Tesla patents liquid-cooled charging connector

Tesla has filed a patent application for a charging connector that is cooled with liquid. This is the last connector at the end of a charging cable, which is actually plugged into an electric car.

The patent application to the World Intellectual Property Organization dates from March and was recently published. According to Tesla, this new design is more effective than the currently used connectors: “The two-piece design allows more efficient routing of electrical wires from the charging connector and can reduce the overall size of the charging connector.”

It is not clear if and when the liquid-cooled charging connectors will appear or whether this has already happened in some cases with the V3 Superchargers. In any case, the application of this design should further promote heat dissipation during charging, allowing for higher amperage and faster charging.

Tesla is already using a liquid-cooled cable design with the V3 Supercharger, which the company says enables peak power of 250kW. The V2 versions of Tesla’s fast charger still have air-cooled cables and they don’t go beyond 150kW.