Roadster Charging

[coolVariable]

I am interested in potentially buying a Tesla Roadster but want to make sure that I understand the various charging options:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet
Roadster to NEMA 240V outlet
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR
Roadster to Tesla Desination Charger via CAN-SR
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

Is that correct?
How quickly do these various solutions charge the battery?

 

[miimura]

There was also a Roadster High Power Wall Connector, made by Clipper Creek that required a hard wired connection with a 90 amp breaker, delivering 70 amps to the car.

A quick Google search turned up this archive image of Roadster accessories.

 

[ShawnA]

Hi CoolVariable,

I found a sheet with approximate charging times put out by Tesla a long time ago...

See the attached file.

Shawn

 

[gregd]

I am interested in potentially buying a Tesla Roadster but want to make sure that I understand the various charging options:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet
Roadster to NEMA 240V outlet
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR
Roadster to Tesla Desination Charger via CAN-SR
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

Is that correct?
How quickly do these various solutions charge the battery?

Good list, but I would note that the "NEMA 240v" solution actually can cover just about any wall plug, via the adapters that are designed for the Universal Mobile Connector. The 240V 14-50 "RV" outlet is just one of the choices, though probably the most common. Also covered are the clothes dryer outlets (10-30 and 14-30), and some other less common ones.

A full charge on a regular 120v outlet is something like 30 hours; not recommended unless your expected driving is very limited, or you have no other alternative. It's the least efficient of the set, besides the most time consuming. Most J1772 chargers that you find in the wild are 30 amps at either 208 or 240 volts, and will give you about 20 miles of range per hour of charge. The Tesla Destination chargers are often 40 amps, but can be up to the full 70 amps if you're lucky. 70 amps will give you a full charge in less than 4 hours, but in all of these, you will likely never need to go from empty to full, so scale things accordingly. An EV driver is most happy if its car is always plugged in whenever its not being used, unlike a gas car where you only fuel it when you have to.

 

[Msjulie]

Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

Note sure if you're referring to this CHAdeMo charging for Tesla Roadster as the car didn't natively have fast charging...

The Tesla HPC portable plus 2 'cans' seems has been the best all around for me, pretty much anywhere the car can be charged.

 

[coolVariable]

Updated:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet (30 hours to charge fully)
Roadster to 240V outlet (6-10 hours to fully charge)
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR (10 hours to fully charge)
Roadster to Tesla Desination Charger via CAN-SR (4-8 hours to charge fully)
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

 

[supersnoop]

Updated:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet (30 hours to charge fully)
Roadster to 240V outlet (6-10 hours to fully charge)
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR (10 hours to fully charge)
Roadster to Tesla Desination Charger via CAN-SR (4-8 hours to charge fully)
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

I don’t think you should measure based on the device. What matters is voltage and amperage.

There are two different “mobile chargers.” One tops out at 30 amps and the other goes to 40 amps. J1772 charges can range from 24 to 70 amps, with 30 being most common. Those J1772’s may be on a three-phase service, so 208 volts, or single phase service at 240 volts.

At 240 volts and 70 amps, you’d go from empty to full in 2.5 hours. At 208 volts and 24 amps, it might take closer to 10 hours.

 

[coolVariable]

I don’t think you should measure based on the device. What matters is voltage and amperage.

There are two different “mobile chargers.” One tops out at 30 amps and the other goes to 40 amps. J1772 charges can range from 24 to 70 amps, with 30 being most common. Those J1772’s may be on a three-phase service, so 208 volts, or single phase service at 240 volts.

At 240 volts and 70 amps, you’d go from empty to full in 2.5 hours. At 208 volts and 24 amps, it might take closer to 10 hours.

Thank you.
Looking into buying a Roadster and am just trying to figure this all out.

Also found this:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/chrg_rate-png.233211/

 

[supersnoop]

Thank you.
Looking into buying a Roadster and am just trying to figure this all out.

Also found this:
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/attachments/chrg_rate-png.233211/

Yes, use that chart. Know that charging at 208 volts will take about 15% longer than at 240 volts.

Also, as noted, at the higher amperage, the charger will slow down when it gets close to finishing. See how 32 amps charges twice as fast as 16, but 64 amps take a little longer than half of 32.

 

[Bunnak]

In a few weeks I hope to be a happy roadster owner. I have a dumb question...I currently have a Model S and charge via the Tesla High Power Wall Connector at 48amps which charges my Model S at 34 miles per hour. Once I take delivery of my roadster I plan to use the CAN SR as an adapter for charging at home via the Model S Tesla High Power Wall Connector. Will that be OK for daily charging of the roadster? Will it damage the battery or negatively affect its battery life. Attached is a picture of my MS charging at home.

