100% Charge?

[siai47]

I picked up my new model 3 a week ago and wanted to see what the maximum indicated range would be on a full charge. I was interested in seeing if the initial range would exceed 310 miles with a new battery. When I bought my model S in 2014, the battery would charge a little over the rated range of 265 miles and reach 270 miles for the first couple of weeks of ownership and then started to settle down at 265 miles for many months.

When I tried the model 3 on my HPWC, it only reached 305 miles (or 99% charge) before the charger shut down. The internal charger had tapered to 5 amps and the time remaining was stated to be 40 minutes when it shut off. I thought it might have entered a balancing state and that during that time it would slowly reach 100%---but it did not. After driving several hundred miles I tried a supercharger session with less than 50% state of charge. The supercharger only reached a maximum of 48 KW output and quite quickly tapered to the mid 20's before I terminated the session. One more attempt at a 100% charge gave the same results as the first time.

I usually charge to an 80% indicated state of charge so the need to have a full 310 miles of range doesn't make any difference. However, is there something here that I should be concerned about. The car is at the SC for an unrelated problem (Condenser fan shutters) so now would be a good time to bring this up if there is indeed a problem.

 

[SigNC]

My 3 charged at ~115Kw when arriving at a SC at a low SOC on a non-shared 120Kw SC.

 

[Roverman318]

Mine charged to 100% the night I took delivery and it reached 314 miles. Doesn't the battery management system need to learn and calibrate though? Try it in a month and see if it changes for you.

Have not tried supercharging in the 3 yet.

 

[shadows]

I haven't tried a 100% so far, but my daily 75% limit is going up slightly with every super charge. It started with 232 miles (extrapolates to the rated 100%) when we got the vehicle. After 1500 miles and 3 SC sessions, it is now 237 miles (316 rated). Happy so far! That wasn't the case for my Model X.. I had probably lost that many after first 1500.

 

[siai47]

I am beginning to think that when new, the battery modules are not completely balanced. I did two charges to attempt to get to 100% and never achieved it (original thread post). The car is at the service center and during the night and into the morning I got multiple text messages from the car that charging had been completed. These happened nearly every hour. The first two charges were to 99% and the last three were to 100%. They must have a service program that can continuously re-start the charging process to get the battery balanced. Whatever they did, it's the first time I have seen 100% on the battery. I'll ask about this when I pick up the car in a couple of days.

 

[Electric700]

Charging to 100% can take an hour or more, depending on what level you start charging at. I generally only do that once a year to make sure the battery is fully balanced, then drive immediately afterward so it doesn't remain at that level. If I use a Supercharger to do this, my car actually will state that charging has completed once it's reached 100%, but during the last 10 minutes or more there's a very low rate of power consumption close to 1 KW or less. I have heard that battery balancing will occur for any charge level you set over 93%, but I'm not sure if that's true for the Model 3.

 

[Reid]

Good info, our new 3 hit (I think) 309 on its first full charge.

 

[MissyMcBee]

Mine will only charge to 279 What is going on? I should be getting to 310 at a minimum right?

 

[Dr. J]

Mine will only charge to 279 What is going on? I should be getting to 310 at a minimum right?

What is that charge in percent? Does it switch to percent?

 

[MissyMcBee]

What is that charge in percent? Does it switch to percent?

I haven’t looked for a percentage... how would I find it?

 

[RedModel3]

Mine will only charge to 279 What is going on? I should be getting to 310 at a minimum right?

It looks like it's only set to charge that much. See the arrow below the battery? Move that all the way to the right. Also, if you have the LR battery, you can charge at 48 amps instead of 12, unless of course you're not set up yet for anything over 110 volts.

 

[MissyMcBee]

It looks like it's only set to charge that much. See the arrow below the battery? Move that all the way to the right. Also, if you have the LR battery, you can charge at 48 amps instead of 12, unless of course you're not set up yet for anything over 110 volts.

Ok, that’s very helpful! Thank you

 

[Dr. J]

I haven’t looked for a percentage... how would I find it?

Dunno--I don't have the car yet. But this is from page 44 of the April 2018 version of the Model 3 owner's manual:

Total estimated driving distance (energy) available. Instead of driving distance, you can display the percentage of battery energy
remaining. To do so, touch Controls > Display > Settings > Energy Display > Energy (see Controls and Settings on page 81).
Note: When anticipating when you need to charge, use range estimates as a general guideline only.

 

[gambit48]

Mine will only charge to 279 What is going on? I should be getting to 310 at a minimum right?

You're just charging to 100% when you're immediately going on a road trip afterwards, right?

It's not good for the battery to sit at 100%. That's why it defaults from the factory at 90%. 80% is probably better, but not really enough of a difference from 90% to stress over. Just try to keep the battery between 20-90% if you can help it. If you need to exceed that because of a long road trip, then sure. Just avoid it if you can. 200+ miles should easily cover most daily driving situations.