Seriously? Just 15 kW coming through?

Dear Armin,

Many thanks for your enquiry and for your visit in St. Moritz.
The charging station does indeed provide up to 150 kW, so this information is correct. But what then actually comes through the hose, as you say, is always specified by the vehicle in the case of fast charging (DC). This means that the vehicle communicates with the charging station and tells it how much capacity to use when charging the battery. Various factors relating to the vehicle play an important role here, including the temperature, charge and size of the battery. In general, however, it can be said that for technical reasons, the higher the battery charge, the lower the charging capacity. This is done to protect the battery from surges. When we analysed your charge afterwards, we found that you plugged in the Audi e-tron at a battery charge level of about 84 percent. Initially, you were able to charge with 45 kW, but then the capacity decreased linearly down to just 15 kW. The high battery level is therefore the reason for the relatively low charging capacity.

Why it takes longer to reach your seat in a full cinema

You could compare charging a battery with visiting the cinema. Just as the doors open, people stream to their reserved seats – and as the room is almost empty, they find these seats very quickly. The fuller the cinema, the longer it takes for those who arrive later to reach their seats: bags need to be pushed aside, coats moved from the seats and feet pulled out of the way. And this is also the case with the electrons flowing into the battery: at first, they find space easily and quickly; yet as the battery charge level increases, it becomes harder for the electrons to find free space, and the charging speed decreases as the battery charge level increases.

Electric greetings,

Adrian