Charging rate at 50KW ?

[HI Zeus]

I feel like this is a stupid question (and yes I do believe there are such things), but I've searched the forums and can't find an answer and if its a simple may problem, I haven't figured it out.

Soooo:
If my only "fast" charging option until I get my home charging set up is "120A, 50KW, 500V" how many miles of range am I looking at for an hour of charging? (Lets assume in the 20-80% SOC when I plug it in)

Or to quantify it differently than "miles," how long would it take to get from 20% to 80%?
How long to get from 80% to 100%? (at 50KW is it going to slow down the rate for that last 20%?)

If I've missed previous related discussions, kindly redirect me.

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[TaxmanHog]

Or to quantify it differently than "miles," how long would it take to get from 20% to 80%?
How long to get from 80% to 100%? (at 50KW is it going to slow down the rate for that last 20%?)

I haven't DCFC charged past 80% often, but the few times I recall the pace definitely slows, almost to level 2 values 95 to 100%

In the meantime, charging on a 50KW DC system, from 20% to 80% is ~79 KWH on an ER battery, not sure how much loss there might be, if I assume none, it would take 1.6 to 1.75 hours to bring the battery to 80%

 

[Vulnox]

It would help to know if you're talking standard range or extended range battery.

But you can figure most of this yourself. The Lightning could handle all 50kW, and let's assume no losses or whatever.

Assuming an ER, it would have 131kWh (usable) battery pack.

If at 20%, we can assume the battery is at about 26kWh remaining. 80% would be 104kWh.

104-26 = 78

So assuming it held 50kWh, it would take 1 hour and about 36 minutes to go from 20-80.

How many "miles" that gets you depends on your average miles/kWh up to that point. Assuming 2 miles/kWh, adding 78 kWh would get you ~160 miles.

I probably wouldn't use that charger any more than needed to get me to a faster charger.

 

[RickLightning]

For your 2015 F350?

 

[TaxmanHog]

Please update your vehicle profile, it really helps with back & forth Q&A's
https://www.f150lightningforum.com/forum/account/account-details

 

[Heliian]

From a "50kw" dcfc going 20-85 you should get "50kw", which in my experience is around 46kw actual. From 85 to 90 it drops near 30kw.

Try to plan your dcfc stops so you leave at 80-85%

 

[TaxmanHog]

BTW, is 80 to 20% a daily usage that you're replacing to be ready for the next day instead of a road trip point to point to point mid trip charging session??

 

[potato]

If my only "fast" charging option until I get my home charging set up is "120A, 50KW, 500V" how many miles of range am I looking at for an hour of charging? (Lets assume in the 20-80% SOC when I plug it in)

Or to quantify it differently than "miles," how long would it take to get from 20% to 80%?
How long to get from 80% to 100%? (at 50KW is it going to slow down the rate for that last 20%?)

The limiting factor there is the 120 amps. The Lightning has a relatively low pack voltage. So for my ER battery, at a low-ish state of charge (say 345 volts) you'd only be drawing 345 x 120 = 41.4 kW. As the state of charge increases it'll go to mid-high 40s but you will never see 50 kW. Keep that in mind.

For me I use the rule of thumb charging speed in kW x 3 = kilometres per hour. So 45 kW = 135 km/h. This assumes cool weather efficiency around 33 kWh/100 km. Might do better in summer but I usually think conservative. I'm not sure how best to convert that to football fields per hour for the US. ?

If you have an ER battery pack, 20-80% is 0.6 * 131 = 78.6 kWh. At say 45 kW that's 78.6 / 45 = 1.75 hours. 50 kW is on the slow side for sure, so hopefully there are things to do near the charger.

At faster chargers it will drop suddenly from >100 to about 55 kW at exactly 80% state of charge. Of course that won't affect a 50 kW charger; it'll plug along until the high 80% range, maybe 88-89%, before tapering off. At 90% you might be drawing 35 kW. At least that's how it is for my ER battery pack.

 

[hajalie24]

I recall getting the full 50 KW until around 90%. It took 2 hours for me to go from 15-90% on a 50kw charger and another hour to go from 90-100% when I last used one.

 

[Firn]

I feel like this is a stupid question (and yes I do believe there are such things), but I've searched the forums and can't find an answer and if its a simple may problem, I haven't figured it out.

Soooo:
If my only "fast" charging option until I get my home charging set up is "120A, 50KW, 500V" how many miles of range am I looking at for an hour of charging? (Lets assume in the 20-80% SOC when I plug it in)

Or to quantify it differently than "miles," how long would it take to get from 20% to 80%?
How long to get from 80% to 100%? (at 50KW is it going to slow down the rate for that last 20%?)

If I've missed previous related discussions, kindly redirect me.

No, not a stupid question.

However, it may be easier if you adjust your mindset. "Miles per charge" is a terrible metric as it depends greatly on where, when, and how you drive. Even ignoring things like pulling a trailer, how many miles depends on your efficiency, and that could be anywhere (roughly) between 1.5mi/kwh and 2.8mi/kwh. That means on a SR truck 50% of your battery could be anywhere between 75 miles, or 140 miles. Highway on a windy winter day is MUCH different than two lane roads on a 75 degree day, only you can know what you drive.

Below around 85% SOC, 50kw on a SR gets roughly 10% of the battery every 11 minutes, for any ER truck its 10% every 16 minutes. 10% of your battery is around 10kwh for an SR and 13kwh for an ER. These numbers can be multipled by your efficiency to get miles/10%.

 

[mr.Magoo]

Here's a charge curve on a 50kW charger going from 20% to 90%

 

[HI Zeus]

Yeah, cause I plugged that sucker in for hrs and fuel level didn’t budge! ?

The lighting is a future purchase for a Hawai’i move, in part to provide power for build/camp site until the solar is up and going. There is a 50KW charger 10min away. No 150kw.

thanks everyone for the info. Charging while I have a long lunch every few days sounds like it will easily keep me in business.

 

[HI Zeus]

Time to Charge from 80% to 100% (SR Battery)

• Battery to fill: 20% of 98 kWh = 19.6 kWh needed.
• Tapered charging speed: ~25 kW average.
• Time: 19.6 kWh / 25 kW ≈ 0.78 hours (~47 minutes).
  (Still slow, but faster than ER’s ~63 minutes for this phase.)

Summary Table (SR vs. ER at 50 kW Charger)

Metric	Standard Range (98 kWh)	Extended Range (131 kWh)
Miles/hour (20–80%)	~100–115 mi	~90–100 mi
20% → 80% Time	~70 mins	~94 mins
80% → 100% Time	~47 mins	~63 mins

Thanks, that gives me good information for keeping it in a "comfortable range" with the 50kW station. With this knowledge, and the knowledge that after 85% its going to soon slow the charging rate down below 50kW anyway, I will plan on charging at the camp/build site from the off-grid solar battery array once that's in place. Hopefully I won't have to use the charging station for too much or for too long at $.49 to $.47 a kW!
Of course gas is $4.50 to $4.70 a gallon...

I originally thought the charging site was a 150kW, but when I realized it was a 50kW I wanted to be sure I wasn't going to be looking at 8hrs to get a useful charge. This keeps my "master plan" on track!

Thanks again!

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