What are the Tesla Charging Options?

Elon Musk’s vision to make electric vehicles a primary mode of transport for the world is no longer a far-fetched idea. The first problem that Tesla needs to address before firmly establishing electric vehicle dependency is charging. Recent steps towards this initiative involve Elon Musk’s announcement to make Tesla’s charging stations open to all-electric vehicles, not just Teslas.

Many people believe that this is a marketing flaw for Tesla as they are giving up their vast network of charging stations around the US to other car companies. On the flip side, people have failed to realize that Tesla will also benefit from more EV owners using their charging stalls. 

With more users at their disposal, Tesla can expand their already vast network of charging stations and gain further dominance in the electric vehicle space. Regardless of the increasing number of electric cars rushing to Tesla stations, whether this will improve their income stream is still up for debate.

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Nonetheless, to evaluate this question, you also must take into account that a large majority of Tesla owners charge their cars at home and not the charging stations. The only time charging stations become useful for Tesla users is when they have to travel long distances.

You can find many different Tesla charging options when it comes to fueling a Tesla’s battery with stored electricity. Every charging option involves a particular set of advantages and disadvantages for Tesla users around the world.

Tesla Charging 101

All the Tesla cars can easily recharge from the 120-volt, 240-volt, and supercharging Tesla outlets, along with other company charging outlets. To check the battery condition of a Tesla car, all you have to do is press the battery icon on the infotainment screen.

To retrieve additional details, two main charging types encompass the charging for Tesla, AC or DC. If you charge at home, then you generally require an AC charger. Essentially, a Tesla car will benefit more from utilizing an AC charger. This is because each car has an inventor that converts the AC into DC.

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Different Types of AC Chargers

The Tesla onboard charger for the new Tesla Model 3 or X has a charging capacity of 16.5 KW. This means that the car’s maximum charging from a destination charger can allow it to run at about 82 km/h. So what are Tesla’s charging options for AC charging? Well, every Tesla comes with a mobile charging kit.

This kit comprises a wall plug that can connect to any power socket in your home. This plug runs at 10 amperes. Therefore, if the power socket runs at 10 amps of an electric volt, and the average home generates about 240 volts from the power supply, the maximum capacity that you can get is 2.4 Kilowatts of energy.

This means that you can charge at about 10 kilometers an hour and you cannot get any faster when charging with the help of a wall plug. This may not be very fast, especially if you have a base model of a 75-kilowatt battery. In that case, your battery capacity evaluates out to be 375 kilometers.

Along with the plug, Tesla’s charging kit also includes a wall connector. And there are two types of wall connectors that you can find. The first includes the single-phase wall connector and the other involves a three-phase wall connector.

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Single Phase Wall Connectors

If you have a single-phase wall connector, then the maximum current that you can generate is about 40 amps. This will translate into 96 Kilowatts of energy for your Tesla car, which equates to about 45 kilometers an hour. This means that if you use a single-phase charger, even if your home is three-phase, you will get a range of about 45 kilometers an hour.

If you have a Tesla Model S, then you will notice that this is a little short of the 82 km/h capacity that the car has. This is why for cars such as these, a three-phase charger is comparatively better and more adequate.

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Three Phase Charger

Even though the three-phase chargers are smaller, they can provide your car with a charge capacity that caters to the 82 km/hour limit. Using a three-phase charger is, therefore, the best way to charge at home.

You can also find other Tesla charging options, such as charge point chargers. This uses the J 1772 port, and the only downside to using this port is that they will only charge your car at 6.5 KW. In this case, your car charger that can charge at about 82 km/hour will not limit you. Instead, the adapter, which does not come with the car kit, is the limiting factor and you have to purchase it separately.

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Brief on Tesla Charging Options and their Speeds

Therefore, if you were to rank Tesla charging options from the fastest to the slowest, the fastest would be the Tesla supercharger that can provide 120 KW of charging in a very short span of time. Following that would be the Chardemo. Both of these are DC charging options for Tesla cars.

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Nevertheless, Tesla recommends users stick to AC options, and the best one remains as the third-fastest option or the three-phase wall charger. This charger can provide you with an optimum charging rate of 9.6 KW. Following this is the single-phase wall charger and then finally the J1772 charging points that you find at shopping centers.

These entail the myriad of charging options that you have as a Tesla owner.

According to recommendations, the best way to charge your Tesla would be to use the three-phase wall charger at your home and charge your car overnight to about 80 to 90 percent.

Tesla’s Home Charging Options and How to Charge

New Tesla owners often have difficulties learning the proper ways to charge a Tesla. To simplify Tesla charging options for homes, you have three different options. The first option is the 110 Volt outlets, and the rest of the two include 230 Volts and a wall connector.

