Supercharger stopped charging before set limit, then got charged idle fees?

[forkee]

Hey guys, I had a question. Sorry if it's been asked before, I usually post in the X forums.....

Anyways, today I brought the X to supercharge to 100% (from 3%). After 2 hours, it stopped automatically at 204 mi (95%) even though it can go up to 217 mi. It was saying 20 minutes remaining and all of a sudden it said "charging complete". I had stepped out since I figured I had some time but when I got the alert I jet back to the car only to realize it had prematurely stopped 13 minutes ago resulting in a $6 idle fee. I called them about it and they said since they already waived an idle fee 2 years ago, they couldn't waive this one EVEN THOUGH IT WAS THE SUPERCHARGER'S FAULT! So then I get a notice in the app saying supercharging is locked until I pay it. I just don't understand how they can hold my supercharging hostage until I pay a fee that was unjustly charged. My car never charged to the set limit. There were 3 slots open for people to charge so there was never a line. I know it was only $6, but it's the principle of the thing! Was I in the wrong? Has this happened to anyone else?

 

[joelliot]

I don’t remember the exact percentage, but I believe I got a notice around 80% at a busy supercharger. If you look at the other side of this, you may not be happy if you where in a line of cars waiting and cars where topping off at a couple of kW.

 

[forkee]

I don’t remember the exact percentage, but I believe I got a notice around 80% at a busy supercharger. If you look at the other side of this, you may not be happy if you where in a line of cars waiting and cars where topping off at a couple of kW.

I know some superchargers automatically change the max to 80% when you first plug in, and you can always change it to higher after the notice. This particular one does not have the auto 80% and let me set it to any number. Even when it stopped prematurely, I tried to restart charging by bringing it below for a minute, then raising it above current level. It never restarted.

On another note, I brought it home shortly after and plugged it in. It still refuses to charge to 100%, saying charge is complete @ 95%

I scheduled a service appointment for them to take a look at it. Already tried steering scroll reboot.

 

[doghousePVD]

The calculations to 100% and "Miles" are definitely not exact, and depends a certain amount on temperature and battery condition. I wouldn't call this the Superchargers "fault". Generally Tesla does not expect folks to charge to 100.0% at Superchargers, anyway,

Too bad you got dinged for $6. Don't sweat it. Your car thinks the battery is full.
Overcharging is a thing and is a bad thing. Why do you even want to be at 100% when your are driving just a short distance to home?

 

[forkee]

every few months I drain it down low and bring it to max. by the time i get home, it's drains to about 90% anyways. That first drive out of the supercharger is about the only time i slide it over to ludicrous plus since the battery is already warmed up and ready to go

 

[Amacharola]

Fully charging a battery should be done by level 2 charging ideally, not supercharging which is very bad for battery longevity

 

[Dave EV]

It still refuses to charge to 100%, saying charge is complete @ 95%

I've seen a pattern of this with the Model S/X reported here in various threads - it does not seem to be uncommon for the car to refuse to charge to 100%.

When this happens, one or more modules has hit maximum voltage and thus can not be charged any more, but there is also one or more modules with a lower charge level. The lowest charged module is the one that limits your total usable capacity. You likely have one or more modules that are only charged to 95% (say 4.15 V) and one or more that are charged to 100% (4.20 V).

It also seems that after the amount of imbalance reaches this level, it's only a matter of time before the BMS throws an error which triggers a battery pack replacement. Sometimes a road trip where you repeatedly discharge to a fairly low SOC (10-20% and then recharge to 80-90%), seems to speed this up.

What are you normal charging habits besides occasionally discharging it down low and recharging it?

 

[henderrj]

Fully charging a battery should be done by level 2 charging ideally, not supercharging which is very bad for battery longevity

Unless you can provide some data for this I'm going to call bogus. the supercharger charge slows down just the same as the home charging does when it gets up to the top. and, I don't think super charging is that bad for it. I've got over 230,000 miles on my original battery and supercharge it a great number of times, often as many as seven eight times a week. like I say 233,000 mi in the original battery, I think maybe super charging isn't all that bad for it

 

[henderrj]

interesting, just this last Sunday a supercharger that I regularly use stopped charging at just over 90%. I had it set to 100% as well. Double checked to make sure. They threatened me with idle fees as well, but I appear to have caught it before that.

 

[GtiMart]

That comment about SC being bad for the last few percent doesn't hold up. The rate of charge reduces as the battery charges up. The BMS manages that. Even on a home charger, the speed reduces in the last few percent. Supercharging might be slightly worse in general, but there's nothing special about the top of the battery.

 

[erik@live]

I had a related idle fee experience last weekend. Unbeknownst to me, the SC reset my target charge limit to 80% (thanks joe & forkee). When I received the Charging Complete notification on my phone, I bumped the limit to 90% on my app and charging resumed. Arriving at the car, about seven minutes later, I disconnected at 88% (still charging) and departed. Next day, I get billed seven minutes of idle fees. Tesla "customer support" assured me, repeatedly, that SC billing is accurate, but could not tell me how they confirm that. They blamed poor connectivity with my phone....
While $3.50 is a trivial amount, I am not sure that I learned anything useful for the future. I guess I won't try to 'top up' in the future...with obvious impacts on range. To be sure, the main lesson is a reminder that billionaires don't have customers - they have revenue streams.

 

[rfleming4]

When taking a long trip, Tesla's navigation recommends SC stops and duration of charging at each. Often the recommended charging at a particular SC is to less than 80%, since it bases how long to charge on how far is the next SC or the final destination. (Also, it seems to aim for about 10% charge left at the destination, regardless of whether SC's are available anywhere near that location). I've taken one long trip, and I came close to incurring idle fees when I left my car charging beyond what the nav program specified, even though the battery was less than 80% SOC when the idle fees started. Does it make sense, then, to cancel the nav program when pulling up to a SC so I can get to 80% SOC (if needed, for various reasons), then resume navigation upon leaving the SC? This is especially important for the last charge before a destination where I need more than 10% SOC remaining.

 

[MorrisonHiker]

When taking a long trip, Tesla's navigation recommends SC stops and duration of charging at each. Often the recommended charging at a particular SC is to less than 80%, since it bases how long to charge on how far is the next SC or the final destination. (Also, it seems to aim for about 10% charge left at the destination, regardless of whether SC's are available anywhere near that location). I've taken one long trip, and I came close to incurring idle fees when I left my car charging beyond what the nav program specified, even though the battery was less than 80% SOC when the idle fees started. Does it make sense, then, to cancel the nav program when pulling up to a SC so I can get to 80% SOC (if needed, for various reasons), then resume navigation upon leaving the SC? This is especially important for the last charge before a destination where I need more than 10% SOC remaining.

As long as the car is still charging, idle fees won't be charged.