Anyone else SOLELY relying on supercharging?

[MrABRanch]

I also live in a condo with no access to charging, when this changes I'll charge at home, as it stands I have to charge every 5 days or so at my local SC which is 15-20 minute drive. It would be less often but because I'm in a condo I leave sentry mode on all the time and it drains the battery.
Tesla have not honored my refferal for1k free supercharging miles (like $40 value) - which is very frustrating.

 

[rayace01]

I just purchased my 2016 Model S 70 yesterday in Orlando. Went from paying around $250 to $300 a month on fuel for my 2018 Durrango. Went upside down by 5k but figured the free Supercharging will make that up within 18 to 24 months. Hoping to solely use Super charging. Their are 4 Supercharging stations within 25 minutes from home. I attached my fuel usage for the past year.

 

[Dre78]

Depends on the person. I actually go to this supercharger area ALL the time because it’s where we get groceries, grab coffee/lunch, shop around etc.

So now just plugging in at the supercharger for free before doing those errands is actually not inconvenient. It just makes more sense IMO in my specific situation.

We do the same; plug in at Urban SC while grocery shopping. For several months we were SC only. I'd sometimes take meetings sitting in car while charging. I'll probably continue to SC often while it's still free.

 

[chinokie]

I have free supercharging 5 miles from work. Free charging at work. But I charge at home for the convenience. I dropped my fuel bill from $2500 yr to $500 yr. Pareto's law, first 80% is easy. It's not worth the effort to eliminate the last 20%.

 

[CallmeTony]

I have free SC. One of the reasons for getting a Tesla is because my family has started doing road trips almost every weekend (40+ a year). I usually SC once going up and once on the way back. I have a home charger, but most of the time I don't have to other than topping off the morning of our trip (I work close to home and usually bike). 8k miles and still 279 at 90%

 

[Kaorisdad]

What everyone is failing to recognize is using Superchargers all the time crowds the facilities, taking up spaces for those actually needing it on a trip. I take a fair amount of trips and have noticed a big increase in crowding at Supercharging facilities since the introduction and proliferation of Model 3s.

 

[Nguyenning]

What everyone is failing to recognize is using Superchargers all the time crowds the facilities, taking up spaces for those actually needing it on a trip. I take a fair amount of trips and have noticed a big increase in crowding at Supercharging facilities since the introduction and proliferation of Model 3s.

One near me is an urban supercharger. Now that the network is so large, this doesn't seem to be as big a problem. Also, superchargers exist to be used... sorry the influx of Model 3s and people wanting to charge their cars gets in the way of your road trips.......

 

[SAronian]

I had originally planned on plugging in at home. Then I got a few referral bonuses (18K free supercharging miles) and want to use as much as I can because, well, free is free

I live 2 miles from a supercharger near shops, restaurants etc. and have been solely relying on supercharging once a week since I got the car. Quick research says this does not harm the car.?

This video references some good information of affects of both temperature and charging speed on battery life.

Chart is at 1:44.44

 

[Videographer]

2018 Model X, just a year old in a few days. Got free SC and use it a lot. The SC is five miles from my house, and I take that time to walk my dog for 45 min or so. Fill up about once a week in the summer, more in the winter. I can see both sides of this question, I think it mostly depends on how close you are to a charger (there are eleven stalls very near my house, and I've never seen them all full.)

 

[Inanchy]

We got lifetime (of the car) Supercharging on our Model S. Although we have 4 Supercharger stations within a few miles of our house, we installed a 14-50 outlet in our driveway. It’s just very convenient to plug the car in at night. It charges in the middle of the night at $.12 per kWh, which is a pretty good rate. In the morning we’re charged up & ready to go. We’ve only used Supercharging when we travel some distance. Have also used destination chargers at Hotels/Motels.

 

[Zigzagmolly]

Its only one other data point, but I have 8k Miles in my Model 3P with performance upgrade package, and have only supercharged 3 times, all within 1st 9 days of ownership waiting for electrician to connect my HPWC. My 90% SOC (which I charge to every day) is still 279.

Like I said, only 2 data points, so meaningless statistically, unless you want to look at our very similar mileage and start to think about why you have lost 9 miles more than I have for almost exactly the same amount of miles.

You might want to try re balancing your battery by charging up to 100% and draining down to 30%, that is, if you care about those lost miles, to see if they are really lost, or just reported as lost by your cars battery system and can be regained by rebalancing.

I, too, am at the same point with 8,600 miles since I purchased my Model 3 Dual Motor AWD 6 months ago. I stop almost every weekday at the supercharger in Sandy, OR as it is on my way home. I drive 47 miles each way to and from work, plus have appointments for the grandkids I am raising and getting this car with the autopilot and 15 speakers has helped my physical and mental health! I charge at the SC to 90%...279 miles and then drive 20 miles home to Zigzag. I have a NEMA 14-50 outlet I had installed in my shop so top it off when I get home. My free supercharging ends September 1, so unless i can convince someone to buy a Tesla, I will rarely supercharge after that. I LOVE this car and everyone I talk to knows it!!!

