As summer approaches with its long journeys, charger performance is crucial. Users have discovered a surprising trick: a wet towel can optimize the charging speed of electric cars.
There fast charge is essential for owners of electric vehicles, especially those of You’re herewhich largely depend on Superchargers during their travels. However, as summer approaches high temperatures can reduce significantly this speed dump. But owners have discovered an unexpected method to make it faster.
The trick in question is to place a damp towel on the handle of the cable dump. This simple but effective technique helps cool the handle. It thus prevents a rise in temperature which would signal the system to reduce power. This method is particularly useful on Superchargers V2which are not equipped with cables with active cooling.
Putting a wet towel on a charger can increase its power by 63%
Users have reported significant increases charging power using this method. For example, on a V2 terminal, placing a wet towel made it possible to go from 60 kW to 95 kW – an increase of more than 63% – on a particularly hot day. Other accounts have even seen increases up to 147 kW before the load is regulated due to temperature.
Although the tip may seem trivial, it is not without limitations. On Supercharger V3 terminals, the effect is often negligible, except for the Cybertruck which, with its 800 volt battery system, can benefit from this method. Moreover, the security concerns that could arise are largely attenuated by the monitoring capabilities Superchargers and Tesla vehicles. These latter can adjust load in real time to prevent any potential risk.
Although this trick has shown promising results on Tesla Superchargers, it is possible that it could be applied to other types of chargers or cars. However, so far there have been no testimonials confirming its effectiveness on other systems. It is important to note that, although tempting, we do not recommend to users to experiment with this method in order to avoid any risk to the safety or proper functioning of their vehicle.
Another extreme wet rag supercharger test. Plugged in at 2% SoC – ramped up to 147kW as normal and thermal throttled at 34% down to 58kW. Slapped that room temperature soaking wet rag and it climbed back to 119kW where it hit the internal charge profile limit. Amazing! ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/0o6VGgdhc9
— Out of Spec Studios (@Out_of_Spec) August 31, 2020