My car won't charge faster than 60kW

[Saghost]

We know that Tesla has been putting in battery packs to cut demand charges at most Superchargers. Maybe the reduced rates are something to do with the overall load at the site and/or the SoC of the leveling pack?

I'd be very surprised if Tesla is putting in any sort of throttling on a user by user basis or even as a long term continuous thing for a site - as others have pointed out, it would be a horrible PR issue and is contrary to the entire philosophy of Supercharging.
Walter

 

[roblab]

We know that Tesla has been putting in battery packs to cut demand charges at most Superchargers. Maybe the reduced rates are something to do with the overall load at the site and/or the SoC of the leveling pack?

I'd be very surprised if Tesla is putting in any sort of throttling on a user by user basis or even as a long term continuous thing for a site - as others have pointed out, it would be a horrible PR issue and is contrary to the entire philosophy of Supercharging.
Walter

You folks are also aware that the battery charge rate varies by temp of the battery. If you drive in and sit for a while to let the battery cool, you may start charging at 120, which quickly drops to below 90. If you come in off the freeway after cruising along at 80, your charge rate may be quite low. Tesla is mainly concerned with making the battery last, not with every minute you might spend trying to hurry a charger along.

They also want you to charge at home when you're not doing anything, which is also easier on the battery, and there's no waiting involved.

I hesitate to add, that it has been found that slowing down a few miles per hour can let you skip a supercharging stop, which can save you a lot more time than you lost slowing down. I know, I know. Just sayin'.

 

[Benjamin Brooks]

Yes, this this is widely understood. The new behavior is a hard 60kW limit independent of SoC or temperature, but it's not clear yet the reasons.

Thread should be merged with My car won't charge faster than 60kW

You folks are also aware that the battery charge rate varies by temp of the battery. If you drive in and sit for a while to let the battery cool, you may start charging at 120, which quickly drops to below 90. If you come in off the freeway after cruising along at 80, your charge rate may be quite low. Tesla is mainly concerned with making the battery last, not with every minute you might spend trying to hurry a charger along.

They also want you to charge at home when you're not doing anything, which is also easier on the battery, and there's no waiting involved.

 

[Zarwin]

You folks are also aware that the battery charge rate varies by temp of the battery. If you drive in and sit for a while to let the battery cool, you may start charging at 120, which quickly drops to below 90. If you come in off the freeway after cruising along at 80, your charge rate may be quite low. Tesla is mainly concerned with making the battery last, not with every minute you might spend trying to hurry a charger along.

They also want you to charge at home when you're not doing anything, which is also easier on the battery, and there's no waiting involved.

The one time I supercharged in exceedingly hot weather coming off the interstate with a low SOC, the supercharger (which was a 120 kW with no other cars there) limited me to exactly 60kw. Next time I visited the same supercharger it was a cooler day and I charged initially over 100kw.

 

[gaswalla]

No way this is true. Folks who have been with Tesla for a while know that the folks that make statements like this at service centers really are not in the know. I would totally disregard these flippant comments.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

This "policy" would make no sense. A Model S charging at 60 kW will take up a stall twice as long, meaning even longer waiting and lines at the supercharger.

 

[robby]

Mods:
Looks like Superchargers to start limiting charge rate
needs to be merged with this thread.

So it appears there's more anecdotal evidence that if someone routinely uses the same SC site (frequency TBD?) that the car's charging is limited to 60kW!

I'm not convinced. That seems too short-sighted to be a real Tesla policy. Take our use case, for example: most of our driving is biweekly trips up to NH via Hooksett. If they make supercharging impractical for us at that station, the entire car will be worthless. Surely there are others who have similar habits for work, visiting family, etc. I think we should wait and see what Tesla has to say about this before assuming the worst.

 

[Krugerrand]

Tesla is slowly turning into a turd.

Let's jump the gun, eh?

 

[Evbwcaer]

This "policy" would make no sense. A Model S charging at 60 kW will take up a stall twice as long, meaning even longer waiting and lines at the supercharger.

I'll start by saying I think throttling is not goin to happen, but 60kw may ease traffic on Superchargers.

As somebody who lives in Minnesota, I can't help but look at the NYC/Boston, SW Ca., and Chicago areas and think these Superchargers are not being used by road trippers, but by locals to a very large extent, locals that could be charging at home in many cases. If locals were throttled to 60kw it probably would ease pressure on Superchargers because the locals would not use them. Everything I have said is based off an educated guess, tell me if I am wrong.

