Battery life changing at home

[carlosbuin]

Hello, we got our model S recently and just realized we can't put a good breaker is our home for 60A charging or even 30A since we are already at the limit. We have been charging at 15A

I wonder if this has any negative effect on battery life, I grew up with the idea that slow charging Li batteries would reduce their lifespan.
Assuming this is true, I trust Tesla engineers are clever and would have designed the car to charge only a subset of batteries instead of all at once in order to avoid this problem.

So... Is slow charging Li batteries actually bad for the battery?
And if so does Tesla actually handle this cleverly?
Or are we "damaging" our car by slowly charging at home?

 

[Ostrichsak]

Hello, we got our model S recently and just realized we can't put a good breaker is our home for 60A charging or even 30A since we are already at the limit. We have been charging at 15A

I wonder if this has any negative effect on battery life, I grew up with the idea that slow charging Li batteries would reduce their lifespan.
Assuming this is true, I trust Tesla engineers are clever and would have designed the car to charge only a subset of batteries instead of all at once in order to avoid this problem.

So... Is slow charging Li batteries actually bad for the battery?
And if so does Tesla actually handle this cleverly?
Or are we "damaging" our car by slowly charging at home?

I'm curious where you heard that slow charging a Lithium Ion battery was bad for it. Sounds like someone was trying upsell you on the rapid charger at some point with false information maybe. It's always been widely accepted that slower charging is actually better for most rechargeable battery types than rapid charging. In Tesla's battery chemistry specifically the different is nominal over the lifespan of the car so I wouldn't worry about the topic if were you.

 

[cookie99]

aye, its quite the opposite, fast is worst than slow. with that being said, at slow chargers waste alot more energy than fast chargers due to the car needing to run alot of components for the charge but the charge is only at 15A so it will take awhile for it to complete

 

[Lasttoy]

Tesla told me I can charge past max if I switch to 110v, it is so slow it will go past my 225miles to 265.

 

[cookie99]

Tesla told me I can charge past max if I switch to 110v, it is so slow it will go past my 225miles to 265.

i've heard of this, the charger forgets what the max limit is and will just keep charging. should be ok as long as you remove before it gets to 320 miles, after that the computer will get confused

 

[Lasttoy]

Mines an antique, 265 was max in 2012. He said if I'm going on long trip unplug from 220v at 225, plug to 110v, it's so little the computer wont stop till it hits 265. He said zero out all trip miles all the time, eats up range. Turn off DRL. Turn AC up to 75 , not 68. The guy said my antique with new more efficient motor and battery should get better range now.

 

[aerodyne]

Several reasons to never charge to 100% on a older 60-85 pack unless you have a need to:

You loose any regen.

Pumps and fans will come on and contribute to vampire drain.

Both the above will reduce range.

 

[Gridlok]

Yeah, I think I can charge up to around 75% before all the pumps and fans start. Usually that's fine. I have mainly used a 15A/110V plug for nearly 4 years. Also have to prewarm here in cooler weather before you get any regen!

 

[aerodyne]

Yeah, I think I can charge up to around 75% before all the pumps and fans start. Usually that's fine. I have mainly used a 15A/110V plug for nearly 4 years. Also have to prewarm here in cooler weather before you get any regen!

Unless you do the work yourself with existing wire, take years for the increased efficiency of Level 2 240V install to pay off.

Might consider going to 20A via NEMA 5-20 outlet if the wire is big enough, to help warm the car a wee bit faster.

 

[Brando]

Don't waste electricity (heat is wasted electrons)

 

[aerodyne]

But charge too slow, and you waste energy as the car is awake and drawing power.

 

[beatle]

Don't waste electricity (heat is wasted electrons)

Or charge over the rated current for your breaker like the guy in that video. Sheesh.

 

[tga]

Tesla told me I can charge past max if I switch to 110v, it is so slow it will go past my 225miles to 265.

Mines an antique, 265 was max in 2012. He said if I'm going on long trip unplug from 220v at 225, plug to 110v, it's so little the computer wont stop till it hits 265. He said zero out all trip miles all the time, eats up range. Turn off DRL. Turn AC up to 75 , not 68. The guy said my antique with new more efficient motor and battery should get better range now.

You do realize everything you wrote here is 100% wrong, right? Well, except the part about turning up the AC setting (which will help, but not very much).

The car won't let you charge past 100%, period. 120 or 240, doesn't matter.

 

[aerodyne]

You do realize everything you wrote here is 100% wrong, right? Well, except the part about turning up the AC setting (which will help, but not very much).

The car won't let you charge past 100%, period. 120 or 240, doesn't matter.

Well, I think the poster means well, trying to understand his car. Although there are rounding errors, car says 57% when actually BMS says 55.6%, I agree per the BMS data as shown by SMT that you can't go over 100%.

Unless you are driving up Pikes Peak, 100% is pointless because you are loosing regen and the pumps and even AC will be running full blast on the antique MS.

If you are planning a trip and you need 95+ to make your destination, try doing the speed limit plus three...bet you can get there with 90%..

Also, per Elon, nothing wrong with driving down to Zero...