Superchargers super-slow

[oktane]

Oktane, I cannot speak for TexasEV. I inferred from his statement that the "premature wear on components" = the components of the Supercharger hardware, not the storage battery in our automobiles.

I am not sure if we are speaking the same language, Oktane. You made statements that Tesla "fear[ed] the cost of electricity or the degradation . . .and subsequent warranty claims. Last possibility is potential safety risks. . .they are trying to prevent accidents."

You are making assertions that have no basis in fact. These assertions are potentially deleterious to Tesla and its continued success. We inferred from your statements that Tesla is conspiring to conceal the real cause behind these precipitous drops in charging rates.

Yes I meant the supercharger components, causing something to not function properly. In Oktane's recent post and a previous one (#222) he is saying Tesla is deliberately reducing the supercharger power. I don't think there is any evidence to support such a claim.

OK I understand now what he is saying. I think it's naive to think that the reduced supercharger performance is random and due to component degradation alone, without Tesla's hand in modulating the software. It's pretty obvious that there is some form of software throttling at work that is being employed by Tesla for x, y, or z reason.

The reason for the throttling is either a safety reason or to save cost. It may not be "deliberate" in the sense of this may or may not have been planned, but the reduced SC performance is far form a random occurrence, and you can be certain that Tesla knows the reason why charging is being software-limited but chooses not to make the reason public.

Are some of you suggesting that Tesla has "no idea" why we are getting lower charging rates at multiple locations across multiple states across multiple cars across multiple months? I am supposed to believe these are simply random component failures in isolation? Really?

 

[Bangor Bob]

Yeah, looking back it seems like this was pretty thoroughly discussed already.

So we're back to "something's broken."

 

[Bangor Bob]

A canbus recording of one of these slow sessions would probably be informative. The charger will be constantly advertising how much current it can supply, and the car will be making requests for the charger to supply particular voltages and currents.

It should be possible to determine if the rate reduction is being driven by the car side, or the charger side.

 

[Galve2000]

Door #3: They're trying to keep supercharger site power demand charges from becoming too outrageous?

This would be my guess also...

When I look at my logs, my car starts charging at 116 kW but only keeps it up for 2 minutes, then drops. If Tesla wanted to avoid demand charges, they would have to cap that peak. The demand charges apply even if you draw the peak for a very short time.

You are right that even hitting 116 kW for one instant would trigger these kinds of delivery chargers, but in the early days a site with 8 stalls or 4 pairs would theoretically hit 4 x 116 kW for an instant and have -- where is my calculator? -- 464 kW delivery charge, which I suspect would be an outrageous number.

Perhaps Tesla is not trying to limit the site to 116 kW delivery charge for the entire site, but i suspect they are trying to limit it to MUCH less than the theoretical 464 kW delivery charge.

i say this b/c when I was in Tarrytown 2 weeks ago and i was the only Tesla charging I was getting 110 kW for a few minutes (plugged into Stall 6A, as 1A had too much snow piled up around it my Model S to back into) and then a Model X shows up and plugs into stall 4A and my rate drops from 110 kW to 70 kW and (and my battery only had 50 rated miles on it, so it could definitely handle a faster charging rate)

again, they are not trying to limit the site to 110 kW max, but even 200kW max for the site will help their bottom line considerably.. and I think this is the culprit here.

 

[EVie'sDad]

Remember, the sweet spot is to arrive at the SuperCharger with between 20 and 50 percent charge left, and then it should charge quicker. Too depleted or closer to full charge will automatically begin with a slower charging rate. Plan your routes skipping more congested chargers and to get the battery into the sweet spot. You should have no difficulties if you keep these things in mind. Happy Driving!

 

[oktane]

That's good advice. I wouldn't consider the supercharger experience to be "difficult" (except when there is a line) but more of a big waste of time (my most precious commodity) when the rate is throttled.

That's the beauty of home charging, saving trips to the gas station which to me is worth a lot of $$$. I hope the upcoming M3 have a faster charger built-in.

