All electrical autos expertise losses in the course of the charging course of. We just lately posted a few articles explaining why there are charging losses and the place they’re incurred, however we proceed to get questions and feedback about it so I made a decision to report my 2021 Tesla Mannequin 3 charging on an Electrify America DC quick charger in an effort to additional discover the subject. 

I plugged my Mannequin 3 into the station utilizing a CHAdeMO adapter and recorded the charging session, each the in-car display screen and the charging station display screen, from 7% to 57% state of cost. In the long run, the Electrify America charging station confirmed 39 kWh allotted, and the Mannequin 3’s show display screen confirmed 35 kWh obtained, for a distinction of 4 kWh. 

Nevertheless, for the reason that automotive’s display screen rounds as much as the closest entire quantity, I could not decide how a lot over 35 kWh was obtained, so I rounded it as much as 35.5 kWh, giving the 50% charging session a lack of 3.5 kWh. Doubling that to realize a 100% charging session, I might have skilled a lack of 7 kWh.

Nevertheless, we clarify that each charging session is totally different, and components just like the charging energy and battery temperature play a giant position in figuring out how a lot vitality might be misplaced in the course of the charging course of. 

However the greatest vitality thief is normally the thermal administration system, which is working onerous to chill or warmth the battery throughout DC quick charging for optimum charging efficiency. Within the image above, I took two snapshots of the charging session that had been solely about 30 seconds aside. 

Each footage present the Electrify America display screen in addition to the in-car show. The Electrify America display screen exhibits 42 kW being delivered to the Mannequin 3 in each footage. Nevertheless, the decrease image exhibits the automotive stating that it was accepting 30 kW and the higher image, solely seconds later exhibits the automotive is taking in 38 kW. 

That is as a result of up till the purpose of the primary image, I may hear the followers and the thermal administration system working. They shut off proper about when the car reached 20% state of cost. I notice within the video that the TMS was working to chill the battery, however it could have been doing the other, warming the battery. Nevertheless, that is actually not germane to the dialogue.

The purpose is the act of heating or cooling the battery and parts throughout DC quick charging makes use of vitality, and that vitality that the charging station dispenses by no means makes it into the battery and is taken into account charging loss. 

Moreover, since I used to be utilizing a CHAdeMO adapter and charging at such a low price there was much less vitality loss as a consequence of warmth. If I had been charging at 150 kW at a V2 Supercharger or 250 kW at a V3 Supercharger, there would have been much more vitality loss within the type of warmth. 

My mannequin 3 has a 78 kWh battery pack and of that, about 74-75 kWh was usable when the car was new. I’ve 17,000 miles on it now and like all EVs, my automotive has skilled capability loss. I consider I at the moment have between 70 kWh and 71 kWh usable vitality, based mostly on my 100% to 0% driving checks, so a 7 kWh loss throughout DC quick charging would equate to a couple of 10% loss, which is comparatively regular for DC quick charging.

Nevertheless, a lot of the losses on this had been incurred early on in the course of the charging session whereas the TMS was working. I do not know if the system would have turned again on if I had achieved a real 0 to 100% charging session. However that additionally goes again to the truth that I used to be charging at lower than 50 kW – very sluggish for Tesla DC quick charging. Once I Supercharge, I sometimes hear the TMS working for almost all of the time till the state of cost hit 80% and the charging price slows down. 

Due to this fact, this is not a scientific experiment geared toward exhibiting exactly how a lot charging losses I incurred throughout this charging session. The aim was to show the discrepancy within the quantity of vitality a charging station dispenses, and what Tesla autos show within the car. Tesla’s do not present you the vitality misplaced in the course of the charging session, solely the vitality that makes it into the battery pack. This leads many Tesla homeowners to falsy consider the autos are almost 100% environment friendly, and that is not the case. 

Bjorn Nyland has some good movies on Tesla charging losses so we encourage you to take a look at his Youtube channel if you need to be taught extra about EV charging losses. 

So try the video and tell us your ideas within the remark part beneath.