How does the efficiency of the Tesla Chargers compare to other types of battery chargers?
This is a difficult question to answer because of: 1) the differing methods of measuring efficiency, and 2) the wide variety of chargers that are on the market today. Most manufacturers calculate the efficiency of their battery charger as the ratio of the power delivered to the battery from the charger vs. the power consumed by the charger. This measurement can be deceiving, especially if the battery is older and is not charging very well. It is also difficult to measure a battery charger’s efficiency when the battery is constantly degrading in capacity and spending more time on the charger and less time being used. For practicality, we are interested in a more honest, total efficiency measurement. We prefer to measure efficiency as the ratio of power delivered from the battery vs. the power consumed by the charger. This not only accounts for the efficiency of the battery charger, but also the efficiency of the battery during its charge and discharge cycles. In that sense, we measure t
