The Tesla Roadster comes with two charge cables, and an optional wall charger custom made for the Roadster by Clipper Creek, capable of deliver a 70 Amp charge. The two charge cables are:
“Yellow” Charge Cable – Plugs into standard 15-20 Amp 120 Volt AC home outlets, and provides a slow charge limited to 15 Amps
UMC Charge Cable – Plugs into 240 VAC 50 Amp home outlet or dryer receptacle, and provides a 40 Amp charge.
As Roadsters age, and cells become marginalized, the best way to charge is the “Yellow” charge cable, leaving it plugged in all the time, in “Standard” charge mode which will limit the charge to about 80%. The car will decide when it needs a charge, and if left plugged in, the car will always be ready to go.
There are four charge selections, and only one should be used with aged batteries shown below.
A number of charging options are available with a Roadster.
You can access these by clicking on the wrench icon shown:
On the charge setting screen shown, select “STANDARD” mode charging to 83%
SOC which optimizes battery life. This is also the preferred level prospective buyers want to see.
STORAGE – Originally designed for limited while not in use occasional charging
but the low SOC sometimes results in rapid path to bricking and should not be used.
RANGE – Designed for occasional long trip use charging to 100% and hard on cells.
PERFORMANCE – Same as above
This is what the screen will look like while the Roadster is charging.
The charge method shown is 220 Volts AC using the Roadster specific Clipper Creek
wall charger capable of charging at 70 Amps.
If the Yellow Charge Cable was used, pugged into a standard outlet, the Voltage reading
would be 120V at 15A charge.
When finished charging, the Charge Port LED light ring will shift from Amber Pulsing, to solid blue.
For aged Roadster with legacy battery packs, it is recommended that extremes are avoided.
Do not run the range down below 30 miles, and use only “STANDARD” or 80% charge.
When the Roadsters were new, and first released with fresh ESS Main Battery Packs, the range predictions below at various charge methods were accurate.
With legacy packs now going on 15 years, the upper range projections are no longer valid, but this chart shows battery utilization at various charge settings:
We are always available either by phone, 800 658-5883 Extension 500, or email ev@gruber.com, for free tech support.
As always, our goal is to support the Roadster community. We believe in transparency, and are committed to vehicle owner education.
Charging a Tesla Roadster March 2, 2023
The Tesla Roadster comes with two charge cables, and an optional wall charger custom made for the Roadster by Clipper Creek, capable of deliver a 70 Amp charge. The two charge cables are:
“Yellow” Charge Cable – Plugs into standard 15-20 Amp 120 Volt AC home outlets, and provides a slow charge limited to 15 Amps
UMC Charge Cable – Plugs into 240 VAC 50 Amp home outlet or dryer receptacle, and provides a 40 Amp charge.
As Roadsters age, and cells become marginalized, the best way to charge is the “Yellow” charge cable, leaving it plugged in all the time, in “Standard” charge mode which will limit the charge to about 80%. The car will decide when it needs a charge, and if left plugged in, the car will always be ready to go.
There are four charge selections, and only one should be used with aged batteries shown below.
A number of charging options are available with a Roadster.
You can access these by clicking on the wrench icon shown:
On the charge setting screen shown, select “STANDARD” mode charging to 83%
SOC which optimizes battery life. This is also the preferred level prospective buyers want to see.
STORAGE – Originally designed for limited while not in use occasional charging
but the low SOC sometimes results in rapid path to bricking and should not be used.
RANGE – Designed for occasional long trip use charging to 100% and hard on cells.
PERFORMANCE – Same as above
This is what the screen will look like while the Roadster is charging.
The charge method shown is 220 Volts AC using the Roadster specific Clipper Creek
wall charger capable of charging at 70 Amps.
If the Yellow Charge Cable was used, pugged into a standard outlet, the Voltage reading
would be 120V at 15A charge.
When finished charging, the Charge Port LED light ring will shift from Amber Pulsing, to solid blue.
For aged Roadster with legacy battery packs, it is recommended that extremes are avoided.
Do not run the range down below 30 miles, and use only “STANDARD” or 80% charge.
When the Roadsters were new, and first released with fresh ESS Main Battery Packs, the range predictions below at various charge methods were accurate.
With legacy packs now going on 15 years, the upper range projections are no longer valid, but this chart shows battery utilization at various charge settings:
We are always available either by phone, 800 658-5883 Extension 500, or email ev@gruber.com, for free tech support.
As always, our goal is to support the Roadster community. We believe in transparency, and are committed to vehicle owner education.
Charging settings to avoid
In Storage Mode setting, the vehicle will ‘wake up’ every 24 hours and if necessary, restart charging to
top-up the battery charge level to a reduced rate.
The problem is that the vehicle’s cells, charged to a reduced level have little margin for error. In case of an unattended power failure, many Roadsters have been bricked in this state since the time from reduced full State of Charge (SOC) to zero is very brief.
