Getting it from all sides!

Terapin · Sep 16, 2014

So I was discussing the Tesla's arrival in our house in December, and my 7 year old says, "But how long does it take to charge?"

I got a kick out of that as it seems to be the universal question, even amongst the school-age set!

(He then asked if it was the same as charging electronics (i.e., an iPad). I said it was about the same as charging his iPad 2 when fully 'dead'.)

bonaire · Sep 16, 2014

Five seconds to charge. Plug it in and walk in the house. Later when you go to drive, it's full.
Teach him about utility cycles, demand/response utility variance and ice cream.

Electric700 · Sep 16, 2014

And the importance of making friends, eating right, learning good finance habits and setting life goals :smile:

bonaire said:
Five seconds to charge. Plug it in and walk in the house. Later when you go to drive, it's full.
Teach him about utility cycles, demand/response utility variance and ice cream.

Terapin · Sep 16, 2014

bonaire said:
Five seconds to charge. Plug it in and walk in the house. Later when you go to drive, it's full.
Teach him about utility cycles, demand/response utility variance and ice cream.

This kid would be all over that. He has a fine brain I hope to continue to nurture. AND we love ice cream at our house!

- - - Updated - - -

Electric700 said:
And the importance of making friends, eating right, learning good finance habits and setting life goals :smile:

And that it's okay to say no when you mean it, that being polite just makes getting through life easier, and the simple pleasures of quiet time with those you love

BlueTan85 · Sep 16, 2014

It remains the question. How long does it take to charge. It takes a while. It takes much longer than a gas car. When on a long trip, it can take 30, 60 minutes. One never knows for sure. Maybe the superchargers are all busy. Maybe they're not.

The car requires a different kind of thinking. A different kind of behavior. A far greater level of patience. A whole hell of a lot of money. A belief in the long-term Tesla vision: that by buying this super expensive car now, you're contributing to a movement to bring affordable zero-emissions clean-energy transport one step closer to reality.

If you're willing to put up with all that, there's nothing else that even comes close.

But yeah, how long does it take to charge.

ItsNotAboutTheMoney · Sep 16, 2014

The re-charge question: The re-charge question - YouTube

9 seconds for an iMiEV.

liuping · Sep 16, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
It takes much longer than a gas car.

It really depends on how you measure charge/fill time. For me the important metric is the amount of time *I* have to be spend involved.

It takes around 4 seconds to plug in when I get home and 4 seconds to unplug the next morning. So that's approximately 1 minute a week I have to spend charging.

In my ICE car, I had to fill the tank once a week. It took over 15 minutes, between getting to the the station, waiting in line, pumping the gas and getting back to where I was going in the first place.

So from my perspective, an ICE car takes more than 15 times longer the fill up each week (plus it cost more ans smells bad).

When people ask how long it takes (and virtually everyone does), I say "It charges in a few hours at night when I'm asleep, and I always start the day with a full 'tank'"

BlueTan85 · Sep 16, 2014

Yes, and when you pull into a very busy Harris Ranch supercharger, and find yourself standing in a stiff 99F breeze coming from the north, which is bad because just north of Harris Ranch is a vast cattle depot and when the wind is coming from the north in 99F heat the last thing you want to breathe, let alone coat your hair, skin, clothing, and car interior, is the methane stench of several hundred thousand cattle, all while your are waiting for your car to charge at a rate if around 55 miles per hour because the chargers are all in use at the moment. I love my Tesla, but I don't agree with the breezy dismissal of the fact that the car can take a while to charge.

Tesla is basically at the IBM XT 10MB hard disk stage. We're past floppies, hooray, but geez, we still have a long long long way to go.

Terapin · Sep 16, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
Yes, and when you pull into a very busy Harris Ranch supercharger, and find yourself standing in a stiff 99F breeze coming from the north, which is bad because just north of Harris Ranch is a vast cattle depot and when the wind is coming from the north in 99F heat the last thing you want to breathe, let alone coat your hair, skin, clothing, and car interior, is the methane stench of several hundred thousand cattle, all while your are waiting for your car to charge at a rate if around 55 miles per hour because the chargers are all in use at the moment. I love my Tesla, but I don't agree with the breezy dismissal of the fact that the car can take a while to charge.

Tesla is basically at the IBM XT 10MB hard disk stage. We're past floppies, hooray, but geez, we still have a long long long way to go.

Wow - that certainly was evocative! I drove past many huge cattle holding pens in Texas on a cross-US trip a couple years ago and was truly amazed how huge those are, and how many cattle there are!

I'm Canadian - so there are many a February night that I would trade you those 99F winds for my -19F winds, manure stench and all. Sounds super gross though!

liuping · Sep 16, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
Yes, and when you pull into a very busy Harris Ranch supercharger, and find yourself standing in a stiff 99F breeze coming from the north, which is bad because just north of Harris Ranch is a vast cattle depot and when the wind is coming from the north in 99F heat the last thing you want to breathe, let alone coat your hair, skin, clothing, and car interior, is the methane stench of several hundred thousand cattle, all while your are waiting for your car to charge at a rate if around 55 miles per hour because the chargers are all in use at the moment. I love my Tesla, but I don't agree with the breezy dismissal of the fact that the car can take a while to charge.

