Supercharger Avg Power

[carys98]

We are bottlenecked by the CURRENT output of the charger (500A); it’s not the kW rating of the charger that determines how fast our Lightnings charge, it’s the maximum current output, which is 500A at an EA 350 or Tesla SC. The relatively low voltage of our Lightning’s battery pack (mid-300V) means we can never see more than about 170kW from 500A.
340V x 500A = 170,000W or 170kW (get it?)
If the Lightning had been designed with a higher voltage battery pack, we might see higher charging rates from the available 500A; but, that’s the way it is, and it isn’t going to change. It’s highly unlikely anyone’s going to make a DCFC that outputs more than 500A. So, if you’re seeing about 170kW on a DCFC, you are getting the fastest charging possible on our Lightnings.

**if the DCFC is limited to less than 500A (say, 350A) then we get even less charging kW:
340V x 350A = 119kW
When chargers are “administratively” de-rated, it’s the current (amps) output that gets throttled down.

The Alpitronic chargers that Ionna and Mercedes are rolling out will go to 600A but the Lightning was originally limited to 450A. Ford is now rolling out the SW update that will allow us to go to 500A so the limit will still be the truck.

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[carys98]

Is there something different about Superchargers? I've never seen over 167kW on any EA station and I've used many of the 350kW stations (350A and 500A). Why is the SC able to get to almost 190kW? Better cooling? More overhead on the amperage output? There has to be something different about it. 20+kW is a huge difference.

I’ve actually gotten higher rates on the EA 150’s than on the 350’s. I’ve seen 174kW on a 150 and I don’t have the 500A update.

 

[K6CCC]

I've only used three Tesla Supercharger locations since I bought my truck 10 days ago. All were quick stops.
1: 56% - 75%, 13 minutes 28KWH with peak rate I saw was 128KW.
2: 75% - 90%, 24 minutes 21KWH with peak rate I recall of 110KW that ramped down to about 60KW after 80%
3: 72% - 87%, 21 minutes, 19KWH with peak rate a recall was about 120KW until it ramped down at 80%. I was more concerned with eating a late dinner than watching what was happening

#1 & 2 were one right after the other at SC locations a couple hundred yards apart. I started at the less expensive one, but it's in a store parking garage with big signs warning that the garage closes at 2130 - and I started at 2111. So pulled out before getting locked in, and went down the street. I wanted to be fairly fully charged due to my plans the next morning and only had 120V charging at home at that time (I have 240V at home now).

 

[vvgogh]

Ford specifies 15-80% DC fast charging for ER (85 kWh) at taking 41 min. So, 125 kW is the average charging power specification. My slower experiences at Superchargers are delivering 80% of the Ford spec. This adds 10 min totaling to 51 min for 85 kWh.

Here's a session from the 250 kW Tesla charger in Rifle, CO 11% to three points yesterday evening.

I'm only getting 75% of the average power @tommolog gets =(. He has a handy table graphic at the bottom of this page. He's charging 33% faster than me! It took me an extra 12 min to get to 80%!

I must be experiencing thermal throttling despite the charging port and adapter being shaded by the truck in the remaining evening sunlight. It's a consistent experience on other 250 kW Tesla V3 chargers for me. Not sure if I have the 10% more average power update... I'm only getting 85% of the original spec 125 kW average power let alone the 141 kW @tommolog reported.

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