 

[ceejay44]

i live in an off grid house and can only put about 35km of range back on my M3 LR AWD a day (my house uses micro hydro and solar but not a lot of extra juice to charge a car) and so i use superchargers and the odd other public charger for most of my charging. Given my dependence on superchargers i too am anxious about the day that my local SC station gets plugged full of people, especially if they have the option of charging at home but instead use the SCs.

 

[65sc02]

Right, charging at home in the night is ultra convenient. I have the possibility, but at 0.24 €/kWh this convenience adds up.

I have a SC just 12 km away on my way to/from work. So every evening I swing by the SC (just 200 m detour, right off the Autobahn -- yes, I live in Germany), plug in, charge up to 250km range (which is what I need the next day: 102 km distance to work). Usually takes about 40 minutes. During this time I watch a YouTube video or two, which I would have watched at home anyway. So no time lost. I don't go shopping, I don't buy food, not even a drink, I don't even visit the restroom, which would cost 0.50€ (call me frugal). Thus, the charging cost really is 0.00 €.

Every now and then I charge slowly to 100% at a (free) type-2 AC charger to balance the battery pack.

Now, if you tell me this is bad for the car battery, and I loose more money in battery degradation that what I save at the free SC, this would be an important information for me. So far I have 33,000 km on my Model S75D and SC hasn't slowed down. After the latest SW-upgrade I now charge even faster with 107 kW peak.

 

[jrwaters1]

I have free SC plus there is some free destination charging in my area. I love free and initially I thought I would be using it all the time but I found charging at home is effortless and in my area, electrical service is not that expensive. Since the cost is hidden within my utility bill. I just pretend it is free anyway. Looking at things the ostrich way can be a pleasant way of life it you have a tough tail

 

[MaryAnning3]

My opinion: it is more responsible and appropriate to set up home charging for all who can. Supercharging is to enable traveling away from home. Don't be cheap; be responsible to your Tesla community.

 

[Raylo]

I too, was originally going to plug in at home when I bought my Tesla Model 3 Performance with Performance Upgrade Package. But I was gifted unlimited Supercharging by Tesla for being an early adopter. So I decided to not put in a NEMA 14-50 for the time being. I currently Supercharge my car exclusively since day 1.

I either work the shopping into the Supercharging time or carry my work with me to occupy the time spent at the Supercharger. No longer would I ever sit idle and kill time surfing the net just to charge my car. Gotta stay productive. Most people value their time because they have many other obligations to take care of, which I understand. It's very limited to a small group of people who's willing to Supercharge exclusively for whatever reason. I will keep on doing so to get my money's worth and also as long as I own my car. If it's anything like my previous car ownership, it'll be over 110k miles for over 12 years. That'll make the unlimited Supercharging worth it to me and a big savings for me. I like the fact that I can hit 80-90% SOC in about 40-50 minutes. Vast majority of the time, I'm making an effort to get back to my car from shopping to not get hit with the idle fee.

So far, I'm already at 8k miles, and hit 270 miles at 90% (normal is 279 miles) consistently for the past several months. I'm not sure if it's a calculation error as I have in the past been charging up to 80% SOC to prolong the battery life, but with more unexpected trips during the weekends, it was worth the extra 10% SOC bump to 90% SOC. There have been reports of others who hardly see any battery degradation from Supercharging more than charging at home. Some of them can be found on Reddit and here in past threads with similar subject post. Technically, Supercharging could degrade the battery faster. But we don't have extensive data on such degradation yet since the Model 3 hasn't been out for many years to make a conclusive analysis.

I'd say just drive, enjoy the car, and charge however convenient it is for you. Elon has stated that the battery for the Model 3 is rated for 1500 cycles, which translates to about 300k-500k miles before it should be replaced. By then, I think I would already be on the next car.

How and when did you get your SC gifted? We got our M3D in November 2018.

 

[Danny Brown]

Maybe you should use some of those miles to charge your phone!

 

[Seattle]

You can get 30-40 miles easily of range added overnight on 120v in a night, so supercharging isn't necessary for people that drive less than that in a day. After 5.5 years with an S and 120v, i've needed higher power charging at home maybe 20 or 30 times, in almost 6 years.

 

[Kenz]

Charging at home is your best option.
It is easy on the battery and you wake up with your 80 or 90% charge.
While it is tempting to stock up on the FREE Super Charger miles I would not do it all the time.
Even Apple is implementing a new standard for the upcoming iPhones to not charge over 80% regularly.
Charge your Tesla with a slow over night charge. That is best for battery. The cars are built to last 500,000 miles.
Don't screw it up by over Supercharging the battery.
Sean Mitchell did a good video on how he ruined his battery.

 

[Rocky_H]

Even Apple is implementing a new standard for the upcoming iPhones to not charge over 80% regularly.

Oh good grief, about time. And it's a miracle that Apple is implementing something helpful before Android for once.
Our company is moving toward laptops with docking stations, and I cringe at how horrific that is, that these laptops are going to just sit there on their docking stations for the vast majority of the day every day at 100% full, devouring the useful life of all those batteries.

My daughter had a small netbook from Samsung many years ago that had a battery life saver feature that you could turn on to limit it to 80%, but I've never seen that on any other phone or laptop since.