No Supercharging for 40Kwh :(

[stopcrazypp]

This question may have already been answered on the forum, so I apologize in advance since I'm unable to find it.
Is it worth getting the twin chargers for the 40kWh if I don't plan to quick charge at home? Are there public chargers in the wild that we can take advantage of with the twin chargers?

Phil

They will be rare (most of existing 20kW chargers are for the Roadster), but the J1772 spec does go up to 20kW, so you never know. Part of the problem is for some reason, the publicly funded chargers are only allowed to go up to 10kW (there's some conspiracy theories about this in terms of favoring PHEVs over BEVs, although I guess the practical reason is that only the Roadster and Model S with dual chargers support 20kW charging). If the twin chargers can be added later, you can choose to do that instead (don't know if this is an option anymore, ask your rep).

 

[markb1]

They will be rare (most of existing 20kW chargers are for the Roadster), but the J1772 spec does go up to 20kW, so you never know.

My understanding is that a lot of the public Roadster chargers have been converted to J1772. But those are mostly in California.

 

[aviators99]

If you think BEVs will become more popular, then you can assume that 20kW chargers will become more commonplace. In the spring, someone at Tesla told me that the twin charger would be something that could be added later. I choose to disbelieve that. The HPWC is certainly something that can be added later, though.

 

[jerry33]

This question may have already been answered on the forum, so I apologize in advance since I'm unable to find it.
Is it worth getting the twin chargers for the 40kWh if I don't plan to quick charge at home? Are there public chargers in the wild that we can take advantage of with the twin chargers?

If you are in Canada, there is already a network that would make use of the twin chargers. My thinking is that as more EVs are sold, high powered chargers will become more common. It's 100% certain that it will cost more to add the second charger later then to have them put it in when the car is built. And perhaps in a year or two you'll want the HPWC. My opinion is that twin chargers are a good way to future-proof your Model S for very little additional cost. Flexibility in charging is always a good thing.

 

[stopcrazypp]

If you think BEVs will become more popular, then you can assume that 20kW chargers will become more commonplace.

Problem is none of the non-Tesla EVs in the horizon have 20kW onboard chargers (they max out at 10kW, a lot are just 3kW), so it might be a long wait. I guess it's "safer" to add it now because it might not necessarily to be available later (even if the reps say it can be added).

 

[Brian H]

Are there public chargers in the wild that we can take advantage of with the twin chargers?

Phil

Surprisingly, yes! My S Baby on his East Coast trip, I think, used a kind of "splicer" to plug into two campground 50V outlets at once, and charged at 2 x 40A = 80A. So you wouldn't even have to count on upgrades of other systems.

 

[johnr]

Normally it's wrong to resurrect a 6-year-old thread, but for the sake of those of us who are driving six-year-old vehicles maybe we can make an exception?

Clearly the earliest supercharging, apparently up until mid-2013, was at the 90KW rate. Now most Tesla's can charge at 120KW and there's talk of upgrading to even faster superchargers. A few other manufacturers are now leaping ahead on it too. In those early days there was also some speculation that with a software update those early cars would gain the ability to supercharge at 120KW. I wonder if anything came of that - did any cars actually receive such a software update that enabled them to charge at the higher current?

 

[Tam]

...software update those early cars would gain the ability to supercharge at 120KW...

I don't see how there's any change since then.

I remember that battery packs with version A on the label could only get 90 kW maximum.

If you want more, you have to get one with version B or higher on the label.

It's not just a matter of software update but a physical battery pack version update as well.

 

[Uncle Paul]

Tesla offered the 40 kw pack to offer a low entry point into the family. When the take rate on the 40s were very low, Tesla equipped them with 60 kw packs but software limited them to 40 kw.

Since the paid a much lower price, Tesla did not include free Supercharging for life as they did on the larger battery sizes.

They then offered the option to upgrade to the larger 60 kw pack and get Supercharger capabilities.

Believe the idea was that those with the smaller batteries would not be using them for much long distance travel, and could easily charge the smaller batteries at home. At that time Superchargers were much further apart and there were no Tesla destination chargers.

All kinda made sense at the time.

 

[ewoodrick]

I'm not sure why people can't understand that Superchargers support varying rates. You may not charge at 120kwh, but then again the 3 can't charge at 300 kwh.
Remember, this thread was from so far before the 3, it was all stupid speculation

 

[TexasEV]

The few S40's that were made in 2013 had software-locked 60 kWh batteries as explained above, and as such their peak charging rate was 90 kW. Owners of the early S60's such as myself paid an additional $2000 to activate the supercharging hardware and software at the time of purchase, or $2500 if done after purchase. Kind of like Tesla later did with autopilot-equipped cars. If owners of S40 kWh cars want to supercharge, I don't understand why they think they shouldn't pay the same fee that S60 owners paid in addition to unlocking the additional 20 kWh of the battery.

 

[AmpedRealtor]

The few S40's that were made in 2013 had software-locked 60 kWh batteries as explained above, and as such their peak charging rate was 90 kW. Owners of the early S60's such as myself paid an additional $2000 to activate the supercharging hardware and software at the time of purchase, or $2500 if done after purchase. Kind of like Tesla later did with autopilot-equipped cars. If owners of S40 kWh cars want to supercharge, I don't understand why they think they shouldn't pay the same fee that S60 owners paid in addition to unlocking the additional 20 kWh of the battery.

Why not just charge S40 owners $2,500 to enable supercharging but without increasing capacity? Seems fair.

 

[rooter]

What does a 40 owner need with Supercharging?

By The Mighty Hammer of Thor, upgrade, one way or t'other.

 

[PhilDavid]

The few S40's that were made in 2013 had software-locked 60 kWh batteries as explained above, and as such their peak charging rate was 90 kW. Owners of the early S60's such as myself paid an additional $2000 to activate the supercharging hardware and software at the time of purchase, or $2500 if done after purchase. Kind of like Tesla later did with autopilot-equipped cars. If owners of S40 kWh cars want to supercharge, I don't understand why they think they shouldn't pay the same fee that S60 owners paid in addition to unlocking the additional 20 kWh of the battery.

Maybe some cars really were sold with 40 kWh batteries?

 

[johnr]

I don't see how there's any change since then.

I remember that battery packs with version A on the label could only get 90 kW maximum.

If you want more, you have to get one with version B or higher on the label.

It's not just a matter of software update but a physical battery pack version update as well.

Thank you Tam. I've also found this article to be very informative:
Decoding Your Tesla Battery Pack Version