Supercharger - Aberdeen, MD

[vdiv]

All EVgo stations. The ones with the BTCPower stations are worse as they are limited to 100A, ABBs are at least the full 125A. Your other choices are the few EVI stations popping up (BTC Power), ChargePoint (Efacec or Tritium) that often have only one station per location, and Greenlots (Signet) that are in really bad shape.

 

[Skipdd]

All EVgo stations. The ones with the BTCPower stations are worse as they are limited to 100A, ABBs are at least the full 125A. Your other choices are the few EVI stations popping up (BTC Power), ChargePoint (Efacec or Tritium) that often have only one station per location, and Greenlots (Signet) that are in really bad shape.

Ugh. EVgo is who I have a subscription with..but Ive not experienced the issue you described so far. Typically I use the one by the Pike and Rose shopping center in Rockville, but have used others in MD as well.

 

[Skipdd]

At Maryland House charging now. 2nd time in a row that I've gotten 1/2 or less of max charge rate when SOC should drive it. Today it is at least going up from 45kw to 65kw. Last time I was the only person here and tried two different circuits - only got 45kw. Any ideas on why? And what has the experience been lately at Chrsspeake House? Maybe I need to start going there. Thanks.

 

[gavine]

At Maryland House charging now. 2nd time in a row that I've gotten 1/2 or less of max charge rate when SOC should drive it. Today it is at least going up from 45kw to 65kw. Last time I was the only person here and tried two different circuits - only got 45kw. Any ideas on why? And what has the experience been lately at Chrsspeake House? Maybe I need to start going there. Thanks.

Cold battery perhaps? Isn’t it well-below freezing in MD right now?

 

[VT_EE]

At Maryland House charging now. 2nd time in a row that I've gotten 1/2 or less of max charge rate when SOC should drive it. Today it is at least going up from 45kw to 65kw. Last time I was the only person here and tried two different circuits - only got 45kw. Any ideas on why? And what has the experience been lately at Chrsspeake House? Maybe I need to start going there. Thanks.

Most likely the temperature. It's currently 10F outside near Baltimore.

 

[Darren S]

At Maryland House charging now. 2nd time in a row that I've gotten 1/2 or less of max charge rate when SOC should drive it. Today it is at least going up from 45kw to 65kw. Last time I was the only person here and tried two different circuits - only got 45kw. Any ideas on why? And what has the experience been lately at Chrsspeake House? Maybe I need to start going there. Thanks.

How far did you drive before charging? Did you have full regen before arriving? If you aren't driving 40+ miles before hitting a charger or if you aren't pre-heating your battery before driving <30 miles to a supercharger then it might not be charging at full power.

I was at both of these on Fri, Dec 29 and drove about 30-45 miles to North East in 20 F temps so the battery pack was sufficiently warm and I had full regen. I had my max full power (95 kW) after a few minutes on stall 5B but was only there 15 minutes from 7-30% before stopping at Aberdeen.

At Aberdeen, it hit 90 kW after the first minute on stall 1B and was slowly creeping up to 95 kW after 10 minutes but I was only there 15 minutes from 24% to 50% and had no issues. In neither case was the Battery heater on during charging.

A few days later, I drove 60 miles before charging at Grasonville, MD but only saw 45-50 kW max on stall 4B in the same 20 F temps. I looked at the stats later and the Battery heater was on for part of the time that I was there so I think that is why it was so low.

 

[Skipdd]

How far did you drive before charging? Did you have full regen before arriving? If you aren't driving 40+ miles before hitting a charger or if you aren't pre-heating your battery before driving <30 miles to a supercharger then it might not be charging at full power.

I was at both of these on Fri, Dec 29 and drove about 30-45 miles to North East in 20 F temps so the battery pack was sufficiently warm and I had full regen. I had my max full power (95 kW) after a few minutes on stall 5B but was only there 15 minutes from 7-30% before stopping at Aberdeen.

At Aberdeen, it hit 90 kW after the first minute on stall 1B and was slowly creeping up to 95 kW after 10 minutes but I was only there 15 minutes from 24% to 50% and had no issues. In neither case was the Battery heater on during charging.

A few days later, I drove 60 miles before charging at Grasonville, MD but only saw 45-50 kW max on stall 4B in the same 20 F temps. I looked at the stats later and the Battery heater was on for part of the time that I was there so I think that is why it was so low.

Thanks for the thoughts. I did have full regen before arriving, both times. Had used about 140 mi of rated range - actual mileage probably closer to 80 mi. Almost aleays pre-heat and did today as well. Temperature dispay said 15 F. How do you get a reading of the battery heater? Despite what I observed, you, @Darren Schilberg and @gavine may be right. So, IF the battery is sufficiently warmed, would the chargers still deliver lower charging rates when the temperature is below 20 F? And how does one plan charging times accurately in cold weather?

 

[Darren S]

How do you get a reading of the battery heater? So, IF the battery is sufficiently warmed, would the chargers still deliver lower charging rates when the temperature is below 20 F? And how does one plan charging times accurately in cold weather?

I use Teslafi, TeslaFi.com Tesla Model S X 3 Data Logger, and have found it invaluable for the data that is available, such as Battery heater, as it has helped me confirm or determine things such as longer charging times due to being throttled to a max of 95 kW instead of 110-115 kW when it was new or when to move stalls as a charger is only providing 150A instead of 250A.

