Slow Supercharging?

[CAPx]

Yesterday was my first time supercharging with my MR. I was at 40% and it said my projected time was one hour. I took this picture 10 mins into the charge and only went up 5%...

I know the lower the SOC%, the faster the charge, but I’ve seen videos where people are still getting 400+mi/hr around 40%... is this normal? And it seems like I was capped at 32amps (it doesn’t look that way, but the ‘+’ was greyed out..

Thank You!

 

[MX108]

It looks like it was cool (51) while you were charging, that certainly slows the rate of charge on my X.

 

[cpa]

You were not capped at 32A, that is for certain. Thirty-one kW = 31,000 watts; divided by the putative 32 amps, gives nearly 1,000 volts. Not possible at a Supercharger. They are limited to about 400 volts. The 32A is the onboard charger that converts the AC from the wall to DC for storage.

You are correct that at 45% SOC you should be pulling more than 31kW. First off, if you did not already know, classic Superchargers are paired, and two stalls share one charger. The first to plug in receives the maximum charge rate, and the second to charge receives sloppy seconds. As the first car fills and gets into the taper, the second car receives a higher rate of charge. So, if you plugged into a stall, (say 2B) and stall 2A was charging, then you would receive a much lower rate if the first car was pulling 85kW.

If you were not sharing a pair of Superchargers, there is really no way of knowing why your charge was so limited. Many of us will unplug and move to a different set of Superchargers to see if the pattern recurs.

There could be an issue with one set of stalls that restricts the power. If the temperature is cold, the battery might be too cold to receive the maximum rate until it heats up. Maybe there is some issue with the utility, and the utility has reduced the power available to the entire site.

The best thing is to try to contact Tesla and report your observation. The attendant might be aware of the issue already, or might make a note to have this location inspected by the Supercharger team.

 

[TexasEV]

And it seems like I was capped at 32amps (it doesn’t look that way, but the ‘+’ was greyed out.

The charge current display is for AC charging. If you’re not plugged in to AC, it shows what you charged at last. That setting is irrelevant for superchargers. I hadn’t noticed it before when supercharging but I assume the + was greyed out for that very reason— because that setting can’t be used when supercharging. It would probably be less confusing if the 32 was greyed out too, not just the plus sign.

When supercharging, look at the kW being delivered. That’s more useful than miles/hr, because the kW display is instantaneous but the miles/hr is the average over the session.

 

[Rocky_H]

Look through the rest of the Model 3 charging section, and you will find several more threads asking this same question:
Why aren’t our Model 3s Supercharging faster?
Slow charging at superchargers
Supercharger not going over 200 mi/hr

It seems that the method of battery heating in the Model 3 is a bit weaker than the Model S and X use with a separate dedicated battery heater, so it does not seem as effective at warming up the battery quickly to get good Supercharging speed when the car is cold.

 

[CAPx]

It looks like it was cool (51) while you were charging, that certainly slows the rate of charge on my X.

I know 51F is cool, but I didn’t think it would affect charging that much... just curious to see if I’m charging within a ‘normal’ range or if I should get it checked out

 

[Rocky_H]

I know 51F is cool, but I didn’t think it would affect charging that much... just curious to see if I’m charging within a ‘normal’ range or if I should get it checked out

The temperature inside a 1,000+ pound piece of metal assuredly has not caught up to the outside temperature yet. It's probably 40-some degrees in the battery pack. Regen limitations are always about low 50's or less, so anything about that point isn't going to be hot and toasty for full speed Supercharging.

 

[CAPx]

You were not capped at 32A, that is for certain. Thirty-one kW = 31,000 watts; divided by the putative 32 amps, gives nearly 1,000 volts. Not possible at a Supercharger. They are limited to about 400 volts. The 32A is the onboard charger that converts the AC from the wall to DC for storage.

You are correct that at 45% SOC you should be pulling more than 31kW. First off, if you did not already know, classic Superchargers are paired, and two stalls share one charger. The first to plug in receives the maximum charge rate, and the second to charge receives sloppy seconds. As the first car fills and gets into the taper, the second car receives a higher rate of charge. So, if you plugged into a stall, (say 2B) and stall 2A was charging, then you would receive a much lower rate if the first car was pulling 85kW.

