Here’s How To Know How Fast Your Electric Car Is Charging

[@howardschoenberger3526]

Wow, had been complaining that I never saw about 170KW in my Ioniq5, well today on a new EA 350 charger I actually hit and held for a while at 241kw - just above what your spreadsheet shows as the theoretical max of 240.

[@davidck1]

high kw numbers are great to see, but at lower kw the range per hour is what you want to watch. especially on 50 kw chargers

[@samuelweiner5382]

Kyle you are an important educator for the EV community

[@BensEcoAdvntr]

Slight correction on the Bolt: many “50 kW” stations are only so when the pack voltage of the car is high enough. For one plugging into an old BTC 50 kW unit will only deliver 44 kW to the Bolt before it begins to taper. To max out the Bolt, the ChargePoint CPE250 that can output 62.5 kW is the best choice. Anything above that won’t matter.

[@vhol93]

Max camera quality is great! Using a DSLR as a webcam?

[@anthonyc8499]

Great video! I have to disagree with Kyle's conclusion that charging speeds measured in miles/minute is not a good metric. Kyle's own example of various Teslas all receiving 200kW but getting different charge speeds is exactly why miles/minute is so useful. Using miles/minute as measured by either EPA range (or Out of Spec range tests) for the 10% - 80% times is a better way to normalize charging speeds.

[@joeyvinzo4531]

I wish someone would create a book/ video/ etc., of “EV for Dummies”, “EV Charging for Dummies”, etc. with simple explanation and examples so that us “non intellectuals” can make full sense of EVs, to help turn the majority into EVs.

[@avaughs]

You should create a spreadsheet that lists which cars have heat pumps!

[@aikafuwa7177]

What is the proper conventions for public chargers? How do you figure out whether if there is a line/queue waiting? What happens if the car is charged but you are not back to the car right away? Do you need to wait in your car while it is charging?

[@AaronMcFarland]

Thank you providing the list of vehicles and charging speeds. Sadly, this is information really know one understands who isn't already nerdy in the EV culture. Uninformed customers purchase a Bolt being the cheapest EV can buy out there and discover after purchasing, takes almost 3x as long to charge compared to a Tesla Model 3 SR+ which isn't that much more.

[@TheRealLaughingGravy]

It would be nice if you added a column to your spreadsheet that shows which models have battery preconditioning.

[@marclemieux8269]

Kyle, I have a question regarding the C-rate pertaining to fast-charging your EV. Since my Ioniq 5 has a 77.4 kw battery, wouldn't a 50 kw fast charger be less harmful to the traction battery than a much-faster 250 kw charger because you're vastly exceeding the recommended C-rate by a factor of 5X? Also, is it better to fast-charge with shorter sessions for topping-up purposes so as to lessen the effects of heat on your traction battery? Thanks for your valuable insight!

[@TodDetre]

Just fyi, Toyota limits you to two DC fast charges per 24 hours as well. From the bz4x faq "DC Fast Charging should be limited to two cycles of charging (Low Light to 80%) per day throughout the year." From my experience, this is a hard limit, not a "should".

[@CaptDnaDonut]

I think the highest charge speed I've seen in my Mustang Mach-E with the standard range battery is 118-119kW. The curve has been updated. It seems to slowly step down from its peak charging instead of dropping to 80-82kW after 2-3 minutes of peak charging. it'll sit at around 90+ kW for while.

[@TheYatogami]

Hey Max! Multiple people have gotten 190 kW on the 2023 82kWh pack ID.4. It doesn't hold long, but it can definitely do it. Not sure what the difference is in battery pack and chemistry...

[@outofspecguide]

Updating! Thanks for the observed experience -- it's interesting how some of the German EVs exceed their spec ratings.

[@TheYatogami]

Tried posting a link to a Rate Your Charge post, but looks like Twitter links get deleted. Someone was getting 182kW at an EA station today.

[@DooperN]

Hi Max Perhaps you could explain in a video how the chargecurve works in EVs, e.g. like what the E-tron does compared to Polestar 2, as both does max 150 kW. My 2022 BMW iX3 (which you don't have over there) is stated at 150 kW, but so far I've only seen 144 kW from a 200 kW charger. Battery was pre-conditioned. Haven't checked if there's a amp-limitation from the charger though.

[@iMaxPatten]

Hi Olav! I made the list for US cars only but I’ll add in European market cars like iX3 since those are popular too. Charging curve is definitely something we’ll explain in the future!

[@DooperN]

@@iMaxPatten Perhaps a sheet for cars only in other markets in the spreadsheet is possible, as Out of Spec has viewers all over the world.

[@iMaxPatten]

@@DooperN we know! It’s a shortcoming to be so US-centric - when we talk about CCS chatting with combo 1 we have to be. I’ll keep thinking about opportunities to make our content more universal. Thank you for the feedback!

[@581rma]

some of the new EA locations that upgraded to the new units are all 350kw and kept one old unit they need to expand the number of units per location 4 on average is insufficient.

