How long does it take to charge a Tesla? Real hours for every charger and model

How long it takes to charge a Tesla depends on two things: the power your charger supplies and how much of it the car will take. A Tesla Wall Connector on a 60 A breaker fills a Model 3 or Model Y from empty in about 8 hours, a 240 V outlet takes 11 to 12, a household outlet takes days, and a Supercharger adds up to 200 miles in 15 minutes.

Nobody plugs in at 0% and waits for 100%, though. The useful question is how many miles you burn in a day and whether your charger puts them back overnight. The tables below give you both numbers.

Miles of range per hour, by charger and model

Tesla publishes a miles-of-range-per-hour figure for every Wall Connector setting and model. This is the most honest way to think about Tesla charging time at home, because it already folds in each car's efficiency and normal charging losses.

Model 3 and Model Y:

Model S, Model X and Cybertruck:

*Cybertruck figures are Tesla's numbers for the Premium AWD. Source: Tesla's Wall Connector and charging support pages, as of October 2026.

Two footnotes change the answer for a lot of owners.

Base trims stop at 32 A. The base Model 3 (the RWD of recent years, today's Standard) and the base Model Y RWD and AWD have a 7.7 kW onboard charger. They top out at 30 miles per hour no matter how big the charger is, so a 60 A circuit buys them nothing over a 40 A one. Long Range, Premium and Performance trims, every recent Model S and Model X, and the Cybertruck accept the full 48 A. Tesla's own pages disagree slightly on some Model Y trims, so check yours: tap the lightning bolt on the charging screen and the car shows its maximum amps. If you are still choosing a circuit, our guide to matching breaker size and output pairs each breaker with the output it allows.

120 V numbers vary. Tesla's charging page says a household outlet adds 2 to 3 miles per hour, while one of its own adapter tables lists up to 6 for a Model 3. Plan on the lower figure. The car's computers stay awake during a long Level 1 session, and Level 1 loses 16 to 25% of the energy to heat, against 5 to 11% on 240 V.

Empty to full: hours for current Teslas

For a full charge, divide the car's EPA range by the miles-per-hour figure. The results below use 2026 EPA ranges for the Model 3 and Model Y (Edmunds), 2025 figures for the Model S and Model X (the last full year before production ended in 2026), and the 2025 Cybertruck AWD's EPA-rated 325 miles.

The 120 V column uses the optimistic 3 miles per hour; at 2 miles per hour, add half again. Year pages carry trim-by-trim numbers if you own an older car: a 2021 Model 3 Standard Range Plus, for example, has the 32 A charger and a smaller pack, while our 2026 Model Y guide splits its 32 A and 48 A trims.

Checking it with kilowatt-hours

You can cross-check those hours from battery size. Tesla does not publish usable capacity, but EV Database estimates about 79 kWh for a Model 3 or Model Y Premium pack.

• 79 kWh ÷ 11.5 kW = 6.9 hours if every watt reached the battery.
• Level 2 charging wastes roughly 10%, so the wall has to supply about 79 ÷ 0.9 = 88 kWh.
• 88 kWh ÷ 11.5 kW = 7.6 hours.

That lands within half an hour of the 8.1 hours the miles-per-hour method gives. Either way, plan on a full night for a full battery at 48 A.

Worked examples from real routines

A 40-mile commute on a 120 V outlet. At 3 miles per hour, putting back 40 miles takes 13.3 hours. At 2 miles per hour it takes 20. Tesla says the Mobile Connector suits drivers covering under 30 to 40 miles a day, and on a standard outlet even that is tight. Miss a night and you fall behind. If that sounds like your situation, read our page on charging from a regular outlet before paying for a new circuit.

A weekend top-up in a Model Y Premium RWD. Going from 20% to 90% is 70% of 357 miles, or 250 miles.

• Wall Connector at 44 mi/hr: 250 ÷ 44 = 5.7 hours.
• NEMA 14-50 at 30 mi/hr: 250 ÷ 30 = 8.3 hours.

Both finish overnight. The Wall Connector buys flexibility (a late plug-in still finishes before morning), not a different daily outcome. Our comparison of the NEMA 14-50 vs Wall Connector covers the GFCI and cost side of that choice.

A Cybertruck home from a towing trip. Charging 10% to 80% is 70% of 325 miles, or about 228 miles.

• Wall Connector at 30 mi/hr: 228 ÷ 30 = 7.6 hours.
• 32 A outlet at 20 mi/hr: 228 ÷ 20 = 11.4 hours.

Heavy trucks are where the 48 A Wall Connector earns its place. If you own one, the 2024 Cybertruck page lists its home charging setup by trim.