 

[TexasEV]

Remember, the sweet spot is to arrive at the SuperCharger with between 20 and 50 percent charge left, and then it should charge quicker. Too depleted or closer to full charge will automatically begin with a slower charging rate. Plan your routes skipping more congested chargers and to get the battery into the sweet spot. You should have no difficulties if you keep these things in mind. Happy Driving!

Have you even been following this and similar threads? It's about people having difficulties when they DO keep these things in mind. It's about power dropping abruptly after a few minutes when someone starts at 20% charge, or not having the appropriate power to start with at a low SOC. This and similar threads are not "superchargers for dummies", it's about problems people have who know what they're doing and what to expect.

 

[hpartsch]

Well, I'm at the Burlington, Wa supercharger and two of the superchargers are charging at only 30kwh (had less than 50 miles of range left). I called Tesla and they seem to be aware already of the problem but they didn't seem like they knew the cause or when it would be fixed. Avoid 2a and 4a.

 

[EVCarGUy]

I stopped at Manteca Friday afternoon. Stall 1B. 40% SOC. Only one there. The power would ramp to about 25kw and then drop to zero and then go back again. After several cycles, I moved to 2A and got nearly 90kW.

On the bright side, on my return leg Sunday, I stopped at Rocklin with about 15% and saw 104kW.

 

[Evil.Labrat]

At the Boise SpC last Thursday, I was the only one there and outdoor temp was 58F and initial SoC was about 12%. First two stalls I tried were very erratic with the kW bouncing all over the place sometimes seeming to restart from 0. Moved over to the third stall at around 39% SoC and was getting 110+kW solidly and it followed the usual taper as SoC came up. Happened again over the next couple of days in Tremonton UT and SLC UT with unshared stalls maxing out at around 70kW and moving to a different one got it back up to 110+kW.

 

[busaman]

im a bit confused with sc charging i want to france at the weekend in my p85d and covered 700 miles on sc charging, i was on my own with 8 stalls i was using 1a i had just driven 150 miles and chaging was at 72kw a guy on a 90d arrived and he was charging at 110kw so we swapped stalls and his went to 110 and mine remained at 72kw the only difference is my car was on a train for an hour before charging then a couple of days later just outside paris same thing only difference i was at 70%ish soc coming back to england at the ist sc it was running 110kw at 30%soc and the last stop in england 102kw at 70%soc to get me home i think a lot depends on battery temp or at least thats my theory. my average for the whole trip was 298mkwh at a pretty constant 68mph.

 

[Mattzilla]

I hit 3 different Superchargers in OR last weekend. Arrived between 20-30% SOC each time, drove for 7 hours total, was the only Tesla each time, and was not able to break 89kW. One of the stops I was unable to break 70kW. Outside temp was around 55.

 

[malcolm]

So Tesla need to install Powerpacks to even out supply fluctuations.

 

[malcolm]

ETA: Like the Gilroy SC

 

[MDMGSO47]

Stopped in Charlotte Sunday at 30%, needing just a top off to get to Greensboro. There were three other Teslas charging, so I took the fourth unshared spot. The charge rate alternated between 45 and 60 kW, resulting in a charge time of twice what it should have been. My wife was POed because I had dropped her off at Trader Joe's, and she had to wait. Unfortunately this is becoming more and more common. With the pending onslaught of Model 3s, the superchargers need to be charging faster, not slower.

 

[Galve2000]

and free supercharging for life (for long distance travel) has now come back to haunt us.

 

[hpartsch]

Seems like this is a pretty widespread problem. Hopefully Tesla can figure this out - it's a real bummer and inconvenience. Switching stalls (twice), calling Tesla to notify them, and then finally charging at a decent rate -- more than tripled my stop's time duration. Luckily, I was patient. However, I could see others being pretty pissed (especially, if your trying to get somewhere on time).

 

[oktane]

Can anyone explain why this wasn't a problem before, but is now, after the end of FUSC? Poor charging rates when no one else is charging?

 

[AWDtsla]

Can anyone explain why this wasn't a problem before, but is now, after the end of FUSC? Poor charging rates when no one else is charging?

Because you are their beta tester?

 

[oktane]

Would't that the be opposite of this situation?