Tesla Superchargers

[pecker]

I had to do 250 mile unplanned trip up north yesterday, left my house with 40% and proceeded to the Banbury Superchargers, this was my first public charge with my MG4 (only had it 2wks)

I've also never used a supercharger before so was a little unsure of the process, well, everything went smoothly and got decent speeds of 96kW which I was impressed with considering the battery was cold and on 35% when I arrived.

I really hope more of the supercharger network opens up because pricing wise it's very reasonable 0.49 per kWh.

I'm going to try and use superchargers as often as possible now.

 

[Rolfe]

I had a shot on one just to check that it works, and can confirm it was very easy indeed. And quick. The charger said it might take up to two minutes to start the charge, but then it started within a few seconds.

 

[Anon70]

If you plan to do a lot of longer trips in any month sign up to the £10.99 Tesla subscription as it will reduce the costs to closer to under 40p/kWh in some cases at some times of day. You can cancel the subscription for any months you are not planning to use the Tesla network

 

[FunkyWorm]

Yep; used them a few times. I think the one I used in Newmarket (just before Christmas) was only 36p - early evening.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

If you plan to do a lot of longer trips in any month sign up to the £10.99 Tesla subscription as it will reduce the costs to closer to under 40p/kWh in some cases at some times of day. You can cancel the subscription for any months you are not planning to use the Tesla network

Note that the subscription limits the amount of charges you will get the discount for.
You can only supercharge 5 times... per day!

@pecker should see the full 140kW that the Trophy is capable of, all the way up to around 55%-60% full, if they start with less charge in a warm battery. The car will still accept around 60kW when the battery reaches 80% full.

 

[lsb777]

Yeah I did a near 600 mile round-trip last weekend using only Tesla SCs with the membership option. Saved over £5 and still have nearly a month of membership left. Would recommend using SCs any trip if they're available.

 

[HazardLights]

I used my first Supercharger today at Dundee and it was a nice experience with no queues etc in my MG4 Trophy LR. I had expected faster but was flatlining at 70kW. I am on R40 (i.e. original phase 2 software). Is this a software issue or something else?

I was stupid enough to drive past Broxburn (Perth) before I realised that I had missed the Superchargers that are cheaper there. I couldn't resist membership as I hated the idea of a higher unit cost as irrational as that is. I will now feel I need to use my membership

 

[siteguru]

What state of charge did you start your charging session at?

 

[OzricEV]

Probably a daft question, but I'm guessing even with the paid membership still only gives access to public ones?

I think the only Tesla chargers of use to me would be Tebay going from Llysfaen to Edinburgh each month.

 

[jamherber]

Probably a daft question, but I'm guessing even with the paid membership still only gives access to public ones?

I think the only Tesla chargers of use to me would be Tebay going from Llysfaen to Edinburgh each month.

Correct - you still only have access to the 'open for all' chargers, just at lower price.

More and more seem to be opening up to the general public so worth checking regularly though.

 

[HazardLights]

What state of charge did you start your charging session at?

20% to 45% on a Trophy 150kW supercharger. It was the warmest part of the day at 12°C and just after a fifty mile drive but that's not exactly hot weather so maybe temperature was the issue.

SOLVED: Another driver arrived as I was starting charging and looked at all the empty bays and chose the one beside me. I guess the A and B chargers are splitting power.

Correct - you still only have access to the 'open for all' chargers, just at lower price.

More and more seem to be opening up to the general public so worth checking regularly though.

What's the story with their destination chargers are they Tesla only?

 

[Rolfe]

Probably a daft question, but I'm guessing even with the paid membership still only gives access to public ones?

I think the only Tesla chargers of use to me would be Tebay going from Llysfaen to Edinburgh each month.

Tebay aren't open. Or not unless they opened them since I was there in August.

 

[Coulomb]

I guess the A and B chargers are splitting power.

My understanding is that only the version 2 superchargers split power between A and B dispensers, and version 2 are never available for non-Teslas to charge at. If I'm right, that can't explain the low power.

The battery has a large thermal mass, so I'd expect it to retain the cold from the morning and even the previous night.

 

[Coulomb]

What's the story with their destination chargers

They're a different problem. Some of those accept any vehicle, but with a 30-60 second delay (protocol timeout) for non-Teslas. Some won't accept non Teslas, and some can be changed between these options with a DIP switch inside. It depends on the version number at the end of the Tesla Part Number (TPN) on the label.

See for example this post.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

What's the story with their destination chargers are they Tesla only?

It depends on what label is next to them.
Red is Tesla only, white means anyone can use them.

 

[wattmatters]

It depends on what label is next to them.

Not sure it's a universal code though. Here in Australia at a "Tesla vehicle charging only" destination charge station.

 

[WonkoTheSaneUK]

Not sure it's a universal code though. Here in Australia at a "Tesla vehicle charging only" destination charge station.

View attachment 30922

View attachment 30923

As I understand it, the red/white thing is Tesla's directive.
Maybe that location owner has gone inside and flipped the switch that @Coulomb mentions.

 

[DrPlokta]

My understanding is that only the version 2 superchargers split power between A and B dispensers, and version 2 are never available for non-Teslas to charge at. If I'm right, that can't explain the low power.

The battery has a large thermal mass, so I'd expect it to retain the cold from the morning and even the previous night.

I charged at a Tesla supercharger this morning in Cardiff, which was busy, and only got 37kW with my battery at around 25%. After a bit I gave up and went to Newport instead, since I was going that way. So I think some Tesla chargers open to all must share power between more than one charger.

 

[Rolfe]

I had an odd experience at Perth, the only time I've used the site. I was sitting in the car with a drive-through McDonald's on my lap, as the chargers are a bit away (and up a hill) from the restaurant, and it was dark. I was only getting 37 kW and I thought, I'm going to be here all night, dammit. I wondered about shared power, although I wasn't right next to anyone else. I thought I'd wait till the battery was over 20% and if it hadn't speeded up then I'd unplug and try a different charger. Over 20%, still no difference. I was going to move.

Then I managed to tip my bag of chips all over the floor of the car. I sighed and started to gather them back up into their little paper poke. By the time I'd done that the car was at 22% - and charging at over 70 kW. So I stayed put.

Still not the 87 kW I was getting at Fort William, at a much busier site, but good enough. I don't know what happened. There was a Tesla two along from me, but the guy didn't arrive to take that away until about five minutes after the speed increased.

 

[bedsev]

I charged at a Tesla supercharger this morning in Cardiff, which was busy, and only got 37kW with my battery at around 25%. After a bit I gave up and went to Newport instead, since I was going that way. So I think some Tesla chargers open to all must share power between more than one charger.

I think it depends on the version, the ones with the "hole" in the middle are a lot slower then the solid white box ones. At Trentham gardens they have both, so when I realized it was a bit slow I moved over to the newer ones and it was really fast.