It's not necessary to do this at a SuC, just charge to 100% at home. It doesn't really make any difference in my experience, maybe the range estimation changes for a short while but doesn't have any long term benefits.
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Supercharger Newbie - Is it normal?
- Thread starter bctomuk
- Start date
Billbrown1982
TM3 LR 2021 | Red | FSD
Interesting. I remember reading someone saying balancing only works at superchargers. If that's not the case then that makes life much easier for me!
Balancing happens when the pack is charged over a certain voltage which equates to something like 90%. It doesn’t matter how it gets there. Depending on how out of balance cells are it can take a while so better to do that on AC. The main USA TMC Model 3 forum [Here]has a thread on battery charging and how to basically re-calibrate the Battery Management System. It doesn’t affect range, just the ‘miles’ displayed on the screen is likely to be more accurate.
It is a model 3 long range, I have no idea why I referred to it as a series 3!
Reading above I don’t think I’d been driving long enough for the preconditioning either, only about 20minutes so that would have clearly affected it.
Reading above I don’t think I’d been driving long enough for the preconditioning either, only about 20minutes so that would have clearly affected it.
A couple of other points I've not seen mentioned
- The speed of charging doesn't change if you set the target higher. There is no benefit setting it to 100% even if you intend to stop at 80%.
- The V2 chargers (with the 2 cables) are in pairs. and in addition to the 150kw max, this is shared if 2 cars are charging. Worst case is the best you will get is around 70-75kw (if the other car requires less then you get the balance). You may see if written that the first car gets almost all of it and the second car very little, but thats changed in recent years.
- Cell balancing and Battery calibration are slightly different things that people get confused with. There is little need to balance cells on a Model 3 where as the MS and MX seem to benefit more. The flip side is the BMS on the model 3 does require help to stay calibrated. To do that you simply need to leave the car over night at a variety of states of charge (including some below 50%). The battery equalises the cells and takes an accurate reading if left over night, and the more accurate readings it has across the spectum the easier it is for it to draw an accurate line from 0 to 100%.
- The speed of charging doesn't change if you set the target higher. There is no benefit setting it to 100% even if you intend to stop at 80%.
- The V2 chargers (with the 2 cables) are in pairs. and in addition to the 150kw max, this is shared if 2 cars are charging. Worst case is the best you will get is around 70-75kw (if the other car requires less then you get the balance). You may see if written that the first car gets almost all of it and the second car very little, but thats changed in recent years.
- Cell balancing and Battery calibration are slightly different things that people get confused with. There is little need to balance cells on a Model 3 where as the MS and MX seem to benefit more. The flip side is the BMS on the model 3 does require help to stay calibrated. To do that you simply need to leave the car over night at a variety of states of charge (including some below 50%). The battery equalises the cells and takes an accurate reading if left over night, and the more accurate readings it has across the spectum the easier it is for it to draw an accurate line from 0 to 100%.
there's a small benefit setting your target higher - you get a little more time before hitting idle fees if you dont' think you can get back to the car by the time it hits 80%
That's a real issue! I've realised when grabbing a bite that the charging is going to be finished "too soon" and I'll have to run out to move the car ... so nudging up the charging limit a bit can give you some leeway before idle fees kick in.
MrBadger
Badger out
Or set the charge limit as required, but if you get the early warning of charge complete, just nudge the limit by a few % from the app - this does of course assume that you have mobile coverage - one of my local sites is a bit marginal. This keeps the longer charger time as the exception rather than the rule and more importantly, handles the situation when an adjacent car leaves and your charge time suddenly shortens due to getting more power.
Nick77
Deep Blue Model 3 LR (2021 MIC)
Took my M3 LR out to the V3 supercharger at Leicester today. Got there at 12% and navigated so it'd pre-condition - I'm sure I remember it saying it was preconditioning somewhere on the nav bar at the top on collection day when I drove straight to the M6 SC. But this time I didn't see anything to say it was pre-conditioning? Have I managed to turn that off somewhere in the settings?
Any way, the max I got at the start was 170 kWh. I was expecting over 200 tbh. Charged it to 90% which took 45 mins.
I've included the charging power curve below. I assume this is all fairly normal, but I was expecting a bit faster to start with at a V3.
Edit - It was a 45 min drive to get there, and was all carriageway and motorway driving so should have got there warmed up properly to hit 250kwh until about 20% so I've just read. I can only assume it didn't pre-condition as I didn't see it telling me it was.
Any way, the max I got at the start was 170 kWh. I was expecting over 200 tbh. Charged it to 90% which took 45 mins.
I've included the charging power curve below. I assume this is all fairly normal, but I was expecting a bit faster to start with at a V3.
Edit - It was a 45 min drive to get there, and was all carriageway and motorway driving so should have got there warmed up properly to hit 250kwh until about 20% so I've just read. I can only assume it didn't pre-condition as I didn't see it telling me it was.
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Louis0w
Member
20'c+ maybe warm weather for us
.... but, even with pre-conditioning, the battery needs to be very warm (50'c+) to achieve close to max speed at V3's. Highest I've had was 232kW ... after a 3hr+ journey, arriving with <10% and with battery at 48'c (according to Scan My Tesla).
MrBadger
Badger out
You can hear when the car is pre conditioning. It makes quite a different noise. tbh, if you put the supercharger (rather than destination) properly in the sat nav it will have supercharged - not really much to get wrong. Lots of reasons why you may not get the expected charge rate. As long as you were not getting a few 10kW's I wouldn't bother about it.
CyberGus
Not Just a Member
The pack and motor(s) are being actively cooled. In models with the Octovalve™ and heat pump, the process can be reversed, so that pre-conditioning is achieved with waste heat. This will consume power at low ambient temperatures, but at high temperatures it could actually save power lol
Example charge curves here Charging with a Tesla Model 3
So unlikely to get much over 100kW at 60% SoC
So unlikely to get much over 100kW at 60% SoC
Mark-R
Member
I briefly achieved a 245kW charge rate (1000 mi/hr) in my 2020 M3 LR at the Banbury supercharger this afternoon. The charger was set as the destination so the battery was preconditioned before arrival, and it was 2.5hr into our journey. The battery was at 18% when we arrived, and only briefly showed 1000mi/hr before it gradually dropped as the charge progressed.
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