do this after that car was cold soaked overnight?Peter

Nope this happened after my morning work commute, then from my house to providence airport, there to dinner, and then to the supercharger. So I would say probably about an hour and a half of driving before I hit up the supercharger and when I was at home, the car is inside the garage so by no means a frozen overnight battery.

- - - Updated - - -

I don't expect to find a resolution to this issue inside this thread. I'm more curious about what I can do at this point to get someone at tesla to at least take a look at my battery or car. If the car truly is working as intended, a full charge at a supercharger would take well over an hour and a half. I would just like some honest communication or action on tesla's part. If they intend to do nothing, then just say that so I can make a decision to keep the car with the way it currently functions. Would emailing Jerome do anything?

 

[FlasherZ]

I don't expect to find a resolution to this issue inside this thread. I'm more curious about what I can do at this point to get someone at tesla to at least take a look at my battery or car. If the car truly is working as intended, a full charge at a supercharger would take well over an hour and a half. I would just like some honest communication or action on tesla's part. If they intend to do nothing, then just say that so I can make a decision to keep the car with the way it currently functions. Would emailing Jerome do anything?

Probably not.

I would suggest that you try supercharging again - and if you can demonstrate a pattern of the car not reaching its proper initial charging current at the beginning, then you can escalate through your service manager to the regional service leader. I would suggest trying at the next opportunity and recording the data at several points, comparing them against the taper curve you see above.

 

[redi]

I'm more curious about what I can do at this point to get someone at tesla to at least take a look at my battery or car. If the car truly is working as intended, a full charge at a supercharger would take well over an hour and a half. I would just like some honest communication or action on tesla's part. If they intend to do nothing, then just say that so I can make a decision to keep the car with the way it currently functions. Would emailing Jerome do anything?

Good luck. I have contacted them 3 times and have never had a response.

 

[PunchIT]

Tonl, thanks for your data!

I don't think I'm abusing! I use 2 superchargers on my weekly trip from DC to NJ. On my way to NJ, I charge for ~20 min in DE supercharger and then at Edison, NJ supercharger for some local driving for abt 20-30 min. On my way back, I charge up to 150 miles rated in Edison and then in Delaware upto 80%

Hey Guys, I thought I'll update you on my supercharging experience this past weekend.

2 weeks prior, I had experienced 60kW limit at Edison and Delaware superchargers even with low soc.
I pulled into the Hamilton Marketplace supercharger at 40 miles rated and took one of the unoccupied pairs. I was able to charge at 118 kW!
I met another owner there and he informed that couple weeks ago he met a technician at the Delaware supercharger, apparently fixing some supercharger issue.

Later that day I pulled into Edison supercharger at 125 miles rated and was able to charge at 85kW!

Later, later that same day I pulled into Delaware supercharger at 108 miles rated and was able to charge at 99kW!

So most likely, if you are not able to charge at normal pace, it's an issue with the supercharger and the supercharger team should be informed.

Very unlikely Tesla is throttling the superchargers!

Go Tesla!!

 

[apacheguy]

@cerie - Please clarify your issue. I'm confused as you stated your MS charged well over 60 kW and even held 70 kW up until 60%. This seems perfectly normal, and possibly better than expected, to me. Sorry if I am missing something.

---updated---

Ok, now I see it. Are you suggesting your car is 80 kW limited?

 

[trils0n]

So most likely, if you are not able to charge at normal pace, it's an issue with the supercharger and the supercharger team should be informed.

Very unlikely Tesla is throttling the superchargers!

Go Tesla!!

This is almost certainly the issue. The tech I spoke with mentioned incorrect installation of the splitters as being the likely culprit. (And mentioned that throttling supercharging would be stupid, and against the whole point of superchargers). His laptop was connected the the supercharger when I was limited and it gave no indication of any problem, so it is possible that, remotely, Tesla's diagnostics do not know this is an issue and everything looks good, but the installation can still be wrong. Report the issue with the supercharger if you have an issue.

 

[Cerie]

I've experienced both being limited to 60 kW and then 80 at the same supercharger. I don't really know if they are throttling or not. Either way that's a decision that I can't do anything about. I would like to just rule out that there is something wrong with my car.

Incidentally ill be going to Maryland over Easter so will be stopping at Greenwich, ct and Newark, de so will be sure to document more if I don't experience the normal charge rate. If after that, they still refuse to look at my car, I will have to find some way to escalate.

 

[sorka]

Obsoletion swore that his service advisor claimed that throttling for heavy users was intentional and that there would be an announcement about it shortly. I asked him to go back and get further clarification but I hav not seen any reply back from that. I'm just about ready to call up his service center and ask his service advisor point blank what that was all about.

