Supercharging - 48% in 50 Minutes.

[Mattzilla]

That's right. My Tesla app sent me a notification 50 minutes ago that charging has started. I started with 4%. After 50 minutes of supercharging, I'm at 52%.

It took about 15-20 minutes for the car to even begin charging. It just sat at 0kw charge speed for a long time. It's about 34 degrees outside at the charger in Seaside, OR. I had driven about an hour and a half before arriving at this charger and I was showing no power/regen limitations on the power gauge so I know the battery was warm.

This is my first winter with the car. I knew there would be some sacrifice in charge time, but is it normal for it to be this slow? Charging at 66kw currently. Tried multiple stalls here in the past and the speed seems to be the same on all of them.

Thoughts from veteran owners?

 

[doubleohwhat]

Sounds like a supercharger issue. Did you plug in and walk away not realizing it had not started charging? Usually I'll stay with the car until I see it ramping up the kw on the screen. It's not that uncommon to find a pair of stalls on the fritz. When that happens, just move to a different pair and notify Tesla of the problem. I doubt there will be much in the way of maintenance this weekend but usually Tesla has the superchargers fixed fairly fast.

 

[Mattzilla]

Sounds like a supercharger issue. Did you plug in and walk away not realizing it had not started charging? Usually I'll stay with the car until I see it ramping up the kw on the screen. It's not that uncommon to find a pair of stalls on the fritz. When that happens, just move to a different pair and notify Tesla of the problem. I doubt there will be much in the way of maintenance this weekend but usually Tesla has the superchargers fixed fairly fast.

Thanks for the response. I sat in the car and waited. I was about to call Tesla but it did eventually start charging so I didn't. Hopefully they can monitor this automatically and know when a supercharger is underperforming like this.

 

[doubleohwhat]

They can definitely monitor superchargers remotely.

 

[Canuck]

It took about 15-20 minutes for the car to even begin charging.

I sat in the car and waited.

If it doesn't start to charge right away change stalls.

 

[Mattzilla]

If it doesn't start to charge right away change stalls.

I had noticed slow charge times here before and tried all of the other stalls, but wasn't able to get it to charge any faster. I'll definitely try again next time though if the ramp up takes more than a minute or two.

 

[doctorwho]

Every time I've sat there on 0kW/hr its always been because the cable wasn't inserted properly (even though it appeared to be) Reseating it started charging straight away

 

[Trunk Gap]

Exactly. If it doesnt start right away, something is wrong. Change to another spot. If problems persist, its either your car or the SC and obviously you'll know by trying another SC. Charging should be immediate, I normally wait until I see it get to peak speed, then leave.

Having said all of this, I have DEFINITELY noticed a general slowdown of superchargers. When I first got the car it was 40m to full, give or take, zoom zoom. Now about halfway through the charge it throttles back, gets slower by the minute, and takes much longer. Basically they only want you to use the SC network to get to where you're going. Frustrating when you're traveling and need juice because the destination where you're headed does not have a supercharger. It then becomes a question of, can you find a place to plug in and trickle charge to just get enough juice to make it back to a supercharger, or do you find a local charger and ask a friend/family member to "pick me up a few blocks away at xyz charger?" Either way, this is an annoying element of Tesla ownership I am experiencing, figured I'd share for newer folks so they are aware.

 

[Zythryn]

Yes, as others have said, this is not normal.
The above suggestions are good.
If they don't work, I would contact Tesla to make them aware. They may be able to fix it, or at least let you know what is happening.

They can monitor, but I would not assume they will be automatically aware of your situation. Call them to let them know.

 

[Mattzilla]

Thanks for all the advice. I'll take further action next time by contacting Tesla when charging does not begin right away.