How many kw does it take to charge a Tesla?Are you a Tesla owner? Are you looking to benefit from the cost and environmental savings of driving an electric vehicle (EV)? After all, one of the best reasons to purchase an EV is the long-term cost savings. In fact, on average, electric vehicle owners can save around $632 per year by charging their electric vehicle compared to paying at the pump.

Of course, there are a lot of compounding factors here that play into annual savings such as your energy plan, the cost of gasoline, and your electric vehicle model. But all in all, moving from a gas-powered vehicle to an electric vehicle promises some sizable savings.

How many kw does it take to charge a Tesla?

When you charge your EV’s battery, not all of the energy you use is stored in the battery: some is lost as heat, some is used to keep the battery at an adequate temperature, and some escapes as “transmission loss” (a process that’s quite technical, so we won’t get into the details). The level of EV charger you use can substantially impact the amount of energy that’s lost as heat – higher voltage charging generally equates to less energy loss.

For example, Level 1 chargers (AKA 120-volt regular outlet chargers) and Level 2 chargers (AKA 208- or 240-volt standard home chargers) have to convert alternating current (AC) electricity from your home into direct current (DC) electricity that can be stored by your EV’s battery.

This conversion produces heat, leading to energy loss. On the other hand, using a Level 3 charger (400-volt chargers you’d find at public charging networks) is referred to as DC fast charging because they provide DC electricity, so no conversion losses occur.

According to an article from Car and Driver, Level 3 chargers typically see efficiency above 90 percent, whereas Level 1 or Level 2 chargers typically reach about 85 percent, with some dropping to as low as 60 percent in cold weather.

Charging costs also vary if you opt to use one of Tesla’s Superchargers.

Can I calculate how long the battery will charge?

Yes, you absolutely can! Start calculating your charging station capacity using this formula: volts X amperes = Watts. To illustrate how to make this simple calculation, let’s say you have 16 amps and a 120 V basic plug. Its capacity equals 1 920 watts or 1.9 kW. Take your net battery capacity and divide it into the charger capacity, and you get the total time of charging.

Let’s take, for example, the newest 2022 Tesla Model 3: its battery capacity is 82 kWh; divide it into 1.9 kW of basic Level 1 plug and get roughly 43 hours of charging. Another critical moment – an EV cannot charge the whole battery at maximum speed.

After 50% of charge capacity, the speed decreases, and the closer to 100%, the slower the rate. So, the charging time increases 1.5-2 times, meaning charging your Tesla at home through a basic outlet could take up to 4 days.

Faster charge rates

The CCS (Combined Charging System) standard is the current leader in supercharging, providing up to 350 kW charging speed. But the cable heats up quickly from such amperages, so it always comes with a liquid cooling system inside.

Tesla used to have a different standard, but with the launch of the Model 3 and the Supercharger V3, the company started implementing CCS adaptors for the new cars and Superchargers. All of that allows the battery to be charged in 15 minutes.

Primary factors influencing EV charging

From the amount of charge required to achieve your daily driving requirements to charging efficiency, there are many factors that influence the amount of electricity that a Tesla consumes. As we move forward in this section we’ll investigate each one of these factors.

State of Charge and Depth of Discharge

The State of Charge and the Depth of Discharge act as two of the most influential factors when it comes to electricity consumed by a Tesla. The State of Charge or SoC describes the upper limit of battery charge.

For example, some Tesla owners may charge their Tesla’s to 95% overnight because they know they’ll deplete their charge the next day on a long commute, whereas, other Tesla owners may only need to charge to 70% since they have a shorter daily drive with their Tesla. In these examples, the State of Charge is 90% and 70% respectively.

And just how the State of Charge defines the upper limit of battery charge, the Depth of Discharge or DoC, indicates the percentage of the battery that has been discharged relative to the overall capacity of the battery. For example, some Tesla owners may deplete their Tesla battery to 50% whereas, other Tesla owners may delete their Tesla battery to 30% depending on driving requirements.

Understanding Electricity Consumption

As different Tesla owners set different State of Charge limits and deplete their Tesla to differing Depth of Charge limits, they are going to consume different amounts of electricity to meet their driving habits. Before we continue, we’ll do a quick review of electricity to better understand concepts such as current, voltage and power.

Current, which is measured in amperes (or amps), is the flow of electricity (or electrons ) passing from the source to the target. The higher the current, the higher the flow of electricity moving from source to target.

Voltage can be thought of as the pressure of the electricity (or electrons) passing through the conductive material from the source to the target. The higher the voltage the higher the pressure on electrons moving from the source to target, resulting in faster charging times.

Power is a measure of how much work can be performed in a given amount of time. Power is equal to electrical current (ampere or amp) multiplied by electric potential (volts). When you take a look at your electricity bill, you’re likely to find that your electricity consumed for the month is defined in Kilowatt (1000 watts) hours (kWh), a measurement of power.

This metric denotes the amount of power measured in kilowatts that are consumed per hour. Our guess is this value should be somewhere around 13 cents per kilowatt-hour as the national average here in the US is 13.19 cents per kilowatt-hour.

