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Tesla - "Speed limited by charging station"

MOT

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I'm not sure if this is a settled issue, but I'm going to share my thoughts.
In short, Tesla Supercharger cables overheat quickly on hot days with a large load.
I've taken a few road trips this summer, and every time I have used a Tesla charger, I've been restricted to between 160 kW and 130 kW after a few minutes of charging.
The hotter the weather and the greater the sun load, the quicker the restriction occurs.
There seem to be numerous online claims about this being an issue with the adapter, which seems reasonable. To test this, I covered the adapter with a bag of ice (don't try this at home, kids). It made zero difference. The adapter was cool the entire time, but the cable was nearly too hot to touch.

I should note these were all Gen 3 Tesla Supercharges, and I don't think those have liquid-cooled cables.

I also charged at Electricfy America and Rivian stations, both of which use liquid-cooled cables. My charging speed was never reduced at these stations, and I saw 220kw of charging for up to 20 minutes.

Thoughts?
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azbill

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Living in Arizona, I see this all the time. The V3 cables are cooled, but the Tesla connector is very small and there is no way to cool the connector pins as effectively as CCS. The liquid cooling in a CCS connector makes it way out to the pins, at least partially.

BTW, the V3 connectors ARE NOT NACS. The official NACS specification made the pins in the connector longer, so they have more surface area to handle the heat better. I still doubt they will ever work as well as CCS. So many people think the smaller connector is better than CSS, but when it comes to cooling, size matters. V4 cabinets have the official NACS connectors, I have only used a V4 in CA, and it was not that hot at the time I used that site, so did not see a derating.
 

PaythePiper

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It’s the adapter, not the cables. My Tesla charges just fine on Superchargers here in AZ
 

SANZC02

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This is not uncommon or limited to Tesla Superchargers. On days over 105 degrees, very common in the California lower deserts, I’ve had EA chargers de-rate as well.

Tesla Superchargers will slow down on Tesla vehicles as well in very hot weather.
 

DCFC

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The cable cooling system on V3 is embarrassing small. I've seen gaming computers with bigger radiators and fans. V4 radiator is roughly 3x larger eyeballing it.
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