Tesla raises Model 3 charge capacity to 200 kW

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Since last weekend, Tesla has been installing a new firmware update for Model 3 already delivered in Europe. This means that charging capacities of up to 200 kW are now also possible with third-party suppliers – at least at a few locations.

Tesla is currently rolling out an update for the Model 3, which enables up to 200 kW at public high power charging stations. This applies not only to the company’s third-generation Superchargers but also to third-party providers such as Ionity, Allego and Fastned, which operate their high-performance charging stations.

The update, which will be released in several batches, makes the Model 3 in the all-wheel drive and performance version the fastest charging electric car in Europe. So far, the Audi e-tron has had the highest charging power of all, up to 150 kW.

Tesla in Europe will then ignite the second stage in the expansion of the charging capacity at the end of 2019 when the capacity of the Tesla Model 3 is to be increased to 250 kilowatts via an “over-the-air” update.

But not all HPC chargers can offer the Model 3 the full 200 kW. This is not always easy for the customer to see: while Ionity’s Model 3 can always charge at full power (regardless of whether ABB or Tritium charging stations are installed at the site), Fastned’s is different. The Dutch also use ABB chargers with 175 kW at their German locations, but in a different configuration. According to the company, the European long-range model-3 could charge there with about 140 kW. The expansion to a theoretical 350 kW planned for summer increases the charging capacity of the Model 3 to 190 kW.

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In a video by Norwegian electric car blogger Björn Nyland, you can see that Model 3 now charges faster than an Audi e-tron. The charging capacity of the Tesla at an Ionity station rose to 195 kW but begins to decline slowly from a charge level of around 40 per cent. At 65 per cent it is still 100 kW, at 90 per cent 35 kW. At its peak, the Audi charges more slowly (maximum 148 kW), but remains more constant. Its charging capacity only decreases from a charge level of 69 per cent, at 81 per cent it falls below a charging capacity of 100 kW.

Model 3 is likely to charge even faster on the new generation of superchargers (V3). As Tesla has now confirmed, all eight charging stations at the headquarters in Fremont, California, have been converted to V3 and are accessible to all Tesla drivers – so far only a small number of people have been able to use the new charging stations. In Europe and Asia, V3 supercharging will be available at the first charging stations from the fourth quarter onwards. Even though the charging stations hardly differ in appearance from the V2 Charger, they are completely new developments.

With the V3 Supercharger, Tesla in Europe is switching completely to the CCS connection. The Model 3 has a CCS socket as standard in Europe, and since May 2019 the Model S and Model X have been built with a CCS preparation so that they can charge via an adapter on a CCS column.

Without this CCS preparation on the hardware side, charging with the adapter should theoretically not be possible. An owner of a Model S – according to his information without this preparation – has now tried out the adapter. And as documented in the video, it was charged at an Ionity station with up to 132 kW. It is still unclear how this worked. The car, which was rechecked by Tesla, did not have a CCS retrofit. Tesla offers this retrofit for owners of older Model S and Model X for 500 Euro, including adapter.

Note: An earlier version of the article stated that the Model 3 could not charge at full speed at Ionity sites equipped with ABB chargers. This is not true according to the vendor.

autocar.co.uk, greencarreports.com, teslamag.de (CCS in German)

6 Comments

about „Tesla raises Model 3 charge capacity to 200 kW“
Col Mosby
11.06.2019 um 21:44
A rather odd article. The cars that take advanatge of the superiority of CCS chargers over Tesla SUperchargers (120KW-200KWversus 350-450KW for CCS) are not yet here - the Porsche Taycan can recharge a lot faster than any Tesla, at 350KW, and BMW has demoed an EV that can charge at 450KW. Tesla has fallen behind in charging technology and their Supercharger network is doomed, a fact made obvious the Tesla's incorpration of CCS adapters in their Model 3 cars.
Rune Madsen
12.06.2019 um 07:35
Yet another anti Tesla troll. I suspect he is working at one of the competitors, or betting on the shares to fall.Model 3 is here and working, where are the “fantastic” competitors? And where are the chargers that charge them fast?
mj3
12.06.2019 um 04:56
Yes the non existent cars are much faster than the Teslas. :)
Clive Timbrell
12.06.2019 um 00:22
"The cars that take advanatge of the superiority of CCS chargers over Tesla SUperchargers (120KW-200KWversus 350-450KW for CCS) are not yet here". I don't know how you can state that Tesla is doomed when you admit that the cars that are supposed to doom them do not exist. And we have still to see how reliable the competition is. That is also a concern. No point having 1000 charging locations if only half of them work.
Pontus Forsman
03.07.2019 um 11:03
After 20 min the Tesla has added about 300 km and the Audi 210 km. I would like to sit in the Tesla if I had to choose.
Rob
31.05.2020 um 21:08
In the UK as of May 2020. There are only 86 hyper chargers (100kwh+) of which 56 are Tesla Superchargers. The rest with the exception of Polar (9sites 20.4p) are significantly more expensive with Ionity at a ridiculous 69p/kwh. Is there any wonder why the Model 3 has been not only the best selling EV but the best selling car of any kind in the UK recently. You know the EV infra structure here technologically backward when 7.4kwh is considered fast on ZapMap.

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