How Long Does It Take to Charge a Tesla?

How long does it take to charge a Tesla? In ideal circumstances, it takes between 60 minutes to two hours to charge a Tesla. But as we'll detail below, your results will vary depending on a variety of factors, including which vehicle you're charging, the output of the charger you're using, and the vehicle's battery size. While there's no single answer to the question of how long you might be stationary when in need of some juice for your Tesla's battery, there are ways to be more informed about the process.

The way that most Tesla owners will charge is overnight at home. While you can simply plug your Tesla into a standard wall outlet, you'll only gain around 2 or 3 miles per hour of charging, per Tesla. Charging will take days to fill up your car's battery. Instead, we recommend splurging for Tesla's wall connector, which dramatically reduces charging times.

This wall connector costs $475 and can be purchased directly from Tesla. Though the cost of installation varies based on location and other factors, some areas offer incentives or rebates to help keep costs down. Charging at home — particularly overnight, when electricity rates are generally lower — is the easiest and most convenient way to keep your Tesla's battery topped up.

Tesla's at-home charger can deliver electricity to your car at rates up to 11.5 kW, which is quick enough to add 44 miles of range per hour. At that rate, it would take just over nine hours to fully charge up a Model S or X with the largest battery Tesla offers. However, in the interest of preserving battery life, Tesla recommends charging to no more than 80% of the battery's capacity in normal circumstances. As a result, plugging your car in when you get home, setting the charge limit to 80%, and letting it sit overnight mean you'll usually wake up to a car that's ready to go on in the morning.

If you're a household with both a Tesla and a non-Tesla EV, Tesla sells an at-home charger with both its own connector and a J1772 plug built right in (the plug type that non-Tesla EVs use to charge with). At $595, this 11.5-kW unit costs a little more, but the expanded utility is a boon for multi-EV households.

The fastest way to charge a Tesla right now is with a DC fast charger, and while you can use a variety of chargers from various companies like ChargePoint and Electrify America, most Tesla owners will opt to use Tesla's Supercharger network. You can find stations by using the Tesla app on your car's screen, and the screen will tell you how quickly each station can charge. Tesla's network of chargers has been widely regarded as the best and most reliable charging solution available to U.S. consumers, and so far, it has only been available to Tesla owners. That will change as nearly as next year, as the network will soon open up to other electric vehicles. In fact, Tesla's grip on reliable fast charging is so strong that other automakers have started to change their charge port designs from the widely used CCS combo style to the one designed by Tesla called NACS.

At the time of publication, all new Teslas can accept up to 250 kW of electricity, and these are the maximum rates of charge that V3 (or third-generation) Supercharger stations are capable of delivering. Tesla has said that V4 Supercharger stations are on their way, and they'll be able to charge at a rate of 350 kW, but their rollout has only just begun. The maximum output of a Supercharger isn't always 250 kW, however; some stations may be limited to less than that. It all depends on how recently the station you're at has been installed.

But a charger's maximum rate of electricity delivery isn't the only factor. A Supercharger's max speed also depends how many other Teslas are charging at the same station at the same time, the max output a particular station is designed to deliver, your car's state of charge, whether the car's battery has been preconditioned for charging before being plugged in, and even if there is extreme weather in your area. Ideally, Teslas can add up to 200 miles of range in 15 minutes.

A Tesla will charge more slowly in less than ideal conditions. Additionally, the peak rate of 250 kW will not last for the duration of a charging session. If a car is in a low state of charge and the battery has been preconditioned (a process that heats the battery ahead of time to prepare it to accept electricity), peak rates may only last for a few minutes and potentially even less than that. As the battery gets fuller the Supercharger will slowly dial back how much energy it's delivering as a way to preserve the battery's longevity. If you want to learn more about how to best preserve your EV's battery life, click here.

It is worth noting, however, that while Superchargers won't always deliver their maximum output, they're known to work reliably and buyers can expect to get from 10% to 50% relatively quickly. The fuller you want your battery, the more the wattage drops off, and the longer it will take.

You might find yourself in a situation where you're not going to be home for multiple days and there won't be any Supercharger stations near where you're headed (like a campsite, for example). Tesla has a solution for this, too. The company sells a number of adapters for 240-volt outlets, which are relatively commonplace at campgrounds. The adapters vary in specification, and you'll need to buy the correct one for the type of 240-volt outlet that your destination will have.

The adapters help speed up the charging process compared to simply plugging your car into a household outlet, and some adapters can help provide up to 30 miles of range per hour of charging. To shop for Tesla's NEMA adapters and a guide on which one you'll need to use, check out this link to its website.