Real world charging speed on 5-20 @ 110v

[Tsmod3fsd]

Tesla website says a 5-20 outlet at 110/120v will give up to 4mph charge. But I have read on a few places people reporting getting up to 7mph or even 8mph charge. That is a big difference (double)!

wanted to see from people who frequently use a 5-20 outlet to charge. I live in a condo with separate parking and building has refused to set up 14-50 because parking’s electric infrastructure is not able to support it.

 

[COrocket]

I get 5 mph on a 5-15, so you should realistically get 6-7 mph on a 5-20. Keep in mind this will go down if you live in a cold weather area. Regular wall outlets worked for me until I got a J1772 charger. You just have to remember to plug the car in every time you are home.

 

[ralph142]

5-20 is in principle 120v x 16 amps so 1.9 kw. Minus about 10% for wall to battery loss. My car, a LMR, reports 2 kw charging on my 5-20 circuit. I don’t translate into added miles per hour, as I find it tends to be misleading.

 

[lUtriaNt]

live in an apartment.

i use 5/20 , 16 amps , 111-116 volts. i don't use miles i use %.

i charge to 90%.

my roundtrip from home - office - home gets me to around ~73% charge.

when i plug up it will take somewhere around ~7.5 to 8.5 hours to charge back up to 90%

3/2020 build performance model with all the options (20 inch wheels, bla blah blah FSD...)

 

[ucmndd]

5-20 is in principle 120v x 16 amps so 1.9 kw. Minus about 10% for wall to battery loss. My car, a LMR, reports 2 kw charging on my 5-20 circuit. I don’t translate into added miles per hour, as I find it tends to be misleading.

Best answer. Stop thinking in Miles Per Hour.

After charging losses a 5-20 circuit will add ~1.5kwh per hour to your battery. How many miles you can actually go on 1.5kwh is dependent on a whole host of things, from the weather and terrain to your driving style and the particular model/sub-model of Tesla you have.

4 to 6 miles per hour is as good a guess as any.

 

[user212_nr]

I live in a condo with separate parking and building has refused to set up 14-50 because parking’s electric infrastructure is not able to support it.

Do you know what they mean by that? Your 120v source is coming from somewhere that probably has more power available. Maybe only 20 amps and not 50.

 

[camalaio]

Realistically, it'll be about 115V at 16A. 1840W gross power going in. After losses, it's about 1840W*0.94 - 300W = 1430W (roughly 23% loss). This formula holds fairly close to reality for my car and a few others on here, yours may be slightly different.

In terms of miles, it varies based on model. For my 2019 Model 3 LR AWD, that works out to about 9.4mph.

I'm not sure why Tesla rates the lower power setups especially poorly. Perhaps it's a marketing tactic to get you to purchase a wall charger

5-20 is in principle 120v x 16 amps so 1.9 kw. Minus about 10% for wall to battery loss. My car, a LMR, reports 2 kw charging on my 5-20 circuit. I don’t translate into added miles per hour, as I find it tends to be misleading.

Loss is much worse than 10% at lower powers due to absolute overheads. I can't remember what process the EPA used, but they got about 89% efficiency, which I think was on a 240V setup. This is what I get with 240V 24A. It's much, much worse at lower powers.

 

[Rocky_H]

I get 5 mph on a 5-15, so you should realistically get 6-7 mph on a 5-20.

Winner. It's this--maybe even a little bit higher.

 

[Tsmod3fsd]

Really appreciate the feedback here. I quite like the idea of thinking in terms of % and Wh. It'll take a bit to get used to it coming from ICE.

Do you know what they mean by that? Your 120v source is coming from somewhere that probably has more power available. Maybe only 20 amps and not 50.

They probably do have a power source, but they won't allow me to put a new line to my spot. Also i'm in a rental and don't think it makes sense to invest in pulling a new line to my parking spot, when i can just get by using a 5-20 wall outlet. I also don't use car to travel for work- just personal use so no fixed daily driving. Hopefully 5-20 would be enough for my needs.

 

[lUtriaNt]

5-20 is good for me and i work normally. i agree its not worth the effort and cost to install something larger/faster when you are in a rental. i paid an electrician to install a drop at my spot but its 5/20. it was $140.00. ive already made that up in free charging since the property dont charge me

5/20 is MUCH better than 5/15 (33% better im told) so you are on the winning side with 5/20.

i do it everyday and im happy with it.

 

[299792458]

In the process of relocating my wall charger which I have on a 60A circuit, so I've been using a 5-15 which was so slow. Bought a 5-20 plug with a 25 ft extension cord for the mobile charger and a 20 A circuit. Charger configures for 16A max draw at around 118V (~1.9 kW). This equates to about 7 miles of rated range per hour for my Model 3 Performance.

According to TeslaFi, my last charge took me from 71% to 90%, adding 13.5 kWh (while using 16 kWh) in 8 hrs and 24 mins. This reflects an average charge of about 1.6 kW which is approx 84% charge efficiency (1.6/1.9). Total cost: $1.73.

 

[afty]

I normally charge on a 5-20 outlet and gain about 2% per hour.

 

[Kevy Baby]

While I long ago made the switch to percentage, in the beginning when I was on miles, I would regularly get 7 MPH on a 5-20

 

[timk225]

I recently had a chance to charge at work for a few days (I was quitting the job soon), and at 109 volts and 16 amps, I was getting 6 mph. I have seen 7 mph when the charging voltage is 117 or above.

I think turning off Sentry Mode might help a tiny bit.

 

[smatthew]

5-20 is good for me and i work normally. i agree its not worth the effort and cost to install something larger/faster when you are in a rental. i paid an electrician to install a drop at my spot but its 5/20. it was $140.00. ive already made that up in free charging since the property dont charge me

5/20 is MUCH better than 5/15 (33% better im told) so you are on the winning side with 5/20.

i do it everyday and im happy with it.

A 6-20 would have cost the same to install, but will charge twice as fast.....

 

[davewill]

It goes more like this:

120v 15a circuit (5-15):
120v * 12a = 1440w - 400w (overhead) = 1040w net

120v 20a circuit 5-20:
120v * 16a = 1920w - 400w = 1520w net (1.5 * 5-15)

240v 20a circuit (6-20):
240v * 16a = 3840w - 400w = 3440w net (3.3 * 5-15; 2.3 * 5-20)

The fixed overhead is really the deciding factor.

 

[Tsmod3fsd]

The 5-20 plug in my apartment parking and they have said that I cannot change the plug to 6-20 since the electric wiring won't support it

 

[M3BlueGeorgia]

Really appreciate the feedback here. I quite like the idea of thinking in terms of % and Wh. It'll take a bit to get used to it coming from ICE.



They probably do have a power source, but they won't allow me to put a new line to my spot. Also i'm in a rental and don't think it makes sense to invest in pulling a new line to my parking spot, when i can just get by using a 5-20 wall outlet. I also don't use car to travel for work- just personal use so no fixed daily driving. Hopefully 5-20 would be enough for my needs.

Should be fine, but you need to be plugged in whenever possible.

12 hours at 7mph is 84 miles, a pretty good nightly charge.

 

[lUtriaNt]

A 6-20 would have cost the same to install, but will charge twice as fast.....

since you replied to me, that was not an option.

 

[Rocky_H]

The 5-20 plug in my apartment parking and they have said that I cannot change the plug to 6-20 since the electric wiring won't support it

Huh. Which shows that you got an answer from someone who didn't understand or didn't know what they were talking about. You can use the exact same wire, whether it's 120V or 240V.