I can find tons of threads about people asking to charge every night and the standard answer is RTFM ( a plugged in Tesla is a happy Tesla). That does not mean charge it every night. I have roughly a 20 mile commute and an SR+. I charge to 90% but lately I have wondered about plugging it in and having it set to charge after my departure time and going up to the next 10 percent for that day. I.E. start at 90 Monday, drive and come home about 75%. Manually charge it before I leave to 80. Rinse and repeat each day until I go below 30% and then charge to 90 again. I am not asking to do this each week but is there any validity in this given I typically am only charging between 70 and 90 each day given my commute.
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A plugged in Tesla is not a charging Tesla.
- Thread starter knects
- Start date
Less SOC swing is better (for some value of better) for the battery.
It might be better (for some value of better) to just set your charge limit to 80% since you don't need the fully capacity.
Plugged in means the car can charge when needed, plugged in and not charging is the same as not plugged it (until it switches to charging, of course)
Why are you trying to "run it down before you charge it up"? You would be plugging it in, but still "running it down before you charge it".
Since you mention RTFM, I am assuming you read the page already about charging? For anyone else clicking on this thread, the specific passage is:
===========================================
About the Battery
Model 3 has one of the most sophisticated
battery systems in the world. The most
important way to preserve the Battery is to
LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE PLUGGED IN when
you are not using it. This is particularly
important if you are not planning to drive
Model 3 for several weeks. When plugged in,
Model 3 wakes up when needed to
automatically maintain a charge level that
maximizes the lifetime of the Battery.
Note: When left idle and unplugged, your
vehicle periodically uses energy from the
Battery for system tests and recharging the
12V battery when necessary.
There is no advantage to waiting until the
Battery’s level is low before charging. In fact,
the Battery performs best when charged
regularly.
======================================
Its your car though, so you can do what you want... but I would be curious to understand your reasoning in having the ability to plug it in, but ensuring it does not charge, all so that you can deeper cycle the battery which is something almost everyone says is NOT good for the battery. Pretty much everyone says that shallower charging of the battery is better long term than deeper cycling (a bunch of 75-90% charges is better than a bunch of 30-90 charges). You would have less charging cycles overall but deeper ones.
Why would you go through all that effort of remembering to change the percentage daily (adding more complexity to your charging routine to accomplish what exactly?
not that anybody asked but I have a similar commute and decided to just set it to 80% instead of 90% so i feel better about the minimally lower voltage in the warm weather and just plug it in and let it charge every night.
ralph142
Member
This is what I’ve settled into as well. I go higher if needed for a trip, but routinely its70-80.
First, the only way that I see to do what you are doing is to stop charging manually each day. Yuck!
Tesla did not design the battery for you to worry about it. They designed it so that you wouldn't have to worry about it. Think of all the guidance that you have heard from Tesla (not the forums or rumors) aside from some various Elon tweets (which are generally to correct some bad behaviors) essentially NOTHING is being said.
STOP WORRYING ABOUT IT!
My recommendation. Plug it in once or twice a week. Every few months, make sure that you bring it up to 100% to allow the batteries to balance. Hopefully this will coincide with road trips to get over the range anxiety. You've got a battery warranty that is probably significantly longer than you will keep the car.
I've now been driving EVs for 5 years, the first, the notorious Leaf, for which I ended up with only 3% degradation over 4 years. The Tesla is still running happy after a year and 18,000 miles and I still see 315 and I can easily get even more.
Silicon Desert
Well-Known Member
I must be having a senior moment. I'm missing the point of the OP's thread.
The manual spells out the ideal charging situation very plainly. See the post from @jjrandorin above.
ralph142
Member
There’s a reason Tesla makes this so easy. All of this overthinking and calculations can be a turn off to potential buyers. Just plug it in and charge it to the level needed for your daily use.
KISS.
KISS.
I have a short commute too. I charge once a week, maybe twice. Usually run it down to around 50%. I try to never let it sit low (below 50%) for too long.
I also don’t believe it’s healthy to constantly top off to 90% or leave it at 90% for days. If I know it’s gonna be a while before I use it I charge to 80%.
