DCFC Tops out at 70kW

[Firestop]

You aren't concerned, but yet this is what must change and will be required before mass adoption. There are very few people that in a survey would tell you it's OK and they are prepared to sit at a "gas" station for an hour to just get 1/4 of a tank of gas - that is likely only good for about 75 miles max.

I agree, but I made my choice of vehicle with my eyes wide open.

FWIW: The EA location had well documented issues on PlugShare of underperforming charging, but I happened to be nearby and I thought I’d give it a go. I joined the chorus of those online comments when I checked out. I was a little disappointed in the slower speed of the EVgo Charger, but it was 30 deg. F out and I stopped just to activate their new Plug & Charge feature on my account….worked better than FordPass’ similar feature! The off name fast Charger is listed as 50 kW on PlugShare and happened to be at a restaurant I stopped at…I was pleasantly surprised it was actually rated at 120kW and performed as rated

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[sotek2345]

FWIW, my latest 3 DC fast charges over the past 4 days (I’m not concerned):

1. 120 kW rated EZStop - unknown manufacturer: 64-90% SoC (26%) in 58 min, 35.76 kWh delivered; no Peak recorded.
2. 350 kW (newly installed) EVgo: 66-87% SoC (21%) in 21 min, 27.46 kWh delivered; ~130 kW peak.
   
3. 150 kW EA: 73-93% SoC (20%) in 41 min., 29.762 kWh delivered; 97 kW peak.

Just curious why you were charging up to around 90% each time (and why you were DC charging with so much charge left). Unless you need it to get to the next fast charger, you should stop DC charging around 80% as it drops off fast after that to protect the battery. That is true for just about any EV.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Just curious why you were charging up to around 90% each time (and why you were DC charging with so much charge left). Unless you need it to get to the next fast charger, you should stop DC charging around 80% as it drops off fast after that to protect the battery. That is true for just about any EV.

I don’t know if this is @Firestop’s situation, but in my area there are a lot of folks who own EVs who do not have a home charger or are charging on 120V plugs and will top off at a DCFC once a week. I see this most with some of the faster charging EVs especially - Hyundai & Kia.

I can’t say I understand it, but I guess it works for them.

 

[Firestop]

Just curious why you were charging up to around 90% each time (and why you were DC charging with so much charge left). Unless you need it to get to the next fast charger, you should stop DC charging around 80% as it drops off fast after that to protect the battery. That is true for just about any EV.

I do generally perform all my charging to 80% for the reasons you state, though I believe there are opinions that hitting a 90% SoC while fast charging isn’t too detrimental to the HVB.

This trip was travel to an out of town destination for the first time in this EV. I was being conservative, as I only had a rough guess how my truck would perform, especially in near freezing temperatures…. now I know

The 1st charge just happened to be available at the restaurant we stopped at…it was an opportunistic charge that ran up our SoC faster than I expected to my set fast charge limit of 90% while we ate. I would not have charged there otherwise

The 2nd (EVgo) charge was my trip planned charging stop. My goal was to initiate EVgo’s new Plug & Charge feature on my account (no EVgo where I live) and, to make sure I had over 30% SoC when arriving at my family destination. I was experiencing 1.4 mi/kWh due to temperature (my return over this same leg in 50 degF yielded 1.8 mi/kWh @ 74 mph), my destination only had 120V/11A charging available, and there are no DC fast charging nearby where we were staying. I needed to do some local travel early the next day and wanted plenty of miles available to make my rounds…

The 3rd (EA) charge was to get my SoC high enough so I could trickle (130V/11A) the rest of the way to 100% to start the return trip home. FWIW, it took ~20 hrs on trickle to do so and we made the return trip home at the same speeds in 48-50 degF with no charge stops, arriving with an 18% SoC…3% better than ABRP had forecasted

 

[data003]

Thats because ChargePoint chargers split the 125kW. While the station is capable of 125, each side only gets about half of that.

Wrong, those ChargePoint pedestals are only capable of 200A. The power splitting is not the problem (unless someone else is using the other one).

200A x 325V = 65,000W

In order to get more power you need a higher voltage battery pack. The Lightning is very dependent on DCFCs that can provide a LOT of amps.

 

[Yellow Buddy]

Wrong, those ChargePoint pedestals are only capable of 200A. The power splitting is not the problem (unless someone else is using the other one).