Tesla Battery Capacity

There is a difference between an EV battery’s net and total capacity. To use it most effectively and keep it working as long as possible, the manufacturer doesn’t allow it to fully deplete or charge, so there’s always a 3-5% buffer left. This means the total battery capacity is higher than the net, but the net space is the only one you can use.

The general recommendation for EV owners to mitigate battery degradation is to keep charging levels between 20% and 80%. However, for the latest 2022 models, Tesla introduced the new lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery cells which could be fully charged up to 100% regularly. The limit could be set manually, and the owner can choose 100% without damaging the battery.

How many kWh are needed to charge a Tesla?

Electricity generated by your local energy provider is measured in kWh. For this reason, Tesla batteries are also measured using the same units. Determining how much electricity is required to charge a Tesla can be pretty straightforward once you know how to do it.

Next time you’re wondering, ‘How many kWh are needed to charge a Tesla?’, just remember energy over distance. What we’re really looking to express is how much energy is used by the Tesla for a particular number of miles traveled.

If you find that you drive about 30 miles per day, under fair weather conditions, and you don’t run your engine at high RPMs, you’ll find that you get around 3 to 4 miles per kWh. Meaning, you’ll need to charge around 10 kWh following the 30-mile drive to get the Tesla battery back to its initial location.

Electricity rates for home charging

If you look closely at the electricity bills coming from your energy provider, you may notice there are different ways electricity rates are applied. Depending on your location and your electricity distributor, there will be different ways to pay for your energy consumption.

Four of the more common price offerings are: flat rate, tiered rate, time of use rate, and real-time rates. At the end of the day, all of these rates are still mapped to electricity measured in kWh. However, pricing can help inform how you use your electricity and charge your vehicle.

Flat Rate Pricing

With flat rate pricing you’ll have a pretty consistent electricity bill, assuming you’re drawing on average the same amount of electricity per month. Flat rate pricing is a great model for those looking for a consistent bill. These models eliminate the surprise of a higher than average cost per kWh at peak usage times. Unfortunately, you will also be losing out on the cost-saving benefits of charging at low usage times.

Tiered Rate Pricing

Tiered rate pricing breaks pricing into separate tiers based on consumption. For example, tier one may assign a specific cost per kWh for any consumption up to 50 kWh whereas tier two may capture 50 kWh to 100 kWh.

Tier three will have yet a different charge for anything above 100 kWh. This model attempts to build in some cost savings based on usage. Again, the end-user loses the ability to save on their electricity costs by charging at certain times of the day when electricity is cheapest.

Time-of-Use Rate

Time-of-Use rates attempt to encourage use of electricity during off-peak hours by lowering costs during off-peak times and increasing costs during high-peak hours.

Real-Time Rates

Lastly, real-time rates base electricity pricing on dynamic demand throughout the day. While demand is high, the electricity company will charge a higher price for the electricity drawn and used, whereas, when demand is low, the electricity company will drop the price of electricity to encourage use.

Real-time rates offer the best cost-savings opportunity for Tesla charging, assuming that one can dynamically charge during times where the electricity company drops the price per kWh.

Keeping track of all of this is easier said than done. Fortunately, there are third-party applications that can help you minimize your electricity bill and maximize your battery life.

Optiwatt is a free app that will automatically load your electricity rates and schedule your car to charge during the cheapest hours. It also takes into account annual adjustments in utility rates and will automatically update the charging schedule for winters, summers, and weekends.

What about a Tesla Supercharger?

Today, Tesla has more than 12,000 Superchargers across North America, Europe, and Asia. In March, Tesla unveiled its V3 Supercharging, which enables Tesla electric vehicles to charge faster than any other electric vehicle on the market today.

For example, a 2019 Model 3 Long Range vehicle operating at peak efficiency can recover up to 75 miles of charge in 5 minutes when using their electric vehicle charging stations and charge at rates of up to 1,000 miles per hour.

It also introduced a new feature called On-Route Battery Warmup, which allows your car to intelligently heat the battery when approaching a Tesla Supercharger in order to ensure its EV drivers charge at the optimal temperature and ultimately reduce average charge times for owners by 25 percent.

Other Tesla Supercharging stations charge with up to 150 kW of power distributed between two cars with a maximum of 150 kW per car, depending on the version. These electric vehicle charging stations take about 20 minutes to charge to 50%, 40 minutes to charge to 80%, and 75 minutes to 100% on the original 85 kWh Model S.

‍FAQs

How many kW does it take to fully charge a Tesla?

The amount of electricity required to charge a Tesla depends on the battery size and the charging speed. On an average, a Tesla Model 3 requires around 30 kWh to fully charge from empty to full. However, this can vary depending on the charging method and the model of Tesla.

How many kW does a Tesla home charger use?

A faster and Wi-Fi enabled option for your Tesla vehicle, Wall Connector receives over-the-air updates so the charger becomes better over time. Wall Connector adds up to 44 miles of range per hour (or 11.5 kW).

How many kWh does it take to charge an electric car?

Most EVs can generally travel 3 to 4 miles per kilowatt-hour (kWh) of energy. A full recharge, if your vehicle’s range is 300 miles, would require 75-100 kWh and cost $10-$14.

Above is information about How many kw does it take to charge a Tesla? that we have compiled. Hopefully, through the above content, you have a more detailed understanding of Primary factors influencing EV charging. Thank you for reading our post.