An older Model S with dual chargers. Classic Model S cars could be ordered with dual onboard chargers good for 80 A, and from April 2016 the refreshed car offered an optional 72 A charger. A current Gen 3 Wall Connector tops out at 48 A, so only an older Gen 2 unit on a larger breaker can use that extra capacity. If you are shopping for a 2016 Model S, check which charger the car has before planning the circuit.

Supercharger times

Superchargers bypass the car's onboard charger and feed DC straight into the pack. V3 and V4 stalls deliver up to 250 kW to the Model S, 3, X and Y, and V4 sites can give the Cybertruck up to 325 kW. Tesla's headline is up to 200 miles of range in 15 minutes, and its model pages note that the "range added in 15 minutes" figure is based on efficiency at a steady 65 mph.

Tesla does not publish official 10 to 80% times for each model, and third-party figures vary with the test conditions, so we will not invent one here. What reliably shortens a stop:

• Arrive low. Power is highest when the battery is nearly empty. Pulling in at 10% and leaving at 70% is faster than topping up from 50% to 100%.
• Let the car warm the pack. Set the Supercharger as your destination in the car's navigation and it preconditions the battery on the way.
• Leave around 80%. Past that point each percent takes longer, and at busy sites Tesla charges congestion fees, typically $0.50 per minute and up to $1.00, once you are at or above 80% (after a 5-minute grace period).
• Use the trip planner's estimate. It accounts for the stall, temperature and your arrival charge better than any table.

Hotel and restaurant chargers are a middle ground. These destination chargers are the same Wall Connector hardware, so they add up to 44 miles per hour when one car is plugged in, less when hosts share a circuit between several units. Third-party Level 2 stations work with the J1772 adapter that ships with every Tesla; our guide to charging at non-Tesla stations covers DC networks and the CCS1 adapter.

Why the last 20% is slower

A lithium-ion cell can take high current while it is low on charge. As it fills, its voltage climbs toward the upper limit, and the battery management system has to cut the current to stay under it. Charging switches from pushing as much current as possible to holding voltage steady while the current tapers off.

How much you notice depends on the charger:

• On a Supercharger, a lot. DC fast charging runs at high power, so the taper starts early and bites hard. The final stretch to 100% adds few miles for the minutes it costs, which is why the trip planner rarely asks you to stay that long.
• On a Wall Connector, barely. At 11.5 kW the car is far below what the pack could accept, so the power stays flat until the final few percent. The green charge port light pulses more slowly as the battery approaches full, and the last bit runs a little longer, but a home session at 48 A behaves almost linearly.

There is a second reason not to chase 100% daily. Tesla's manual asks owners of cars with a recommended daily limit of 80% to keep it there and save 100% for long trips. LFP-battery cars are the exception: Tesla recommends charging them to 100% and doing so at least once a week. The car shows which applies on its charging screen.

Cold weather and charging time

Cold is the most common reason a session runs longer than the tables suggest. Tesla's manual says plainly that the battery charge rate decreases when the battery is too cold. A blue snowflake icon on the touchscreen or in the app means the pack is cold, and part of the battery bar may show as unavailable until it warms.

At home, the car spends some of the incoming power heating the battery before it charges at full rate, so a frozen car plugged in at 6 a.m. starts slowly. At a Supercharger, a cold pack can hold power well below the stall's limit for the first part of the session.

Other cold-weather notes from Tesla:

• Tesla recommends leaving the car plugged in when parked in the cold, which keeps the battery warm.
• In icy conditions the charge port latch can freeze. Preconditioning from the app helps thaw it, and Tesla's cold weather guidance in the Model 3 owner's manual says a car with a frozen latch can still charge at a slow AC rate.
• The Wall Connector itself is rated for -22 °F to 122 °F (-30 °C to 50 °C), so the charger is rarely the limit. The battery is.

What sets the pace: a quick checklist

If your car charges slower than the tables, walk through these in order:

1. Car limit. Does your trim have the 32 A or 48 A onboard charger?
2. Charger setting. A Gen 3 Wall Connector's maximum is set in software during commissioning to match the breaker. A unit set for a 40 A breaker gives 32 A, whatever the box says.
3. Shared power. Two Wall Connectors set up for power sharing split their allocated supply when both cars charge.
4. Car settings. Check the current slider on the charging screen and any schedule that delays the start.
5. Temperature. Look for the snowflake.
6. Faults. A blinking red light on the Wall Connector can mean the unit has limited or stopped charging, for example because of heat at the terminals.

Once you know your hours, the next question is usually the bill. Our breakdown of the cost to charge a Tesla uses the same miles-per-hour figures with current EIA electricity prices. Owners worried about losing range while parked between charges should read how long a Tesla battery lasts unplugged.

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