Newbie Charging Question...

[RainmakerJL]

i am trying to figure out a way to get to Toronto from new york in a p85+ and i saw this on the Tesla Forums

hbh24 | SEPTEMBER 28, 2013
@one2mark
I live outside Syracuse, NY. The Best Western in Syracuse and Albany have 70 amp Sun Country chargers courtesy of a Tesla owner in Buffalo. Until a SuperCharger is operational in our area (2015), you might want to stop there and charge while traveling in Upstate NY.

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So it sounds like there is a "70 amp" charger in both Albany and Syracuse... How long would it take to charge a p85+ battery on one of those chargers? What is the difference between 70amp charging and supercharging?

thanks in advance!

 

[Bifff67]

no answer yet? surprised. Ok quickly:

70 amp means using probably 240Volts AC at 70 amps which is about 16.8 kwatts. To accept more than 10 kwatts you must have dual chargers installed in your car. It will charge your car, if empty, in about 5-6 hours. This is 'AC'.

A super charger is a really big charger that connects directly to the battery using 'DC', and throws in a huge 90 kwatts, soon to be 120 kwatts. It will charge you up half full in 30 mins or less and then it tapers off and will give you almost full charge in under an hour.

 

[Cosmacelf]

The question for charging is never "how long does it take to get full?", but instead, how long will it take to get enough to get to my destination.

The previous poster had good info. Do you have dual chargers in your car?

 

[RainmakerJL]

The question for charging is never "how long does it take to get full?", but instead, how long will it take to get enough to get to my destination.

The previous poster had good info. Do you have dual chargers in your car?

I haven't ordered yet... I am taking my second test drive tomorrow. I am learning this stuff and not great with how electricity works so its a little confusing to me. I think i will push the sales people back and get the dual chargers since Canada is a frequent destination. I will always be looking to charge to "get" to my destination not to full... but its good to get a sense of what it takes to get full... My trip is about 500miles so i will need to charge approx 250-300 miles while on that trip so without superchargers that would be 4-5 hours of charging a long the way (which is way too long). With supercharers that sounds like about 1 hour of total charger time (2-3 stops) which is totally acceptable... does that make sense?

 

[yobigd20]

I haven't ordered yet... I am taking my second test drive tomorrow. I am learning this stuff and not great with how electricity works so its a little confusing to me. I think i will push the sales people back and get the dual chargers since Canada is a frequent destination. I will always be looking to charge to "get" to my destination not to full... but its good to get a sense of what it takes to get full... My trip is about 500miles so i will need to charge approx 250-300 miles while on that trip so without superchargers that would be 4-5 hours of charging a long the way (which is way too long). With supercharers that sounds like about 1 hour of total charger time (2-3 stops) which is totally acceptable... does that make sense?

Keep in mind that is 500 miles each direction. 1000 miles total. That is approximately 20% of the tread life for the rear tires on a P85+. These tires need to be replaced every 5000 miles (staggered low profile summer high performance racing tires). These tires are expensive ~$600/each from tirerack.com or upwards of $800-$1000/each if bought from Tesla. So if you plan on being a high mileage driver like this, I highly recommend not getting the P85+ package and getting the regular P85 with 19" tires. (unless you are cool with spending $2000 every other month for new tires). If you do get P85+, then you're probably going to want to purchase an additional set of 19s for regular usage (or aftermarket 20s) and keep the 21s for track usage only.

 

[ZBB]

no answer yet? surprised. Ok quickly:

70 amp means using probably 240Volts AC at 70 amps which is about 16.8 kwatts. To accept more than 10 kwatts you must have dual chargers installed in your car. It will charge your car, if empty, in about 5-6 hours. This is 'AC'.

A super charger is a really big charger that connects directly to the battery using 'DC', and throws in a huge 90 kwatts, soon to be 120 kwatts. It will charge you up half full in 30 mins or less and then it tapers off and will give you almost full charge in under an hour.

Since they are at a commercial location, the voltage is more likely 208, not 240... So closer to 14.5 kW. I would expect to see ~43 miles added per hour charging with dual chargers...

 

[RainmakerJL]

Keep in mind that is 500 miles each direction. 1000 miles total. That is approximately 20% of the tread life for the rear tires on a P85+. These tires need to be replaced every 5000 miles (staggered low profile summer high performance racing tires). These tires are expensive ~$600/each from tirerack.com or upwards of $800-$1000/each if bought from Tesla. So if you plan on being a high mileage driver like this, I highly recommend not getting the P85+ package and getting the regular P85 with 19" tires. (unless you are cool with spending $2000 every other month for new tires). If you do get P85+, then you're probably going to want to purchase an additional set of 19s for regular usage (or aftermarket 20s) and keep the 21s for track usage only.

Thanks for this tip... You have the P85+? Are you speaking from experience here.. I have heard a variety of tire-ware comments and both the prices for tires you quote and the 5k range is on the extreme of what i have heard so far with the 21's and the p85+ My trips to Canada are about 4 times a year and we'd likely alternate trips between the mini-van and the S starting after they get the superchargers on line...

 

[Cosmacelf]

Yeah that 5,000 mile comment is pretty pessimistic view of the world. 10,000 miles is more likely. And if you put on snow tires, then it'll last longer in calendar time. Sticky tires are very nice, but you do pay for them.

Yes, in general, you want to use superchargers for 500 mile trips. The trip is long enough that you don't notice the wait at the supercharger for 30 mins or 45 mins since you're having lunch or whatever.

 

[yobigd20]

Thanks for this tip... You have the P85+? Are you speaking from experience here.. I have heard a variety of tire-ware comments and both the prices for tires you quote and the 5k range is on the extreme of what i have heard so far with the 21's and the p85+ My trips to Canada are about 4 times a year and we'd likely alternate trips between the mini-van and the S starting after they get the superchargers on line...

speaking from the many many many complaints from owners on these forums, feedback I've heard directly from Tesla employees at service centers, as well as the formal NHSTA complaint.

Yeah that 5,000 mile comment is pretty pessimistic view of the world. 10,000 miles is more likely. And if you put on snow tires, then it'll last longer in calendar time. Sticky tires are very nice, but you do pay for them.

For the P85 w\ 21" cont's maybe 10k if you're lucky (aka your alignment is perfect) because you can rotate them and their UTQG rating is higher, but not for the P85+. You can't rotate stock OEM wheels/tires on the P85+ due to their different sizes. 5k max. any more than that I'd be VERY surprised on the P85+.