 

[pwwojcik]

@Bunnak, that is pretty much my setup. I have owned the roadster for about a year and charging works great. I actually use the Model S as my daily driver but then when I get to take the roadster out I plug it into the HPWC to charge it up. Then I switch the HPWC back over to the Model S and just plug the roadster into 115V.... I'm no expert but it has worked well and I have not noticed any degradation.

You're gonna love the roadster!

 

[redan]

Once I take delivery of my roadster I plan to use the CAN SR as an adapter for charging at home via the Model S Tesla High Power Wall Connector.

This is my exact set-up. It works great. My HPWC is wired into a 100 amp line, so I can charge the Roadster at the full 70 amps. However, I rarely need to charge that fast, so often turn the charge rate down in the Roadster.

 

[Bunnak]

This is my exact set-up. It works great. My HPWC is wired into a 100 amp line, so I can charge the Roadster at the full 70 amps. However, I rarely need to charge that fast, so often turn the charge rate down in the Roadster.

What charge rate do you dial down to when charging your roadster? My HPWC is also wired into a 100amp line. I didn't even realize that for the roadster you can dial down the amps when charging. I assumed it would be like the MS--that is, just plug and charge.

 

[redan]

Yes, you can pick the charge rate from the display screen (VDS) - I usually just dial it down to 32 or 48 amps. For no reason other than I rarely need to fast charge the Roadster and it seems to get a few extra miles when charging at the lower amperage. But I have no idea whether that makes any difference (good or bad) for battery management.

 

[dhrivnak]

In a few weeks I hope to be a happy roadster owner. I have a dumb question...I currently have a Model S and charge via the Tesla High Power Wall Connector at 48amps which charges my Model S at 34 miles per hour. Once I take delivery of my roadster I plan to use the CAN SR as an adapter for charging at home via the Model S Tesla High Power Wall Connector. Will that be OK for daily charging of the roadster? Will it damage the battery or negatively affect its battery life. Attached is a picture of my MS charging at home.

Yes sir should work fine. The charger is really in the car and it controls the charge rates. Electrically the Model S Charger is the same as the Roadster high power connector. The Roadster will charge a bit faster as it is more efficient than the Model S.

 

[Roadster]

24A-32A rate seems to be the sweet spot for daily L2 charging.

 

[Sig72]

I am interested in potentially buying a Tesla Roadster but want to make sure that I understand the various charging options:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet
Roadster to NEMA 240V outlet
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR
Roadster to Tesla Desination Charger via CAN-SR
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes)

Is that correct?
How quickly do these various solutions charge the battery?

Roadster's onboard AC charger max's out at 16.8 kW, but very few sources in the wild can actually achieve that. See answers below for full recharge time of Roadster's 53 kWh of usable energy:

Roadster to normal 120V outlet- max charge rate 1.3kW = ~41 hour recharge time
Roadster to NEMA 240V outlet- max charge rate 9.6kW (NEMA 14-50) = 5.5 hour recharge time
Roadster to J1772 via CAN-JR- max charge rate at most public stations will be ~7kW = ~7.5 hour recharge time
Roadster to Tesla Destination Charger via CAN-SR- some of these chargers provide up to 80 amps of current, so you can potentially recharge at up to 16.8kW = 3.2 hours recharge time
Roadster w. JdeMo to Chademo (20% to 80% of battery usable capacity in ~45-55 minutes) [you already answered your own question]

 

[ViperDoc]

I am not sure that even with a CAN-SR you can get the extra 10 amps over 70 amps into the Roadster. I believe (and Henry Sharp can correct me if I am wrong), that when Tesla fixed the firmware to allow us to hook up to the 80 amp chargers with an adapter, it didn't actually let you set the amperage of the charge to above 70. At least on mine, I can't set above 70, so I assume it isn't actually using > 70 amps of the available from the destination charger.

 

[dhrivnak]

24A-32A rate seems to be the sweet spot for daily L2 charging.

I am not sure that even with a CAN-SR you can get the extra 10 amps over 70 amps into the Roadster. I believe (and Henry Sharp can correct me if I am wrong), that when Tesla fixed the firmware to allow us to hook up to the 80 amp chargers with an adapter, it didn't actually let you set the amperage of the charge to above 70. At least on mine, I can't set above 70, so I assume it isn't actually using > 70 amps of the available from the destination charger.

correct. While one can connect to an 80 amp charging cord, the car will only pull 70 amps. Which is still great in my book.

 

[ViperDoc]

correct. While one can connect to an 80 amp charging cord, the car will only pull 70 amps. Which is still great in my book.

Absolutely, I was just pointing this out as someone up above calculated a charging time assuming 80 amps, and they should have used 70, even for the 80 amp charger.