Not getting more than 105 kW at V2 SuperChargers?

[cstork]

I went on a road trip in Colorado and charged at 2 SuperChargers (Silverthorne & Glenwood Springs). At both I arrived with the battery at 20% but I only got a max charging rate of 105 kW, and the rate dropped off significantly after my battery hit 50%. In both cases, the battery had ~60 minutes to precondition and the temperature was ~30 degrees F. Why didn't I get 150 kW? Are the SuperChargers limiting the rate or is it my car? If it was my battery temperature, then the rate should not reduce when my battery hits 50% and is plenty warm?

 

[Kirby64]

50% charge is when the charge taper starts on 120kW chargers. On the 150kW chargers it starts at a little over 40%.

See: https://preview.redd.it/0wpein8nnq3...bp&s=5439e2b73bb25a96b1a457447ba9ef3fd1ad6ef5

As for why not 150kW peak? Honestly, I don't think an hour is long enough to precondition at 30F. If you arrived while the battery was cold it'd only charge at like 10-30kW. I think you need a solid 2 hours of driving highway at that temp.

 

[Sklith]

OP, I'm not entirely sure why your car was supercharging at only 105 kW if you arrived at 20% after driving at least an hour on the highway, it should have a warm enough battery for a faster charge. Sometimes when I get slow speeds like that, I switch stalls, and it usually works.

As for 150 kW charging speeds, that's pretty rare since the stators will pull power from the charging cable in order to heat the battery while supercharging, and that should steal about 7kW of power. I've never seen more than 145 kW from my experience.

Edit:

As for why not 150kW peak? Honestly, I don't think an hour is long enough to precondition at 30F. If you arrived while the battery was cold it'd only charge at like 10-30kW. I think you need a solid 2 hours of driving highway at that temp.

Kirby64's probably right, perhaps an hour isn't enough time to warm the battery up.

 

[Enginerd]

Also curious if you used the car's navigation to get to the supercharger. I think this is the only way the car knows that you're about to supercharge, thus triggering the battery to precondition before arrival.

 

[Rocky_H]

your car was supercharging at only 105 kW [...] Sometimes when I get slow speeds like that

This is blowing my damn mind that people are considering over 100kW charging speed as "slow". What the hell?

 

[cstork]

Also curious if you used the car's navigation to get to the supercharger. I think this is the only way the car knows that you're about to supercharge, thus triggering the battery to precondition before arrival.

Yes, I used the navigation system to get to the SC so the car did precondition the battery for ~1 hour or more.

 

[cstork]

This is blowing my damn mind that people are considering over 100kW charging speed as "slow". What the hell?

Not accepting the status quo is the spirit behind Tesla technology.......

 

[swaltner]

Assuming you weren’t paired with someone else at the station and there wasn’t an issue with the stations themselves, I suspect the battery was still too cold to accept the full 150 kW charge rate. Try again when it’s been above 60F for a couple days to make sure the battery isn’t cold.

 

[North75]

I just drove round trip from Boston to Philadelphia. The nav initially routed me to a V2 charger and started preheating almost immediately, even though I was almost 2 hours away. I later changed to a closer V3 station and it stopped preheating and only restarted when I was about 15 minutes away from that charger.
The first charging session on any trip always seems to go slower than any subsequent sessions for me. I don't think the car can add much heat to the battery easily. A supercharging session must add a fair amount of heat, which then is easier to maintain temperature.

 

[diamond.g]

Based on Bjorns videos it appears the batter needs to be around 122°F to get max charging speed. If the external temp was in the 30’s it is likely that the battery wasn’t warm enough.

 

[GtiMart]

Do you have a rwd or awd? I'm under the impression that rwds cannot preheat as fast because the rear engine is moving the car so it cannot generate much waste heat.

 

[CharleyBC]

OP, I'm not entirely sure why your car was supercharging at only 105 kW if you arrived at 20% after driving at least an hour on the highway, it should have a warm enough battery for a faster charge. Sometimes when I get slow speeds like that, I switch stalls, and it usually works.

As for 150 kW charging speeds, that's pretty rare since the stators will pull power from the charging cable in order to heat the battery while supercharging, and that should steal about 7kW of power. I've never seen more than 145 kW from my experience.

Edit:



Kirby64's probably right, perhaps an hour isn't enough time to warm the battery up.

Yeah, I only recall getting V2 charges in the 140s in warm weather, now that I think about it. Usually if we see 100-120 we’re pretty happy and head off to find the local bathroom.

Got 217kW at a V3 the other day. By the time I got my phone out for a picture it was already down to 206.