My interpretation to date is you want your AVERAGE SOC to be around 70%. I think modest charge swings are healthy. Tiny ones are not, but if they are tiny shoot for lower SOC.
9 months 8k miles isn’t very long but my battery behaves exactly like it did on day one. Let you know in 5 years how it goes.
This purely based on what I’ve read online.
Now that it’s warm out, even when I charge to 90%. Sitting in my 80F garage above a cooler cement floor. I still get a bit of limited regen in the morning. Like 5 dots. Floor is probably 65F (I didn’t measure it). This is also partly why I think leaving it at 90% to often isn’t healthy. Even at these temps 90% is starting to limit what charge it will accept.
Even though it’s been routine close to 90F these days. Nights have been unusually cool, low 60’s.
My method may sound complex, it’s not. If it’s around 50% when I get home I plug in and charge to 90% (that’s what so do most of the time). Unless I know it will sit for days, if so, I charge to 80% instead of 90%. If a long trip is planned I’ll top to 90% no matter the current level and occasionally to 100%.
I also don’t believe it’s healthy to constantly top off to 90% or leave it at 90% for days. If I know it’s gonna be a while before I use it I charge to 80%.
My interpretation to date is you want your AVERAGE SOC to be around 70%. I think modest charge swings are healthy. Tiny ones are not, but if they are tiny shoot for lower SOC.
9 months 8k miles isn’t very long but my battery behaves exactly like it did on day one. Let you know in 5 years how it goes.
This purely based on what I’ve read online.
Now that it’s warm out, even when I charge to 90%. Sitting in my 80F garage above a cooler cement floor. I still get a bit of limited regen in the morning. Like 5 dots. Floor is probably 65F (I didn’t measure it). This is also partly why I think leaving it at 90% to often isn’t healthy. Even at these temps 90% is starting to limit what charge it will accept.
Even though it’s been routine close to 90F these days. Nights have been unusually cool, low 60’s.
My method may sound complex, it’s not. If it’s around 50% when I get home I plug in and charge to 90% (that’s what so do most of the time). Unless I know it will sit for days, if so, I charge to 80% instead of 90%. If a long trip is planned I’ll top to 90% no matter the current level and occasionally to 100%.
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You don't find that at all vague? Should I keep it at 70%? 80%? 90%
How often should I charge it to 100%?
How low is too low?
Thank you for showing us the part I am specifically asking about. It says in bold LEAVE YOUR VEHICLE PLUGGED IN. Hence the question. It does not say charge it every time you plug it in.
Also
"When plugged in,
Model 3 wakes up when needed to
automatically maintain a charge level that
maximizes the lifetime of the Battery."
This does not say it will charge to the set limit to do this. I get they want it simple, tell us what to do, this is ambiguous at best.
I was just hoping for a definitive answer and reading the manual does not give us one. I was not hoping to accomplish anything but see if someone had some insight.
And as far as the hassle of it, you open the app (which everyone does multiple times a day because you can, and fun) and tell it to start charging.
davewill
Active Member
It's simple...too simple for this forum, apparently. Keep it plugged in and charge every night, or more often if needed. If you truly find yourself cycling the battery just 10% or so, you can set the charge level to 70% or 80% and be a little kinder to the battery. However, if that's not convenient because you sometimes need 90% on little notice, then leave it at 90%. Charge to 100% if you need it, but try to do it as close to the time you're going to leave as you can.
It does seem simple...which is why it's inexplicable that Tesla doesn't just put this into the manual and remove all confusion.
davewill
Active Member
They do. It says to keep it plugged in.
It would have been nice if they'd said something about why you might want to set the charge limit lower than 90%, but they obviously didn't think it was very important, and it probably isn't. If you leave it at 90% things will work out fine.
Sorry, I would not say too simple for this forum, I would say too simple for Tesla.... There is a difference between plugged in (the act of attaching the charging cable) and charging, (the act of actually charging.) Never ceases to amaze me how quickly threads turn into attacks.
THIS is simple
Keep it plugged in at all times and charge it to your desired set level. (We suggest 50-90 % dependent upon needed daily range.)
Cheers
/smile face
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