Supercharging at different kW battery degradation

[Nikon201068]

Hello TMCers,
Quick question. Does Supercharging at lower kW rate such as 72kW have less degradation to the battery than let's say at 150kW or 250kW? If charging time is not the concern, should I charge at the lowest speed kW as possible? Assuming I'll charge up to 80% only. Thank you

 

[RayK]

Although I do not have any data to backup or prove my assumption, that's my feeling; lower kW charging will be less damaging to the battery, over the long term, than higher kW charging. Pushing more current into the battery will cause a faster (greater?) rise in temperature, which is generally bad.

However, you can waste energy if you take it to the extreme: charging at Level 1 will mean that the car's baseline energy will be more of a percentage of the overall charge. A 72kW Supercharger seems to be a good balance (IMO). I don't have home charging since my electric rates ($0.325/kWh Tier1 and $0.406 Tier 2) are much more than a nearby ChargePoint CHAdeMO station ($0.19). The Tesla CHAdeMO adapter is limited to 50kW (ideal) which works out to about 42kW maximum in real use. If the CHAdeMO stations are tied up, or if I really need to save some time, I'll go to a local 72kW (Urban) Supercharger which is $0.24 off peak and $0.41 peak.

I have been CHAdeMO charging for the last 3 years. First year was covered mostly with L2 charging at work. When I retired, I switched over to CHAdeMO. My car has 26.4K miles and is a 2018 LR RWD. My normal 90% charge limit hovers between 268 and 270 miles; 100% extrapolated at just under 300 miles. It's about a 5% loss from my initial max range of 315.

 

[ucmndd]

Hypothetically yes, over many hundreds of DCFC sessions a slower charge rate is probably “better” for the battery.

In practice, it’s irrelevant and I certainly wouldn’t purposely detour to a slower charger for this primary objective.

 

[Retired in AZ]

We have a big clue: if you're going to supercharge, and you use the app to navigate to one, then the car 'prepares' the battery for supercharging. That tells you that, in the case of a Tesla supercharger, preconditioning is used to limit or avoid any impact on the battery from the higher kW from the supercharger. Look also at the post "Battery Degradation - 10 year report" for more information. hope this helps!