[@MachE_Mutt]

When I first got my Mach-E, I mistakenly thought that since the car could charge at about 150 kW max, that if I used a 100 kW charger that I would get a flat 100 kW rate of charge until the charging curve began to limit the rate. For the longest time I was confused as to why I would never see a rate higher than about 75 kW when I plugged into that (theoretically) 100 kW charger. I mistakenly would blame the network operator for derating their charger when that wasn't the case at all. The fog lifted after watching Branden Flasch's "Don't Let The Cable Be The Bottleneck On Your EV Fast Charger Installation". While I agree that the charger kW number is an easy way to identify a reasonable charger to use for your EV, the real number to care about is the charger maximum amperage. That is really what controls the maximum charge rate that your EV will experience. I don't know my Mach-E pack voltage range (guessing 325 to 390 V) but let's say my pack voltage is at 350 V when I plug in. The "100 kW" charger had a maximum of 200 A output. That means that the best that I'll ever get on any charger that has a 200 A maximum is 350 V times 200 A which is 70 kW. Likewise, if the 50 kW charger amps max out at 100 A, I'd never see more that 35 kW. This would be true of any EV which also explains why 800 V systems charge quicker than 400 V systems. 750 V times 200 A is 150 kW so an Ionic 5 might actually see that flat 100 kW rate that I thought I'd get with my Mach-E. Assuming a Bolt's pack voltage is also about the same as my Mach-E, they should want to use a charger rated 150 A or more to get their 50+ kW rate. I'm guessing the 150 kW EA chargers are rated around 400 A as I generally only get 135 to 140 kW when I use them. I assume that there is some correlation between the charger kW rating and the maximum amps but amperage is the number I'm checking when I fast charge.

[@vulpixelful]

Now that the 2024 ID.4 can get 175kw-190kw max, please don't pitch a fit when you see them on 350kw chargers! I wish 200kw chargers were more common so we could save the 350s for the Rivians and Lightnings, tho

[@911_dan2]

My Mercedes GLE says octane rating on the gas door. EVs should have max charge rate on the charge door

[@bingerschannel6724]

Hi guys. Thanks for the spreadsheet. Quick question for either of you. I own a Rivian R1t and have a home charger so no issues with charging on a daily basis. But I live in very cold Minnesota and have about a 20-25 minute drive to work. Given the battery is very cold and not conditioned I get very low 1.3-1.5 KW/h efficiency. Could I theoretically say 30 minutes prior to leaving set a route to a DCFC 22 miles away for the truck to pre-condition my vehicle so when I leave I get a much higher kw/h throughout my 25 minute trip into work? Curious if that would work. Thanks!

[@ArielBatista]

You have the 2022 ID.4 set max as 127, in fact it's a lot more. 135 is what the doc says but I have gotten 173kw speed. This is with the 3.1 software.

[@iMaxPatten]

Updating! Thanks for sharing your experience, software updates def improve vehicles a lot (Volvo saw the same benefits)

[@BruceYanagida]

This is awesome info however most people won’t read the specs on their car and just don’t know what their max charging rate is. It would be very helpful if the charger just displayed the max rate for the car when it is plugged in. Can’t the charger and car be made to communicate and display this information? The easier we make it the better for everyone. The other thing is that the chargers that I have been to don’t prominently display their charging speed where you can actually read it as you are driving up. So I have accidentally pulled up to a 350 kW charger when I was looking for a 100 kW. They all look the same. Really???

[@lindahicklin8061]

Question: I live in an apartment with no charger. I know that fast charging too much can be hard on the battery, so when I charged my new ID4 at my local EVGO, I used a function in the infotainment to drop the charging speed (the amps, I think), but it was still charging at 47 kw (not the 10-20 kw of a level 2). Any thoughts/recommendations? What’s okay for my regular non-road-trip charging?

[@911_dan2]

That only lowers AC charge speed. Has no effect on DC charging

[@danlevack913]

I noticed the electric Ioniq (2020, 2021) is not your chart. While Ioniq charges at 50 kw I find the 50 kw chargers are being used less often now that 150 kw chargers are available. People use the higher kws even if their car cannot take it in, I think they see 150 so it must be better than 50 in their minds.

[@outofspecguide]

We’re talking about currently for-sale EVs in this video. I think most people with a full-electric IONIQ know their car’s capabilities.

[@bingerschannel6724]

@@outofspecguide I think you slightly touched on what Dan was trying to imply and that is education is needed by everyone to know your max charging level and only go to those chargers and leave the bigger chargers for the vehicles to take it, especially given the poor state of CCS charging infrastructure. Also for the education that anything really above 75% state of charge people should leave and move on down the road unless for some very unique reason they need to charge above that. I think this topic should be hammered home more often as the eduction level out there is bad and is causing major charging inefficiency across the country in an already nascent infrastructure.

[@cfields123]

Hi Kyle & Max, 2021 E-tron here. Great information my question is when charging at EA I get well over 100kw and more during conditions. But at EVGo at a 200kw station no matter what I get maybe 80-88 kw at the same location and evgo said this is what my car will take is all. Is this correct at a EVGo station? I do know conditions mater

[@jeffpapp1]

Could be an amp limitation at the EVGo station. If the charger can only deliver 200 amps on a 400 V car you might only get 80 kw, but the EA station might be capable of outputting 350 amps which would give you over 100 kw on the same voltage.

[@OutofSpecReviews]

Those EVgo stations have a big amperage limitation with their cables and it's a topic we cover on our Podcast channel

[@veronicalyles4157]

What is the maximum charging speed for Hyundai Tucson 2023

[@undrachvrsage]

TFTC