5-15 110V garage wall outlet range anxiety or nothing to worry about ?

[1plavs]

PlugShare- 6 miles away
Supercharger-30 miles away
Future supercharger 2022- 13 miles away

Roundtrip to and from office- 22 miles, currently still working from home. Rarely drive anywhere weekday nights.

Weekend driving 50-75 miles Saturday & Sunday with an occasional trip to Chicago - 120 miles

SE WI winters are quite harsh, but do I really have anything to worry about?

My electrician spoke to the inspector and told him I would need a $2k panel upgrade and a 14-50 Nema isn’t an option in my case. In fact my current 100amp should really be 135amp.

With the MY never really going in sleep mode what should I be worried about as far as my electrical bill goes?

Will I still be able to precondition in the winter?

 

[jcanoe]

My fault I mixed things up. So during winter it’s pretty silly not to turn the heat on for me, my wife and sometimes people I’ll be driving in the car ?

In my case is preconditioning better plugged in my garage for 10 minutes as you say or should I unplug it and then precondition for 10 minutes?

You don't want to leave the climate control turned on (it will automatically turn off after 4 hours anyway.) It would use too much power, you would lose range and battery charge doing it this way. it is better to precondition in the A.M. at least 10 minutes before you need to leave the house. Precondition while plugged in even though you are only charging at 1.4kW maximum from a 120V/15A circuit.

 

[jcanoe]

No TOU here, but does this info only apply during the winter? I mean in my case I’ll have it plugged in charging most of the time since it will only get 3 miles of charging per hour.
You mentioned 120v, isn’t it 100v or what’s the difference?

Well, if you are in Milwaukee winter is from Labor Day until July 4th.

This would apply any time the outside temperature or the temperature inside the garage is below 10C (50F). The Tesla battery management system will warm the battery prior to charging. Warming the battery pack for charging and preconditioning before driving is probably not needed in July and August.

The North American Power Grid standard residential voltages are 120V and 240. You may observe voltages from 117V to 123V but 120V is the standard voltage. With 240V you may observe 230V to 244V but 240V is the standard voltage.

 

[1plavs]

You don't want to leave the climate control turned on (it will automatically turn off after 4 hours anyway.) It would use too much power, you would lose range and battery charge doing it this way. it is better to precondition in the A.M. at least 10 minutes before you need to leave the house. Precondition while plugged in even though you are only charging at 1.4kW maximum from a 120V/15A circuit.

So what your saying is when I park it in my garage I need to make I manually shut off the a/c or heat to assist with range and battery charge?

Would you happen to know if I would get billed more on my electric bill using a standard garage wall outlet vs a 14-50 Nema over time?

 

[jcanoe]

So what your saying is when I park it in my garage I need to make I manually shut off the a/c or heat to assist with range and battery charge?

Would you happen to know if I would get billed more on my electric bill using a standard garage wall outlet vs a 14-50 Nema over time?

You don't need to turn anything off, the Tesla will shut off the climate control when you exit the vehicle and take your phone unless you purposely set the climate control to remain on after exiting. One of the things that can keep the Tesla from entering sleep mode (totally different than just shutting off the climate control) is if you have Sentry Mode active at your home location or Summon is left in Standby (Summon requires Full Self Driving.)

Actually it has been shown that charging at 240V such as with the NEMA 14-50 plug adapter (240V/32A) can be more efficient than when charging at 120V/15A for a number of not so obvious reasons. The difference is measurable, probably save you something like $25 per year in electricity if you charge at the higher rate. (There is no way this savings will make up for the cost of upgrading your electrical panel, installing a 50A circuit anytime soon.)

 

[1plavs]

You don't need to turn anything off, the Tesla will shut off the climate control when you exit the vehicle and take your phone unless you purposely set the climate control to remain on after exiting. One of the things that can keep the Tesla from entering sleep mode (totally different than just shutting off the climate control) is if you have Sentry Mode active at your home location or Summon is left in Standby (Summon requires Full Self Driving.)

Actually it has been shown that charging at 240V such as with the NEMA 14-50 plug adapter (240V/32A) can be more efficient than when charging at 120V/15A for a number of not so obvious reasons. The difference is measurable, probably save you something like $25 per year in electricity if you charge at the higher rate. (There is no way this savings will make up for the cost of upgrading your electrical panel, installing a 50A circuit anytime soon.)

My electrician gave me the bad news of a $2k panel upgrade which would be needed. My 100amp right now as it stands should be 135amp. $25 a year difference between the 2? Not bad.
What were you saying about Tesla turning off climate control after 4 hours earlier?

 

[jcanoe]

My electrician gave me the bad news of a $2k panel upgrade which would be needed. My 100amp right now as it stands should be 135amp. $25 a year difference between the 2? Not bad.
What were you saying about Tesla turning off climate control after 4 hours earlier?

