Featured 1 in 5 Californians have swapped their EV for a gas car — and this is to blame

Make it 6” wide and apply 400v it’s the new standard

 

Just a note that there is a new standard coming out--for trucks. It is called MCS--the Megawatt Charging System and it can theoretically go up to 1500V and 3000A. I assume we'll start to see it when the Tesla Semi comes out.

 

That's 4.5MW. It might be interesting to note the size of a 3.5MW transformer I bought about 20 years ago:

 

just like your own private vegetable garden

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Quick question - help out a non EV person here.

What is a "SuperCharger". I understand it's Tesla, but is it a fast charger? If so, why would you want a fast charger everywhere when fast charging depletes the life of a battery faster than slow charging at a 1C rate? It's especially hard on a depleted battery to be "fast charged" back to full. (That's a lithium based battery I'm talking about). Can these things be set to only charge to the recommended 80% charge rate on Lithium? Or is it defaulted to top it off?

iono - just seems you wouldn't want a fast charger unless your on an interstate going on a long trip. Local use, keep with a slow charger.

Or am i totally off base and none of these are fast charger's you all are talking about?

 

It is a fast DC charger, and most people do only use it for long trips. The charge rate greatly slows down when the battery reaches 80% charge. Time wise, you are better off stopping the charging there. I believe you check the car's charge level through a phone app.

As for the OT, many of the plug in owners in the survey didn't have access to home charging. So we are going to also need public slow chargers for that part of the population.

 

SuperCharger fast DC can slightly reduce battery capacity but more from the extra use. The battery ages primarily by loss of lithium into the ever growing SEI layer. The aging accelerates from higher temperatures. But this is not a ‘hair on fire’ problem.

My 2019 Tesla was rated at 240 miles new. My last full charge indicated 232 miles after 45,000 miles, a 3.3% loss. So the battery is aging as expected.

Bob Wilson

 

Most of the Tesla Superchargers are version 2, which provide a max of 120 or 150 kw.
The newer V3 can charge up to 250kw.

In the car you can set a slider to choose the percentage of full charge you want the charge to stop at. It is sticky, so it stays the same on the next charge if you don't change it. And when charging starts you get a time estimate to reach your chosen setpoint in large font that you can see from outside the car.
You can see this info on the phone app as well. And you can stop the charge remotely, change the climate settings, etc.

Note that besides the well-known Superchargers, Tesla has many more "destination" chargers deployed at hotels, restaurants, resorts, etc that are much slower...typically 11kw.

Mike

 

If Tesla can work it out using a Supercharger to CCS adapter and an APP, I'd be more than happy to use it on my cars, especially the Spark.

 

If someone pays them they probably can easily add a 175 kw ccs plug to the superchargers in the network when they upgrade. The CCS plug has different communication protocol, so it is easier to add a different plug than make a smart adapter that would have to translate between protocols and carry such strong current.

My bet is megacharger sites that are open will use charin which is ccs compatible and will be able to service heavy trucks from tesla and other makers. These sites are going to be expensive and if multiple vendors make heavy trucks and busses it makes sense to share the cost. In china there is a different megacharger protocol that japan will also use.

 

the adapter was easy .... & iirc, became available a year or more ago;

The tricky part will be getting GM on board - to negotiate paying for access, so that you can get your Spark's VIN into the system - to complete the electronic hand shake.

Even so, if the handshake completes with your car telling the CCS charger that it can only handle 50kw, it doesn't matter that the CCS can deliver 200 KW or more. But hey - still better than a paltry 3.6kW's ... which at business locations is often not even quite 3kW's (since many US public chargers are fed by legs off of 3 phase - barely 200v)
.

 

He is talking about going the other way. The model S and X pre-2019 didn't have proper communications hardware to do the translation so they had to be retrofitted.

The Chinese adapter that they sell in america - ccs to telsa, I believe does the translation for those non retrofitted cars but it costs $660 and limits current to 200A. Not difficult but expensive and makes them a target for theft if kept at the stations. That's why its better to add the new cable and proper plug as they have done in Europe.

 

It will be one direction only, CCS-1 to Tesla.

Bob Wilson

 

Then how will Tesla superchargers be used for non Tesla cars?

 

There are “illicit” devices

But considering Tesla rages if they catch a non-Tesla even in destination chargers I doubt that would ever be a big market without a legal means from the mothership

that said Tesla equipment on private property has always had a free option to include support for other charging protocols, too bad almost no one orders them with the no cost upgrade

 

Since too many like our BMW i3-REx are limited too 50 kW peak charge rate, they would do a slowed-EV occupation of a powerful charging resource.

Bob Wilson

 

You didn't answer the question. I'll repeat it for you:

"Then how will Tesla superchargers be used for non Tesla cars?"

Reference:

 

As noted in post #92, there have been reports that this has already been happening. For example, an Aptera has been seen at a supercharging station with what appears to be a Tesla inlet on the vehicle.

 

I've been seeing lots of stories about that.....