Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?

by

Article menu

The plaid is good, but the Hyundai Ioniq 5 remains the front runner – and clearly

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-charge

The new Tesla Model S plaid on a Supercharger V3: That could result in a very good charging performance. After all, the plaid version should be able to recharge a range of 300 kilometers in just 15 minutes, and the latest version of superchargers (which was only introduced in 2019) enables 250 kW of charging power per vehicle.

One of the first plaid specimens has now been tested by MotorTrend. In the following issue of our fast charge analysis let's sound out the results in more detail. According to the MotorTrend report, the test was carried out after the battery had been preconditioned and at a fairly optimal ambient temperature of 21 degrees.

Charging curve

Charging was from 5 to 95 percent charge level (SOC). The charging curve already reaches the maximum of 250 kW possible with the Supercharger V3 at 10 percent. The charging power is probably limited by the charging station, not the battery:

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-model

This value is maintained up to around 30 percent SOC. After that, the curve drops fairly continuously (that is, not in a step-like manner). Even at 90 percent, almost 50 kW are still achieved. These are good results.

Charging time: Around 27 minutes for 20-80%

According to the article, it took about 52 minutes to charge from 5 to 95 percent SOC. We appreciate the loading of 20 to 80 percent SOC took about 27 minutes. Charging from 10 to 80 percent should have taken around two minutes longer.

300 kilometers in 15 minutes are realistic?

As I said, the plaid should be able to increase the range by 300 kilometers (187 miles) in 15 minutes. According to the data from MotorTrend, the version with 21-inch wheels should load 167 miles in 15 minutes. With the smaller wheels, however, the Plaid is around 16 percent more economical, because the EPA range with 19-inch wheels is 405 miles, with a 21-inch model but only at 348 miles. If we add the 16 percent to the 167 miles on top, we end up with 194 miles. This makes the figure of 187 miles in 15 minutes mentioned by Elon Musk realistic.

Average charging power: 130 kW

In the important charging area of ​​20 to 80 percent SOC, the average charging power is 130 kW (marked in black). That is probably the highest value that Tesla has delivered so far. If you run the battery down to 5 percent SOC and only charge up to 70 percent, you even get 163 kW (first column, two lines higher than the black marking):

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-tesla

C rate: up to 2.5C

Tesla never officially provides information about the battery capacity of its cars. But the Model S Plaid should be 100 kWh. If you start from this value, then you can calculate the so-called C-rate. This indicates how the charging power relates to the gross capacity of the battery. 1C would be achieved if a 100 kWh battery were fully charged in one hour. That would be possible with an average charging power of 100 kW. If the charging power is twice as high, 2C would be reached.

With the Model S Plaid, the calculation is easy: 250 kW maximum charging power and 100 kWh battery capacity result in a maximum C-rate of 2.5C. The average C-rate when charging 20 to 80 percent is 130 kW through 100 kWh, i.e. 1.3C.

Reload range: 14.1 km / min according to WLTP

The average charging power in the range of 20 to 80 percent is of course more interesting for long-distance drivers than the maximum value. But even more important is how long you have to wait at the charging station before, for example, you can drive another 100 km. In other words: we want to know how quickly you can recharge range.

This value depends on the power consumption, which we calculate here from the official range and the net battery capacity. For the Model S Plaid with 21-inch wheels, the EPA Combined range is 348 miles (560 km); MotorTrend specifies the net battery capacity as 96.7 kWh. This results in a power consumption of 278 Wh / mile. If we divide the average charging power of 130 kW by this value (to be precise: 130,000 W divided by 16,680 Wmin / mile), we get 7.8 miles per minute (or 12.5 km / minute).

If we calculate with the (more optimistic) WLTP range of 628 km, this results in a power consumption of 15.4 kWh / 100 km or 154 Wh / km or 9,240 Wmin / km. If we divide the 130,000 watts by the latter value, we get 14.1 km / minute.