If you turn on the climate control via the Tesla app on the phone, aka preconditioning the Tesla will automatically turn off the climate control, after 4 hours, if you don't get in the Tesla vehicle to drive and forget to turn off the climate control. This is not true of Camp Mode or Dog Mode , the climate control will remain on. The Tesla vehicle will notify you via the Tesla app if the battery is getting low before shutting off the climate control if the battery level gets too low.

There are other options besides a 240V/50A circuit that can provide more than enough power for your daily driving, preconditioning.

A 240V/20A circuit for example can charge at up to 14 miles per hour

A 240/30A circuit (commonly called a dryer circuit for use with an electric clothes dryer) can charge at up to 21 miles per hour.

 

[1plavs]

If you turn on the climate control via the Tesla app on the phone, aka preconditioning the Tesla will automatically turn off the climate control, after 4 hours, if you don't get in the Tesla vehicle to drive and forget to turn off the climate control. This is not true of Camp Mode or Dog Mode , the climate control will remain on. The Tesla vehicle will notify you via the Tesla app if the battery is getting low before shutting off the climate control if the battery level gets too low.

Your earlier statement “You don't need to turn anything off, the Tesla will shut off the climate control when you exit the vehicle and take your phone unless you purposely set the climate control to remain on after exiting.” Is this the 4 hours you are referring to?

 

[jcanoe]

Your earlier statement “You don't need to turn anything off, the Tesla will shut off the climate control when you exit the vehicle and take your phone unless you purposely set the climate control to remain on after exiting.” Is this the 4 hours you are referring to?

No, the Tesla will shut off the climate control to conserve power as soon as you exit the vehicle with your phone unless you have set the climate control to remain on (this must be done each time you are about exit the vehicle) or if a passenger taps the Tesla screen and accesses the climate control screen and turns on the climate control. The 4 hour timer applies to activating the climate control via the Tesla phone app. (Depending on the temperature of the battery pack this can also cause the Tesla battery management system to warm the battery pack.)

 

[RickCRNA]

Let me see if I understand this situation correctly. OP just bought a $60K EV apparently without doing the requisite research into his charging capacity at home and now exhibiting range anxiety related to his daily driving and doesn't want to spend $ to properly upgrade his electrical panel so that his EV ownership is more stress free and realistic. OP would be better off with a plug in hybrid EV or fossil fuel vehicle. Please do not construe this as being rude, just an observation and food for thought.

 

[1plavs]

No, the Tesla will shut off the climate control to conserve power as soon as you exit the vehicle with your phone unless you have set the climate control to remain on (this must be done each time you are about exit the vehicle) or if a passenger taps the Tesla screen and accesses the climate control screen and turns on the climate control. The 4 hour timer applies to activating the climate control via the Tesla phone app. (Depending on the temperature of the battery pack this can also cause the Tesla battery management system to warm the battery pack.)

So it’s better to use the climate control via the screen vs on the app so that when I exit the vehicle, the climate control turns off ASAP when I exit?

Sorry your wording is a bit confusing.

 

[1plavs]

Let me see if I understand this situation correctly. OP just bought a $60K EV apparently without doing the requisite research into his charging capacity at home and now exhibiting range anxiety related to his daily driving and doesn't want to spend $ to properly upgrade his electrical panel so that his EV ownership is more stress free and realistic. OP would be better off with a plug in hybrid EV or fossil fuel vehicle. Please do not construe this as being rude, just an observation and food for thought.

Not at all. I average 30 miles a day.

 

[jcanoe]

So it’s better to use the climate control via the screen vs on the app so that when I exit the vehicle, the climate control turns off ASAP when I exit?

Sorry your wording is a bit confusing.

When you enter the Tesla vehicle the climate control will turn on if it is not already on from preconditioning. When you exit the Tesla and take your phone the climate control will turn off even you had earlier initiated preconditioning via the Tesla phone app. The only reason the climate control would remain on after you exit is if you or the front seat passenger set the climate control to remain on (this one time) from the climate control screen or else activate Camp Mode or Dog Mode.

You can use the Tesla app to precondition the vehicle, i.e in. the morning before you leave for work or in the afternoon before you head home. You can also precondition the Tesla via the Tesla app on the phone anytime you are getting ready to go somewhere and want to prewarm (or cool down) the cabin.

You can think of the Tesla preconditioning function as being like a remote start feature in an ICE vehicle where the engine starts and the vehicle warms up. The only difference is that with the Tesla vehicle you are not using any gas, you can turn on the climate control while the Tesla vehicle is parked inside a closed garage without any concern of carbon monoxide vehicle exhaust fumes building up in the garage or getting into the house.

