A plugged in car...

[DrivingRockies]

Good day!

Using my MX as a daily driver. My normal commute to work is 5-10 miles. Throughout the day I can drive straight home only, or spend a few hours in the car (and everything in between). I charge to 90% nightly.

Question here is this:

I own the company, and have charging available in case I need it, so that's not a problem. Should I plug in the car as soon as I arrive, or is "topping it back off" to 90% a bad idea every day/multiple times a day when I come and go locally?

 

[outatime]

Good day!

Using my MX as a daily driver. My normal commute to work is 5-10 miles. Throughout the day I can drive straight home only, or spend a few hours in the car (and everything in between). I charge to 90% nightly.

Question here is this:

I own the company, and have charging available in case I need it, so that's not a problem. Should I plug in the car as soon as I arrive, or is "topping it back off" to 90% a bad idea every day/multiple times a day when I come and go locally?

 

[outatime]

Our Service Manager suggests that we charge our Model X (p100D) to 50% for daily driving. Only when going on an extended trip should the vehicle be charged to 90%. That way, when the battery loses some charge capacity, you have a brand new (practically) part of the battery ready to roll. So, to answer your question, a happy Tesla is a plugged in one because it is always looking for apps, and has one "eye" open unless you put it deep asleep. So charge at home up to 50% and keep it plugged in at home as well as on your company charger during the day with the charger value to 50%. The Model X has a "parasitic loss" or "vampire drain" especially on cold days. Enjoy this great vehicle.

 

[DrivingRockies]

Our Service Manager suggests that we charge our Model X (p100D) to 50% for daily driving. Only when going on an extended trip should the vehicle be charged to 90%. That way, when the battery loses some charge capacity, you have a brand new (practically) part of the battery ready to roll. So, to answer your question, a happy Tesla is a plugged in one because it is always looking for apps, and has one "eye" open unless you put it deep asleep. So charge at home up to 50% and keep it plugged in at home as well as on your company charger during the day with the charger value to 50%. The Model X has a "parasitic loss" or "vampire drain" especially on cold days. Enjoy this great vehicle.

While that's great when your driving allows, I often drive more than 50% would give, and have little to no knowledge ahead of time. The nature of business...

I would also question your service manager. I highly doubt the battery manager ignores 1/2 the battery. It probably uses all equally, just rotates them/doesn't charge each cell to 100%.

 

[ggr]

While that's great when your driving allows, I often drive more than 50% would give, and have little to no knowledge ahead of time. The nature of business...

I would also question your service manager. I highly doubt the battery manager ignores 1/2 the battery. It probably uses all equally, just rotates them/doesn't charge each cell to 100%.

No, that would be bad. It's not like flash memory. The management attempts to keep all the cells at the same charge level, that's what "balancing" is all about.

I charge to 85% every night.

 

[TexasEV]

This question has been asked and answered here dozens of times. I know new "mainstream" owners don't RTFM any more, so I blame Telsla for not educating people about this at delivery.

PLUG IT IN WHEN YOU CAN.

I put that in upper case because the owners manual puts it in upper case. So Tesla must think it's important. Keep it plugged in and let the battery management system manage the battery.

 

[DrivingRockies]

This question has been asked and answered here dozens of times. I know new "mainstream" owners don't RTFM any more, so I blame Telsla for not educating people about this at delivery.

PLUG IT IN WHEN YOU CAN.

I put that in upper case because the owners manual puts it in upper case. So Tesla must think it's important. Keep it plugged in and let the battery management system manage the battery.

I understand. I've owned for about 10 months. Just didn't know about such a small use in the mornings/a few times a day making trips into town. Long trips, sure.

 

[SageBrush]

OP: if you require 90% at a moments notice you do not have much to choose from. If a lower SoC will do then set the car to that value.

 

[DrivingRockies]

OP: if you require 90% at a moments notice you do not have much to choose from. If a lower SoC will do then set the car to that value.

There are superchargers (near home and near destinations) to use if it was bad on the battery to plug in after a very short drive. It's not ideal, but I am willing to work with whichever way is better for the battery.

 

[Saghost]

Good day!

Using my MX as a daily driver. My normal commute to work is 5-10 miles. Throughout the day I can drive straight home only, or spend a few hours in the car (and everything in between). I charge to 90% nightly.

Question here is this:

I own the company, and have charging available in case I need it, so that's not a problem. Should I plug in the car as soon as I arrive, or is "topping it back off" to 90% a bad idea every day/multiple times a day when I come and go locally?

Slower charging is better than fast. Cycles near 50% are better than cycles at either end. Over 90% and under 10% are much worse than others. Doing 3 cycles of 2% or one cycle of 6% in the same range should be similar for the pack, so the general advice is to plug in when you can.

The difference between 80% and 50% and between 2 kW and 10 Kw are both small enough they likely aren't noticeable over the life of the car.

The difference between 80% and 90% might well become evident over time, and the difference between Supercharging every time and AC charging likely will - there's a long thread right now about reduced charge rates from extensive DC fast charging.

 

[SageBrush]

There are superchargers (near home and near destinations) to use if it was bad on the battery to plug in after a very short drive. It's not ideal, but I am willing to work with whichever way is better for the battery.

Tesla says to plug in any time you can. I am recommending that you set the completed SoC to something less than 90% for daily routine use if you can.

 

[TacC]

I think we've got to put Tesla's guidance in context.

It would be impossible to educate hundreds of thousands of potential buyers about how to best manage the battery. The most straight-forward advice is to charge whenever possible and discourage charging over 90%.

If you dig into some old threads about military research or watch lectures or read some studies, you'll find that cell damage is driven by heat and a high SoC. Charging to 90% daily after a short commute keeps you at a pretty high SoC.

Our X is at 20% right now and our S is at 68% and I'm perfectly happy with both. If something comes up, we can use a SC and it sounds like you're in the same boat.

My advice is to charge to the minimum that will cover your sudden trips.

 

[kort677]

In the words of our savior, (Elon), a plugged in tesla is a happy tesla

 

[TexasEV]

Actually it was this:
A connected Model S is a happy Model S

 

[KidDoc]

I've been charging 85-90% at home daily (40 A) for 56,000 miles on my S85. I full charged yesterday for a night trip into Houston and back (around 200 miles round trip) and it charged to 261 RM down about 5-6 miles from when I bought it new. Last nights trip left me with 40 RM when I finally got home at 1:30 so it seems like my pack is holding together well. Thus far my simple strat seems to be working but I can easily drop it to 75-85% daily just to see what happens.

As far as OP I agree with others. Charge daily to 80% or so overnight and use your work charges for a little boost if needed.

 

[boonedocks]

It is so odd that the Service Advidors don't have the same playbook. Unless of course they should be stating as the OWNERS MANUAL says PLUG IT IN WHEN YOU CAN. My S85D with over 53k miles sold in March still had 264 miles at 100%, only 1 short of when new. Charged everyday and plugged in every time I pulled My garages and SuperCharger when I had lunch near one, at 90% and rarely to 100% and only once below 18%.