Supercharging not up to hype?

[DarkHelmet]

Only had my MY a few weeks, and I don’t need to supercharge but I’ve hit two now just see what it can do.

The first station I hit was a 150kw station, there were two cars when I got there and none when I left, I was only able to pull about 40kw for the duration.

Sitting at another one right now, which is a 250kw and only getting 65kw.

I’ve preconditioned both times before arrival, temps in the 40’s. Any feedback?

 

[Trailblazer]

What was your state of charge when arriving at the supercharger? Fast charging speeds usually happen when you are at a low state of charge (e.g., 10%).

 

[mtndrew1]

Couple things.

Preconditioning is a different thing when supercharging. It will come up automatically when you navigate to the supercharger (the message pops up on top of the nav directions) and takes some time to get the pack hot for optimum speeds. You can’t just show up at the supercharger, it must be your destination in the nav for this process to happen.

Second, state of charge matters a lot. The fastest speeds happen below 10% state of charge and taper as the SOC increases.

Edit: supercharging works best on road trips where the car maps out the string of chargers you’re going to hit and has the pack conditioned before arriving at each one. Furthermore you’re more likely to end up at one at a low SOC ans get just enough to hop to the next one on the route. Rinse, repeat.

For local charging they’re kind of unremarkable unless you’re at a 72 kW urban supercharger.

 

[user212_nr]

Sitting at another one right now, which is a 250kw and only getting 65kw.

I’ve preconditioned both times before arrival, temps in the 40’s. Any feedback?

You need to operate the supercharger between 0 and 40% in order to get the higher rates. If you charged at home and want to "top off" your car just to test the SC, your rates will be minimal.

On a real road trip, not just "a test", you can usually leave the SC at 40-60% charge and drain down before arriving at the next.

A Better Routeplanner

 

[Koolio46]

Only had my MY a few weeks, and I don’t need to supercharge but I’ve hit two now just see what it can do.

The first station I hit was a 150kw station, there were two cars when I got there and none when I left, I was only able to pull about 40kw for the duration.

Sitting at another one right now, which is a 250kw and only getting 65kw.

I’ve preconditioned both times before arrival, temps in the 40’s. Any feedback?

Like others said, speed depends on state of charge. Fastest at lowest state of charge and tapers as the state of charge increases.
In my experience, I’ve been very happy with supercharging speeds. It charges very quickly and we’ve never felt like we were waiting too long for the car to charge.

 

[DaveORD]

Supercharger Charging Speed SLOW

 

[DarkHelmet]

Got it, both times I showed up with about a 50-55% SOC.

Yes, SC was my destination both times for preconditioning.

 

[Y_tho]

Was anyone parked next to you when you were charging? Except for the new V3 superchargers, the units are paired (e.g. space 1A and 1B), and if two cars in a pair are charging at the same time, you'll see diminished kw.

 

[brkaus]

I find it a bit hit/miss. As listed above, there are lots of factors. It is great compared to the alternative slow charging for trips. The newer v3 are also more consistent (perhaps because they are new). But still find it great sometimes, not so great others. Usually pretty good on a road trip when planned to fill up at 15-20%.

My view -

I used to go to the gas station about every 10 days. Now I haven't been to a gas station for 3 years. I do take a few (but not many) road trips a year so I'm paying back some of that saved time and it's all good.

 

[Rocky_H]

It's winter. You're just not going to get the fastest speeds possible right now. Your state of charge would need to be really low, like 10-15%, and the battery would need to be HOT, like more than what a little bit of preconditioning on the way to your local Supercharger would give you.

 

[ItsNotAboutTheMoney]

If you don't have a tool like ScanMyTesla that shows battery temperature and SoC more exactly, people are a bit in the dark.

 

[JDFPHOTO]

Only had my MY a few weeks, and I don’t need to supercharge but I’ve hit two now just see what it can do.

The first station I hit was a 150kw station, there were two cars when I got there and none when I left, I was only able to pull about 40kw for the duration.

Sitting at another one right now, which is a 250kw and only getting 65kw.

I’ve preconditioned both times before arrival, temps in the 40’s. Any feedback?

This is very typical.

Yesterday I charged at a 150kw Supercharger from 10% up to 80%. Although I didn’t keep any records I watched as it charged and it was moving along at near to maximum speed when I started. As I charged, it steadily became slower and slower. The last 10% it was charging at about 42kw. My entire charging time was about 25 minutes. It was 40 degrees. The car was not fully preconditioned.

As an aside, three times in the last three months I was at different Supercharger locations (three different states) and when I plugged in it was charging at an extremely slow rate. Both times I unplugged and moved to a different slot and everything worked like it should.

 

[Sunshine State]

Was anyone parked next to you when you were charging? Except for the new V3 superchargers, the units are paired (e.g. space 1A and 1B), and if two cars in a pair are charging at the same time, you'll see diminished kw.

The paired chargers are not necessarily right next to each other, sometimes the A’s are all next to each other as are the B’s so you have to pay better attention that just not if a car is right next to you.

 

[mark95476]

YouTube is almost always the answer. People have been Supercharging for years and it's more-or-less all known.

Fortunately this gets rehashed regularly, like battery miles vs %, so threads are relatively easy to find in the TMC forums.

 

[Njbrandon]

With the free year of Supercharging, is it ok if I only use that to charge? I would only go up to 70-80%. Is that going to negatively affect the battery or do I need to mix in some home charging too?

 

[arie21014]

Go try the other guys, EvGo, EA, etc. You will have newfound admiration to the supercharge stations. I avoided even thinking about purchase Ford Mache because their charging network is 5 years behind. I experienced them in my previous car was a Chevy Bolt EV. Decent car, did a couple trips with it. Super glad to be in a Tesla, and on superchage network now.

that said, always can improve. and I am sure they welcome feedback.

 

[Young Phenom]

Got it, both times I showed up with about a 50-55% SOC.

Yes, SC was my destination both times for preconditioning.

Higher SOC when starting supercharging is the culprit.

Supercharging is kind of like a bell curve.

 

[Zoomit]

Higher SOC when starting supercharging is the culprit.

Supercharging is kind of like a bell curve.

Naw, a warm battery should pull 100kW at 50%. If at ideal temps, it would pull 150kW briefly and decline rapidly.

 

[Rocky_H]

Supercharging is kind of like a bell curve.

That would be highest in the middle.
What you're probably thinking of is an asymptotic curve, where it gets closer and closer and closer to 0 as it approaches the limit at the upper end.

 

[ecobon]

With the free year of Supercharging, is it ok if I only use that to charge? I would only go up to 70-80%. Is that going to negatively affect the battery or do I need to mix in some home charging too?

It should be fine. There are older model S complaints about too many DCFC sessions leading to lower charging rates and/or range as the car counts the number of sessions and creates a larger buffer to safeguard the battery as it ages. I am guessing that it ages faster when using DCFC. I don't think you should be inconvenienced by all of this and should charge anyway that you want as these batteries and charging units are robust.