Cybertruck 800V charging speed test returns disappointing curve

It took a Cybertruck 20 minutes to get to 50% charge and then another 20 minutes to get to about 80% battery capacity on a third-party charger with NACS connector that can take advantage of the Cybertruck's 800V charging system.

The NxuOne Charging Station managed to push a record 327 kW of peak charging rate into the Cybertruck's 123 kWh battery, perhaps what Tesla's V4 Superchargers could achieve when they get upgraded to their official 350 kW output.

800V Cybertruck charging speed

• 65 minutes to full charge
• 0-80% in 40 minutes
• 50% charge in 20 minutes

Unfortunately, the confidence of Tesla's engineering chief Lars Moravy that the Cybertruck will take under 20 minutes to charge at a 350 kW V4 Supercharger didn't hold water during its first session on a public 800V charger.

The Cybertruck charging curve that can be seen below clearly demonstrates that in less than 20 minutes its battery can only be brought up to 50%, regardless of the powerful charging station. It then takes more than an hour to reach a full charge.

While Tesla's Lars Moravy said it will take 18-20 minutes to to take a Cybertruck from 15%-85% battery, this real-world charging curve is still a bit disappointing, considering that a number of Chinese EV makers now have up to 500 kW stations, 800V+ charging architectures, and battery chemistries that can bring the 10%-80% charging time down to 12 minutes even.

Tesla is probably still optimizing the Cybertruck's charging curve, though, and it isn't paying much attention to the 800V capabilities considering that the stations that can take advantage of those are very few. The thermal management of its new 4680 Cybercell batteries with dry cathode production is also more challenging than on the rest of Tesla's battery chemistries.

The way Tesla approaches fast charging on the Cybertruck is to separate the battery in virtual parts that can charge simultaneously at 400V, just like Chinese phone makers "split" the batteries in their handsets to achieve the mindboggling charge rates they can now hit without any extraordinary battery degradation.

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