 

[PunchIT]

I'll start by saying I think throttling is not goin to happen, but 60kw may ease traffic on Superchargers.

As somebody who lives in Minnesota, I can't help but look at the NYC/Boston, SW Ca., and Chicago areas and think these Superchargers are not being used by road trippers, but by locals to a very large extent, locals that could be charging at home in many cases. If locals were throttled to 60kw it probably would ease pressure on Superchargers because the locals would not use them. Everything I have said is based off an educated guess, tell me if I am wrong.

I live no where close to the 2 superchargers, where I have experienced throttling! I do use these 2 superchargers regularly on my weekend trips as they are on my route.

 

[FlasherZ]

Yeah, let's not jump to conclusions here until we have more data or some kind of official statement.

 

[Nigel16494]

Actually I thought it happened because Fremont went up to 12 stalls now so maybe limit the power. It is true that 60Kw is the limit for the last couple of weeks for me. It doesn't appear to take a whole lot longer but I guess it should. This is nothing to do with load, I was the only Tesla there at Fremont and 11 open stalls still I was at 60Kw.

I guess Tesla should tell us why since we already worked out it's happening. Maybe they need to give us the technical explanation. I am local to Fremont but having me occupy a stall for longer wouldn't make sense with them also increasing the number of stalls. Also at Fremont they have built 20 HPWC stalls just 100 yds around the corner from the superchargers. They seem to be functional and showed green as I walked around.

EDIT: having read the other thread on the same subject it's seems to me it's the last software update maybe, the Europeans think it's some power provider but I think it could just be a bug (feature). I updated a couple of weeks ago as it happens so that would fit. I am not near the car to get the software level but maybe others can confirm that.

 

[hiroshiy]

In Japan some owners experienced similar limits. My question is why Tesla is doing this.
How is the demand charges structured in the U.S.? In Japan if you go over the last highest demand amperage for like one minute, you'll get a higher monthly basic charge for one YEAR.

 

[markb1]

I'm not convinced. That seems too short-sighted to be a real Tesla policy. Take our use case, for example: most of our driving is biweekly trips up to NH via Hooksett. If they make supercharging impractical for us at that station, the entire car will be worthless. Surely there are others who have similar habits for work, visiting family, etc. I think we should wait and see what Tesla has to say about this before assuming the worst.

It may be they are temporally limiting to mitigate some problem, while they engineer a permanent solution. Perhaps they've discovered a safety issue or a battery damage issue, in which case they should do whatever they can to prevent the issue.

 

[fadkar]

I will hold in my infuriation until I see an official word from Tesla. If they do change the rates, I'd be pretty pissed off.

 

[nleggatt]

There's no way this is true. And if so they just destroyed their market. I make a frequent commute where I use two supercharges to get their. If they throttle the sc and it adds an hour to my trip (or more because of both) I would be furious.

 

[Obsoletion]

Here is a pic to show what i am getting. I had not been driving fast or hard and it was only 78 out

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And, seriously Tesla, IF this is true, why would they not have an announcement BEFORE implementing it? Why allow your customer and your service centers waste their time trying to figure out what is going on?

 

[Benjamin Brooks]

There's no way this is true. And if so they just destroyed their market. I make a frequent commute where I use two supercharges to get their. If they throttle the sc and it adds an hour to my trip (or more because of both) I would be furious.

No way it's true? Just in disbelief?
There are at least a half dozen owners reporting here on TMC recently hitting a 60kW hard limit at specific SuperChargers.
So I believe it's true. We just don't understand why quite yet.

 

[TaoJones]

Yet another completely avoidable detail to add to the list of things to resolve, or not, before the end of the 90-day "happiness guarantee".

No way should this have come from an SvC before some sort of mothership announcement.

 

[Archer]

Here is a pic to show what i am getting. I had not been driving fast or hard and it was only 78 outView attachment 74771

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And, seriously Tesla, IF this is true, why would they not have an announcement BEFORE implementing it? Why allow your customer and your service centers waste their time trying to figure out what is going on?

Just charged tonight again in Oxnard and got 100KW. Again, what SC are you experiencing this at?