If Your Tesla Cybertruck Is Supercharging At 320+ kW, 'It's Not A Bug'

4 months, 1 week ago - 07. August 2024, Inside EVs
If Your Tesla Cybertruck Is Supercharging At 320+ kW, 'It's Not A Bug'
Tesla is running a trial of a DC charging boost at a few stations before a wider rollout.

The Tesla Cybertruck might soon get a major DC fast charging boost. The automaker is conducting limited real-world tests at some of its Supercharging stations.

The model entered the market in November 2023, and according to specs, its 123-kWh battery can accept up to 250 kilowatts of power and replenish 136 miles or about 40% of range in 15 minutes. In the case of the Cyberbeast, it's up to 128 miles.

Some early tests showed results that were not far from the specs but still were considered disappointing. This prompted Tesla to announce an over-the-air (OTA) software update in April, which will increase the range replenishing rate to 154 miles in 15 minutes (it was re-announced in June).

Today we saw that a Tesla Cybertruck user TesLatino (@TesLatino / X) noticed and recorded a surprisingly high Supercharging speed—up to 325 kilowatts at 18% state-of-charge (SOC). It happened at a Tesla Supercharging station in Los Gatos, California. It's one of the newest stations, equipped with brand new black and white V4 Supercharging dispensers.

The attached video shows that the charging power quickly decreased to over 300 kW before turning 19% SOC, to 295 kW at 20% SOC and 286 kW before turning 21% SOC. We expect the decrease will continue, but the short clip ends here. We also don't know what happened before 18% SOC. Here is a typical Tesla Cybertruck DC fast charging curve from our own Tom Moloughney, who saw 220 kW power between about 15 and 30% SOC.

InsideEVs' friend, Kyle Conner, pointed out that the charging was done at a typical voltage for Supercharging, not 800-1000 volts, so the current potentially was extra high, up to over 900 amps at peak.

The most interesting input comes from Tesla Cybertruck Lead Engineer Wes (@wmorrill3 / X), who confirmed that Tesla is testing higher-speed charging of the Cybertruck: "Running a trial on a few different V3+ stations (V3 cabinet + V4 charge post). This is not a bug, but it's also not rolled out to all hardware-capable stations. He was bound to find one since @TesLatino has visited 97% of all North America supercharger locations."

If the test is limited only to a few sites with V4 dispensers (and standard V3 cabinets), the question is whether all older sites with new V4 dispensers will be able to supply higher power for Cybertrucks. Secondly, what will be the result, and when will it be launched? And there still must be potential for more if Tesla starts using 800-1,000 volt chargers.

The vehicle's battery pack is an 800-volt class battery system. Without using high-voltage power electronics (typical Superchargers run up to 500 volts), we will probably not see its full potential.

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