Some Tesla V4 Superchargers now deliver 350kW speeds in fast Cybertruck charging trial

Faced with Cybertruck driver reports that they have been able to charge at 300+ kW speeds at Superchargers rated for 250kW output, Tesla's lead Cybertruck engineer Wes Morrill admitted that faster charging is on its way.

While Tesla's V4 Superchargers come with longer cables and are officially rated for 350kW output, they are currently housed in V3 cabinets rated for 250kW charging speeds.

One Cybertruck owner, however, noticed that their electric pickup is charging at 324kW speeds on a Supercharger pile with the 250kW plaque on the back. 

"Running a trial on a few different V3+ stations (V3 cabinet + V4 charge post)," confirmed Wes, and added that such speeds are not a bug in the Supercharger system, but the trial is also "not rolled out to all hardware capable stations," so it seems to be a matter of luck to plug into one.

The Cybertruck is Tesla's first vehicle built on a more modern, 800V powertrain architecture, and the only one capable of taking advantage of such modded V4 Superchargers.

When Tesla's lead engineer Lars Moravy presented the Cybertruck during the marketing blitz surrounding its launch, he confirmed that it takes less than 20 minutes to charge it on a suitable high-power charger.

He most likely referred to the typical 20%-80% charging scenario, but even then these sub-20 minute charging times still turned out a pipe dream. In fact, a Cybertruck charging test on a 350kW charger showed that it takes 20 minutes just to bring it to 50% charge, and 40 minutes to hit 80%, or twice longer than Lars inferred.

One possible culprit may be the rather slow 4680 battery charging curve that owners of the Model Y with the same type of cells can attest to. Granted, the Cybertruck carries a second generation Cybercell batteries with 10% higher energy density, and Tesla released a charging fix with the 2024.20.7 software update.

To take full advantage of the charging speeds that the 800V powertrain of the Cybertruck is theoretically capable of, however, Tesla would also need to upgrade its V4 Superchargers for the task.

That is precisely what it seems to be doing now, running 350kW charging trials at select V4 stations, preparing for the influx of Cybertrucks on US roads now that the Foundation Series batches are nearing the finish line.

Tesla also just showcased the first Cybertruck with 4680 battery cells made entirely via the dry electrode production method. Apart from being cheaper and less toxic to produce, the dry-cathode 4680 batteries could offer an improved charging curve, too, and that may be why Tesla is now running V4 charging speed trials.

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