TESLA

Cybertruck charging speed test reveals that Tesla's 20-minute session is still to come

Equipped with Tesla's first Cybercell 4680 battery with dry electrode production method, the Cybertruck also debuts its first 800V high-voltage architecture. The Cybertruck's charging curve, however, is not all that extraordinary at the moment.

In a recent charging speed comparison test, there was only one Tesla at the honorary 10th place in the ranking. Most of the top 10 list was occupied by electric vehicles with an 800V powertrain architecture, predominantly made by Hyundai or KIA.

Tesla's charging curve has never been anything to write home about as its peak rate tapers off rather quickly and drops precipitously to lower speeds depending on many factors ranging from the output of the particular pile to charging station occupancy.

Now that Tesla finally has a vehicle with 800V architecture on the market - the Cybertruck pickup - whose 123 kWh battery splits in two virtual units for speed and compatibility, it would be interesting to see if it tops up faster.

One lucky owner who already took their Cybertruck delivery has done precisely such test, but the results are mixed. They plugged in their Cybertruck at a Tesla V3 Supercharger that tops out at 250 kW output. It took the Cybertruck 40 minutes to go up from 14% to the typical 80% threshold, adding 206 miles of range during that extrapolated time period. That's slower than some other Tesla vehicles like the Model 3 Long Range, for example.

As can be seen in the video below, the Cybertruck starts very strong at 255 kW peak charging rate which falls off quickly only a few minutes after that, with most of the charging time spent at the much more mundane 75 kW - 100 kW. Hyundai or KIA EVs, on the other hand, can sustain 170 kW rates all the way to 80% charge which explains why they are at the top of the EV charging speed rankings out of the all electric cars sold in the US.

Needless to say, this is just a single isolated charging example in specific circumstances, while the Cybertruck will truly shine when Tesla anoints its V4 Superchargers with 800V output capability. According to Tesla, it will then take the Cybertruck less than 20 minutes to charge up to 80%, but such powerful stations are few and far between still.

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