Welcome to Tesla Motors Club
Discuss Tesla's Model S, Model 3, Model X, Model Y, Cybertruck, Roadster and More.
Register

Slooooowwww supercharging....

This site may earn commission on affiliate links.
I'm at the supercharger in st Charles Missouri and getting 60-70kw charge rates. I called tesla and they said this was standard rates. But the two cars around me are getting 100kw! I know I used to get 100kw also so what's going on? The two other tesla are just a couple months old and mine is over a year. Are they slowing down older models so new drivers have better experience at the charging station? And yes we are all in different banks. 1a, 2a, and 3a

Brian
 
Quite a few variables. My car is > 4 yrs old and I have seen 118kW at low SOC that will slow to 60 kW after 5-10 minutes and then get back up to 90kW after a few more. other charges hit 114kW and slowly taper.
here is a pic of cell temps and SOC from last March, It seems like the lower bound cell temperatures is what pushes the taper in both taper regions(just a wild guess, higher SOC taper begins when you get to constant voltage but also lines up with the cell temp peak) - outside temp was ~50F
upload_2017-3-29_13-40-3.png
 
  • Informative
Reactions: David99
Where did you get that data? I'd love to see this on my car!

Brian
CAN data logger, not sure that the one I still have works anymore. I think there are a few versions out there from others, the one I have was put together by @lolachampcar and info is in this thread Chassis CAN Logging To ASCII Text Plus Graphing
started from here maybe?
https://teslamotorsclub.com/tmc/threads/extremely-accurate-performance-data-from-the-can-bus.59094/#post-1281783
or if not the link at the beginning of the thread is really interesting!
 
I'm at the supercharger in st Charles Missouri and getting 60-70kw charge rates. I called tesla and they said this was standard rates. But the two cars around me are getting 100kw! I know I used to get 100kw also so what's going on? The two other tesla are just a couple months old and mine is over a year. Are they slowing down older models so new drivers have better experience at the charging station? And yes we are all in different banks. 1a, 2a, and 3a

Brian
Please, please, please include SOC when you're reporting a charging rate. Otherwise it's meaningless.
 
Currently on a trip where I have to rely on superchargers and I'm seeing some pretty steep taper. Not sure it's normal. Yesterday I stopped to charge with 15% remaining on my 85D. Car estimated 1h20m to charge to 100%. It started charging at 120kw which was great, but within a couple minutes it was dropping fast. Probably at 60kw in a few minutes. I let it charge an hour and it got to a little over 90% charge.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: David99
Currently on a trip where I have to rely on superchargers and I'm seeing some pretty steep taper. Not sure it's normal. Yesterday I stopped to charge with 15% remaining on my 85D. Car estimated 1h20m to charge to 100%. It started charging at 120kw which was great, but within a couple minutes it was dropping fast. Probably at 60kw in a few minutes. I let it charge an hour and it got to a little over 90% charge.

That's interesting. I have seen the exact same behavior the last few days at different Superchargers. They start fast, then it drops down and creeps around 40-60 kW for the rest of the time. Very annoying.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EVCarGUy
That's interesting. I have seen the exact same behavior the last few days at different Superchargers. They start fast, then it drops down and creeps around 40-60 kW for the rest of the time. Very annoying.

I've been seeing this for months. Supercharging used to be a positive experience but based on what I consistently see now I won't be buying another Tesla.
 
It's all about battery state of charge (%).
You charge at max rate when battery between 20-50%.
The rate starts to taper from there, and gets very slow as you approach 100%.
If possible it's best to arrive with 20% then leave at about 60%. Then get to the next charger at 20 and leave at 60 and so on.
That should only take about 20 min, just time for a pit stop.
 
I only use SCs on weekend roadtrips so usuallly at a very low SOC, 5-20%, by the time I pull in depending on route taken.
For the past couple of months, I've rarely broken 70 and usually hovering low 60s after ramping up. There was a time when 90-100+ was the norm, but I've not hit it in quite awhile. Tesla has rolled out training wheels is my guess.
 
It's all about battery state of charge (%).
You charge at max rate when battery between 20-50%.
The rate starts to taper from there, and gets very slow as you approach 100%.
If possible it's best to arrive with 20% then leave at about 60%. Then get to the next charger at 20 and leave at 60 and so on.
That should only take about 20 min, just time for a pit stop.
Yes we're all aware of that. The problems being reported are charging rates dropping quickly at low states of charge, very different performance than we used to see from the superchargers. I guess you're not having this issue in Australia.
 
Yes we're all aware of that. The problems being reported are charging rates dropping quickly at low states of charge, very different performance than we used to see from the superchargers. I guess you're not having this issue in Australia.
Ah I see, although never underestimate what people don't know on this forum :)
In Australia I have recently seen unusually low speeds, but not consistently low.
Sometimes moving stalls helps, sometimes it doesn't. Most of the time the speed is normal from the start.
 
Did you see the comment in Bjorn latest video? He commented that unplugging at the SC caused the a/c compressor to kick on max and then after a minute or two, plugging back in to the SC had higher charge rate again. He thinks it is either low a/c coolant or a firmware bug.

Wonder if he's onto something.
 
  • Informative
Reactions: David99
It must be something Tesla has been doing to the software or Superchargers. I have my car for 3 years and use Superchargers a lot. It used to be absolutely reliable and always got a great charge rate. No matter how hot or cold it was outside. A cold battery is an exception, but that's not the problem here. Tesla has definitely changed something that so many see these slower charge rates. I was speculating that maybe my battery is getting old but it seems that people with much newer car have the same issue.
 
  • Like
Reactions: EVCarGUy
Some of the 'slow'supercharger problems have been thought to be the plug connection being a bit dirty. the SC might be seeing the resistance as the temperature builds up in the connection and they choke the power for safety.
sounds plausible for the super high turn over SCs that have bad rates even without sharing
 
Some of the 'slow'supercharger problems have been thought to be the plug connection being a bit dirty. the SC might be seeing the resistance as the temperature builds up in the connection and they choke the power for safety.
sounds plausible for the super high turn over SCs that have bad rates even without sharing

That is a possible explanation for some cases where the charge rate was high for a while and then dropped. I have experienced a few times where the ambient temps where 70-80 and the charge rate dropped 3 minutes after I plugged in. I don't think that was enough time to build up enough heat.
 
That is a possible explanation for some cases where the charge rate was high for a while and then dropped. I have experienced a few times where the ambient temps where 70-80 and the charge rate dropped 3 minutes after I plugged in. I don't think that was enough time to build up enough heat.
it might be possible. If you look at the temps of the battery cells in the graph I posted above, the connection between the charger and the car would surely build up heat much quicker than the batteries that are cooled with liquid and a heat exchanger. I guess the only way to see if this is the case is to see it happen and then unplug and clean the contacts and try again.
....but I have matching data at Ukiah where I charge at > 100kW for a couple of minutes (77F ambient) and then it drops to 60-65kW for the remaining charge until the taper drops it lower, so dunno
 
  • Like
Reactions: David99