High Performance Tesla Model 3 RWD Henry Payne, Detroit News; Jack Keebler, Keebler Auto; Gary Vasilash, AD&P; John McElroy, Autoline.tv; Tesla Model 3 in studio December 6, 2018 @ 3:00PM EST Bob Wilson
Thought it was interesting what he said about the Chevy Bolt's price - fully optioned (nearing 40K) , not too dissimilar from the model 3's price. Any fact, he was saying no one's going to pay that much for a compact, meaning mediocre acceleration handling & the like. Also, he did NOT mention the GM philosophy of depending on other entities to (slower & more expensively) charge their cars to get them anywhere but local drives. .
One thing I learned in 'chat stream', the Model 3 long range only charges at 40A, L2. IMHO, it needs to be larger but the new battery chemistry may dictate the slower charge rate. FYI, my BMW i3-REx takes 31A. Bob Wilson
Bob - mine charges at 32 amps in my garage in a normal 240 VAC outlet, that is about 7.7 kw or 29 mph charging (I have a 50 amp breaker but the car won't let me tell it to grab more). If I buy the dedicated hard wired charger it will charge at 48 A x 240 VAC or approximately 11.5 kw or 44 mph, at a super charger it will supposedly charge at 170 miles in half an hour, so its not the battery chemistry. At public L2 chargers ($25/6 months in austin) I seem to only be able to get around 25 A 220 VAC. Its not the chemistry.
Probably safety reasons for the limit with the plug EVSE. Or merely to allow upselling. My first though on rading Bob's post was that Tesla limited it to give the S an advantage, like Porsche gearing the Cayman to not out accelerate the 911 to 60.
Wall Connector | Tesla Mobile Connector | Tesla It is probably simply a safety factor and using less expensive parts in the gen 2 mobile connector that is built to be plugged and unplugged from 90VAC-250VAC outlets. The gen 2 mobile connector that I am using tells the model 3 long, medium, and standard range/S/X to use at most 32 amps. The wall connector is built for 80 amps (100 amp breaker) for those originally getting dual chargers that could handle it in model S. Now all the new model S/X/3 long range peak at 48A, so this is over engineered, not necessarily bad. The model 3 medium and standard range have a less expensive 7.7 KW charger built in so the wall connector is peaked at 32A like the Mobil connector. I've heard of model 3 owners buying used gen I mobil connectors to get the extra power from outlets, but to me it doesn't make much of a difference. Even if I was empty, the mobile would take me 11 hours to charge to 100%, the wall 7 hours - charging 60% from 30-90 its only 6 1/2 hours versus 4 1/4. The long range model 3 charges faster than the S or X because the car is more efficient but adds energy at the same rate. Like the prius on the tesla model 3 0 isn't 0 there is a reserve to protect the battery, and 100 is less than 100 there is a reserved to not over charge.
