To 72 A or not to 72 A?

investmentgamer · Jan 21, 2016

I placed my Model X order without the secret 72 A charger option and I'm considering adding it to my order but I can't make up my mind (deadline: Saturday). Please help convince me one way or the other!

Pros:
- 50% faster charging speed where available.
- It's only about 1% more cost to the order, so it seems almost silly not to get it.

Cons:
- Basically only useful with destination charging, and not even at every destination charging location.
- Possible I might never make use of the feature at all.

pvogel · Jan 21, 2016

investmentgamer said:
I placed my Model X order without the secret 72 A charger option and I'm considering adding it to my order but I can't make up my mind (deadline: Saturday). Please help convince me one way or the other!

Pros:
- 50% faster charging speed where available.
- It's only about 1% more cost to the order, so it seems almost silly not to get it.

Cons:
- Basically only useful with destination charging, and not even at every destination charging location.
- Possible I might never make use of the feature at all.

Destination charging or home/work charging. What convinced me was someone mentioning the scenario of getting home from a road trip, and then wanting to go out to eat, or arriving at a hotel after a long road trip and then wanting to go out in the evenings. In both cases, having 72A charging going for the hour or so it would take to get settled into home/hotel and shower before going back out would get you 50+ miles of range vs. about 30 miles of range with the 48A charger. I'd prefer the extra security of the additional 20 miles.

Peter+

Merrill · Jan 21, 2016

investmentgamer said:
I placed my Model X order without the secret 72 A charger option and I'm considering adding it to my order but I can't make up my mind (deadline: Saturday). Please help convince me one way or the other!

Pros:
- 50% faster charging speed where available.
- It's only about 1% more cost to the order, so it seems almost silly not to get it.

Cons:
- Basically only useful with destination charging, and not even at every destination charging location.
- Possible I might never make use of the feature at all.

This is such an individual use decision, for me I have a almost 3 year old Model S and it is a 60. Have never had a situation where I could not make it to where I need to go and that was even back when the supercharging infrastructure was just starting to build out.
I ordered a 70 Model X and did not get the 72 amp charger. It really depends on how you will be using the vehicle.

CmdrThor · Jan 21, 2016

Do you plan on installing a WC on a 100A breaker? If so, definitely order the 72A charger. Do you travel a lot in areas that have Tesla destination charging with >=72A charging? If so, definitely order the 72A charger. Do you have the tendency to light fire to ten $100 bills? If so, definitely order the 72A charger. If you cannot answer yes to one of these three questions, I would not order the 72A charger.

I ordered the 72A charger.

gg_got_a_tesla · Jan 21, 2016

I started with a single charger in my S60 and got the second charger in my second S. Love juicing up at 80A at the HPWCs at work. It depends on your situation and travel routes off the Supercharger network but, it'd be great to have it than not.

pvogel · Jan 21, 2016

CmdrThor said:
Do you have the tendency to light fire to ten $100 bills? If so, definitely order the 72A charger.

I ordered the 72A charger.

I love the smell of burning green Crane paper in the morning! I typically light up a few and smoke 'em to wake me up

Peter+

MikeL · Jan 21, 2016

It's near-term future-proofing. There will be more high Amp AC chargers available tomorrow than there were today. Maybe one of them in your garage (?)

LeonardD · Jan 21, 2016

I already have the HPWC, so for me there was no real choice. I had to get it.

90D / Obsidian Black / 20" Silver / 6 Seat Black Leather, Black Headliner 72A etc.

Colby Boles · Jan 21, 2016

I opted for the 72A charger but I'm wondering if anyone might know the answer to technical question: Are these inboard chargers primarily power limited or AC current limited? I ask because my home charging location is 208V 3ph so I will be using 208V instead of 240V. If it is truly a 240V * 72A = 17280W charger then I might be able to still get 17280W of charging on 208V, but with an 83A draw. Has anyone ever checked to see if the max current draw is higher on lower voltage installs which would indicate that it is operating more in a power limited versus current limited mode?

JanoSicek · Jan 22, 2016

I am not getting the 72A charger (or its European equivalent) because Elon said we shouldn't.

But seriously, for long distance travel I will only consider Superchargers and possibly ChaDeMo chargers as last resort.
Anything slower than that is useless for continuous travel.

Default charger will fill you up in 6-8 hours which is fine for any overnight, and even for majority of day trips.

proven · Jan 22, 2016

We got it on our X but did not on our S. Since the X will be the car we travel with we wanted to get it for destination charging as those locations are popping up quick. It's possible we'll never use it though.

Saghost · Jan 22, 2016

One factor you may not have considered is reliability.

There are a lot of factors which go into reliability that we don't know in this case, and solid state electronics are generally very reliable if they don't overheat or get shaken too much.

However, one of the most common strategies for improving reliability is derating - using something built for a lot of power at a lower power level.

