Tesla has introduced a new feature to improve charging times for its vehicles in extreme cold weather.
The company announced on Christmas Eve that Supercharger battery heating is now active at V3 and V4 Superchargers in cold climates, specifically for Model 3 and Model Y vehicles equipped with standard range, rear-wheel drive configurations.
“When plugging in, Superchargers can now pre-heat batteries for Model 3/Y that are standard range, rear-wheel drive,” Tesla Charging stated. “This gets you back on the road faster in extreme cold conditions. Whenever you can, always precondition before Supercharging for the fastest charging.”
Tesla’s Director of Charging, Max de Zegher, highlighted the engineering behind the feature on X.
“This feature may seem small, but it’s pretty incredible. Through an AC ripple current coming from the Superchargers, cold-soaked LFP vehicles will be able to get back on the road up to 4X faster. This is possible through Tesla’s vertical integration and some of our incredible engineers.”
When someone asked how this is different than what regularly takes place? Zegher clarified, “The Supercharger sends an AC ripple current through the battery to help warm it up, [versus] the battery alone warming itself up. First time this ever gets done like this.”
To maximize charging performance, Tesla continues to recommend preconditioning the battery before arriving at a Supercharger. How to do this? Just select a Supercharger as your destination and your Tesla will automatically start preconditioning as you get near the charger. It’s just super simple and easy.