New Model S owner charging primer (US)

[ChadS]

I'm afraid I just made this as a chart on this site, so there's no way to download it. Maybe you could shrink your view and take a screenshot.

It's a little outdated anyway. Tesla no longer sells the Roadster adapter, the cost for the CHAdeMO adapter went way down, Twin Chargers no longer exist, etc.

But the bigger deal is that there's a lot more infrastructure out there these days, which makes things a little simpler. Especially as you live in SoCal and drive an S (presumably with free Supercharging), I would think you would only need to know:

1. Superchargers are always-on in your map in the car, and they are the fastest and free. Use them whenever traveling. Up to 120Kw, depending on your SOC.
2. If you are going to stay overnight, you can click the lightning bolt on the in-car map to see Tesla's "Destination Chargers" (HPWCs) that are also usually free if you stay where they are hosted. 8 to 19kW; plenty fast for overnight.
3. If the first two are not available, you can use Plugshare.com to find nearby J1772 stations. 3 to 19kW. You may have to pay for these.

Knowing all the options was necessary back when ranges were shorter and charging infrastructure was scarce, but it's been years since I've had to use anything other than the 3 options above. I guess I'd take my 14-50 adapter if I wanted to stay at a campground, but that's included with the charging kit that comes with the car.

 

[TEG]

1. Superchargers are always-on in your map in the car, and they are the fastest and free.

(Not free for everyone...)

 

[Tezzie]

I'm afraid I just made this as a chart on this site, so there's no way to download it. Maybe you could shrink your view and take a screenshot.

It's a little outdated anyway. Tesla no longer sells the Roadster adapter, the cost for the CHAdeMO adapter went way down, Twin Chargers no longer exist, etc.

But the bigger deal is that there's a lot more infrastructure out there these days, which makes things a little simpler. Especially as you live in SoCal and drive an S (presumably with free Supercharging), I would think you would only need to know:

1. Superchargers are always-on in your map in the car, and they are the fastest and free. Use them whenever traveling. Up to 120Kw, depending on your SOC.
2. If you are going to stay overnight, you can click the lightning bolt on the in-car map to see Tesla's "Destination Chargers" (HPWCs) that are also usually free if you stay where they are hosted. 8 to 19kW; plenty fast for overnight.
3. If the first two are not available, you can use Plugshare.com to find nearby J1772 stations. 3 to 19kW. You may have to pay for these.

Knowing all the options was necessary back when ranges were shorter and charging infrastructure was scarce, but it's been years since I've had to use anything other than the 3 options above. I guess I'd take my 14-50 adapter if I wanted to stay at a campground, but that's included with the charging kit that comes with the car.

Thanks for the info, @ChadS. I do have lifetime supercharging, and I have some questions about it. Am I correct in my understanding that charging at a Supercharger requires no additional adapters, and not even my mobile connector? I currently use my UMC for charging because it was less expensive than Tesla's wall connector. Most of my charging happens at home.

If I'm going more than 100 miles away from home, I pull the UMC+ NEMA 14-50 adapter out of the home charging outlet and take the whole UMC kit and adapters with me. Man, that NEMA adapter is brutally hard to pull out of the socket! I'm wondering if you recommend getting another UMC to keep with me in the car.

The other thing I don't understand is the limits of Supercharging, if any. You mentioned "Up to 120Kw, depending on your SOC" What does that mean? If my S reads "XXX remaining" for the battery, does that mean I can charge to its full capacity or only to a certain limit? Is there a limit to how much Supercharging I can get in a year/month?

You also mention "J1772 stations. 3 to 19kW." What does that mean in terms of capacity and speed of charging. My UMC kit came with a J1772 adapter and a regular household (grounded) adapter. The regular household 120 is morbidly s...l...o...w. What is the J1772 like in terms of speed compared to the NEMA 14-50 and the Supercharger?

 

[ChadS]

You are correct that you don't have to have anything with you to use a Supercharger. You just plug them in. You can Supercharge as often as you like. The speed will vary based on several factors. If the battery is warm but not hot, and you don't have much charge left, and you aren't sharing a Supercharger, and ambient temperatures are reasonable...that's best case, and you can get 120kW. But temperature extremes, charger sharing (i.e. you plug in to charger 3A, but there is already somebody charging at 3B) and a high amount of charge can all notably slow down your charging. Supercharging from 90% to 100% takes forever; don't do it unless you really need the charge.

For a long time I also just used the UMC at home, and pulled it out of the wall and took it with me on road trips. That's perfectly adequate and the cheap way to go. However, I was taking a fair number of trips, and usually wanted to top off the battery before leaving, and start charging as soon as I got home...which means the last thing I did before leaving was pack up the UMC, and the first thing on getting home was unpack it. That wasn't always convenient, so I ended up getting a wall connector for home, then I could leave the UMC packed up.

120V charging ("level 1") charges at about 1kW, or roughly 3 miles of range per hour. Charging at a J1772 (usually "level 2", which just means 240V) ranges from 3 to 19 times that fast, depending on the voltage and amps of the installation, and what charger you have in your car. I believe your car is limited to 17kW. Most public stations are around 7kW; at a NEMA 14-50 you could get up to 10kW...except I believe the UMC they include these days is limited to 7.7kW so it's pretty similar to most J1772 stations. 7kW is a LOT faster than level 1, but still painful if you need a lot of charge to get somewhere far away.

 

[TEG]

^^^ "Ninja'ed" He posted while I was typing.

No adapters needed to Supercharge.
Actual charge rate varies based on type of battery, battery State.Of.Charge, temp, and available power at that location.

In practice, the charge rate can vary from about 40kW up to max 120kW. It will taper off as you get more full.

 

[ka9q]

Most public stations are around 7kW

The single most common configuration for a public L2 charger is 30A @ 208V = 6,240 W. Usually it's a little less due to voltage drop (I've often seen them below 200V).

But many public stations are programmed to limit the current draw to less than 30A; 24A (5 kW) is not uncommon and I think I've seen one as low as 12A, a mere 2.5 kW. Since chargers in many areas still price by time rather than energy, and because we Tesla drivers can easily measure what we actually get, I think we have a duty to call out these low current stations on Plugshare to warn other EV drivers that they're getting a raw deal.

 

[Prairie]

Need info. last yr, anticipating my MX delivery, I bought two home Tesla chargers. They came with an 8 ft cord, enough at the time. There was an option for an 18 ft cord at that time. Today the Tesla shop sells the Tesla home charger with a 24 ft cord But no other option for cord length. whats the story? I think I need another charger for yet another detached garage. Electrician is due soon to wire the new garage. Need to place the Tesla charger Based on where car charge point is located. Makes a difference in cord length. also, can an 8 ft cord be changed to a longer length? Thanks.

 

[FlatSix911]

Need info. last yr, anticipating my MX delivery, I bought two home Tesla chargers. They came with an 8 ft cord, enough at the time. There was an option for an 18 ft cord at that time. Today the Tesla shop sells the Tesla home charger with a 24 ft cord But no other option for cord length. whats the story? I think I need another charger for yet another detached garage. Electrician is due soon to wire the new garage. Need to place the Tesla charger Based on where car charge point is located. Makes a difference in cord length. also, can an 8 ft cord be changed to a longer length? Thanks.

You could have an electrician change the cord length, however, it will void the Tesla warranty. I would just purchase the charger with the 24' cord.