My S supercharge speed seems to be restricted at ~50KW

[phdwhite]

Just wonder if anyone has similar experience of restricted supercharge speed.
I was the only one car at supercharge station (Max power 120KW), and my SOC is ~30%. However, supercharge speed is only 44KW. I tried other stalls but still same speed. Supercharge speed slowly increase to ~50KW, then capped up at ~50KW. (30% SOC, normal charge speed will be ~90KW)
I tried another Supercharge station recently (Urban charger Max power 72KW). My SOC is ~40%, but charging speed is only ~36KW. Charge speed capped up at 40KW. (Normal speed should be 72KW)
It seems my car's supercharge speed is restricted. I've owned my S for 2 years and did several road trip, but it never happened before.
Any Tesla owner experiences similar stuff? Is there an issue the the car? Thanks in advance.

 

[No2DinosaurFuel]

Was your car's battery cold? Sometimes my car starts slow even when not sharing until the battery is sufficiently warm before hitting the high charge rate. If not, I am not sure what else can explain it other than defective battery/connector/wires.

 

[Lasttoy]

Mine depends solely on amount of remaining charge.
If empty it will start at 120, then slowly go down to 20 or 30.
If im half full, it will start at 50 go down to 20.
AND, the new Gen 5 super chargers are faster. I have noticed the cable getting warm the longer I'm connected.
Rumor has it the new Gen 5s were starting at 180. But smoked a few cars so they dialed them back to 120.

 

[bob_p]

Recommend you call Tesla's phone support the next time you encounter this.

They should be able to check the status of your car and the supercharger.

If you're seeing this at multiple supercharger locations, it could be an issue with your vehicle.

At a single supercharger location, it could be an issue with that location. When we encountered this on a road trip last year, when we called Tesla it turned out that they were aware that all of the supercharger charging stations at that location were operating at less than full capacity, limiting charging for everyone (something that isn't indicated in the status provided with the onboard maps).

 

[AZbba]

Try turning on range mode see if it changes anything.

I suspect my battery may have a similar issue with available cooling.

 

[bob_p]

If you're having problems that restricts supercharging speeds, call Tesla's phone support or your local Service Center and have them look at the logs for your car. If you aren't at a supercharger when you call, it may help if you can provide them the approximate time/date when you were at a supercharger, to help them find the area in the log to search.

 

[tga]

Rumor has it the new Gen 5s were starting at 180. But smoked a few cars so they dialed them back to 120.

No Supercharger, regardless of version, can force a car to take 180kW. The battery management system in the car is in complete control of the charging session, and constantly controls voltage and current (and hence, kW). Even if the Supercharger is capable of delivering 180kW, it won't do so unless instructed to by the car.

 

[Snowstorm]

Try turning on range mode see if it changes anything.

I suspect my battery may have a similar issue with available cooling.

Range mode will make it worse, as it disables the battery heater. The battery can only charge slowly if it is too cold, charging is a chemical reaction and it slows at low temps. If you charge with a cold battery, you may only get 20-35kw until say 20 minute later when it warms up. If possible, charge after driving.

 

[fabionomaz]

Try turning on range mode see if it changes anything.

I suspect my battery may have a similar issue with available cooling.

I had quite the issue with cooling at Superchargers but I still hit 116Kw for a short burst then it would very quickly throttle to even 2Kw(1hr & 40min to reach 87%). If I unplugged It'd look like my screenshot from below, they replaced the battery under warranty but mine seemed like pretty drastic cooling issues.

 

[scottm]

@fabionomaz ..not sure what your point is about drawing a relationship between driving consumption (the graph you've pointed at) and supercharging?

 

[MP3Mike]

@fabionomaz ..not sure what your point is about drawing a relationship between driving consumption (the graph you've pointed at) and supercharging?

Look at the power limits that graph is showing with a charged battery and 76* outside temperature.

It looks like he is only allowed ~10kW of drive power and ~5kw of regen.

 

[scottm]

Look at the power limits that graph is showing with a charged battery and 76* outside temperature.

It looks like he is only allowed ~10kW of drive power and ~5kw of regen.

Gotcha... Dotted arc shows power limits.

Idon't have that version of software. My limits are still showing as yellow dashed lines.

 

[tga]

@fabionomaz ..not sure what your point is about drawing a relationship between driving consumption (the graph you've pointed at) and supercharging?

No cooling, battery overheats while supercharging, and throttles to 2 kw. After unplugging, car has regen and accel limit until it cools down.

 

[Snowstorm]

I had quite the issue with cooling at Superchargers but I still hit 116Kw for a short burst then it would very quickly throttle to even 2Kw(1hr & 40min to reach 87%). If I unplugged It'd look like my screenshot from below, they replaced the battery under warranty but mine seemed like pretty drastic cooling issues.

View attachment 374420

Dude, that is messed. That kind of heat cannot be good for the battery, can u get that fixed ASAP?

 

[fabionomaz]

Dude, that is messed. That kind of heat cannot be good for the battery, can u get that fixed ASAP?

Was not good lol, I could feel the heat coming off the car, reminded me of gas cars. As I mentioned Tesla replaced the battery under warranty after that issue which was awesome.

My intent was that even with the cooling issues, it still hit high Supercharging speeds. But the phdwhite's car is not getting over 50Kw at any point which is really strange.

 

[MP3Mike]

My intent was that even with the cooling issues, it still hit high Supercharging speeds. But the phdwhite's car is not getting over 50Kw at any point which is really strange.

The issue is that you can't charge at full speeds when the pack is "cold", your pack wasn't cold so it could start charging at full speed.

 

[Snowstorm]

I would bet the problem here is that the battery is too cold. Notice how regen is limited when the battery is not warmed up? That is the same restriction on charging. I would advise the OP to try again after the battery is warm, say after driving for 30 min and see. Also note if the charge rate increase after say 15-20 min of supercharging, as the battey heater and charging itself will warm up the battery to allow faster charging rate, assuming he does enter taper yet.

 

[Benjanos]

@phdwhite: Perhaps not exactly the same problem, but this thread linked below is interesting and worth a read. This person's concern started out as a cold soak type scenario, the thread goes on and eventually the problem is the cooling pump. Plus there was probably a cold soak aspect at play sometimes as well. Worth a read in case your symptoms go in the same direction.

"Less energy is available due to cold battery" trying to charge

 

[phdwhite]

Hi folks, really appreciate all your replies.
I eventually brought my model S to SC, after diagnosis, no issue was found.
Will keep you posted when I have the next supercharge.

 

[maximizese]

I've been having a few slower SuC sessions over the last month. I've got a 2013 MS85 and saw speeds up to ~106kW a month ago during a road trip. However, the last two sessions I did wouldn't go over 82kW. This morning was pretty cold at 38 degrees with the regen limited. I drove 20 miles to the SuC and plugged into an empty stall pair (5a with no one using 5b). It charged up to 72kW and quickly settled down to ~60kW. After 5 minutes, I decided to move to different empty stall pair, plugged it, and got 82kW within a minute. I charged for about 40 minutes and watched a few other Tesla owners pull into various stalls only to shuffle around after a few minutes. It made me wonder if the varying charging rate was due to stall/cabinet issues or if it's our cars.

I typically charge at home, but will SuC if there are >50% of the stalls available, the car is warmed up, and the SOC is below 25%. Maybe I'll try a different SuC lot; I'd be happy to see charging rates >100kW to assure me that my car isn't the issue.