Slow UK supercharger speeds?

[Chinstrap]

I’ve got a Nov 21 registered M3LR with 5k miles, and I’ve noticed my supercharger speeds have dropped significantly over the last few days.

Sunday Driving back south from a road trip up to Scotland from Southampton I managed only 60kwh at a very quiet Keele services despite a long precondition, and this evening only I miserly 25kwh from 9% at an admittedly busy South Mimms (I’d say 70% full) and only a few miles of precondition.

Yes it’s cold, but that’s not stopped me getting over 100kw regularly up to now.

Is this normal?

 

[Kansalis]

There are a lot of factors that can affect rate of charge, so not sure there's much use in the comparison, but I briefly got 200kW at Flimwell this weekend. SoC was around 20% & had been pre-conditioned.

 

[NewbieT]

A small reference point: my Dec ‘20 with 15k miles charged at 256kW Heathrow on Friday. V3 warm battery low SOC.

Keele South are pretty old v2. Could be demand throttling there too.
Have you done lots of DC recently? If so do a few AC charges and see if that helps. After too many DC charged I think people start to see a warning. Possible charge rate limiting is deployed too.

 

[NewbieT]

Do you know what battery you have?

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Do you select the supercharger as the destination? That will get the battery to the best temperature for supercharging. Not doing so can result in the battery being too cold, in part due to the heat pump sucking out heat from the battery to heat the cabin. A long drive doesn’t t really help heat pump cars like it did with cars without a heat pump.

V2 superchargers like Keele also work in pairs. It doesn’t matter how busy the k stall site is, if you happen to be on a pair with another car the you only get a max half power (60kw) if the other car is also taking 60kw. The bats are marked 1A, 1B, 2A etc, A&B are a pair. That sounds like a possible at Keele

To summarise, always use the satnav and set the charger as your destination, and try to avoid sharing a pair at V2 chargers.

 

[Chinstrap]

Do you select the supercharger as the destination? That will get the battery to the best temperature for supercharging. Not doing so can result in the battery being too cold, in part due to the heat pump sucking out heat from the battery to heat the cabin. A long drive doesn’t t really help heat pump cars like it did with cars without a heat pump.

V2 superchargers like Keele also work in pairs. It doesn’t matter how busy the k stall site is, if you happen to be on a pair with another car the you only get a max half power (60kw) if the other car is also taking 60kw. The bats are marked 1A, 1B, 2A etc, A&B are a pair. That sounds like a possible at Keele

To summarise, always use the satnav and set the charger as your destination, and try to avoid sharing a pair at V2 chargers.

Thanks. Next time I will double check the pairs situation, although I was at some point the only car there. As per a previous response, I have used the supercharging a fair bit in the last week vs my normal charge at home regime (to get up and back from Scotland) and I did wonder if the battery is being managed a bit to protect it.

 

[RichardTheKing]

Do you select the supercharger as the destination? That will get the battery to the best temperature for supercharging. Not doing so can result in the battery being too cold, in part due to the heat pump sucking out heat from the battery to heat the cabin. A long drive doesn’t t really help heat pump cars like it did with cars without a heat pump.

V2 superchargers like Keele also work in pairs. It doesn’t matter how busy the k stall site is, if you happen to be on a pair with another car the you only get a max half power (60kw) if the other car is also taking 60kw. The bats are marked 1A, 1B, 2A etc, A&B are a pair. That sounds like a possible at Keele

To summarise, always use the satnav and set the charger as your destination, and try to avoid sharing a pair at V2 chargers.

Does it work if the supercharger is a waypoint and not the final destination?

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

Does it work if the supercharger is a waypoint and not the final destination?

Good question, never tried it but presumably. You’d know as the car tells you it’s preparing the battery. What I was trying to say (in case I badly explained it) is the supercharger needs to be the destination/waypoint rather than just stopping off as you pass or have the general location as the location. Putting in Oxford services wouldn’t prepare the battery, but putting in Oxford superchargers which are located at the services would.

 

[Fursty Ferret]

Does it work if the supercharger is a waypoint and not the final destination?

Yes. 200kW briefly at Rugby on a 2021 Model 3 LR with 6000 miles on Monday for me (rocked up with 18%).

 

[Chinstrap]

Ok so now getting a pathetic 12 kwh from 33%, and not sharing with anyone at Newport Pagnell south. Accept that it’s 7 degrees and I didn’t precondition but surely that’s slower that it should be? Interestingly I think I got 90khw for the first minute or so.

 

[Chinstrap]

Make that 10kw/h

 

[GeorgeSymonds]

That doesn't sound right. Even a cold battery should be quicker. I'd log a ticket, they'll pull the logs remotely and may be able to advise if there is a problem without you going in.

(as an aside, you're pulling 10kw, kw//h (or more accurately kwh) is the total amount you've added so if the display does say 10kwh then it's how much you've added, not how fast you're adding it. If thats confused you, post a picture of your screen while charging as we may be able to spot other issues).

 

[GRiLLA]

Make that 10kw/h

Doesn't sound right, open a service ticked with Tesla. I've never seen 10KW charging at a SuperCharger irrespective of cold, sharing etc. Are there any other messages recorded under service? It would be odd for it to not tell you something more.

 

[Pink Duck]

Make that 10kw/h

I think you mean 10 kW, as kW is the 'flow' rate of energy transfer, while kWh is a measure of energy 'volume' transferred.

 

[NewbieT]

How cold was it overnight. If the battery was cold soaked and no pre-heat you will definitely see restricted charging.

 

[Chinstrap]

Ok thanks all. So an update… I asked other Tesla drivers charging who were all getting decent kw, and also moved the car, but it ended up slowly dropping to zero kw (I did video the screen showing this slow drop), so something wasn’t right. I gave up and drove down to Brent Cross whilst preconditioning and now it’s all fine again, getting 86 consistent kw! Maybe the car was just having a funny turn in the cold?

 

[NewbieT]

If you opened a ticket could also be Tesla remote took a look.

 

[Chinstrap]

If you opened a ticket could also be Tesla remote took a look.

Thanks for the advice, if it happens again I’ll defo do that

 

[GtiMart]

Arriving at a supercharger without preconditioning is a recipe for getting poor charging speed. Yes, 10kW can happen if the battery is cold enough. Heck, you could get zero while the battery is heating if it's really cold. The battery needs a good 40C for proper supercharger speed. You will not achieve this just by driving. Especially the 2021+ cars with heat pumps will scavenge heat from the battery to warm the cabin. Without proper conditioning the battery won't be over 20C and it might be much lower.

 

[Tameautumn]

tried supercharging in Winchester yesterday and immediately hit 200kw then dropped steadily to 130kw before I disconnected. Car was preconditioned and at 30% charge initially. However biggest shock was the 45pKwH ... WTF ... cost £17. Didn't think Superchargers were that much. Back to my 5p Kwh at home but wanted to give the supercharger one try