Comments on: Interview With Elon Musk About Tesla Supercharger Expansion In Europe

By: Martin - eCars.bg

Martin - eCars.bg — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 05:52:00 +0000

You gyus rock – thank you so much. To see you’re asking Elon about Bulgaria and Romania – this is what we’re passionate about – bring Tesla here. From all the eCars.bg community – THANK YOU! It’s such a surprise. We plan to talk to Tesla people at eCarTec Munich, but now we know they’re coming. Blogging to the nation right away

By: WeaponZero

WeaponZero — Sun, 05 May 2013 00:23:00 +0000

Thermal issues aside, the point I am making is when you charge at 2C, you are eating away battery cycles. So it is not a matter of do you charge one time or 2 times a day but the total amount of times you charge.

So let us say that you charge at 1C and in 1000 cycles it reaches 70%. If you charge at 2C, you will reach 70% in 500 cycles.

More information here:
http://batteryuniversity.com/learn/article/ultra_fast_chargers

The Tesla super chargers are charging at 1C, a level 3 charger charging a Tesla Model S would be 0.7C – 1C, a level 3 charger on a nissan leaf would be around 2C.

In the end it boils down to the capacity of the battery vs the rate you charge.

By: Bob_Wallace

Bob_Wallace — Sat, 04 May 2013 23:49:00 +0000

I believe Nissan cautions LEAF owners to not use a rapid (Level 3) charger more than one times per day.

I’m pretty sure that means no more than 365 times per year, as long as the battery has cooled back down to normal operating temperature a second rapid charge inside of a single day should not matter.

By: WeaponZero

WeaponZero — Sat, 04 May 2013 23:44:00 +0000

That is because they were lying. I have seen people post the same thing and I keep pointing those people to Tesla’s actual warranty (it is available online) and Tesla has constantly said that super charger does not effect the life of the battery. And those people continued to keep posting those claims despite constantly being shown evidence that it is not true.

I think the idea came from the confusion with the Nissan Leaf. The Tesla supercharger charges your car to full in 1 hour using 1C charging. The Nissan Leaf has a fast chargers that charge you to full in 20-30min, that means they are charging 2-3C, that damages the battery. or to be more accurate, if you charge at 2C that is like eating through 2 cycles instead of 1 cycle. So a car charged at 2C constantly will last 2x less then the same car charged at 1C.

By: DougH

DougH — Sat, 04 May 2013 19:15:00 +0000

Well said.

I’ve heard speculation that Supercharger use destroys that battery. I’ve even heard that the warranty stipulate the maximum number of supercharger charges an owner could use before voiding the warranty.

I’m very relieved by what I read in the interview. I should receive my Model S in June.