200A x 325V = 65,000W

In order to get more power you need a higher voltage battery pack. The Lightning is very dependent on DCFCs that can provide a LOT of amps.

We’re both saying the same thing in different scenarios.

The chargepoint stations are only capable of 156A @ 400V per station for 62.5kW.

They need to be paired to fully achieved 125kW. Once paired, they have the capability to share power.

When two vehicles are plugged in, the stations have the capability to load share and will split power between the two stations.

When another vehicle is not plugged in, the unused station will transfer power to the used station, but only a maximum of 44 additional amps can be provided to the used station. Which results in a maximum capacity of 200A @ 400V which is 80kW despite having a combined capacity of 125kW for the paired station.



Station spec sheet:
http://waleco.ca/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Data-Sheet-CPE250.pdf

 

[Lost In Jersey]

So, it turns out I am an idiot. I hooked up to one of the EA Chargers in Tinton Falls this weekend, and much to my surprise I was charging at 105kW.

Then I started doing some more digging, since I only really ever looked at the first few comments on Plugshare. As I dug deeper into the comments on the chargers I've used before (the ones I could recall, at least) there are a lot people saying they only were pulling between 70-80kW, particularly the station along my daily commute. So, the vehicle I saw charging in the 120s there must have had a higher voltage battery pack, I honestly can't recall what make or model it was.

I appreciate everyone's input, I'll now tuck my tail between my legs and see myself out.

 

[WeedmanU]

I've had my Lightning (XLT SR) for about a month and a half, and I have never seen my charging rate go above 72kW at a DCFC station. For a while, I thought this was normal, but I've seen many people online talking about their charging curve, and it sounds like I should be seeing around 120kW at least. I've used multiple chargers at different locations, and I am often the only vehicle there. My SoC when plugging in has been anywhere from 10% to 70%, so it's not the expected drop-off above 80%. The one I have used most frequently, I have seen other vehicles charging above 150kW, so I know it's not the charging station.



Am I doing something wrong? Is anyone else experiencing this?

I have the exact same problem! I can only charge at a maximum of 70kW.



May I ask if you were able to find the issue?

 

[Lost In Jersey]

I have the exact same problem! I can only charge at a maximum of 70kW.



May I ask if you were able to find the issue?

It ultimately ended up being what Yellow Buddy suggested, and was just poor charging infrastructure in my area. My truck was fine, the other vehicles I saw that were charging faster must have had higher voltage battery packs. Now that I have access to Tesla, I regularly see charging rates of 150kW+.

If you can, try to find a higher amperage charger. If you're in a rural area, you might have to go somewhere a bit more urban. Unfortunately it is not easy to find the amperage of a fast charger advertised anywhere, the best method I have found it to look at the comments on PlugShare and see if a lot of people complain about their charge maxing out around 70kW.

 

[hturnerfamily]

let's pile on some more, with the aspect of using Superchargers, and what we're seeing there, too...

with several months and MANY stops at superchargers, and mostly in the 20-35% SOC upon arrival, I've seen similarities in most all of them, although yesterday and today, was different, at a SUPERCHARGER in Millan, GA: 188kw.

Most all of the other superchargers, in Florida and Georgia, have topped out at maybe a short high of 152-158kw..

but, in all situations, after about 10 minutes, they all start to drop slowly and SURELY down to about 99kw, and they sit there until maybe reaching75-80%, where then it's 45kw, etc.

 

[Ffxdude]

let's pile on some more, with the aspect of using Superchargers, and what we're seeing there, too...

with several months and MANY stops at superchargers, and mostly in the 20-35% SOC upon arrival, I've seen similarities in most all of them, although yesterday and today, was different, at a SUPERCHARGER in Millan, GA: 188kw.

Most all of the other superchargers, in Florida and Georgia, have topped out at maybe a short high of 152-158kw..

but, in all situations, after about 10 minutes, they all start to drop slowly and SURELY down to about 99kw, and they sit there until maybe reaching75-80%, where then it's 45kw, etc.

Same experiences with my supercharger stops as of late. Starting off with high values and dropping to the low 100s - high 90s after about 10 min of use.

Last trip I stopped at a couple of applegreen electric stations rated for 150kw in addition to the Tesla stops. Those pulled 130s pretty much the entire time.

Much flatter curve with the applegreen stops, but very similar overall charge times.

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