110V Outlet

Every Tesla comes with a car kit that includes this mobile charger. This is a hose-like wire with two ends. On one end, you can find the part that attaches to your car, while on the other end you have some Tesla charging options, one of them being the 110V outlet.

This outlet consists of the lowest level of charging for Tesla Cars.

To set it up, all you have to do is take a mobile adapter and plug one end into the 110V outlet, and the other into your car. The power that you can max out from this outlet is about 4 miles per hour of charge.

What this means is that if you charge your car from zero to a hundred on a 110 Volt outlet, the charging time will cap out at about 80 hours. This is an extremely long time, however, for Tesla owners that have short commutes and do not travel long distances very often. A standard outlet will be perfectly sufficient for the average driver.

230 V Outlet

If you are looking for faster-charging speeds, you have to resort to the 230 V outlet. This charging option is a step up from the 110V outlet. You will find this in your house with a dryer outlet, and people refer to this outlet as a 1450 adapter.

Once you plug this charger into the car, you will notice that the power ramps up to about 32 amps. This equates to about 30 miles per hour with an additional adapter of 14-50 kinds. With this type of adapter, you can ultimately charge a Tesla from zero to a hundred in only 11 hours.

Because most drivers do not find the need to charge from 0 to a hundred percent, the charge time for the 230V outlet gets even shorter in real-world use. This makes for a reasonable charging outlet that can help charge your Tesla EV overnight without any problems.

Tesla Wall Connector Charging Option

The third charging option for charging your Tesla at home is the Tesla Wall Connector. This is something that Tesla owners can purchase from Tesla so that they can charge their cars overnight and enjoy the fruits of convenience.

It also allows you the option to keep your mobile connectors in your car and rids you from the tensions of constantly worrying about it on your commutes. The amount of power you can generate from the wall connector depends on the circuit that your wall connector hooks to.

If you connect the wall charger to a circuit that offers about 60 amps of power, then you can provide the Tesla with the maximum amount of power.

Moreover, many Tesla owners are in favor of using the wall connector because of its simplicity.

All you have to do is unplug the cord, take it over to the car, and plug it in, and you will be able to connect the car to the power source in about a second. To confirm that your car has started charging, you have to make sure that the light turns green on the wall charger as soon as you connect the charger.

Inside the car, you will find that the power ramps up to about 45 miles per hour or 48 amps. This is the maximum power that you can charge a Tesla car with from a residential location. Meaning you can charge the car from zero to a hundred percent in just about seven hours of total charge time.

The reality is that managing all of these charging apparatus is difficult. Using free applications like Optiwatt can be a simple and affordable way to measure your energy consumption and minimize your electricity bill. 

How to Supercharge Your Tesla?

Supercharging is one of the fastest ways you can get your Tesla to charge at maximum capacity, quickly. Supercharging your Tesla is very easy. All you have to do is drive to the nearest supercharging station, and plug the supercharger from the stall into your car.

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Since your card information is available on the Tesla App, you don’t even have to go through any payment procedure, just directly charge your car, and drive away.

If you have already used superchargers at different locations, you will notice that some superchargers charge faster than others do.

This is because there are three different types of superchargers that you can find. The first one is V1, then comes the V2 and the newest one is the V3. The V1 and V2 can charge about 150 kilowatts of power. This power distributes between two cars. This means that if two cars plug into the same charging stall, then the power divides equally.

While the V1 and V2 were already quick, the V3 superchargers surpassed them and changed the game of supercharging. The V3 superchargers can provide your car with 250 kilowatts of peak charging power, and, on top of that, it does not share this power with other cars.

Despite all that power, your Tesla is likely unable to utilize that much power at once. Each Tesla model, such as the Tesla Model 3 and or the model S have different peak power capacities. While supercharging may seem super convenient, it is important to realize that Tesla recommends you do not regularly use superchargers as they may degrade the battery performance with consistent use.

Not to mention, charging from an outlet is also the more cost-effective option than using superchargers. Nonetheless, Tesla’s Supercharger network allows you to plan a long route in the most time-effective and cost-effective way.

If you would like to find out more about exactly how much it costs to charge your car at home, check out Optiwatt. Optiwatt is a free app that can automatically charge your Tesla during off-peak hours, getting you the cheapest charge possible. It can also track exactly how much it costs to charge your car, and automatically compares it to what you would have spent on gas as well.

Does Tesla Come with Charger?

Yes, each Tesla comes with an adapter for a 110 volt outlet. It allows about 2-4 miles of range per hour of charge.

How Fast Can a Tesla Charge?

Using the Tesla Wall Connector, you can achieve up to 44 miles of range per hour of charging. Best of all, this can be done in your home or office space. Yes, your Tesla can be safely charged at home.

Tesla has spoiled their users with a variety of Tesla charging options for every type of driver. Whether you have a Tesla model 3 charger, or a model S charger, the performance of your 

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