Tesla Charging at the Supercharger and Other Charging Stations

If you are planning to buy a Tesla or have recently bought one, it is certainly good to know how to charge at the Tesla Supercharger and at which other charging stations this is still possible. 

In this article, we explain where and how you can charge your Tesla and what you should be aware of.

You can charge your Tesla either publicly or privately.

If you load it publicly, you have the following options:

• Tesla Superchargers

• all other public DC and AC charging stations.

You can charge your Tesla at home using a wallbox, such as the go-e Charger, which is installed either in the garage or in front of the house. 

In the first step, let's take a look at charging at the Tesla Supercharger.

Tesla Superchargers are usually located near the motorway or other important transport links. Sometimes you can also find them in the car parks of some hotels.

You can find the Supercharger locations in the sat nav. Click on the small icon on the right here and the charging options in your neighbourhood will open. Both Superchargers and other charging stations are listed. The Superchargers are marked in red. The number on the pin gives you an indication of the capacity utilisation of the Supercharger at the respective station. The navigation system also uses the pins marked in red to show you which Superchargers you can still reach with your current charging status.

You can theoretically charge with up to 150 kW at the V2 Superchargers, up to 250 kW at the V3 Superchargers and theoretically up to 350 kW at the V4 Superchargers.

Unfortunately, many people don't realise that the V2 Supercharger always has two charging stations connected together and that the maximum charging power is reduced as soon as two electric cars are charged at these connected stations. This means that if you charge alone, you can theoretically charge your Tesla with a maximum of 150 kW. However, if there is another electric car at the second charging station connected to yours, this charging power will be split and you will have to share the 150 kW total power with the other car. Charging would then take longer.

You can recognise which charging stations are connected by the number on the Supercharger. Two connected charging stations have the same number. Each number is followed by an A or a B. For example, Superchargers 1A and 1B or Superchargers 2A and 2B are connected. And so on. 

Our tip: If possible, always charge at a Supercharger pair where neither A nor B is occupied by the time you arrive to avoid longer charging times. If this is not possible, look at the green LED on the charging port of the other Teslas. If it is flashing quickly, the car is currently charging at a higher rate and the charging process will take even longer. If the LED flashes slowly, it is the other way round. The charging power decreases significantly when the battery level is higher. A vehicle that has been charging for longer may only require 40 to 60 kW. This leaves more power for your car.

If you are at a location where the charging process has just started on the other charger, you will have significantly less power, especially at the beginning. So choose your location wisely.

With the V3 and V4 Supercharger, four charging stations are interconnected. However, the rectifiers can borrow power from other rectifiers. This means that you can theoretically charge at maximum charging power from your car or Supercharger at least some of the time and don't have to worry if other electric car drivers are charging their vehicles at the other interconnected charging stations. At least you won't notice any difference.

Let's now take a look at how the charging process at the Tesla Supercharger works in detail.

It is best to park in reverse, as the charging cables, especially on the older V2 Superchargers, are extremely short and the charging connection on the car is at the rear left. Incidentally, the V2 Superchargers have a cable with a Type 2 plug for Model S and X, as well as a cable with a CCS plug for Model 3 and Y. On the newer V3 and V4 Superchargers, you will only find the cable with the CCS plug. This makes it easier to recognise them. With the Model X and S, you can only charge there if you have retrofitted your vehicle with the CCS upgrade.

Open the charging socket via the display of your Tesla. Then take the cable out of the holder and plug it into the charging socket. The Tesla will now start communicating with the Supercharger, which is why you will see a blue T flashing here. As soon as the charging process has started, this T will light up green.

If you now sit in the cockpit of your Tesla, you can see the charging status on the screen. For example, you can see that the Tesla will probably need another 15 minutes to reach the charging limit of 80% in our case. You can also set the charging limit via the display or the app. 

On the right-hand side, you will find information on the charging status, your charging limit and, very importantly, the charging costs, which will now logically increase continuously during charging.

Unlock the charging cable via the display of your Tesla and reconnect it to the Supercharger. That's all there is to it.

In the case of the Supercharger, the charge is paid for via your Tesla account, which you can manage in the Tesla app. Your Tesla is therefore registered with your Tesla account and your payment method and other details are already stored there. This means that if you have entered your Visa card details in your account, for example, the charging costs are automatically debited from the card after charging, as the Supercharger communicates with the car and knows which account and payment method should be used for charging. You can then download the invoice via the app.

The costs at the Tesla Superchargers in Austria are currently between 0.35 and 0.45 cents, depending on the time and location. Please note, however, that the prices fluctuate and that the prices only apply to Tesla customers. Non-Tesla customers pay slightly more at Tesla Superchargers. 

By the way: Tesla charges an occupancy or blocking fee for every additional minute that your vehicle remains connected to the Supercharger after the charging process has been completed, provided that the Superchargers at your location are at least 50% full. In Austria and Germany, for example, this fee is currently 1 euro. If you remove your electric car within five minutes, the fee is waived. The occupancy fee doubles if all Supercharger stations at your location are fully utilised. So make sure you remove your Tesla from the station as soon as possible so you don't run the risk of paying a lot more. It's also not very courteous to keep other drivers waiting longer than necessary.

As already mentioned, you can charge with your Tesla not only at the Tesla Supercharger, but also at all other public DC and AC charging stations as well as at private wallboxes. In addition, starting and ending charging physically at other charging stations works slightly differently than at the Supercharger. The best way to do this is to use the display in the car. As you've probably already guessed, you can't use your Tesla account to charge at other public DC and AC charging stations. You will therefore need a separate billing method, such as a charging card or app.

If you want to charge your Tesla at home, you can do so with various wallboxes. Please note that there are simple and smart wallboxes. With a simple wallbox, you can charge your Tesla safely, but that's it. A smart wallbox, such as the go-e Charger, also offers you ingenious features that allow you to charge in an energy-efficient and cost-effective way.

For instance, if you have installed a photovoltaic system at home, you can use the go-e Charger to charge excess photovoltaic energy fully automatically, thus maximising your own consumption and saving a pretty penny. 

If you also want to save money when charging at home, take the opportunity to charge with flexible electricity tariffs. As flexible or dynamic electricity tariffs are linked to the electricity price index, they pass on price fluctuations on the electricity exchange directly to customers in real time. The go-e Charger tracks the electricity prices of the integrated providers in real time and starts charging when they are at their lowest. This saves you money and protects the power grid, as you can postpone charging your electric car to off-peak times when more electricity is available than is consumed. This is ideal if your Tesla is parked at home at night or in the company car park for a longer period of time.

If you charge your Tesla from 0 to 100%, the charging time on the go-e Charger is around 6 hours on average, depending on the model and battery. Of course, super-fast charging is not possible, but regular fast charging is not recommended anyway, as your electric car battery will suffer as a result.

So try to keep both in balance and take the opportunity when you have a little more time overnight, at work or at the weekend to charge your Tesla with a smart wallbox at home, at work or at a public charging station with alternating current.

If you charge your Tesla from 0 to 100%, the charging time on the go-e Charger is around 6 hours on average, depending on the model and battery. Of course, super-fast charging is not possible, but regular fast charging is not recommended anyway, as your electric car battery will suffer. 

So try to keep both in balance and take the opportunity, if you have a little more time overnight, at work or at the weekend, to charge your Tesla with a smart wallbox at home, at work or at a public charging station with alternating current.