 

[ecarfan]

Obsoletion swore that his service advisor claimed that throttling for heavy users was intentional and that there would be an announcement about it shortly.

I never believed that SA was correct.

 

[sorka]

To be blunt, what I believe happened is that he misinterpreted the diagnosis (bad as it was) on the repair invoice and inserted something he believed was true. This is just my own opinion and is not stated as fact.

 

[David99]

I think something like this is most likely, given my experience and what I've heard from Supercharger Techs. The switching is not happening properly at certain Superchargers for whatever reason. Either bad installation/repair or a bug or a combination of the two.

Unlikely. The three times I experienced it at three different locations I tried several stalls. Same 60 kW limit on all of them. It is really unlikely that all of them had the exact same issue at the same time in different places.

 

[apacheguy]

Yeah, this is another instance where Tesla could be communicating better. Jerome or a regional service rep ought to be contacting folks and giving them an explanation as to exactly what is occurring. Or if they haven't figured it out yet, at the very least assure everyone that SpC is not intentionally throttling. Tesla's silence on this issue certainly does not help.

 

[FlasherZ]

Yeah, this is another instance where Tesla could be communicating better. Jerome or a regional service rep ought to be contacting folks and giving them an explanation as to exactly what is occurring. Or if they haven't figured it out yet, at the very least assure everyone that SpC is not intentionally throttling. Tesla's silence on this issue certainly does not help.

Where are they supposed to respond? They're aware of consternation here but with the exception of a couple of posts from George here, Tesla has a long track record of leaving TMC and the TM forums be. Those who have reported it to their service center are - with the exception of one - are being told that it is not the case that they're limiting and are passing the information on to the supercharger team. Sometimes, that's the best way to communicate -- telling those who are affected and have properly lodged a ticket with service, specific dates and times that Tesla can check.

I called a friend at a service center (not my local one) and was told no such policy or communication has been made to service centers.

This whole thread has been nothing but complete speculation based on what one service center advisor told one member here, that has not been corroborated by anyone, and in fact has been disclaimed by several others. So why should Tesla respond to pure speculation, especially since no data points line up? The only thing we have to go on is that some people have demonstrated that some service center + car combinations have resulted in 60 kW being their charging limits. No pattern has emerged.

I don't think it's necessary for Tesla to respond to rampant speculation, especially when no data exists to support said speculation.

 

[deonb]

Where are they supposed to respond? They're aware of consternation here but with the exception of a couple of posts from George here, Tesla has a long track record of leaving TMC and the TM forums be.

That's exactly the problem. This kind of isolation between engineers and customers is something that belongs back in the 20th century.

Even Microsoft these days have engineers directly responding to blogs - and they have 1000's of times the number of customers that Tesla does.

I can totally understand Tesla being silent about Model X/3/Gigafactory etc. But not on existing products.

 

[FlasherZ]

Microsoft's engineers aren't going to respond to speculation about its policy, especially speculation about a policy that would likely require executive coverage. They might respond to individual cases, and they'd probably do the same thing that we've been recommending -- call the supercharger # and file a ticket with service.

Otherwise, it will be put into a position where it has to respond to every bit of speculation out there.

TuneIn favorites disappeared? Speculation suddenly pops up that Tesla is dumping all Internet radio options (despite none of the evidence lining up behind it), then Tesla has to respond to that.

Tesla knows that this speculation will shake out because the data doesn't line up. Individual cases can be worked through service channels, and the crazy speculation goes away. And it doesn't set a precedent whereby every hypothesis must be responded to.

 

[deonb]

Microsoft's engineers aren't going to respond to speculation about its policy, especially speculation about a policy that would likely require executive coverage.

Oh yes they would. Well, they won't change a policy in the first place without telling anybody about it...

What Tesla is doing is akin to Microsoft cancelling a product, but instead of posting any information about that, they just silently remove it from the web site. And then if you call support about it, you just get a generic "we looked at the web site, and it's currently up and running" answer.

That's assuming this is even a policy change. If this was just an error, engineers would respond with: "We realize this is a problem and we're looking into it".


Tesla is in pretty uncharted territory of standoffishness towards customers here. And they certainly DO have a history of changing major things without any communication (remember suspension-gate), which is why speculation like this is fueled in the first place.

Otherwise, it will be put into a position where it has to respond to every bit of speculation out there.

They should. There's actually not a lot of this type of speculation out here that has to do with trying to interpret some weird observed behavior that's going on right now. Maybe one case a month. Most of the rampant speculation on here has to do with future products & announcements.

 

[FlasherZ]

Well, then we'll just disagree.

I would rather funnel customers through my proper service channels where I could investigate properly than be held to respond to every crazy rumor that popped up on a message board, especially when the data just doesn't line up with that crazy rumor (and when non-customers and/or other troublemakers can stir the pot).