If you were not sharing a pair of Superchargers, there is really no way of knowing why your charge was so limited. Many of us will unplug and move to a different set of Superchargers to see if the pattern recurs.

There could be an issue with one set of stalls that restricts the power. If the temperature is cold, the battery might be too cold to receive the maximum rate until it heats up. Maybe there is some issue with the utility, and the utility has reduced the power available to the entire site.

The best thing is to try to contact Tesla and report your observation. The attendant might be aware of the issue already, or might make a note to have this location inspected by the Supercharger team.[/QUOTE]

You were not capped at 32A, that is for certain. Thirty-one kW = 31,000 watts; divided by the putative 32 amps, gives nearly 1,000 volts. Not possible at a Supercharger. They are limited to about 400 volts. The 32A is the onboard charger that converts the AC from the wall to DC for storage.

You are correct that at 45% SOC you should be pulling more than 31kW. First off, if you did not already know, classic Superchargers are paired, and two stalls share one charger. The first to plug in receives the maximum charge rate, and the second to charge receives sloppy seconds. As the first car fills and gets into the taper, the second car receives a higher rate of charge. So, if you plugged into a stall, (say 2B) and stall 2A was charging, then you would receive a much lower rate if the first car was pulling 85kW.

If you were not sharing a pair of Superchargers, there is really no way of knowing why your charge was so limited. Many of us will unplug and move to a different set of Superchargers to see if the pattern recurs.

There could be an issue with one set of stalls that restricts the power. If the temperature is cold, the battery might be too cold to receive the maximum rate until it heats up. Maybe there is some issue with the utility, and the utility has reduced the power available to the entire site.

The best thing is to try to contact Tesla and report your observation. The attendant might be aware of the issue already, or might make a note to have this location inspected by the Supercharger team.

There were 8 superchargers and only 1 other model 3 was charging at the other end.. I’ll try and switch chargers to see if that makes a difference in the future. (And thank you for the clarification re: 32amps cap being home charging, not supercharging. I’m still new to all of this )

 

[cpa]

I know 51F is cool, but I didn’t think it would affect charging that much... just curious to see if I’m charging within a ‘normal’ range or if I should get it checked out

You don't say how long you had been driving. I would guess that if you had garaged your car overnight, your garage temperature would be much lower than 51; therefore it is possible that the battery could be in the 40s when you stopped even though the ambient temperature was 51.

I also have noted with our 3 that any temperature below 60 or so limits regenerative braking until the car warms up. There might be a small relationship between the limited regenerative braking and the Supercharging speed when the battery temperature is not in the sweet spot.

 

[TexasEV]

There were 8 superchargers and only 1 other model 3 was charging at the other end.. I’ll try and switch chargers to see if that makes a difference in the future.)

Take a look at the stall numbers. Sometimes the A and B stalls of a pair are adjacent but at other sites the A and B of a pair can be far apart, if they’re arranged 1A, 2A, 3A, etc. then 1B, 2B...

 

[MP3Mike]

Yesterday was my first time supercharging with my MR.

I know 51F is cool, but I didn’t think it would affect charging that much... just curious to see if I’m charging within a ‘normal’ range or if I should get it checked out

I think the thing people are missing is that you have a mid-range Model 3. I haven't seen a charge curve for a MR yet. It will likely charge slower than a LR Model 3 we just haven't seen how much slower yet. (And yes temperature will make a difference, and by that we mean the temperature of the pack, not air temperature.)

 

[ggnykk]

start watching at 8:08 of this video. This is what you need to do to quickly heat up the battery and supercharge quicker.
You know that you have heated up the battery enough when you get the regen braking fully back.

 

[evpulse]

I just had a similar issue today at the Riverside, CA supercharger. I was at 30% and needed to get back home to San Diego. Since we were close to the area after eating I figured I could get a quick charge for 30-40 min just to get us home, and avoid stopping on the way back. Unfortunately I was only getting about 30-38 kWh at this location with the urban non-paired 72kwh charger. Less that a quarter full as well. I was driving for 30 min previously and the weather was about 70, so fairly optimal conditions. It was really odd and maybe I should have moved spots but it was a surprise for sure.

