why Tesla users do it

One of the big problems with electric cars is charging, and one of the biggest obstacles to their popularization. It’s not just about finding an electric car charger near us; The time required to recharge the batteries also has a significant weight.

Although the autonomy of new electric cars, like the Xiaomi SU7, has improved a lot, on long journeys or in situations of continuous use they still require a very long charging period. So it’s no surprise that many users are looking for tips to speed up loading.

Many of these “tricks” are nothing more than a placebo and don’t really work; After all, chargers operate with settings set by the manufacturer that cannot be changed by the user. But it turns out there’s a way to “push” those boundaries, and it’s a little ridiculous: put a damp towel on the charger connector.

The trick to recharging the Tesla

The process is very simple. First, we take the charger cable and connect it to our car; It is important to do this step first. Then we take a wet towel, or a rag or another piece of fabric; The important thing is that it has been wet by cold water or bad weather, in no case hot water.

We must wraparound connector handle, the part with which we normally take the connector, with the wet towel (although there are people who first wrap the towel and then wet it by throwing water from a bottle on it). That’s it, just by doing this we can notice that the recharge is faster and we have to wait less time to continue our journey.

This method is most effective on Tesla’s V2 compressors; although it also works with V3 compressors on some models. Many users have noticed huge improvements, bearing the burden from 60 kW to 95 kW; In one experiment, it was possible to exceed 119 kW by placing a damp towel on a charger dropped to 59 kW, according to Inside electric vehicles.

How is it possible that what looks like a fake TikTok thing is real? Because it solves one of the big problems with fast charging, not only in cars but with any battery: temperature. It is normal for compressors to exceed charging speeds of 140 kW when charging starts; but within a few minutes the charge drops to a safer value of 60 kW, which is maintained for the rest of the charge. Indeed, the charger heats up and Tesla’s algorithms reduce the power for safety reasons and to avoid possible fires.

The wet towel not only cools the charging cable end, but also blocks the sun’s rays; so this tip works especially well on summer days. However, it should be kept in mind that this is not a “miracle”; In many cases this is of no use, for example if the car detects that the connector temperature is too high and automatically reduces power.

You should also consider the possible risks of getting an electric charger wet; Although Tesla compressors are designed to be used during periods of rain, so far there have been no cases of failure or electrocution due to humidity in the charger. However, Tesla has not commented on this tipit is therefore also possible that this will affect our warranty in the event of a breakdown.