I'm pretty sure you can dial back the charging rate in the car...so if you don't want to charge at the full 90 kW, dial it back to be nicer to the battery.
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Charging a Model S In the Wild
- Thread starter Todd Burch
- Start date
I'm pretty sure you can dial back the charging rate in the car...so if you don't want to charge at the full 90 kW, dial it back to be nicer to the battery.
I would think Tesla would be unlikely to allow user choice to down-rate the charge rate at a 90kW super charger for a few reasons:
1. They know better how fast your battery can take a charge based on how it's been used recently and over it's life. Why offer you the chance to second guess them?
2. That supercharge station represents a big capital investment. Why would you want it to reduce the number of cars it can potentially charge per day because you let a user turn a 30 minute charge into a 2 hour one?
3. It's not good for the Tesla brand for cars at supercharge stations to be on charge longer than they have to be ("Oh they say it's 30 minutes but I saw one charging for over 2 hours the other day")
4. Other Tesla customers will be upset if they turn up to fast charge, there is a car already there, and it ain't gone in around 30 minutes or less.
1. They know better how fast your battery can take a charge based on how it's been used recently and over it's life. Why offer you the chance to second guess them?
2. That supercharge station represents a big capital investment. Why would you want it to reduce the number of cars it can potentially charge per day because you let a user turn a 30 minute charge into a 2 hour one?
3. It's not good for the Tesla brand for cars at supercharge stations to be on charge longer than they have to be ("Oh they say it's 30 minutes but I saw one charging for over 2 hours the other day")
4. Other Tesla customers will be upset if they turn up to fast charge, there is a car already there, and it ain't gone in around 30 minutes or less.
Can't the car send a signal over the connection to tell the supercharger to ease up the charging rate?
Regarding 1: Everybody knows that charging at <90 kW is better for the battery than charging at 90 kW. It's not about second guessing Tesla...it's just plain fact. If you'd rather treat your battery a little better, there's nobody waiting, and you have the time, charging at a lower C rate is going to be preferred.
Regarding 2: Agreed....but in many locations I doubt there will be lines of people waiting at a supercharger for a while. Even with 20,000 Model S's spread around the world, what percent of them are in proximity of a supercharger, and what percentage of those are on a road trip? Superchargers (except those closer to urban areas with higher Model S concentrations) are going to see relatively sparse use for awhile.
Regarding 3: I don't see this as a big deal. How many people will sit around watching a supercharger for hours? Besides, FUD is FUD. People who want to spread misinformation about EVs are going to do it whether they see a car sitting at a supercharger for 2 hours or not.
Regarding 4: Agreed...but there are several ways to handle this. This could boil down to courtesy...or, since that is unlikely (hehe), a customer who's waiting for a supercharger could indicate so on their touchscreen (or phone in to Tesla). Since superchargers are connected to the internet, they could kick a user who's been on a supercharger for >75 minutes (or whatever). Just like a server will boot someone who's been idle for x minutes.
strider
Active Member
Way too complicated. There will be communication between the car and supercharger so it will charge as fast as it can without going over some current and temperature limits Tesla will set. If you're worried about your battery plug into an AC station (there will likely be L2 stations near the superchargers).
This is likely why Tesla is going their own way w/ DC charging - they weren't happy w/ the signaling capability of Chademo and the others and didn't want to put their battery in the hands of a charger that they (via the car) couldn't control.
This is likely why Tesla is going their own way w/ DC charging - they weren't happy w/ the signaling capability of Chademo and the others and didn't want to put their battery in the hands of a charger that they (via the car) couldn't control.
Remember that anyone with a Tesla Key Fob can unplug another Tesla. The plug lock is not car specific! Probably a wise thought!
Yes, that's exactly what someone on the Tesla battery team told me about their reluctance to support CHAdeMO. Tesla is concerned about exactly what Strider mentioned above. Now Elon's comments at the annual shareholder meeting seem to indicate that Tesla will support CHAdeMO with his statement that the Model S will be able to charge anywhere. We will soon find out if that statement means CHAdeMO support will happen...
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
Hmm.... that can cut both ways. I don't think I'd want my UMC to be unplugged from my car by anyone, even a fellow Tesla owner. Lloyd, what's your source for this?!
Yeah this seems like a big problem to me. Some random person who happens to own the same type of car shouldn't be able to affect my car. What's the point of a fob if they're all the same; might as well not even use fobs. Weird; no offense to Lloyd, but this doesn't sound right to me.
(On the other paw, my car doesn't have a remote/fob, so what do I know.)
It was early on, when the betas were out that I was told that about the fob and charge door. I have not heard it again since. It may have changed!
Ah...I wonder if the game of Telephone's to blame. Maybe it's just that the betas were like that, which would make sense (they're all owned/used by Tesla; why not keep it simple?). Anyway, no doubt someone will test this long before my number comes up in 2013. ;-)
gg_got_a_tesla
Model S: VIN 65513, Model 3: VIN 1913
NigelM
Recovering Member
Roadster owners figured out a variety of ways to secure their cables against theft. I'm pretty sure we'll come up with ways to secure the Model S UMC.
Is anybody really worried about this?
I am more worried about Sharktopus than a fellow Tesla owner taking my UMC.
Sure, early on, with enthusiasts only having Model S', this may not be an issue. However, if Tesla approaches their goal of 20K per year, it might become a bigger risk.
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