If the 48 and 72 amp chargers are equally reliable at maximum power, then the 72 amp model will last a lot longer at the 40 amp limit of the UMC and common outlets.

(If you don't expect to use even 40 amps regularly, then both are so far below their design limits that it likely won't matter.)
Walter

GSP · Jan 22, 2016

Colby Boles said:
I opted for the 72A charger but I'm wondering if anyone might know the answer to technical question: Are these inboard chargers primarily power limited or AC current limited? I ask because my home charging location is 208V 3ph so I will be using 208V instead of 240V. If it is truly a 240V * 72A = 17280W charger then I might be able to still get 17280W of charging on 208V, but with an 83A draw. Has anyone ever checked to see if the max current draw is higher on lower voltage installs which would indicate that it is operating more in a power limited versus current limited mode?

Colby,

The chargers are current limited. Locations with 208 V will charge slower than those with 240 V due to lower power.

If you install an HPWC on a 100 A breaker, and get the 72 A charger, you can charge at 72 A * 208 V = 15 kW. That would be a lot better than a 14-50 outlet with only 40 A * 208 V = 8.3 kW.

GSP

DavidM · Jan 22, 2016

You'll never regret going with the 72A charger. I lived with 40A charging in my Model S for nearly 3 years before upgrading to the dual chargers (in advance of a long road trip). I used more than a dozen Destination chargers on the road trip (most of them were 80A). I love it. Most of the DCs are at hotels, but I'll have lunch at the hotel and pick up 50 miles of range! After my road trip I upgraded my home charging to a HPWC at 64A. I wish I would have done this 3 years ago. Home charging at 47 miles per hour. Best decision I've made recently.

tstafford · Jan 22, 2016

As others have said it totally depends on your situation. I have a single charger in my MS and have never wanted for more. The decision would come down to the amount of road trips I thought I would do rather than faster home charging. The car has plenty of time to charge over night at 40 A and I already had a NEMA 14-50 in the garage so paying for a dual chargers and a HPWC seemed needless in my situation. However if I thought I would do frequent road trips I'd want every charging advantage I could get - dual, CHAdeMO adapter, etc.

Rockster · Jan 22, 2016

In 40,000+ miles, I've truly needed 80 amp charging about 10 times, about half that being at home and the other half being while traveling. Being forced to charge at half that rate would have been maddeningly inconvenient.

A 1% increase in price for the option of charging twice as fast is an easy decision for me.

Ryan MF · Jan 22, 2016

Rockster said:
In 40,000+ miles, I've truly needed 80 amp charging about 10 times, about half that being at home and the other half being while traveling. Being forced to charge at half that rate would have been maddeningly inconvenient.

A 1% increase in price for the option of charging twice as fast is an easy decision for me.

Keep in mind for the X it is 48 vs 72, so only 50% faster. As opposed to dual chargers on the S, which is 100%. I didn't order it.

ModelXBoy · Jan 22, 2016

Definitely get it! It's worth the 1000. Just in case if you long distance travel and there is not a tesla super charger around. Plus it's only one time investment and this option can not be added on later on after delivery according to Tesla.

MichealW · Jan 22, 2016

ModelXBoy said:
Definitely get it! It's worth the 1000. Just in case if you long distance travel and there is not a tesla super charger around. Plus it's only one time investment and this option can not be added on later on after delivery according to Tesla.

Not true. In can be added after. I've said it in many other posts. Its 100% software in this car vs the S needs a hardware upgrade. Zero hardware involved in the X to upgrade. I am totally positive and have talked to Tesla engineers about it. I even double checked recently. I got this information from someone who is actively talking to heads of Tesla including Elon himself. If you want it after the fact it will cost you a bit more. Around $1200.

Why did they do this? Apparently it was a big hassle for them with the Model S. It made sense to put all the hardware in this time around to avoid part backorders and long wait times giving people loaner cars etc. Now they can just upgrade in a few hours and have you back on the road.

I am waiting on the 72 for this reason but if you bought it that's great too. Its all good.

dwebb66 · Jan 22, 2016

MichealW said:
Not true. In can be added after. I've said it in many other posts. Its 100% software in this car vs the S needs a hardware upgrade. Zero hardware involved in the X to upgrade. I am totally positive and have talked to Tesla engineers about it. I even double checked recently. I got this information from someone who is actively talking to heads of Tesla including Elon himself. If you want it after the fact it will cost you a bit more. Around $1200.

Why did they do this? Apparently it was a big hassle for them with the Model S. It made sense to put all the hardware in this time around to avoid part backorders and long wait times giving people loaner cars etc. Now they can just upgrade in a few hours and have you back on the road.

I am waiting on the 72 for this reason but if you bought it that's great too. Its all good.

The official position of Tesla, at this time, is that no upgrade will be offered.

Micheal, you keep claiming that you have 'these sources', but what proof have you offered regarding this or any other in sights into the Model X have you provided to establish a track record of having 'these sources'?

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