Slow Charging at Tesla Supercharger

[dewidaniels]

After watching a YouTube video by Dave Takes It On pointing out how much cheaper Tesla Superchargers are compared to other EV charging networks, I decided to give Tesla a try.

I charged at a Tesla Supercharger at Newport, UK. These are 250 kW chargers. It was cheap, at only 53p per kWh, but also slow, charging at only 35 kW. I usually get 90-100 kW at Instavolt, Fastned, Ionity, etc., though they cost 69p to 85p per kWh. There were no cars charging either side of me.

Is this normal for Tesla Superchargers?

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[Billyk24]

You answered your question. Not normal for 250kW charger to do 35. Other issues causing this.

 

[ChasingCoral]

After watching a YouTube video by Dave Takes It On pointing out how much cheaper Tesla Superchargers are compared to other EV charging networks, I decided to give Tesla a try.

I charged at a Tesla Supercharger at Newport, UK. These are 250 kW chargers. It was cheap, at only 53p per kWh, but also slow, charging at only 35 kW. I usually get 90-100 kW at Instavolt, Fastned, Ionity, etc., though they cost 69p to 85p per kWh. There were no cars charging either side of me.

Is this normal for Tesla Superchargers?

Nope. Not normal.

I've charged my Lightning at lots of Tesla superchargers and never peaked at less than 150kW.

 

[AZBill]

Not normal, but I had it happen to me, and had to move to a different charger. Tesla chargers are by no means perfect, I have had this failure one out of four charging sessions at Tesla.

 

[RickMachE]

Not normal, but I had it happen to me, and had to move to a different charger. Tesla chargers are by no means perfect, I have had this failure one out of four charging sessions at Tesla.

Right. Everyone talks about how wonderful they are, but if you check some locations you find that they, like everyone else, have down chargers. In Canada, one location had 2 of 8 down, and still down a week later.

 

[dewidaniels]

Not normal, but I had it happen to me, and had to move to a different charger. Tesla chargers are by no means perfect, I have had this failure one out of four charging sessions at Tesla.

That's good to know. If I get the same problem again, I'll try moving to a different charger.

 

[david_quick]

After watching a YouTube video by Dave Takes It On pointing out how much cheaper Tesla Superchargers are compared to other EV charging networks, I decided to give Tesla a try.

I charged at a Tesla Supercharger at Newport, UK. These are 250 kW chargers. It was cheap, at only 53p per kWh, but also slow, charging at only 35 kW. I usually get 90-100 kW at Instavolt, Fastned, Ionity, etc., though they cost 69p to 85p per kWh. There were no cars charging either side of me.

Is this normal for Tesla Superchargers?

The 3 times I have used SC I got about 65kW and peaked at 75. However I was just mucking around and started with 50% SoC going to 80%. What was your SoC when you started?

 

[dewidaniels]

The 3 times I have used SC I got about 65kW and peaked at 75. However I was just mucking around and started with 50% SoC going to 80%. What was your SoC when you started?

I started at 49% SOC and went to 80% SOC in 46 minutes. It went straight to 35 kW and peaked at only 37 kW.

Two days before, I charged at a Fastned 300kW charger. I started at 30% SOC and went to 80% SOC in 27 minutes. I got 99 kW.

 

[jeffMachE]

I've charged about a dozen times at a few different superchargers, using both the Ford adapter and one from A2Z. I'd say 2/3 of the time I got "fast" charging - peaking at over 150 kW. But 1/3 of the time it seemed to peak at 35-ish kW. I did switch stalls a couple of times an got faster, as well as trying both the Ford and A2Z adapter on the same (slow) pedestal - with the same result. Not being an expert on the specifics of how Tesla pedestals share power, I stayed at a slower pedestal with someone next to me but when they left, I did NOT see any jump in charging speed. Note that when I saw the 35-ish kW rate, I would have expected 70-ish kW (I was at 70%).

However, even with the slower charging on occasion, the plug and charge capability was superb. Every single time the charge session started within 10-15 seconds with no fiddling around, no re-tries, no plugging and unplugging, no wondering whether it was really charging or not, no phone calls to tech support - in short, plug and charge is game changing (really).

 

[redgrandam]

Often it is a result of corrosion on the connectors in the supercharger handle. Take a look at them when it’s slow. Often they need to be replaced.

 

[SmokesLetsGo]

I've charged about a dozen times at a few different superchargers, using both the Ford adapter and one from A2Z. I'd say 2/3 of the time I got "fast" charging - peaking at over 150 kW. But 1/3 of the time it seemed to peak at 35-ish kW. I did switch stalls a couple of times an got faster, as well as trying both the Ford and A2Z adapter on the same (slow) pedestal - with the same result. Not being an expert on the specifics of how Tesla pedestals share power, I stayed at a slower pedestal with someone next to me but when they left, I did NOT see any jump in charging speed. Note that when I saw the 35-ish kW rate, I would have expected 70-ish kW (I was at 70%).

However, even with the slower charging on occasion, the plug and charge capability was superb. Every single time the charge session started within 10-15 seconds with no fiddling around, no re-tries, no plugging and unplugging, no wondering whether it was really charging or not, no phone calls to tech support - in short, plug and charge is game changing (really).

AFAIK, the V3 superchargers that Ford has access to give full power regardless if you have others parked at adjacent pedestals.

 

[dewidaniels]

I've now been back to the same Tesla supercharger location several times. On every occasion, I've got charge rates of 90-100 kW. Corrosion on the connector of that particular charger sounds a plausible explanation.

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