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Tesla v4 Supercharger
Last month at the Tesla Semi event, Tesla revealed that mega chargers will have megawatt charging capability for the Tesla Semi. Tesla will be producing a multi-megawatt megawatt charger for the Tesla Semi and for the Cybertruck, there will also be a v4 Supercharger with megawatt charging capability.
The v4 Supercharger network will be available for all other Tesla vehicles as well, not just the Cybertruck. The v3 Supercharger network might also get a performance boost as well.
What is supercharging? For a typical electric vehicle, despite having a charge port, there are two different ways the vehicle can be charged - with AC or DC power. EVs have an onboard charger that allow them to charge with an AC charging connection. With AC, the onboard charger converts the AC power from the grid to DC power. Onboard charging is usually expensive and heavy.
When it comes to fast charging, a DC faster charger is required. They can deliver high voltage and high amp to the vehicle. It bypasses the onboard charger. The DC fast charger is called the supercharger. Tesla launched their first supercharger in 2012 with a 90 kW power output. It had a short cable at first, but these have since improved.
V3 launched in 2019 and is much better. The charging cable is thinner and lighter. Tesla added a liquid coolant to the cable for thermal management. Tesla also increased the power output of the v3 supercharger to 250 kW from 120 kW. V2 also got an upgrade to 145 kW.
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Tesla's Charging Statistics
The rate of charging a battery is interesting. As the battery charges, it goes at different speeds depending on how much state of charge is in the battery. According to InsideEVs, for 2021 long range Model 3 vehicles at a V3 supercharger, the charging power (kW) is as follow:
State of Charge / Charging Power (kW) for
0% / 82
10% 250
20% 250
30% 140
40% 140
50% 130
60% 100
70% 80
80% 50
90% 30
100% 0
It's clear that the batteries for the long range Model 3, which are lithium-ion and not LFP batteries, have their fastest charging take place between 10% and 60% state of charge. For daily driving, the best percentage to alternate from would be 20% to 80% to 85%. After that, charging becomes pretty slow.
If Tesla increases the charger power beyond 250 kW, will Tesla's vehicles be able to charge faster at the v4 superchargers? According to The Limiting Factor, it may help, but not much - 2-3 minutes faster for a Model 3 or 6 to 10 minutes for a Model S or Model X.
For a Cybertruck, however, the v4 supercharger would be able to supply about 510 kW of power and possibly up to 700 kW if the total battery size for the Cybertruck is 200 kWh.
Even if Tesla's Superchargers can do a megawatt, the Tesla Semi or Cybertruck are really the only two vehicles that will benefit. If the V4 supercharger has 1 megawatt of power, that might be overkill for the first generaion of the Cybertruck, but the Tesla Semi will benefit from that.
When looking at Tesla's V4 superchargers, it looks like Tesla will make a megacharger with a thicker cable for the Tesla Semi and a V4 supercharger with a thinner cable for the Cybertruck and all other Tesla vehicles.
In order for other vehicles to take advantage of the V4 superchargers, batteries are going to have to increase in size, reduce weight, and be much more efficient. Perhaps an LFP battery pack around 100 kWh or more would benefit from these new Superchargers.
Are Tesla's V4 Superchargers going to be useful? Will EVs get bigger battery packs that can take advantage of the faster chargers?
For more information, see this video from The Limiting Factor:
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Jeremy Johnson is a Tesla investor and supporter. He first invested in Tesla in 2017 after years of following Elon Musk and admiring his work ethic and intelligence. Since then, he's become a Tesla bull, covering anything about Tesla he can find, while also dabbling in other electric vehicle companies. Jeremy covers Tesla developments at Torque News. You can follow him on Twitter or LinkedIn to stay in touch and follow his Tesla news coverage on Torque News.
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