Tesla Testing V4 Supercharger Speeds at Select V3 Locations
Yesterday, TesLatino on X (formerly Twitter) shared a video of his Cybertruck charging at over 300 kW at a V3+ Supercharger. V3+ Superchargers are the latest version of Tesla’s Supercharger, featuring a V3 cabinet but the V4 charge post, according to the Cybertruck lead engineer Wes Morrill. This is notable as these stations are not specially marked, and are being used to test the capabilities of the V3+ Supercharger.
Currently at a v.4 @TeslaCharging stall at Los Gatos, California and this is how it’s going!
— TesLatino (@TesLatino) August 5, 2024
323kW to start is not bad at all. pic.twitter.com/RXIFYOLGYm
Testing Location
TesLatino was charging at a Supercharger in Los Gatos, California. Specifically, it appears he was charging at the station on Los Gatos Blvd #16000. This station appears to have V3 superchargers, but apparently they are V3+, meaning that they are have the V4 charge post which can enable them to charge at much higher speeds than the standard V3 Supercharger.
How Much Faster Is It?
A standard Tesla supercharger can charge at up to 250 kW, but the V3+ Supercharger can charge at over 300 kW. This is a significant increase in charging speed, reducing the time to charge substantially. The picture TesLatino shared had his Cybertruck at 18% battery and charging at 323 kW, resulting in over 800 miles of range in an hour. Of course, that cannot be sustained over the entire charge, but it is a significant improvement over the standard V3 Supercharger.
More Details From Tesla Employee
Kyle Connor of Out of Spec Reviews shared that he spoke with TesLatino during his charging session, and they confirmed the increased speeds were not done by increasing the voltage, but by increasing the current. This means the station was likely pushing over 900 amps to get that 323 kW charging speed.
A Tesla employee clarified the situation in a response to Connor, stating that the increasing the speed of the V3+ Supercharger is being done as a pilot program at select locations. This is likely to test the capabilities of the V4 charge post and the V3+ Supercharger in general. As of now, it has not been rolled out to all stations, but if it proves reliable it appears Tesla would benefit from unlocking these higher charging speeds for vehicles that can handle it.
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. I guess since @TesLatino has visited 97% of all North America supercharger locations he was bound to find one.
— Wes (@wmorrill3) August 5, 2024
An important note is that these charging speeds were achieved sub-400 volts. All Tesla vehicles prior to the Cybertruck are equipped with 400-volt battery packs, meaning that theoretically any vehicle in Tesla’s lineup could benefit from these increased charging speeds.
In the future, especially if more of Tesla’s lineup is converted to 800-volt batteries, we will likely see more cabinets further improved to provide that 800-volt charging. That would have a number of profound improvements, primarily providing higher power with less heat, allowing higher sustained charging in difficult weather conditions.
Conclusion
It is interesting to see Tesla testing the capabilities of their V3+ Supercharger, and it is exciting to see the potential for higher charging speeds. If this pilot program proves successful, it could be a significant improvement for Tesla owners as all of Tesla’s current lineup could benefit from the increased charging speeds. It is unclear when or if this will be rolled out to all stations, but for the ones it is available at, it is a notable improvement in charging speed.