Comparison with Model 3 and Ioniq 5

Let us now compare with the charging results of the Model 3 on the Supercharger V3 and those of the Hyundai Ioniq 5 on an Ionity column. Let's start with the loading curves. The Model S Plaid (red curve) is clearly better than the Model 3 Long Range (blue and green):

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-plaid

The Hyundai Ioniq 5 has a completely different charging curve; At first it is worse than the plaid, but better from 35 percent SOC.

The comparison of the C rates is interesting. As the graphic shows, the The battery in the plaid is not as heavily loaded as in the Model 3:

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-plaid

The reason for the Model 3's higher C rates, according to Mark Kane, could be because the plaid uses cylindrical 18650 cells while the Model 3 uses the 2170 cells. This is implausible to us because the thicker 2170 cells are more difficult to cool.

Another reason could be that the charging power of the Plaid is limited to 250 kW by the V3 charger. The car could possibly achieve significantly more. With 300 kW, the car would also be in the 3C Club.

Here is the charging performance of the models under consideration in a comparison table:

Model S Plaid, Model 3 LR and Ioniq 5 in comparison
model Drive /
battery
(gross, kWh)		 Ark-
power
(maximum)		 Ark-
power
(20-80%)		 C rate
(Max.		 C rate
(20-80%)		 Ark-
length of time
(20-80%)		 Range
reload
(WLTP)
Tesla Model S plaid
 		 AWD
100 kWh		 250 kW 130 kW 2.5 1.3 27 min 14.1 km / min
2021 Tesla Model S LR
 		 AWD
100 kWh		 250 kW 130 kW 2.5 1.3 27 min 14.6 km / min
Tesla Model 3 LR
from 2021 at the SC V3		 AWD
80 kWh		 250 kW 106 kW 3.1 1.3 26 min 14.9 km / min
Tesla Model 3 LR
from 2019 on the SC V3		 AWD
75 kWh		 250 kW 113 kW 3.3 1.5 24 min 15.6 km / min
Hyundai Ioniq 5
(73 kWh)		 AWD
77 kWh		 224 kW 170 kW 2.9 2.2 15 minutes 18.8 km / min

As far as range reloading is concerned, the Hyundai Ioniq 5 is still at the top. In comparison, the Model S Plaid is the slowest here.

Model S Long Range can also be found in the table. We calculated its values ​​from the charging performance of the Model S Plaid by using the higher range of 652 kilometers according to WLTP. This logically results in a better value for reloading range.

More about the Model S plaid: Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-plaid Tesla Model S plaid by Musk presented in all details

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-charge Tesla Model S Plaid against Mercedes EQS: who is now in front?

Conclusion

Our analysis has shown: The Tesla Model S Plaid can be charged fairly quickly, especially at the beginning of the charging process, where 250 kW are reached – although significantly more charging power may also be possible.

However, the maximum charging power is only available from 10 to 30 percent SOC. The average is only 130 kW, which is not bad, but less than the 150 kW of the Audi e-tron, for example, the 151 kW of the Taycan and certainly less than the 170 kW of the Hyundai Ioniq 5.

The Ioniq 5 also charges range significantly faster than the plaid. The dense Supercharger network can perhaps partially compensate for this advantage of Hyundai. However, as far as we know, the Supercharger V2 is only in use in Germany, where a maximum of 150 kW is charged. And since the plaid scores above all with its high charging capacity at the beginning, it could be that the Hyundai is ahead of the curve again at these pillars.

[Note: The original article by Mark Kane has not only been translated, but also tightened and significantly modified. So instead of the EPA range, we used the WLTP range of the Model S Plaid for the calculations. In addition, we come to a slightly different conclusion, in which the plaid does not come off quite as well as with Mark.]

Image gallery: Tesla Model S Plaid (2021)

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-does

Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-model Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-fast Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-model Tesla Model S Plaid: How fast does it charge on the Supercharger V3?-tesla

Related articles

Please follow and like us:
error
fb-share-icon
Tweet
fb-share-icon

Leave a Comment