AC Charge or DC Charge?

[ozark46]

I'm going on a road trip in the "new to me" 2015 85D. Super excited to be in the car for 14 hours with 2 kids under 3 (has anyone ever said that before?)

I had a quick question that I don't think really matters but wanted to get the thoughts of others.

What is better for battery health? Charging overnight at a destination charger to 90% or supercharging across the street in the morning to 90%?

I'm leaning towards destination charging as its easier (right at the hotel we're staying at), it's "quicker" (no stopping at supercharger before heading out in the morning, it's leaves a supercharger stall open "just in case" someone who really needs it can have it in case it's full, and it "seems" like less stress on the battery.

What do y'all think? I'm sure it doesn't really matter in the overall battery health, just wondering.

 

[tstafford]

I'd absolutely do whatever makes you and the family happier and I wouldn't concern myself with the health of the battery in this case.

 

[A-Wimoweh]

I think at this point, no one knows for sure, and we probably won't know for another two or three years which option is really better. And to complicate things more, since Tesla is playing around with the charging peak and taper rates, what may have been true today will not necessarily be true tomorrow.

 

[Saghost]

Destination Charging is better when you can manage it.

Supercharging is perfectly fine, but it is harder on the pack and folks who use it exclusively for several years are seeing slower charging as a result.

More importantly, charging to 90% the next morning on a Supercharger will take forever. The cold pack means a slow start to your session, and pushing all the way to 90% takes a long time in the best conditions. Depending on where you start, you're likely looking at an hour or more for that session.

(When you can't charge overnight, either charge the night before while the pack is still hot, or set it up so the first Supercharge of the day is an hour or so down the road so the car can warm up.)

 

[KerryOH]

With two little ones, it would make sense to me to get on the road right after breakfast. Use the Destination Charger and enjoy your new ride.

 

[jerry33]

At the end of the day, I use a destination charger on trips because it's more convenient to charge while we sleep rather than go someplace and wait for charging to occur. If where I stay has a Supercharger--some hotels do--in the morning I get up, plug in the car, and go back and shower and stuff. It's done by the time we're finished. The battery is a non-issue. There's no reliable data that shows Supercharging will harm the battery in any significant way.

 

[ewoodrick]

I'm going on a road trip in the "new to me" 2015 85D. Super excited to be in the car for 14 hours with 2 kids under 3 (has anyone ever said that before?)

I had a quick question that I don't think really matters but wanted to get the thoughts of others.

What is better for battery health? Charging overnight at a destination charger to 90% or supercharging across the street in the morning to 90%?

I'm leaning towards destination charging as its easier (right at the hotel we're staying at), it's "quicker" (no stopping at supercharger before heading out in the morning, it's leaves a supercharger stall open "just in case" someone who really needs it can have it in case it's full, and it "seems" like less stress on the battery.

What do y'all think? I'm sure it doesn't really matter in the overall battery health, just wondering.

First, absolutely, positively, when travelling, don't worry about the battery!!!!

You will definitely want to charge at the destination charger and probably bring it to 100% (at least the evening when leaving) Why? Is it better for the battery? Screw that, It's better for you. Spending time at a Supercharger isn't something you should be doing at a Supercharger.
It also happens that the destination charger is free, doesn't hurt.

When travelling, it is VERY possible to spend ZERO time charging, making refueling an ICE time consuming. I've taken an number of long (550mi+) trips and spent less than 30 minutes total charging.

Schedule the road portions of the trip for breaks and charging to coincide. Make sure that you are having meals when Supercharging. I've had the issue a few times that I even had to move the car to keep idle charges from occurring. Once I even moved from a Supercharger to destination charger because lunch was taking long.
Charge at the hotel. Even 120V 15A can work. Over a week, including local driving, I've had it charge the car all the way up.

 

[BridgeMojo]

I love to choose hotels with destination chargers, and enjoy arriving with a low SoC and leaving with a high one. Superchargers on the road in between. Might as well enjoy the "free" kWh.

 

[ucmndd]

The only question you need to concern yourself with here is "why would I sit around with small kids waiting for the car to charge when it could have happened while I was sleeping?"

Also, it's a road trip. Why would you not start your day with a 100% full battery?

 

[TexasEV]

What is better for battery health? Charging overnight at a destination charger to 90% or supercharging across the street in the morning to 90%?

You don’t need to worry about “battery health”. Let the battery management system manage the battery and just enjoy your car.

Make your life easier by starting your day at 100% charge from the destination charging when you’re on a trip.