You have correctly guessed that both the battery pack AND the supercharger should be at optimal temps for charging times to be as fast as possible. I haven't tried this yet of waiting at a supercharger for 4 hrs and using a stall that hasn't been touched during the time vs using a stall that someone just used for an hour. I would guess that the total time difference would be less than 5-10 minutes and I rarely have that tight of a schedule on road trips so a few extra minutes isn't detrimental. Annoying sometimes, but not detrimental.

I'm not sure what the optimal temp range is for the supercharger but in temps over 90 F the charging is also limited -- either from the car or from the supercharger or both. Maybe try it again or a different one with about the same starting SOC and see if it gets above 45 kW. You should also be able to see the Battery heater icon on your mobile app on the Climate screen if you can catch it in the 5-10 minutes it might be running.

In cold weather, just estimate that the car will require 150% or the distance being driven. Driving 100 miles then charge to 150 miles. Warm weather this can be as low as 115% - 125% and offers plenty of buffer but running full heat and A/C defrost and max fan speed really uses up the range quickly so plan for that and there shouldn't be any anxiety.

If you are charging every 50-100 miles then just estimate 30 minutes per charger. If you end up only needing 20 minutes per charger 4 or 5 times then you save almost an hour on that day and IF there is a slow supercharger the you've already accounted for it or if 4 of the 8 are blocked by snow piles and you end up sharing a stall with someone. Those are my cold weather tips and tricks.

For example, at the Grasonville, MD charger, you can see how the kW dropped right away as the Battery heater was on and then the charging rate slowly increased once it turned off (at 13:02). Normally, my max Volts are ~380-90 so that was fine and my max Amps are ~245 so the Amps were severely down even after the Battery heater shut off. It might have been a slow charger to begin with but the Battery heater wasn't on at the North East or Aberdeen locations and I saw 90-95 kW numbers. 26 minutes to go from 26% to 50%? Ugh.

 

[Skipdd]

I use Teslafi, TeslaFi.com Tesla Model S X 3 Data Logger, and have found it invaluable for the data that is available, such as Battery heater, as it has helped me confirm or determine things such as longer charging times due to being throttled to a max of 95 kW instead of 110-115 kW when it was new or when to move stalls as a charger is only providing 150A instead of 250A.

You have correctly guessed that both the battery pack AND the supercharger should be at optimal temps for charging times to be as fast as possible. I haven't tried this yet of waiting at a supercharger for 4 hrs and using a stall that hasn't been touched during the time vs using a stall that someone just used for an hour. I would guess that the total time difference would be less than 5-10 minutes and I rarely have that tight of a schedule on road trips so a few extra minutes isn't detrimental. Annoying sometimes, but not detrimental.

I'm not sure what the optimal temp range is for the supercharger but in temps over 90 F the charging is also limited -- either from the car or from the supercharger or both. Maybe try it again or a different one with about the same starting SOC and see if it gets above 45 kW. You should also be able to see the Battery heater icon on your mobile app on the Climate screen if you can catch it in the 5-10 minutes it might be running.

In cold weather, just estimate that the car will require 150% or the distance being driven. Driving 100 miles then charge to 150 miles. Warm weather this can be as low as 115% - 125% and offers plenty of buffer but running full heat and A/C defrost and max fan speed really uses up the range quickly so plan for that and there shouldn't be any anxiety.

If you are charging every 50-100 miles then just estimate 30 minutes per charger. If you end up only needing 20 minutes per charger 4 or 5 times then you save almost an hour on that day and IF there is a slow supercharger the you've already accounted for it or if 4 of the 8 are blocked by snow piles and you end up sharing a stall with someone. Those are my cold weather tips and tricks.

For example, at the Grasonville, MD charger, you can see how the kW dropped right away as the Battery heater was on and then the charging rate slowly increased once it turned off (at 13:02). Normally, my max Volts are ~380-90 so that was fine and my max Amps are ~245 so the Amps were severely down even after the Battery heater shut off. It might have been a slow charger to begin with but the Battery heater wasn't on at the North East or Aberdeen locations and I saw 90-95 kW numbers. 26 minutes to go from 26% to 50%? Ugh.

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This is great information - thank you! I have seen references to Teslafi before but didnt really appreciate its value. I will investigate further. I understand about impact of cold on range. I've learned to loosely gauge range and rate of range loss from the average KW rate. It's a lot less of a worry now with the 100D, but occassionally, like today, I still need a boost (range) to make my obligations. What I hadn't considered was the impact of the cold on Superchargers. That got me thinking about trying to get predictive info about superchargers (don't think that's available yet), and also planning for additional variables that could decrease charge rate. Having the 100D had lulled me into expecting to be able to pick up 100-120 mi charge in 20 min, and the past 2 times has made me realize it's more complicated..

 

[Darren S]

This is great information - thank you! I have seen references to Teslafi before but didnt really appreciate its value. I will investigate further.

Feel free to PM me about Teslafi and I can describe some more features about it and give some examples. I believe you can still sign up for a free trial but let me know if you have any questions.

 

[electricdoolz]

@BlueShift This station has been upgraded to 150kW. I charged on Sunday, was getting 139kW minimum.

 

[PStewart]

Charging fine until..., oh somebody plugged in next to me. That's why it dropped it 60 kW.

Starlink dish, but my car is not connected to any Wi-Fi.