It can't be your car, yet you are getting reduced rates at almost every location. There are people having different experiences. Last weekend traveling for the eclipse I had full charge rates at stations ranging from old (square buttons, square pedestals, opened 7/2013) to new (pull through, opened 8/2016), in weather from 60s to 90 or so. We're talking SOC+kW rates in the 140+ range. Might want to take some of your data to the local Service Center, in person, and quit taking "nothing is wrong" for an answer.
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BTW Tesla has the data to spot cars that are getting reduced rates, and thus to spot cars that are clogging up the network and giving their owners issues. I know they might not want to go hunting for issues, but this is their banner headline feature and should be supported as such.
Sometimes weeks, sometimes many months. Really hard to say. Often the crew is done with construction in less than 2 months, but then the utility company is taking it's time to connect and do the final inspection.
cpa
Active Member
Not to mention that the Tesla technician must go to the new site and test each station and "turn it on" in the system. Burbank probably will be a quick turnaround for Tesla, but more remote areas sometimes have to wait several days. Here in Fresno, the utility and city were complete, and the tech arrived about four days later to turn everything on.
I pretty much believe (or know) that's it quality of the handles (aka connectors).. I just did a 2984mi trip in 10days for the eclipse and hit a ton of SpC stations and saw the good with the bad (there was no congestion, just a wide varied KWh rate)..
And no matter if it was hot or cold (utah, oregon, idaho, northern CA, etc)... the rates were all over the place...
Some handles would get super hot in minutes... while some would pump out TONS of power and still stay cool all the way to the end (aka Vacaville).. pumped out TONS of power from 19% SoC to 92% and started at 114kw and kept steady at 81kw and slowed to 60 or so.
Hand was cool when I unplugged.
Last stop was Tejon Ranch (Joke Ranch) and everyone couldn't charge fast. handles were hot, etc...
It's all about the connector quality.
And no matter if it was hot or cold (utah, oregon, idaho, northern CA, etc)... the rates were all over the place...
Some handles would get super hot in minutes... while some would pump out TONS of power and still stay cool all the way to the end (aka Vacaville).. pumped out TONS of power from 19% SoC to 92% and started at 114kw and kept steady at 81kw and slowed to 60 or so.
Hand was cool when I unplugged.
Last stop was Tejon Ranch (Joke Ranch) and everyone couldn't charge fast. handles were hot, etc...
It's all about the connector quality.
It is an interesting theory and I believed in it as well, but ...
I charged at a Supercharger that had just gotten a new cable/handle (I actually spoke to the technician who swapped it out) and the charge rate was lower than it should have been. Tesla actually swapped out many many cables at Superchargers in the last 12 months.
A few months ago, while I still bought into the hot handle idea, I took a 4200 mile road trip and carefully monitored the charge rate and when it was low checked the plug/handle. It was not consistent. Sometimes the charge rate was low while the plug was at a reasonable temperature, sometimes it was low with a hot handle, sometimes I got a good rate and the handle was hot. Sometimes it helped to cool down the plug (maybe or was it just unplugging and restarting where it always starts out with a high rate?), sometimes it did not. I even made it a point to use contact cleaning spray before I plugged in.
But honestly, we as end users, should not trouble shoot this issue. It is random and hard to reproduce and Tesla shows no interest in user feedback here.
Boatguy
Active Member
That's the bottom line. We can vent all we want, but Tesla does not read this stuff. I'm frankly shocked at the lack of interest in building customer relationships, other than trying to use us as their sales force. Some of their business practices are very 21st century, but they far less than Mercedes to cultivate a customer relationship.
Actually they do read here. They pay close attention. I believe they don't have a solution! That's why they always come back with their standard answers.
My best guess is that Tesla realized there is a potential hazard or risk they found. To be on the safe side they tightened all safety features when Supercharging. We also found out that some cars get a reduced charge rate after so many KWh of charging at DC chargers. Maybe Tesla now found enough evidence that Supercharging does degrade the battery more in some conditions and reduce the rate under those conditions. Whatever factors might be the issue, Tesla doesn't seem to have a simple fix. They do know that dropping the charge rate to 60 kW is a significant time loss and not what they advertised. There is no doubt they are very aware of it.
I was at the Syosset SC yesterday for a warranty repair. I reiterated the charger experience I started this thread with and asked him if they would check my car while it was there. He basically said not to bother, and they know that many of the chargers, including the one at his service center, were slow because they were 1st generate and they were heavily used. His explanation was that they don't have a chance to cool down so they scale back power.
I was at Syosset during a trip a few weeks back, when I called Tesla, they told me all 4 were at a reduced rate and the technicians know about it.
The constant use comment wrt to cooling down is interesting. There are a lot of locals charging there.
Another one of those excuses. I have had a slow charge rate at Superchargers that had no one there so usage was zero before I arrived. Of course when all stalls are used constantly, the entire system will got hot, but that doesn't explain the reduced rate at non busy places. But honestly, even 100% use should not reduce the charge rate. Superchargers (any charging station) should be designed to operate at full capacity continuously in hot climate. Anything else is poor design.
I'm curious to know when you say "WE"?
I'm pretty active with the SoCal group that was the first to decode the initial CANbus SpC data/log & record everything back in 13/14 and not much has changed since then (was the group first to hack the Leaf/Rav4 as well) so during this eclipse trip I monitored and watched everything (not that my wife liked a lot of it!
At the tail end of our journey Vacaville was the 2nd to last stop and when I plugged into those fresh new stalls BAM! Never seen a charge rate like that before and this is after a 10 day almost 3000 mile trip. I watched the handle temps on the Vacaville unit and they never got hot or over 119* Others would hit 140*+ in 5min and then taper to 60kw.
Everyone has opinions and my personal one is that it's handle temps and or resistance of the connection. A lot cars have worn out connectors and no amount of contact cleaner will fix that. You see those SpC techs changing the handles? (Yeah, I talked to the 2 guys also at Burbank for a long time and inspected and took lots of pics of the new and old used ones)..
What do you think our car plugs look like? They also get the same abuse too (at home/SpC/etc)... so consider that. You're only changing one side of the problem.
Just food for thought
I mean the discussion here about the reduced charge rate after so many DC charges. I'm using the word 'we' as this community learning about an issue (that Tesla admitted).
That's awesome! Did you read my post earlier? I had the exact same situation. Technician installed a new cable, I plugged and and ... no BAM. Same reduced charge rate, no one else at the Supercharger. So we have two data points with opposing results.
There are also many reports about slow charge rate from cars that are newer than mine. Yes my charge port could be one out of many problems, but that wouldn't explain the newer cars having the same issues. If it was a possible problem, Tesla would have at least mentioned it during one of my many calls when I got a reduced charge rate and told them. You said there are a lot of cars with worn out connectors. Where is that info coming from? If it's true (and I don't doubt it) why isn't Tesla recommending swapping them out? That would clearly help with Supercharger congestion.
jeffro01
Active Member
I think everyone should keep in mind that there are two connectors involved here if you will, the end of the SC cable and the port on your car. It's quite possible, looking at the circumstantial evidence here, that some cars need to have their charge ports replaced due to wear which when combined with replacing SC cables due to wear, the experience goes back to "normal".
Thoughts?
Jeff
Thoughts?
Jeff
Shock-On-T
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