Tesla limits output to 80% SOC at busy Superchargers
To increase the throughput of particularly frequented US Superchargers, Tesla now stops charging at 80%. The “upgrade” affects around 17% of Superchargers in the USA. It is also not unlikely that Tesla may change chargers outside of the States soon as well.
The new policy comes in the wake of an ever increasing number of Tesla electric cars being on the road. Only today, Elon Musk has sworn in employees to work towards an output of a thousand Model 3 a day and all those vehicles will have to charge eventually.
The new rule to stop pushing the battery at 80% state-of-charge is designed to increase the frequency at the Superchargers, for now only in the US. In some locations, the setting is locked in permanently, while others are based on working hours or public events.
Tesla expects the change to result in “a 34% improvement in throughput” in an email to Electrek when taking into consideration other new features such as the On-Route Battery Warmup feature and upgrades to the second Supercharger generation that now enable up to 145 kW. More so, Tesla will allow drivers on long-distance trips to bypass the new limitation. When routed to a Supercharger through the trip planner, drivers are going to get the charge needed to complete the journey.
While a similar move to limit the SOC in other markets is not unlikely, Tesla has also begun rolling out CCS adapters for the Model S and X. In Europe, these come in handy at high power charging stations such as those built by Ionity for example and also allow Tesla drivers access to other European networks. Model 3 for the EU market is CCS ready as a standard, including some Supercharger stations.
Whether Tesla will introduce the same in the USA is unclear at this time, but with Volkswagen’s Electrify America network ever growing, it might make sense.
Meanwhile, the electric carmaker is working to introduce the 3rd Supercharger generation. New power cabinets with 1 MW power and liquid-cooled cables enable peak rates of up to 250 kW for each charging electric vehicle at the new locations with the promise of no more splitting power.
0 Comments