 

[1plavs]

When you enter the Tesla vehicle the climate control will turn on if it is not already on from preconditioning. When you exit the Tesla and take your phone the climate control will turn off even you had earlier initiated preconditioning via the Tesla phone app. The only reason the climate control would remain on after you exit is if you or the front seat passenger set the climate control to remain on (this one time) from the climate control screen or else activate Camp Mode or Dog Mode.

You can use the Tesla app to precondition the vehicle, i.e in. the morning before you leave for work or in the afternoon before you head home. You can also precondition the Tesla via the Tesla app on the phone anytime you are getting ready to go somewhere and want to prewarm (or cool down) the cabin.

You can think of the Tesla preconditioning function as being like a remote start feature in an ICE vehicle where the engine starts and the vehicle warms up. The only difference is that with the Tesla vehicle you are not using any gas, you can turn on the climate control inside a closed garage without any concern of carbon monoxide vehicle exhaust fumes building up in the garage or getting into the house.

In retrospect I never have to worry about climate control working for an additional 4 hours while charging unless someone presses the climate control on the display that one time. If that doesn’t happen when I exit the vehicle then the climate control auto shuts off automatically.

I guess my question is who would want climate control on while charging causing the Tesla to turn climate control off after 4 hours?

 

[jcanoe]

In retrospect I never have to worry about climate control working for an additional 4 hours while charging unless someone presses the climate control on the display that one time. If that doesn’t happen when I exit the vehicle then the climate control auto shuts off automatically.

Exactly. The Tesla vehicle shuts off, including the climate control, will enter sleep mode within a short time to conserve power (unless you have left Sentry Mode active or Summon in standby.) Even if the Tesla does not enter sleep mode the climate control system will be shut off.

 

[sgalla04]

I think the idea to covert possibly a circuit in the garage from 120v 15 amp to 240v 15 amp and purchase the 6-15 adapter from Tesla is the way to go. You will more than triple the charging for a MY. Tesla site says from 3 miles/hr to 10 miles/hr. You don’t need to change the amperage at the panel. Just have remove the 1 pole 15 amp and change to a 2 pole 15 amp. Maybe OP can do this?

 

[jcanoe]

I think the idea to covert possibly a circuit in the garage from 120v 15 amp to 240v 15 amp and purchase the 6-15 adapter from Tesla is the way to go. You will more than triple the charging for a MY. Tesla site says from 3 miles/hr to 10 miles/hr. You don’t need to change the amperage at the panel. Just have remove the 1 pole 15 amp and change to a 2 pole 15 amp. Maybe OP can do this?

There may not be any more room in the current service panel for any more double pole (240V) circuit breakers. You can only convert a 120V cricuit to a 240V circuit in this way if there is only one receptacle on the circuit (the one 120V receptacle would need to be changed to a 240V receptacle.)

 

[1plavs]

Exactly. The Tesla vehicle shuts off, including the climate control, will enter sleep mode within a short time to conserve power (unless you have left Sentry Mode active or Summon in standby.) Even if the Tesla does not enter sleep mode the climate control system will be shut off.

Unless someone activates camp or dog mode on the display which would mean I would have to manually disable it prior to exiting the vehicle?

In the scenario where let’s say I drove 30 miles without climate control on and 5 minutes prior to coming home someone activates climate control before I park in the garage. Would I have to manually disable climate control?

 

[1plavs]

There may not be any more room in the current service panel for any more double pole (240V) circuit breakers. You can only convert a 120V cricuit to a 240V circuit in this way if there is only one receptacle on the circuit (the one 120V receptacle would need to be changed to a 240V receptacle.)

Correct in my case there’s no more room. I will sometimes have to rely on PlugShare (not knowing how long it takes to charge) and Superchargers once in a blue moon. This will mainly be on the weekends when I drive a lot more.

 

[1plavs]

I think the idea to covert possibly a circuit in the garage from 120v 15 amp to 240v 15 amp and purchase the 6-15 adapter from Tesla is the way to go. You will more than triple the charging for a MY. Tesla site says from 3 miles/hr to 10 miles/hr. You don’t need to change the amperage at the panel. Just have remove the 1 pole 15 amp and change to a 2 pole 15 amp. Maybe OP can do this?

Believe me my electrician and local inspector ran calculations and it’s not possible.

 

[sgalla04]

There may not be any more room in the current service panel for any more double pole (240V) circuit breakers. You can only convert a 120V cricuit to a 240V circuit in this way if there is only one receptacle on the circuit (the one 120V receptacle would need to be changed to a 240V receptacle.)

True. If no room then yeah can’t do that. Of course the receptacle would have to be changed or just abandoned. If the panel is in the garage just run a short line next to the panel with the new 6-15 receptacle. And of course if he’s low on space I bet the only garage circuit is the one operating the garage door opener and lights. So probably wouldn’t be able to convert anyway. Just trying to get the thoughts going.