DC Charging Speeds (Standard Range)

[Nklem]

That makes sense. I am by no means a battery expert, but how do Tesla and others achieve 200+ kW and better sustained charging with similar size battery packs? Just getting my hopes up for better charge speed in the future

Yup Tesla does it, also Tesla's batteries degrade after the 1st year too. I am sure a lot of this has to do with Level 3 Charging and charge rates.
My two cents, I would rather charge for 10-15 minutes longer and get less degradation.

Also be aware when there are many more EV's on the road and every Level 3 plug is being used at a station, and there is a waiting line (Tesla, EA, Chargepoint, EV go etc), no one will get full speed.

They do not install the infrastructure for 100% of the connected charge capacity of the stations and throttle back when more are being used.

Get ready for 50 KWh for all.

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[RickMachE]

Yup Tesla does it, also Tesla's batteries degrade after the 1st year too. I am sure a lot of this has to do with Level 3 Charging and charge rates.
My two cents, I would rather charge for 10-15 minutes longer and get less degradation.

Also be aware when there are many more EV's on the road and every Level 3 plug is being used at a station, and there is a waiting line (Tesla, EA, Chargepoint, EV go etc), no one will get full speed.

They do not install the infrastructure for 100% of the connected charge capacity of the stations and throttle back when more are being used.

Get ready for 50 KWh for all.

 

[Blue highway]

That makes sense. I am by no means a battery expert, but how do Tesla and others achieve 200+ kW and better sustained charging with similar size battery packs? Just getting my hopes up for better charge speed in the future

It's mostly a risk tolerance/market opportunity thing.

For longevity, charging a lithium battery at >1C is bad. The higher you go, the worse it is. In the case of a 75kWh pack (as in the MME SR), charging at 115kW for a while is charging at 1.5C. A 100kWh pack (as in the MME ER) charging at 150kW is at 1.5C.

Some companies make the risk calculation that going up to say 2 or 2.5C is a warranty risk they will take. If customers do this very often, there will be faster degradation... I suspect that they are betting that since most people don't fast charge that often they will not see a big warranty hit. And, they will sell more cars claiming a faster charge rate to offset this.

There is no free lunch. You can't charge todays chemistry significantly above 1C without consequence. The more you do it, and the farther above 1C you go, the worse the consequences. Ford currently sets their risk tolerance at 1.5C.

 

[Rabidsquirrel22]

Personally, I don't really care if they increase the speed, but it would be nice if it sustained near peak speeds longer. Currently, it operates on some kind of time-based system to step down the charging rate (similar to the GT's 5 second rule) and does not use sensor data to dynamically ramp the speed down as the battery heats up. So you'll never see peak speeds for more than a couple of minutes even in perfect conditions.

Theoretically they could bring our charge times down with en-route battery preconditioning, which might be coming, and the above changes.

 

[Perrin]

I have a standard range 2021 mach e but only recently had to use a public fast charger. (EA up to 150 charger.) I started at 39% and noted that I was only charging at 50. The charger stated that the car was requesting to charge at 50! As I had nothing else to do I called Ford and asked why the car was not charging faster. They told me that the car could charge up to 115 but it limited itself to what ever it felt was safest for the battery. No variation on "why is it feeling unsafe" received a different answer. It seemed he was reading from a script and wasn't going to change from it. Does anyone know what was going on?

 

[superdave80]

There are lots of variable that will affect charging speed.

1st, the 115 max is only up to about 15%-ish charge. After that, you will max out at around 80 (until you hit 80% charge).

2nd, the temperature of your battery will restrict your charging speed. It's possible your vehicle was only requesting 50 kw if it was cold.

3rd, some chargers are faulty and will put out a lower charging speed. The other day I charged at an EA charger, and it was stuck at 35kw for 40 minutes. The next day I went to an EA charger in a different town and it was charging at my max (around 70-80 kw).

 

[fpasta]

@superdave80 I tried the navi to an EA charger from about 54 degrees in garage to precondition. I didnt go down the street. About three exits. I can hear the gurgling at the stop light. I got an 80kw draw. 54% to 85% I didn't really time it though. Was guick. 15-20 min. I think.

 

[Ride_the_lightning]

50kw is about normal during the winter around here, even on 45-50 degree F days. I’m glad preconditioning works now. Tried it out last week. Just use the built in navigation to navigate to a fast charger.

 

[Perrin]

50kw is about normal during the winter around here, even on 45-50 degree F days. I’m glad preconditioning works now. Tried it out last week. Just use the built in navigation to navigate to a fast charger.

I will try preconditioning next time. Thanks! I live in Los Angeles so it’s never truly cold but it might have been in the 50’s.

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