We went back to Norco for the day, and I had to hit up Lake Elsinore on the way home. I was the only car there upon arrival and got at least 118 kWh and 455mi/hr on a 120 kWh paired setup. The Lake Elsinore charge was great but would love to hear if anyone knows what the deal with the half charge speed is?

 

[ggnykk]

I just had a similar issue today at the Riverside, CA supercharger. I was at 30% and needed to get back home to San Diego. Since we were close to the area after eating I figured I could get a quick charge for 30-40 min just to get us home, and avoid stopping on the way back. Unfortunately I was only getting about 30-38 kWh at this location with the urban non-paired 72kwh charger. Less that a quarter full as well. I was driving for 30 min previously and the weather was about 70, so fairly optimal conditions. It was really odd and maybe I should have moved spots but it was a surprise for sure.

We went back to Norco for the day, and I had to hit up Lake Elsinore on the way home. I was the only car there upon arrival and got at least 118 kWh and 455mi/hr on a 120 kWh paired setup. The Lake Elsinore charge was great but would love to hear if anyone knows what the deal with the half charge speed is?

I am assuming you have the Long range battery?
by the way, all those unit should be "kw", not "kwh".

 

[evpulse]

I am assuming you have the Long range battery?
by the way, all those unit should be "kw", not "kwh".

Yes.

Sorry on the unit error. It was a long day after the late drive home.

 

[mswlogo]

It's a combination of cool battery and your battery being at 45% to start with. Also keep in mind stalls are shared in pairs.

 

[Big Earl]

I know 51F is cool, but I didn’t think it would affect charging that much... just curious to see if I’m charging within a ‘normal’ range or if I should get it checked out

We experimented with our roommate's MR last night. With the battery not-very-warm, we started charging at a similar speed at a similar state of charge. We drove 15 miles to another Supercharger and it went up to 100 kw. We then drove another 15 miles back to the original Supercharger and it was up to 110 kW. Battery temperature absolutely impacts charging speed.

Don't plan on Supercharging quickly without first driving for about an hour at highway speeds. Anything over 50% state of charge will also significantly slow down your charging speed.

 

[shrspeedblade]

My experience over the holiday seems to support Big Earl's points, as I was supercharging in the 40s (F) in Northern Cal/Southern Oregon but was fast enough that my biggest problem was having to go out and move the car before I was ready to go several times. Probably climbing the mountain passes combined with usually being around 30 percent to start (once at 15, lowest ever for me! ) made the difference.

Not really cold temps, but cold enough to make a difference if the battery wasn't warmed up.

 

[ggnykk]

We experimented with our roommate's MR last night. With the battery not-very-warm, we started charging at a similar speed at a similar state of charge. We drove 15 miles to another Supercharger and it went up to 100 kw. We then drove another 15 miles back to the original Supercharger and it was up to 110 kW. Battery temperature absolutely impacts charging speed.

Don't plan on Supercharging quickly without first driving for about an hour at highway speeds. Anything over 50% state of charge will also significantly slow down your charging speed.

Dont need to drive for an hour. You just have to do some hard acceleration from let say 10 to 40 mph, and let it do full regen. And repeat this like 4 times. You will warm up the battery within 5 mins.

If it is super cold, you will know that you have done enough of those hard acceleration/deceleration once u have 100% regen back (pay attention to the dotted line on your screen's regen meter), and then do 2 more hard acceleration just in case. Then your battery would be definitely warm for high supercharging speed.

 

[Big Earl]

Dont need to drive for an hour. You just have to do some hard acceleration from let say 10 to 40 mph, and let it do full regen. And repeat this like 4 times. You will warm up the battery within 5 mins.

If it is super cold, you will know that you have done enough of those hard acceleration/deceleration once u have 100% regen back (pay attention to the dotted line on your screen's regen meter), and then do 2 more hard acceleration just in case. Then your battery would be definitely warm for high supercharging speed.

Yes, hard acceleration and deceleration will certainly warm the battery up quickly.

Regarding the dotted line disappearing, that only indicates that full regen is available, which is about 60 kW. The battery will need to warm up even more to allow the full 120 kW of Supercharging. The dots are a good indicator, but you can still be charge rate restricted even with no dots showing.