Of the many debates surrounding electric cars is charging times – it’s always longer than filling at the pumps. Tesla’s V3 Supercharging is a step closer to ending the debate.
When discussing EVs, the topic of charging, or refueling, times inevitably comes up. For example, this week’s tester is a 2019 Jaguar I-Pace that requires more than 38 hours of charge time on a domestic socket. The number drops to less than a third of that on a 240V approved wall box at home. Tesla’s V3 Supercharging will give Tesla owners to ability to recover up to 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes
The V3 chargers will feature a new 1MW power cabinet that will look similar in design to their utility-scale products and will be capable of supporting peak rates of up to 250kW per car.
Relatedly, Tesla will be introducing On-Route Battery Warmup which will intelligently heat the car’s battery on the way to a Supercharger to ensure it is at its optimal temperature to charge.
The combination of Tesla’s V3 Supercharging and On-Route Battery Warmup programming is said to cut charge times by up to 50%. This should also make charging stations more accessible in a rush because of the briefer charging times.
This is great news however there are potential issues. Supercharging batteries on a regular basis may not be optimal for the unit despite very sophisticated BMS (battery management system) technology. These advances in charge time are still far off from a 5-minute fuel stop for 300 miles of range. Depending on how you use your EV, you may never have to stop to charge if you do it at home overnight…