Tesla is basically at the IBM XT 10MB hard disk stage. We're past floppies, hooray, but geez, we still have a long long long way to go.

I've enjoyed a nice relaxing lunch or breakfast at the Harris Ranch Inn every time I've used the Supercharger and the charge was done when I finish eating.

The smell was not bad at all, but I have not stopped there in the summer.

youpidou · Sep 16, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
... the methane stench of several hundred thousand cattle, all while your are waiting for your car to charge ...

Wouldn't that experience motivate you to do another good thing for the planet and stop eating meat? :wink:

mhpr262 · Sep 17, 2014

Eating them is the only way to reduce their number, otherwise they would keep multiplying! Basic biology!

karmamule · Sep 17, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
Yes, and when you pull into a very busy Harris Ranch supercharger, and find yourself standing in a stiff 99F breeze coming from the north, which is bad because just north of Harris Ranch is a vast cattle depot and when the wind is coming from the north in 99F heat the last thing you want to breathe, let alone coat your hair, skin, clothing, and car interior, is the methane stench of several hundred thousand cattle, all while your are waiting for your car to charge at a rate if around 55 miles per hour because the chargers are all in use at the moment. I love my Tesla, but I don't agree with the breezy dismissal of the fact that the car can take a while to charge.

Tesla is basically at the IBM XT 10MB hard disk stage. We're past floppies, hooray, but geez, we still have a long long long way to go.

So ONE supercharger location stinks, whereas ALL gas station locations stink!

The point being made is that other than the rare case (for MOST of us) of long trips, the personal time it takes to keep a Tesla charged up is far less than the personal time it takes to keep a gas car filled up, and we spend the vast majority of our time doing our normal commutes and local driving.

You're right, on the occasional long trips it takes more foresight and will definitely make the trip longer. But for the typical driver that is a very isolated experience compared to their normal driving, and for that our BEVs are actually much MORE convenient and effort/worry free.

purplewalt · Sep 17, 2014

liuping said:
It really depends on how you measure charge/fill time. For me the important metric is the amount of time *I* have to be spend involved.

It takes around 4 seconds to plug in when I get home and 4 seconds to unplug the next morning. So that's approximately 1 minute a week I have to spend charging.

In my ICE car, I had to fill the tank once a week. It took over 15 minutes, between getting to the the station, waiting in line, pumping the gas and getting back to where I was going in the first place.

So from my perspective, an ICE car takes more than 15 times longer the fill up each week (plus it cost more ans smells bad).

When people ask how long it takes (and virtually everyone does), I say "It charges in a few hours at night when I'm asleep, and I always start the day with a full 'tank'"

For most of us that have routine jobs, and use the car during our daily commutes: yes the 4 + 4 seconds and the convenience of the car being as full as I want it to be in the morning is worth it. That's what we do about 95% of the time.

Eventually during a routine day, we all have a chance go to bed to sleep and also wake up refreshed.
Same thing with my car: it goes to sleep, and wakes up with a 90% full battery.

Add to that the lack of mess and smell at a gas station, reduced cost of electricity vs. gas and (oh!) and the use of the supercharger network is without additional cost.
Sometimes we need to be reminded to look at the small things that are the big difference makers.
Learning to enjoy your ice cream is certainly one of them (without cows, there would be no ice cream).

Thud · Sep 18, 2014

Terapin said:
(He then asked if it was the same as charging electronics (i.e., an iPad). I said it was about the same as charging his iPad 2 when fully 'dead'.)

Next question is, how long would it take to fully charge a Tesla model S from a USB port?

mrElbe · Oct 30, 2014

Thud said:
Next question is, how long would it take to fully charge a Tesla model S from a USB port?

Assuming no losses (improbable), a rough calculation would come to over 400 hours.

evme · Oct 31, 2014

Thud said:
Next question is, how long would it take to fully charge a Tesla model S from a USB port?

mrElbe said:
Assuming no losses (improbable), a rough calculation would come to over 400 hours.

You are being very generous. Even under the latest USB 3.1 standard, it is 100 watts. Which would mean 850 hours on the 85kwh.

If you use the more standard USB it is about 1-2A at 5v so about 5-10 watts or 8,500 hours - 17,000 hours.

Anyone want to do a live test?

mejojo · Nov 3, 2014

BlueTan85 said:
Tesla is basically at the IBM XT 10MB hard disk stage. We're past floppies, hooray, but geez, we still have a long long long way to go.

What do you envision is the car charging version of the $69 TeraByte portable drive?

jgs · Nov 6, 2014

evme said:
If you use the more standard USB it is about 1-2A at 5v so about 5-10 watts or 8,500 hours - 17,000 hours.

And what's the self-discharge rate on the Tesla pack? Greater than 5-10 watts, I'd imagine. (A quick google suggests 9W, though take it with the usual grain of salt.) So that'd put the time to a full charge to... forever.

Getting it from all sides!

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